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Thread: Anyone used Funambol - mobile device synchronisation server

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    The late but legendary peterb - Onward and Upward peterb's Avatar
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    Anyone used Funambol - mobile device synchronisation server

    Recently had a requirement for syncing adress book and calendar with a mobile device. One option is a 'cloud' setvice like scheduleworld or Mobical. However I don't really like the idea f having my data spread across the web, so I was looking at running a syncml server of my own.

    The one that seems to meet the bill (and is run by some of the public sites) is Funambol. It has connectors for Outlook, Evolution, and a number of mobile devices.

    Has anyone used it? If so, what are your experiences with it?
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    Re: Anyone used Funambol - mobile device synchronisation server

    I have not used Funambol, but they are the technology behind the Ubuntu One sync service, and you can get a 30 day free trial of that for nothing, so you could easily try it out if you wanted to. I don't know if you need an Ubuntu system to sign up, but if you do, it would be easy enough to boot a live CD for 10 minutes.

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    Re: Anyone used Funambol - mobile device synchronisation server

    The other two services are free anyway, but the Funambol server is open source so I was looking to run it on my linux server - and keep the data under my control.
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    Re: Anyone used Funambol - mobile device synchronisation server

    Well, in the spirit of experimentation, I downloaded and installed Funambol on my Linux server (also available for other operating systems!)

    The problem I wanted to solve was syncing contacts and calendar on a Blackberry using a mail client other than Outlook. (I'm not using the Blackberry Enterprise Service)

    Installation was a doddle - the file is a binary which is just executed (remembering to set the x bit on the file permissions) but it does have to be installed with root privileges. Those using Debian/Ubuntu can use the apt package manager to install the rpm file - it didn't work with Fedora.

    I used the standard database (hypersonic) out of the box - I may interface it with MySQL later. Once the admin tool is set up, it can be configured, although there doesn't seem much configuring required - there is a good online manual.

    Getting the client on the blackberry was a little trickier - in the end I joined the Funambol community server and downloaded the application direct to the 'phone and did a trilal sync - whic worked.

    Getting it to talk to my server was also tricky, at - the moment it syncs if I connect using wi-fi - but not over the 3G connection - but that may be an issue with the Vodafone proxy and using the default port 8080 for the connection.

    Syncing the desk top client has been less successful. The only machine I have running Outlook is a Win2K box - the Funambol outlook client requires XP or higher. The machine is due for an upgrade to XP at some point. However I really wanted to sync with evolution and Thunderbird.

    The syncevolution client is a third party add on - and so far I haven't been able to get that working so I think I have a little tweaking to do.

    The Thunderbird client is another third party application, and while I was looking at this, I upgraded to Thunderbird 3 and added the calendar add on. Unfortunately the Thunderbird addon for Funambol is not compatable with Thunderbird 3!

    However it has promise, and the thought of being able to sync three clients (phone, laptop and desktop) from one central server is very appealing - and worth perservering with.

    If this is of interest to anyone else, I'll keep updating it. I don't think any of the problems are insurmountable apart from Thunderbird, which will require developer action - there is a beta version of a T3 client) - just needs a bit of tweaking.
    Last edited by peterb; 30-05-2010 at 10:41 PM. Reason: Typos
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    Re: Anyone used Funambol - mobile device synchronisation server

    The tale continues! Having had problems with the Mozilla client, I found this thread

    https://mozilla-plugin.forge.funambo...orderType=desc

    which lead to a beta version of the sync client for Thunderbird three. It is written for TB3.0.1 - the current version is 3.0.4 so TB wouldn't install it. However a quick edit of the .xpi file (it is a zip file really, so rename the client to .zip, edit the relevant line in install.rdf with notepad, add it back to the zip file, and rename it back to .xpi and it installed. Not only did it install, but it synhronised with both the my.funambol.com community portal, but also with my own server - using a vodafone dongle from my laptop.

    It is a beta though, and it doesn't remember sync settings between sessions - so if TB is shut down, these have to be re-entered in the options again. (Edit - seems that it does remember them!)

    Less luck with the BlackBerry client, which won't connect to either the funambol portal or my server using vodafone's service. Settings are identical with those on the laptop, but it seems that it is a problem with data compression on WAP networks (strange it doesn't affect the laptop - but then different client application.) So that is a bit of a setback. There are some other syncml clients available, so I may try some of those. However I can still sync when I am at home using Wi-Fi to my normal ISP, but that is only a partial solution!

    So I need to sort that out, and look again at syncevolution - but I think that will also require a bit of work on the Linux OS which is probably due for an upgrade for other reasons - or else switch to TB on the Linux platform.
    Last edited by peterb; 02-06-2010 at 07:05 PM.
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    Re: Anyone used Funambol - mobile device synchronisation server

    Glad to see someone else having as much fun as I am with fun-ambol. The Thunderbird 3 beta plugin used to work fine, but from 3.0.2 onwards mine crashes thunderbird when doing a standard sync, and only completes successfully on a recovery sync.

    I've been meaning to see if I can get my phone to do a syncml connection over t'internet but for now I'm still using Phone<->SEPCSuite<->Outlook<->funambol<->Thunderbird

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    Re: Anyone used Funambol - mobile device synchronisation server

    Bit of an update...

    I had the problem with Thunderbird crashing with a message "fast sync required" A full sync fixed the problem and it has been OK since then.

    The problem with the Blackberry still exists, although I have raised a query on the Funambol forums.

    BB connectivity seems complex! I am now getting acquainted with APNs (Access Point Names) and which one to use. Approved applications can use the RIM APN - Funambol is not, so it has to use the carrier's APN. Vodafone has two - setting either one on the BB seems to make no difference!

    Looking at the BB client log, it seems that Vodafone is downloading an HTM page in the middle of the transfer, why, I don't know! One suggestion is to disable formatting/compression from WAP pages, but the link to check the status (and presumably disable that) doesn't work, and VF's tech support don't really understand the problem - or at least not at 7:45pm when they close at 8!

    Frustrating!
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    Re: Anyone used Funambol - mobile device synchronisation server

    For what it's worth, I've just configured SyncML on my SE W995, going over T-Mobile, and it seems to sync ok, although it strips contact photos out, and seems strangly inconsistent with calender entries, so I'm not sure whether I'm going to use it. It does complete the sync successfully tho.

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    Re: Anyone used Funambol - mobile device synchronisation server

    Hmm... have also found that it had stripped out all the email addresses. Unfortunately didn't realise this until the changes had sync'ed around all my devices and contact lists :-(

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    Re: Anyone used Funambol - mobile device synchronisation server

    Been a while since I played and just used it for backing up over a wi-fi network. However for some reason it suddenly started working over the mobile network, so I'm quite pleased - I'd be even more so if I knew why!

    However Thunderbird has just been upgraded, so I need to hack the client again - if only I could remember how!

    Edit: Just hacked the client again and the set up seems more stable!
    Last edited by peterb; 27-07-2010 at 07:41 PM.
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