Funambol Mobile Open Source

I've just finished reading Funambol Mobile Open Source by Stefano Fornari. I already knew a good deal about Funambol servers and setup prior to reading this book, but I have to say this book would definitely have made my own learning curve a lot easier.

The author does a good job of providing both a beginners perspective and touching lightly on some advanced topics. It begins by chronicling the installation and setup of a fictional user "Maria" as she goes from simply syncing her local desktop to a newly installed Funambol server to a full fledged enterprise environment with hundreds of users.

It covers both Windows and Linux installations and several mobile devices as well including both the Blackberry and the iPhone. It doesn't go into great detail on any one mobile device. I would have preferred to see a bit more detail regarding both the Blackberry and the iPhone considering their prevalence in the market, but he does a good job of at least getting you started with both.

The book goes into good detail on administering user accounts and devices, showing the basics of using the administration tool. It touches briefly on how you can split the subcomponents of the server up onto different physical machines to handle larger enterprise environments, and even covers a bit on how to extend the sync service with your own plugins. The latter is just enough to point you in the right direction, but plan on finding a lot of information elsewhere before you're truly ready to write your own extensions.

All in all, I'd say a very well written, clear instruction manual in setting up a Funambol server for both the small business and enterprise environments.