Notes.ini file for this server is invalid

While installing and configuring another partition on a Lotus Domino server that already had 2 I ran into an interesting error. While configuring the new partition and clicked on finish I got the following error:

After some google searching I found a technote 1472522 explaining this issue for Lotus Domino 8.5.1 and 8.5.2 versions. It says to check the c:\windows directory for a notes.ini file and delete it. My server didn't have a notes.ini in the c:\windows directory. I did find one in the d:\lotus\domino program directory though. The way partition servers work is they have a notes.ini in their data folder. So I moved the notes.ini out of the program directory and the server setup completed without any more issues.


Update:  I just tried adding another partition to an existing domino server ( 8.5.2 32 bit ) and loaded the FP1 and there was the NOTES.INI in the domino program directory. The contents:


[Notes]
CFP_LP_BASE_VERSION=Release 8.5.2|August 10, 2010
CFP_LP_CURRENT=Release 8.5.2FP1|November 29, 2010            
CFP_LP_PREV=Release 8.5.2|August 10, 2010

So fyi it seems this will happen each time you install an additional partition

Managed Replica - Not checking mail automatically

I recently had an issue where someone else had a managed replica, converted from a local replica. That person had 8.5.2 FP2 installed and everything looked good. However that person wasn't getting emails automatically. When I force a replication and sync using the "Start Now" button it works.

Then I noticed a status message in the status bar saying "Unable to encrypt saved mail because the mailfile specified in your current location ( ServerName/Org mail\tuser-replica.nsf ) is not on your workspace or available on the network"

So I looked at the managed replica database properties and found the file name and path mail\tuser-replica.nsf is the managed replica on the local machine. So I looked at the current location document under the "Mail" tab and Mail file location was set to server ( for managed replica this is the correct setting ) and the mail file was mail\tuser-replica.nsf. So I figured that had to be the issue. The mail file on the server was mail\tuser.nsf.

I closed lotus notes, renamed the database mail\tuser-replica.nsf to mail\tuser.nsf, launched notes, edit the current location document and changed the mail file field to mail\tuser.nsf. Then I opened the managed replica, sent and email and it automatically showed up in the inbox without hitting "Start now" on the replication and Sync page.

missing nlnotes.exe on Lotus Domino 8.5.2?

I was on a Lotus Domino server 8.5.2 FP2 (64bit) server this morning and found the nlnotes.exe missing in the domino program directory. At first I thought it was deleted by mistake however, I found nlnotes.exe missing on 8.5.2 FP1 (64bit) too. I know nlnotes.exe is horrible to use on a server with all the issues associated but sometimes it's necessary. A quick Google search found some other people noticing it gone but no reason as to why.

So I just did a fresh install of Lotus Domino 8.5.2 (32bit) with no fix pack and nlnotes.exe is in the program directory. Also I looked at another Lotus Domino 8.5.2 FP1 (32bit) server and nlnotes.exe was there. So it looks like IBM didn't include nlnotes.exe with the Windows Lotus Domino 64bit server.

Lotus Notes ( up to 8.5.2 ) AllClient issues and webkit package names and resulting download file names

It still seems that people are having issues with "Cannot upgrade AllClient installation to Notes client. The upgrade you are attempting is not supported" errors. Be very careful because it's easy to install the wrong webkit and then look up the error and change the installtype in the notes.ini ( btw changing the install type is not recommended under any circumstances and is not support by IBM ). Hopefully you are reading this and taking a second look.


Possible ways to get the AllClient error:


Right around the release of IBM Lotus Notes 8.5, the filename for downloaded Lotus Notes webkit files started changing with what seems to be no rhyme or reason. Before 8.5, the file names were the pack number ( CXXXXX )  I believe this may be confusing and causing an issue when upgrading older clients. Check the very end of this post for the file names and package names.


The other scenario is that the older client was installed with the admin/designer/notes and only the notes client is selected. I've heard of people just downloading the admin/designer/notes client and installing that on all computers with only the client selected at install. BEWARE because if this is your case, your installtype will still be 2 even though you only have the Lotus Notes client portion installed which should be installtype 6, clear as mud right? If this is the case, you need to install the admin/designer/notes client when you upgrade and not the notes only client ( I'm not sure what license issues this could be causing with everyone running the admin/designer/notes client too ). To fix this, you need to manually uninstall the current notes client and install the client only.


Last, IBM Lotus Notes version 8.0, 8.0.1, 8.0.2 all had a basic version of admin/designer/notes where 8.5 and later do not have a basic version of admin/designer/notes. This has nothing to do with instaltype but just wanted you to keep that in mind.


FYI
-a standard ( Eclipse ) install can launch the basic client by adding the -sa in the shortcut. If the shortcut has the notes.ini appended after the exe, put the -sa in between. 


