We moved to Notes655 (from 5.0) in September of this year. Since then, mail files on our dedicated mail server have become corrupt, randomly and seemingly without reason. Notes issues a ‘database is corrupt’ message and then users cannot delete notes, make calendar entries, etc.
We have the sever on 655 and also are using the mail template StdR6Mail. It appears that all mailboxes have the ODS of 43.
We have already tried running compact and updall on all mailfiles on the server.
We use the Domino administrator console and run ‘fixup’ to easily resolve the issue, but we are uncertain as to the cause.
I have not noticed that we have any accounts that need to have ‘fixup’ run more than once.
I searched the Forum and didn’t find any direct fixes for this.
The only common element here is that it appears that if someone leaves their notes on all weekend, then they do get corrupt. However, I’m not sure if it’s the only reason.
Thanks in advance for any help.
Subject: Help figuring out why mail is getting corrupted
Our upgrade from 5 to 6 (now on 7) was also problematic. It seemed like our problems started when we ran ‘load convert’ (or nconvert) to bulk upgrade mail files to the new template version. After that we were restoring files from backup, running fixup and repairing corrupt design elements (views/view aliases) for days. If I recall correctly, everyone had messages disappear from their inbox (although they were still in ‘All Documents’)! In some cases, these problems were not evident right away.
6 to 7 was a breeze.
Paul.
Subject: Help figuring out why mail is getting corrupted
Thank you for all the responses. I’ll most certainly check on the backup software angle.
The only problem there is we contract out that part of our business and right now were having difficulty finding the right people to talk to.
My question with this is why didn’t we see this problem in version 5? We continue to use the same backup (Tivoli) system, just changed the software version on the server.
I’ll update if we have found a solution.
Thanks
Subject: Help figuring out why mail is getting corrupted
I’m having the exact same issue, I have somewhere in the neighborhood of 6 - 10 databases a week reporting that they’re corrupted.
I’ve opened a ticket with IBM/Lotus - but I’m not sure that I’m making any progress convincing them that it’s a problem.
Do you have support? You might also open a ticket - maybe together we can make some progress!
Subject: RE: Help figuring out why mail is getting corrupted
I would check the your backup software, your compacting program if you have any. But this sound mainly like a backup issues, or the backup program not being able to backup open files.
Subject: Help figuring out why mail is getting corrupted
Pretty sure this will be your backup software clashing with scheduled compact processes or Notes clients that are active overnight. What seems to happen is the backup software holds a file ‘open’ during the backup, and if the client or the compact process attempts to access it, the request is denied and the server flags the database as corrupt.You need to get ‘open file’ or Domino compatible backup software.
Regards
Ian
Subject: RE: Help figuring out why mail is getting corrupted
From talking to support it seems that he’s working the same issue for a couple other customers that are at 6.5.5.
I can confirm in my case that 1) it’s not the backup software (backups only run on weekends) and 2) its not the AV software (.nsf, .ntf, and .box files as well as temp directories are spcifically excluded).
Also, it’s been my experience over the last 10+ years that if the file is locked by another process, one usually (but arguably not always) needs to wait for the other process to let go of the file. Again, this is not the case for me.
When ‘Compact -B’ runs, a few databases (may) report an error. There was no error, no symptom of any kind before ‘Compact -B’ is run, only after. Sometimes another ‘Compact -B’ will ‘fix’ it, more often that not a ‘Fixup -f -j’ followed by ‘Compact -c -d -i -K’ is required. Again, during this process there is no indication of any files being locked by another process - and the file no longer reports corruption when running ‘Compact -B’.
This also only seems to occur when there is actually data compaction that must be done - in other words, once the database is compacted, I’ve been able to run ‘Compact -B’ a hundred times with no problem. But over the course of a few weeks, the database might report an issue again when ‘Compact -B’ is run.