Connecting to Other Messaging Systems

Working with Queries

For partner systems that tend to respond slowly, Exchange users may develop the habit of querying twice for other users' free and busy information. Exchange users may initiate a query knowing that it will likely time out, then wait a few minutes and query again to get the latest data. This works because free and busy data is still written to a free and busy record in the public folder store, even if a client times out while waiting for it. When Exchange users make a second free and busy query while that information is still current, they can still receive the late-arriving information.

Querying Distribution Lists

You can query the free and busy information of a distribution list (DL), even if the DL is defined on your local system but contains members on a partner system. For example, an Exchange user can query an Exchange DL if it contains GroupWise members, and free and busy information for the entire DL will be returned. However, free and busy querying of DLs that are hosted on partner systems is not supported. That is, an Exchange user cannot query a GroupWise DL (or group), regardless of where its members reside.

For a detailed overview of free and busy querying with Lotus Notes, see Free and Busy Querying with Lotus Notes.
For a detailed overview of free and busy calendaring with Novell GroupWise, see Free and Busy Querying with Novell GroupWise.