Outlook client modes

[Ralfeus]

Hi

Where can I find a technical information about how Outlook client in DCOM mode and HTTP mode works? I don't need things like "In DCOM mode user can choose the archive and in HTTP mode can't" but rather data flow in both modes.

Why this question has arised - today I checked Outlook client log when client worked in DCOM mode and found out the archived item is requested via HTTP. I have ran Network Monitor and found out no RPC traffic is used for communication of EV client and EV server. So what is DCOM about....?

[Alex_Brown · Accepted solution]

The DCOM client only uses DCOM in order to retrieve the following information:

• List of archives the user has access to for the property pages/Store In Vault dialog.
• List of available retention categories.
• Some values associated with EV policies.

This information is only used when a user accesses the EV property pages associated with the mailbox root or a mailbox folder and/or the property pages seen during the act of archiving/retrieval.

The actual operation of archiving, retrieval, access to search etc are all actioned via HTTP as you have discovered. So the difference between the DCOM and HTTP client are not how these actions are performed; they are done using HTTP in both clients. The difference is that the DCOM client can show more detailed informational property pages (over DCOM) which allows the client to perhaps select a different retention category during archiving, or see what their archiving policy is on a specific folder in their mailbox. This functionality is not possible in the HTTP client.

Take a look at this blog as it might help you understand the difference some more: https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/blogs/enterprise-vault-full-client-support-outlook-2010