i have someone who syncs 2 computers both on mac os X 10.3 or 10.4. they both sync calendars and contacts and to do lists... i finally got it to work without real ip's on a switch using 169 auto config addresses. which doesn't make sense but i tried putting 192.168 addresses in and wouldnt work? so i took them out and it went back to 169 addresses and started working. no idea but it started working?

other question- they want to add a 3rd computer to this loop without a NUTD server and want all 3 to sync. is that possible? do i point 2 of them to the main one? how is this done? any help would be great?

When you say "without a NUDC server", do you mean:
(a) they are using Now Server Manager, but not on a dedicated server machine; or
(b) they are not using Now Server Manager?

they are not using now server manager. they are just syncing back and forth between the 2. so is it possible to merge 3 individual now up to date calanders and conacts and to do. or do u have install the server version?

I'm not really sure how you are doing this... Now Up to Date and Contact does not offer any sort of peer-to-peer sharing model. You must always have the server component running and have the individual clients connect to the server to update. The server doesn't need to be on a different machine, it could be running on the same machine as one of the clients, bu the server manager (in version 5 or the Public Event and Public Contact server applications in version 4 and earlier) must be running somewhere.

The only thing I can think of is that you're somehow using file sharing to point to the same datafile on both machines, I've seen people do this before, but it's not a good solution. The primary problem with it is that you can't have 2 people writing to the same file at the same time, and both Contact and Up to Date are constantly writing to their files when they're open. The operating system itself should prevent dual access of the file saying that the file is already in use, but if somehow you managed to luck past the normal system safeguards against simultaneous writes to a file, it would undoubtedly lead to corruption of the file.

The way it should work is that you do a custom installation of the NUDC software on one of the 3 machines and choose to install the server software (Now Server Manager). You then create a server for Now Contact and one for Now up to Date and have all three of the clients working with their own local database files connect to the server IP and port. At that point you will want to make sure you have public categories on the server and that everyone is subscribed to those categories, and that any shared information resides in one of those public categories.

Some common issues we see when people are having difficulties connecting to a server include:
•having the firewall set up to block the ports for the server on the server machine
•having a dynamic IP address on the server and having it change
•the clients are connecting to the server, but aren't subscribed to any categories
•clients are saving data in private categories which do not share to the server

Without knowing more particulars about what you tried before, it's difficult to point to possible issues. I'd recommend looking at the chapters on setting up a server in the "Take Control of Now Up to Date and Contact" pdf which you can find here http://www.nowsoftware.com/takecontrol.asp.

ok my fault, looked at the main computer and found the server running. the weird thing is that the server is running one ip but the computer connected to it says a different server ip it is connected to.. they are both plugged into a switch with no dhcp and they both have auto 169 address. also they have wireless plugged in and have 10.1.1 addresses for internet through airport.
The main computer has 1 calander shared with one computer. I need to setup one more separate calender on the main(server) then add both to all 4 computers and i am getting very confused? any help? any instructions? the pdf leaves me off for the server setup and am not sure how to continue. thanks