Switching users and managed replicas - 8.5.2 FP2

In my Lotus Notes client I have multiple location documents with links to notes.id when I am switching between Domino domains and servers. This saves me the hassle of reconfiguring a new client just for that Domino domain. The problem is my current setup is not configured for managed replica but one the user accounts I use is.

The other day I tried to open that user's managed replica mail file on their server using my current location and notes.id. The result? Very odd behavior. I was able to open the mail database on the server using my admin client without any errors. I check the bottom left location information for "on local" or "on server/server" and it shows "on server/server". When I click on File > Application > Properties I get the server field as server/server and type is Standard. I click on encryption settings and it says it's not encrypted. However when I go to click on a different folder ( or the same highlighted folder when I opened the database) I get "This database has local access protection (encrypted) and you are not authorized to access it" error.

I click Ok on the message and that folder is highlighted but I still see the contents of the folder that opened when I opened the database. Every folder I click on I get the above error but it still only shows the contents of the folder when I opened the database. Last I'm able to open documents in that original folder without errors. 

The issue must be with the client because the managed replica is stored on my Lotus Notes client and it is encrypted using my other location's notes.id. It seems that the getfolder function the client executes on the server's copy of the mail file is interrupted and redirected to the managed replica stored locally regardless of who is signed in. I'm guessing this is by design, just wish there was a way for IBM to code something to check the current location or current notes id and stop that from happening.

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Lotus Notes not showing when launched

Recently I had an issue with someone's Lotus Notes client not loading. They would double click their Lotus Notes icon, only the Lotus Notes splash screen / loading screen showed and the user could enter their password. After the password was entered, the splash screen disappeared. Then I would see nlnotes.exe and notes2.exe in the task manager, but Lotus Notes still didn't show.

I had the user reboot and that didn't work. Next I tried loading Lotus Notes 8.5.2 since they were at 8.5.1 and that didn't work. Next I reconfigured their client by erasing all lines in their notes.ini except the top 10, deleting ( moving ) all .nsf files in their data folder, and deleting ( moving ) all .ndk files. That didnt' work. Finally I deleted ( moved )the "workspace" folder in their /data/ folder. That finally worked. The workspace folder was about 2.5 gb!

Converting users from OOO agent to OOO service

Converting from Agent to Service Out Of Office ( OOO ) is pretty simple on the configuration side. A few things to remember before you change your mail server to Out of Office Service:

1. All mail users need to have Lotus Notes 8.x or above installed
2. All mail users need to have Lotus Notes 8.x or above mail templates
3. The Lotus Domino directory on the mail servers must have the new 8.x or above design template applied
4. All servers in a domino domain that are mail servers, included clustered servers, must have steps 2 and 3 complete
5. All servers in a domino domain that are mail servers, included clustered servers, must have their configuration documents setup for Out of Office Service. After this is configured, the server must be restarted for the OOO Service to work.


To setup the Out of Office Service on a server, open the server configuration document, go to Router/SMTP > Advanced > Controls. Under the Miscellaneous Controls heading and Out-of-Office type: change from Agent to Service

After this setting is configured, the server must be restarted for the Out of Office Service to work.

In one instance, after the server was configured and restarted, I had issues with existing OOO agents still running. I figured out that before the OOO Service was turned on, the users already enabled their OOO using the agent. Also, the users didn't have manager access to their mail files so when they enable and disable their OOO, an adminp request was generated. Here are the following steps I took to convert them to the OOO Service

First I opened the user's mail file ACL. I explicitly put my name in the ACL and gave myself manager access. Then I made myself the mail file owner through mail preferences. Close the mail file ( you might have to close all Lotus Notes windows ) and re-open

Next I opened the user's OOO preferences. I made a note of when they left and when they are coming back. This is important because we will disable their OOO and re-enable it.

Next I disabled the user's OOO.

Then using my admin client I opened the user's home server ( just so happens the user's home server is the administration server too ) and submitted a console command:
tell adminp process new

I waited a few minutes and went back to the user's mail file. Then I enabled their OOO using the dates I recorded before I disabled it.

Next I checked the admin client under Server > Status > Schedules > Agents, to see if the agent is still scheduled ( Also doing a tell amgr schedule to see the OOO schedule and see who is still running the agent OOO ). The status should show the OOO agent still running.

Next I disable that same user's OOO

Next I waited for agent to disappear from the Agents view in the admin client ( or from the amgr schedule )

Finally I enabled the user's OOO again. You can submit the command "tell router O" to display the active OOO users using the OOO Service. Verify that you see that user's OOO. At this point I changed the mail file owner back to the user, and removed myself from the ACL as manager of the mail file.


It might seem like a lot of disabling and enabling of the OOO but I had to do this for 12 people and this was the only process that worked for me.

References:

The IBM Lotus Notes and Domino Out of Office service: Best practices

Designating the Out of Office service type

Android Traveler 8.5.2.1 folder rename issue

Yesterday I tried to move 6 sub folders to make them root folders. Using my Lotus Notes client, I clicked and dragged them to the root. Then I noticed that the folders did not change on my Android Traveler "show folders" option. I didn't think much about it and went ahead and subscribed to those 6 root folders that were showing as sub folders in Traveler. Next thing I know I get a security execution alert when opening them in my Lotus Notes client and it is signed by my traveler server! After closing my notes and re-opening I found that my traveler server moved my root folders back to sub folders!

This actually makes some sense to me ( well not the moving of the folders back to sub folders ) but each folder is a design element with a unique ID. So when those folders are moved Traveler must not have the ability to recognize it ( at least in the 8.5.2.1 version ). I'm going to try and upgrade to 8.5.2.2 and see if the issue still exists.

As a work around I just created new folders and moved all my mail over and deleted the old folders.

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.