-admin/designer/notes client cannot be installed as mutliuser


Below is an example of an All Client install ( admin/designer/notes ) ( installtype=2 )

Below is an example of a Notes Client install ( notes ) ( installtype=6 ) 

NOTE: like I stated above, if you install both these clients as is displayed on two different machines, they will only install the lotus notes portion of the client. However the install types are still different and you need to stick with the same install type. Even thought the All Client only has the Notes Client installed, you cannot install the Notes Client as an upgrade and vice versa.


Also you can check the person documents under Administration tab > Client Information > Notes client license(s). Note that this isn't full proof but it will give you an idea of who is running what without having to go to the physical machines. Make sure there is a pc and client build entry at the bottom:
If you have installtype=6 ( Notes client ) then it will display 
"Lotus Notes"

However if you have installtype=2 ( All Client ) Then it will display 
"Lotus Notes Designer
Lotus Notes Administrator"

Hope this helps!











IBM Lotus Notes Basic Install


installtype 6

IBM Lotus Notes Client 8.0 basic configuration Windows XP and Vista English (C13NAEN)

C13NAEN.exe

IBM Lotus Notes Client 8.0.1 basic configuration for Windows XP and Vista English (C18XHEN)

C18XHEN.exe

IBM Lotus Notes 8.0.2 basic configuration for Windows English (C1K34EN)

C1K34EN.exe

IBM Lotus Notes 8.5 Basic Configuration for Windows English (C1SP2EN) 

lotus_notes85_basic_win_C1SP2EN.exe

IBM Lotus Notes 8.5.1 Basic Configuration for Windows English (CZ5S1EN) 

lotus_notes851_basic_win_CZ5S1EN.exe

IBM Lotus Notes Client 8.5.2 Basic Configuration for Windows English (CZIF7EN) 

lotus_notes852_basic_win_en.exe

installtype 2
IBM Lotus Notes, Designer and Administrator 8.0 Clients basic configuration English (C13NEEN) 
C13NEEN.exe
IBM Lotus Notes, Designer and Administrator 8.0.1 Clients basic configuration for Windows XP and Vista English (C18XMEN)
C18XMEN.exe
IBM Lotus Notes, Domino Designer and Admin 8.0.2 Basic Configuration for Windows XP and Vista English (C1K35EN) 
C1K35EN.exe






IBM Lotus Notes Standard ( Eclipse )


installtype 6

IBM Lotus Notes Client 8.0 Windows XP and Vista English (C13NBEN)

C13NBEN.exe

IBM Lotus Notes Client 8.0.1 for Windows XP and Vista English (C19U1EN) 

C19U1EN.exe

IBM Lotus Notes 8.0.2 for Windows English (C1K31EN)

C1K31EN.exe

IBM Lotus Notes 8.5 for Windows XP and Vista English (C1SP4EN)

lotus_notes85_win_C1SP4EN.exe

IBM Lotus Notes 8.5.1 for Windows English (CZ5S3EN) 

lotus_notes851_win_CZ5S3EN.exe

IBM Lotus Notes Client 8.5.2 for Windows English (CZIF3EN)

lotus_notes852_win_en.exe

installtype 2
IBM Lotus Notes, Designer and Administrator 8.0 Clients English (C13NFEN) 
C13NFEN.exe
IBM Lotus Notes, Designer and Administrator 8.0.1 Clients for Windows XP and Vista English (C19U0EN)
C19U0EN.exe

IBM Lotus Notes, Domino Designer and Admin 8.0.2 for Windows XP and Vista English (C1K33EN)

C1K33EN.exe
IBM Lotus Notes, Domino Designer and Admin 8.5 for Windows English (C1SQ5EN)
lotus_notesdesigneradmin_w32_C1SQ5EN.exe

IBM Lotus Notes, Designer and Domino Admin 8.5.1 for Windows 32 bit English (CZ5S0EN)

notes_designer_admin_851_w32_CZ5S0EN.exe
IBM Lotus Notes, Domino Designer and Admin 8.5.2 for Windows XP and Vista 32 Bit English (CZIF0EN)
notes_designer_admin852_w32en.exe

Lotus Traveler 8.5.1 issue with iPhone / iPad

Ran into an issue with setting up an iPhone account with Lotus Traveler. When the Logon Name and Mail Address was filled out and the 'Generate' button was clicked, an error message on the web page would display in red color:

An error was encountered trying to read file c:\lotus\domino\data\traveler\cfg\client\Apple.xml.

In this instance the server was a partition server and the second partition is not running. The data\traveler\cfg folder did not contain a \client\ folder. However on the second partition located at c:\lotus\domino\data2\ had a \client\ folder with the AppleTemplate.xml file.

