Domino 6.5. Notes 6.5. Windows2000/XP.
We have users that are set up with internal and external TCP/IP connection documents. Many work primarily from remote locations and typically use the external TCP/IP address. They then come into the office for a day. When they return to their external offices, their Notes client does not automatically “find” their server via the location and connection documents. They have a connection document for the internal TCP/IP address and a separate one for the external TCP/IP address. Their connection documents are set up to apply to all users and all locations.
Any idea why?
THANKS
Dave
Subject: Internal vs External TCP/IP Connections
Do they switch location docs? That’s what I do. One connection doc is set up to be usedc only from my ‘Office’ location, and the other is set up to be used only from my ‘Internet’ location. That’s one way.
(BTW: Ideally one would just enter hostnames into connection documents instead of IP addresses and have an internal DNS server generate a correct IP address for internal use, and an external DNS server generate a correct IP address for external use… but many organizations aren’t set up with separate internal and external DNS, plus caching can make this unreliable.)
Subject: RE: Internal vs External TCP/IP Connections
No. They don’t switch location documents. The theory was that if we included connection documents that Notes could use for all location documents, then users would not need to switch location documents. Kind of set it and forget it. I can understand Notes pausing while it finds the correct connection to use, but instead, users are getting a Server Not Responding message. I wonder if that message is coming up because Notes is trying various connections, and does not find the correct one quickly enough.
Dave
Subject: RE: Internal vs External TCP/IP Connections
AFAIK, if you have multiple connections of the same type to the same server accessible from the same location, Notes uses the first one that it finds. Or the last one that it cached. or something like that. In any case, I can’t say that it will work.
You should go to User Preferences - Ports and try a trace to your server from a user’s machine. That will tell you what IP address(es) it is trying, which will indicate which connection(s) it is using.
I switch locations specifically because of this. I don’t have inside/outside DNS, so I have IP addresses in connection docs, with the internal address in the connection that is used in the Office location, and the external address in the connection that is used in the Internet location. Switching locations also (usually) causes the welcome page to switch between the Basics version – which I use when I am coming in over the Internet, and a four-frame version with my mail, calendar, to-do, and follow-up displayed – which I use when I am on my LAN. This saves me the delay times from using the four-frame welcome page over a slower Internet connection. Switching locations also switches the replicator page, from one with every database checked when I’m on the LAN to one with just my mail and a few criticial databases checked when I’m on the road.
BTW: I started doing this even before they put in the promot for location feature during the startup of the Notes client. Now that that feature is there, I would think that a lot of people would take advantage of it. But probably not 