This is a draft of two entries for the Red Hat Press Blog
Interoperability
Interoperability is all the buzz these days. With it comes the promise of seamless integration of an otherwise disconnected and disjointed mass of servers. You don't want conflict, especially not with your infrastructure. At the Fedora Project, where we work to present the latest technology wrapped up in an easy to use Linux product, we feel your pain. We are diligently working on technologies which enhance, improve and advance interoperability. And with the release of Fedora 11 on May 26th come some interesting new interoperability related features.
Microsoft Exchange has become a staple in many IT environments. Its groupware features make it popular amongst many organazations both small and large. And yet it has been almost impossible to use its full functionality through an open source client -- until now. Exchange utilizes a proprietary protocol, the Messaging Application Programming Interface or MAPI, developed by Microsoft to provide its features. OpenChange is the first Open Source implementation of the MAPI protocol.
OpenChange aims to provide a portable Open Source implementation of these Microsoft Exchange and Exchange Server protocols. The OpenChange implementation provides a client-side library which can be used in existing messaging clients to offer native compatibility with Exchange. Using the "libmapi" library, OpenChange allows clients such as Thunderbird, Evolution, KMail, and other open source applications to utilize the full range of MAPI functionality including messaging, shared calendars, contact databases, public folders, notes and tasks. All applications can now start speaking the same language, regardless of platform.
In order to enable OpenChange and libmapi to function properly, parts of Samba 4, the open source software suite for interoperability with Microsoft network resources, have begun to enter the Fedora release. Samba is the software that allows Linux hosts to use services such as Windows File and Printer Sharing, authentication and authorization functionality, and name resolution. Samba 4 promises to greatly enhance this baseline functionality by adding full Active Directory logon and administration support, built-in LDAP and Kerberos servers, a generic security subsystem, and better scalability. "Some parts of Samba 4 are reaching stability and we included those libraries that enable other projects like OpenChange. However, most of these libraries are still subject to change but they are heading toward stability, and we closely collaborate with upstream in the stabilization effort" said Simo Sorce, a Red Hat Engineer and Samba Upstream Developer.
Fedora gives customers of Red Hat Enterprise Linux an opportunity to sneak a peek at upcoming technology that may be slated for inclusion in RHEL. Feel free to download a copy of Fedora 11 on May 26th at get.fedoraproject.org and check it out. Your infrastructure will thank you.