Calendar and Contacts

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NethServer Version: 8
Module: Nextcloud or Webtop

Hello altogether,

I have a fresh install of NS8… can I somehow get access to Nextcloud Groupware? My goal ist to provide both calendar and contacts to users in Outlook, Thunderbird, iOS, iPadOS and as a Web interface.

With the addition in the Webtop documentation, that it’s a clientless application, I am unsure, whether I have to use that… I would prefer to use the Groupware part of Nextcloud… the file part of Nextcloud works great… but as mentioned: I miss a good possibility to access calendars and contacts from different platforms.

Thanks for your thoughts and tipps,

Frank

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Hi @frankn

I use NethServer for clients, all SME companies from 2-50 users. On all I use Nextcloud for “Groupware” functionality. Even at home I run my own personal NextCloud on NS8.

As such, I can confirm that NextCloud runs rock-solid as Calendar and Adressbook Server on NS8. All standard functions of NextCloud run stable, like file sharing.

I provide Web Access for all clients. Local access works well, integrated into local Apps, eg for Android, but also for Linux and Windows. Outlook on Windows works quite well. Mac / iPhone / iOS? They do not need any integration, as the protocols used by Nextcloud are native in Apple devices. These are CalDAV and CrdDAV. Mail uses IMAP and SMTP for all clients.

I’m not a fan of ActiveSync at all, I do not see why I should run a buggy protocoll from Microsoft to sync OpenSource clients with an OpenSource server.
I have never used SoGo or Webtop for my clients, I only set up a test to look at both.

Generally, I’ll provide the link https://cloud.domainname.tld for all my clients, this URL is accessible internally and externally using the same name. Correct DNS make sure internal clients see the correct internal IP, so no funky NAT stuff like Hairpin-NAT is needed.

With correct DNS and a DynDNS option, this works very stable for Sites with dynamic or static IPs on the Internet side. LetsEncrypt also has no issues, as the certificate is only for the name, and not for the IP.

Note:
→ For all those not aware of this, Hairpin-NAT means any internal traffic from internal clients to an internal webserver or service using Hairpin-NAT will create unneeded traffic (load) on whatever firewall is setup to use Hairpin-NAT. Without Hairpin-NAT, this traffic wuld be directly between client and server.

Note 2:
The Nextcloud Apps for Android, iOS, Windows, Linux and Mac only provide for file synching.
They all have no functionality for calendars or adressbooks.

My 2 cents
Andy

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