First I stopped the traveler task
tell nTraveler quit

Then copied the \client\ folder from c:\lotus\domino\data2\traveler\cfg\ to c:\lotus\domino\data\traveler\cfg\ folder. Then I started the traveler task
load traveler

When the task was finished loading the Apple.xml file was created from the AppleTemplate.xml in the correct folder c:\lotus\domino\data\traveler\cfg\client\Apple.xml


More info:
Customizing the device configuration process for Apple
http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/domhelp/v8r0/index.jsp?topic=/com.ibm.help.lnt851.doc/Creating_the_bootstrap_file_for_Apple.html

Lotus Notes 8.5.2 Roaming - No prompt to upgrade

Last week I hit an issue of a user not getting the prompt for roaming user upgrade. I've down graded roaming, then re-setup roaming but still the user didn't receive the prompt. The adminp process only shows

Update Roaming User State in Person Record

       (Green Checkmark) Server/Test performed action on: 02/01/2011 8:00 PM

Which the document link shows In Progress and an hourglass next to the person document. The person logs into a different computer almost every time. So the issue must reside either in the person document or mail file right?

Well I ended up creating a new person document for the user by clicking "Add Person" and copying and pasting all the data from the old person document to the newly created one. Before I saved the newly created document I deleted the old one ( also I copied and pasted into a temp nab on my machine just in case ) and hit save and close on the newly created person document. The idea being a setting or field that is not displayed in the form is preventing the user from upgrading. The next day I still had issues with the user not getting prompted.

Finally I checked the local log.nsf of the user and found this error message:

Unable to get roaming upgrade lock, exiting roaming upgrade

When I Google searched for that error, I found one link to the forum that someone else had a similar issue and they had the notes.ini parameter client_clock=1 enabled on their client. Fortunately this person posted all the code because I noticed a line saying:

Preseting path to roaming lock db to CN=BELEUMAIL02/O=VWRI!!mail\lsteenho
Entering GetUpgradeLock()
Using Mail file as lock db
Using preset value CN=BELEUMAIL02/O=VWRI!!mail\lsteenho, as the mail file path
Path to the lock DB = CN=BELEUMAIL02/O=VWRI!!mail\lsteenho
Roaming lock already exists
03/11/2009 14:15:32 Unable to get roaming upgrade lock, exiting roaming upgrade.

So I re-created the mail file by doing File > Database / Application > New Copy on the server. Then moved the current mail file outside the data folder and renamed the new copy the same as the moved mail file. A few days later the user received the roaming upgrade prompt! The only downside is the user has to reset their unread marks. If that didn't work I thought about creating a new blank mail file just to get them to upgrade roaming and then revert to the old mail file ( not sure if this would work though ).

I then checked the last thread in the forum and the user basically said the same process fixed his issue too. DOH! Maybe next time I will read the entire thread and save my self the headache!

I sure would like to know if a profile document or regular document is created for this lock. I've tried to 'break' roaming to re-create this but with no success. I am interested if anyone else can shed some light on this roaming upgrade lock process.

References:

Subject: Roaming In Progress, not completing

http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/nd85forum.nsf/4b9931b774db788c85256bf0006b5e6d/f404efd53249bf0985257663004a1314?OpenDocument

Lotus Traveler 8.5.2.1 SSL and uninstalling issues

I've had two major issues with Lotus Notes Traveler recently ( only applies to version 8.5.2.1 ):

1. Uninstalling the Lotus Mobile Installer goes through ok but uninstalling Lotus Notes Traveler yields "Uninstall not successful". I've had some what 80% success installing Lotus Notes Traveler on top of the old version but in other cases I had to wipe the phone. I found a technote regarding this issue with uninstalling Lotus Notes Traveler. Before you uninstall go to your home screen and press Menu/Options > Settings. Next open Security / Location & Security. Next find 'Select Device Administrators' and open it. You should see "Lotus Traveler Security" checked. Uncheck this and you will be able to uninstall. I've included a link at the bottom.

2. Using SSL. I tell you what, I've had strange issues but fortunately they are all documented and addressed.

SSL issue # 1. Self signed certificate doesn't allow you to download the Lotus Mobile Installer from the web browser. This issue seems to be related to the Android browser and self signed certificates. See the link for workarounds. FYI the self signed SSL certificate works great with Lotus Notes Traveler besides this issue.

SSL issue # 2. Signed SSL certificate causes communication between Android devices and server to stop communicating. I had a self signed certificate and I moved the server to a wild card commercially signed certificate. Some communication worked but over the next couple of days all the devices stopped working / alerting when new mail arrived. After re-installing the Lotus Mobile Installer, it prompts me to download the Lotus Notes Traveler and then gives me an error. This is an issue with a / in the ou or organizational unit of the certificate. The fix is to grab the new LotusInstaller.apk and LotusTraveler.apk files from fix central and copy them to the server overwriting the old versions and change the VersionInfo.txt to reflect the new versions. The bad thing is that you have to re-install both installer and traveler on all devices.




Problem downloading and installing the Lotus Mobile Installer for Android devices
http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21457494

Traveler 8.5.2.1 APAR affecting Android SSL users (includes well-known certificates)
http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21458224


Recommended Maintenance - Lotus Notes Traveler
http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg24019529

8.5.2.1 APAR LO57088 for Android (Fix 1 for install post 8.5.2.1)
Fix central - LNT_Android_8521_FIX1