[CalendarServer-users] Setup for small group/family

[Cyrus Daboo]

Hi Chris,

--On April 7, 2008 9:20:48 AM -0500 Chris Cleeland <chris at milodesigns.com> 
wrote:

> I'm finally getting back to something that's been on my to-do list for
> awhile--setting up the cal server for my family to use.  I know that
> there are at least a few others out there who do something similar, so
> I'm looking for feedback on how you've set it up.

I think I can fairly lay claim to the fact that my family is the first to 
use CalDAV on the basis that we have been using it since 2005 in one guise 
or another. I do actually run OS X server at home with CalDAV enabled. 
Having shared calendars etc is the big benefit for us.

> I'm trying to decide if I want to have an account--and, thus, potentially
> multiple calendars--per person, or if I want to have just one account
> with multiple calendars under that account.  The advantage of the latter
> layout is that it most accurately mirrors what we have right now.  Access
> control isn't a big issue, because right now it's only my wife and I
> managing calendars related to ourselves and other members of the family.

I have separate accounts for each family member just because that's how the 
server as a whole is setup for email, ichat etc. My wife and I are 
read-write proxies for the kids (they are too young to use computers) and 
we are each read-only proxies of each other. I also set up a family group 
calendar (that is tied to the wikiserver feature on OS X server too) and 
that has a calendar for public holidays (one for US, one for UK).

The whole setup works pretty well with the exception that we can't 
currently sync the proxied calendars over to our respective iPhones.

> The advantage of the former layout, though, is that it scales better for
> the future (when kids manage their own calendars) and allows more
> segregation of activities into different calendars.  It also would allow
> for kids to be able to manage their own calendars, but not change those
> of the parents.

Yes.

> I can manage the technical details pretty well on my own (so far), but am
> looking for feedback on the administrative side of things.  Any and all
> help appreciated.

If you have or are going to have separate accounts for other things like 
email, im etc, then I think it makes sense to stick with that for calendars 
too - particularly if you can share the same authentication db etc.

-- 
Cyrus Daboo