Problem with activesync email push with Anyconnect on iOS

[jan.nielsen]

Hi There,

Does anyone have a successfull implementation of push email sync with exchange on iphone via anyconnect vpn ? I am having problems getting push to function, manually updating works fine. I stumbled on this "Note" in the 2.4 release notes of anyconnect, however it is not present in the most recent 2.5 release note :

"Due  to the constraints of Apple iOS, push email notifications will not work  via VPN. However, AnyConnect can be used in parallel with externally  accessible ActiveSync connections which can be excluded from the  tunneling policy. "

Is this still valid, and is this then something all VPN solution providers just live with ?

[Daniel marcotte]

I use anyconnect on IOS 5.0.1 but not in push mode. Didn't try. The user need to acces email or calendar or contact then the vpn goes up (auto-connect) and sync. With a certificat as authentification.

For the push to work, the VPN need to be always on day and night = battery drain. Your mail server cannot activate de VPN on your device if it cannot talk to it.

[jan.nielsen]

So this means your users won't get notified when a new mail arrives ?

[Daniel marcotte]

true. When they want and have the time to look at theyre email, they take the iPhone or iPad, click on mail, wait 10 secondes if the VPN is not currently up and they received and read at that time. On 26 Blackberry user, maybe 2 have an alarm for new email. All the other prefered to look at them when they want. It always depend of your importance, job and how fast people want you to answer. If someone need a fast answer, the phone exist!