HOWTO: Funambol server on Ubuntu

[hakkie42@gmail.com]

Hi all,

I wanted to synchronize address book and calendar data of Thunderbird/Lightning clients, possibly Outlook on Windows, Mac OSX ical, Nokia mobile phone address book/calendar etc.

After searching in vain for idiot-proof documentation for Funambol server on Ubuntu I've written my own, with thanks to marckaplan's guide and others (see references in document).
I succeeded in setting up Funambol 6.5 community edition on Ubuntu 8.10 or thereabouts; I've finally switched to Funambol 8 on Ubuntu 9.10 and it still seems to work on Ubuntu Lucid Lynx/10.04. I've now moved to Funambol 9 on Debian 6, but the principles remain the same.

If this howto is up to scratch, I'd like to put it into the documentation wiki, but first I'm eagerly awaiting comments.
I've pasted parts of the text below for reference/keyword hits on forum searches. Looks like it needs to be reformatted quite a bit; at least the OpenOffice document looks a bit better (see attachment below).
Keywords: Funambol, Ubuntu, Server, SyncML, OMA, PostgreSQL, java, Tomcat

Reactions welcome.

regards,
jb

Funambol on Ubuntu


This document described how I set up Funambol on Ubuntu server. Of course, there are more ways of doing this. I've tried to document the reasons why I've chosen this path.
The Configuration and Funambol administration client sections are required for proper operation; at least some of the other staps can probably be omitted, but I haven't tested all possible configuration combinations.
I've marked things that may need further improvement, but the text should be usable as-is.
If you want to send me improvements to this text, please do so!
hakkie42 at gmail free mail
© 2010 jimbeam. Feel free to (re)use this text, but no warranties, express or implied, are given.

Configuration
Below is a table where you can record your specific configuration information. The rest of the guide should explain the meaning of the terms or indicate where you can find more information.
Item
Suggested value/value
Description
Install location
/opt/Funambol
I suggest keeping the default value of /opt/Funambol. We assume you used this setting in the text below. Change to match your own setting if that differs.
Host
funambolserver
Host name that will become part of the sync URL. If you don't have proper DNS set up, use the IP address of the server.
Tomcat HTTP sync port
<nothing, as we use the Apache web server reverse proxy>
Port Funambol/Tomcat listens on for sync requests. Configured in /opt/Funambol/tools/tomcat/conf/server.xml
Default 8080
Tomcat HTTPS sync port
<nothing, as we use the Apache web server reverse proxy>
Port Funambol/Tomcat listens on for sync requests over SSL/TLS.
Configured in /opt/Funambol/tools/tomcat/conf/server.xml
Default 8443
Tomcat AJP port
8009
Port Funambol/Tomcat listens on for AJP proxy requests. We use this for our Apache web server reverse proxy.
Configured in /opt/Funambol/tools/tomcat/conf/server.xml
Default 8009
Funambol admin username
admin
Administrative user used by Funambol Administration tool to manage Funambol (users, devices etc)
Funambol admin password
sa
Password for that user. Good idea to change this!
Sync URL
https://<serverip>:8080/funambol/ds
or
https://serverip/sync
URL that you use on your client devices to synchronize. Consists of hostname Funambol/Tomcat listens on, Tomcat http sync port and /funambol/ds, unless you changed that in the config ;)
You can use the shorter form if you use my Apache reverse proxy configuration.
External sync URL
https://<publicserverip>:34528/funambol/ds
or
https://<publicserverip>:34528/sync
Same as Sync URL but for users outside your LAN. Giving a suggested value is impossible as it depends on your external ip address/name.
You can also use the shorter form if you use my Apache reverse proxy configuration.
JAVA_HOME
/usr/lib/jvm/java-6-sun/
Environment variable/location of the Java JDK/JRE/whatever it's called this week.
If you strip Java from the Funambol bundle (as I do), Funambol needs to point to the proper JAVA_HOME directory
jdbc.classpath
/usr/share/java/postgresql.jar
Sync server Java database driver setting in /opt/Funambol/ds-server/install.properties
It points to the jar file containing the PostgreSQL driver.
jdbc.driver
org.postgresql.Driver
Sync server Java database driver setting in /opt/Funambol/ds-server/install.properties
Java driver class. Modificaton should be unnecessary, unless you use a non-PostgreSQL database.
jdbc.url
jdbc:postgresql://localhost/funambol
Sync server Java database driver setting in /opt/Funambol/ds-server/install.properties
URL to the Postgresql server and database.
jdbc.user, same as funambol user
funambol
Sync server Java database driver setting in /opt/Funambol/ds-server/install.properties
User name for the funambol database on PostgreSQL
jdbc.password
4890hjEla#aas&d2sk2
Sync server Java database driver setting in /opt/Funambol/ds-server/install.properties
Password for the user connecting to the funambol database on PostgreSQL

Full HOWTO (OpenOffice and PDF):
Funambol on Ubuntu 20110312.odt
Funambol on Ubuntu 20110312.zip

[cocoa117]

very nice, I was looking for similar document for Ubuntu, so glad you have done it and wish you could have done sooner.

[hakkie42@gmail.com]

Glad you like it. Like you, I wish it had been done before

[3L33T]

eeek!!! your post jussssssssst reminded me that I did sign up for funambol and 'promised' to test it on my BB8900 and SonyEricsson P1i but never got to it (sooo busy). THANK YOU for the doc.

[mutrax]

you sir, are my personal hero for the next few months!

I'll be reading your tutorial troughly. Been messing with funambol as with as basic settings as possible and the damn server refuses to run after a while without any idea howto debug the problem...

thank you!

Groetjes,
Ed

[hakkie42@gmail.com]

Hi guys,

Thanks! If anything in the doc is incomplete, wrong or vague, let me know...

Ciao,
me

[smaffulli]

this is a great document, thank you. Would you like to share it on Funambol Forge wiki, too? I think it would make life easier for many Funambol users out there.

[hakkie42@gmail.com]

3L33T, any news on those clients? If you have any info, I'd be glad to update the doc!

[hakkie42@gmail.com]

this is a great document, thank you. Would you like to share it on Funambol Forge wiki, too? I think it would make life easier for many Funambol users out there.

I'd love to. I suppose a page in the CategoryServerUser called something like HOWTOFunambolPostgreSQLUbuntu would be appropriate?
I'll try and upload it there. If you or anyone else would like to do it, please be my guest.

BTW, I've slightly updated the document, to fix some potential issues with PostgreSQL user names (only happens on non-default install of PostgreSQL on Ubuntu), and hopefully clarify the text in places.

[mutrax]

3L33T, any news on those clients? If you have any info, I'd be glad to update the doc!

Well It does work on a Nokia E52 phone... No glitches... Just make sure that when erging email and phone contacts, all contacts have the name field filled.. or you'll hava a lot of nameless contacts on your phone.