Snow Leopard iCal Server

Question

I am a long time Now Up to Date user (with the contact/event server). If you know anything about NUDC you know that the word "unfortunately" will begin any further discussion. "Unfortunately" the upgrade Now X has been in "development" for nearly 3 years and it was released (badly I guess) in the Fall without a server. They will not give us a date on when that server may release and early reviews are not good for the standalone. It doesn't look very hopeful.
I am running three G5s right now with 2 Leopard Server and 1 tiger. I am considering giving up on Now, buying one Intel with Snow-L on it and using iCal and buying iPhones instead of Palm Centros -- hopefully when they port to Verizon b/c I'm no fan of ATT.
However, I really need to have some questions answered before I make that big a move -- about basic things like how it operates. I did a test run on Kerio and Entourage and was horribly disappointed. We need to share calendars across seven providers and four office staff and need to be able to modify each other's calendars EASILY. We can do that with NUDC but it gets more unreliable with every upgrade of the operating system and the Centros are obsolete. I would really love to hear from some people who are in daily use of iCal server. Maybe it's easier then to go to back channel and not use up the discussion board for what amounts to me asking for a sales pitch.
Any takers?
Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Hi. No, no back-channel anything, please. You've come here asking for help, and so the discussion should STAY here
That way, everyone can contribute and potentially BENEFIT
Should you want dedicated support, then that's something that comes with a fee...
http://consultants.apple.com/
That said,
I have implemented shared calendaring for a client using Snow Leopard Server.
What testing have you done so far and what are your specific questions ?
You can either create a "user" (eg: Company_Calendar) and have end-users setup iCal to use that calendar, but that can get a bit messy, OR
have one such calendar (as just described) for certain purposes, and otherwise setup a calendar for each user.
Where it gets a bit tricky is that you have to use each end-users iCal to setup delegation (read and/or write access for other users). It's readily doable via a user's iCal, but I'm currently looking into managing this server-side - see (via the Terminal):
man calendarservermanageprincipals
I think, compared to NUTDC , you should find this remarkably stable and reliable by comparison.
But you do have to allow for the fact that you're migrating to something entirely new for you,
and your ability to maintain, troubleshoot and resolve problems should they arise.
For client software, Entourage is not an option that I know of. See Apple's documentation for SL Server - iCal Server Admin:
"Third-Party Applications
...the following third-party applications can use iCal service. These applications are from companies or projects that have committed to using CalDAV as an open calendaring service. This list does not indicate an endorsement or support for any of the products listed.
Mozilla Sunbird and Lightning (open source)
Open Software Application Foundation Chandler (open source)
Microsoft Outlook using the open source Outlook Connector Project
Mulberry (open source)
GNOME Evolution using the CalDAV plugin (open source)
Zidone (commercial plugin)
EMClient (Windows only commercial plugin)"
and of course, test extensively to ensure the software (server & client) will meet your needs.