Mac OS X Server

Mac OS X Server 10.5: Troubleshooting CalDAV

I originally posted this at http://www.318.com/TechJournal

So you installed your new server and you’re having a few problems. Let’s look at the common issues and a few simple fixes for them.

iCal will not start, with log entries that it is unable to create a virtual host:
Check your host name. iCal is going to need the host name to be correct in order to start. Use scutil --get HostName and then make sure that the host name listed in the iCal Server settings is identical to this value.

You setup a user, check the box in Workgroup Manager for Enable Calendaring and then save your settings but you get the following error in your logs:
Oct 12 15:51:26 cedge Workgroup Manager[2282]: +[WPUser userWithGUID::] returned nil!

This is likely caused by the fact that you are enabling a calendar for a local user. Try using an OD based user and see if you get the same error.

You got everything started and the account was created for the user but when you add an account in iCal it fails to connect. Make sure that the port that iCal server is using is located at the tail end of the host name for the iCal Server. One issue that we see here is that unless you are using managed accounts then iCal Server is not likely going to append the port number for you iCal Server. Also verify that you can connect to the remote server, and remember that you can always open the URL of the server followed by a : and then the port number and get a login prompt. If you can authenticate to this as the user whose calendar that you are trying to setup then you can use the information in this screen to determine ACL information and other security settings that could be keeping calendars from working. Also keep in mind that while your default port might be 8008 your default port if you are using SSL is actually 8443.

Once you get this far, you should be able to create an event and see data listed in the Overview tab for iCal. If so then you should be able to about anything you want in the iCal server.

If you prefer to use the serveradmin CLI to control your services, you can also use the serveradmin settings calendar:ServerHostName = "SomeHostName" variable to change your host name. You can also use the calendar:HTTPPort to change the port number you are using for connectivity.

Happy Calendaring!!!