title: configuring evolution to use the global address list link: https://onemoretech.wordpress.com/2008/07/28/configuring-evolution-to-use-the-global-address-list/ author: lembobro description: post_id: 484 created: 2008/07/28 16:11:41 created_gmt: 2008/07/28 16:11:41 comment_status: open post_name: configuring-evolution-to-use-the-global-address-list status: publish post_type: post

configuring evolution to use the global address list

I’m not going to waste much time on this. It’s something pretty basic that most active Windows admins should know, but old timers like me are likely to have forgotten.

Ignore anything you’ve read on any Linux forum or mailing list about how to get evolution configured to use the Global Address List (GAL) for Exchange. None of them know what they’re talking about.

The GAL, it is true, primarily resides on the machine hosting the Global Catalog for Active Directory. But if you want to connect to it I would not recommend going searching for that machine. For a lot of reasons I won’t bother to mention here, that could only cause you grief later on.

The right way to do this is to put the fully qualified domain name of your login domain in the “Global Catalog Server” field on the “Receiving Options” tab for your particular Mail Account configuration. So, instead of inputting “bigadserver.bigdomain.example.com”, you’d put “bigdomain.example.com”.
I’m still putting evolution through the paces of being my Outlook substitute for now. One of the things I need to test, now that I’ve got it connecting to the GAL, is if it can get address book entries over the Internet, without having to get onto my company VPN.

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