Local Replica of Mail DB Opens When Using ONLINE Location Document?

HCL Domino Domino Forum
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We have dozens of laptop users in our environment, we set them up with a local replica of their mail file so they can work at home etc via their “OFFLINE” (notes 8.5 naming convention) or “Island” (old naming convention) location document. For all other location documents we make sure their mail db is replicated to the server via a replication schedule of every 20 minutes, Monday – Sunday, 1:01 AM to 11:59 PM (don’t get me started about the bug where if you span midnight, Notes reverts to a 1 minute a day schedule)

Since upgrading to Notes 8.5, we have noticed that when users start their Notes client, quite often the local replica of their mail database is opened instead of the Server Replica, even though they are using the “Online” location document, and connected to the 100 Mbps LAN at the office?

At first we assumed it was USER ERROR, keeping in mind that one of the new 8.5 features is the concept of the “Window Tabs” that remain open after re-starting the notes client. For example, if they were at home the night before, working off the local Replica of their mail database, then they shut down notes but don’t close the mail DB Window Tab. The next day they connect their laptop to the network at work, start notes, the local replica of their Mail db opens, which all makes sense. So we started posting tips about laptop users should close their tabs before exiting Notes etc. Weeks later, day after day we receive the same calls from more and more people who are fairly Notes Savvy users where their Notes client has inadvertently opened a local replica of their mail database when they asked for the Server Replica ? (By choosing “Online” instead of “Offline” with all their Window Tabs closed )

So the bottom line is this: It seems that even with all tabs closed, and with your location document set to “Online”, if you click on your mail db icon via the Bookmark Bar, it’s not uncommon for the Notes client to open the local replica? No big deal, but now users receive new e-mail messages 20 minutes later than their blackberry and general confusion and help desk issues start to pile up?

Has anyone else run into this ? Does anyone have any suggestions on how to force the Server Replica of the user’s mail db to open if the user is working via the “Online” location document and they really truly did close all their Window Tabs before shutting down Notes ?

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Subject: We’ve seen it at 3 clients

We’ve seen this issue at a few clients since 8.0, and it continues to be a problem with 8.5.1. I’ve tried client_clock=1 and debug_console=1 to see what was happening internally, suspecting that the workstation is having a timeout trying to reach the server and reverting back to the local copy, but have found nothing.

I believe that it is more likely to occur in the morning at startup, but also occurs occasionally during the day when the user returns to their work after being away for a while.

  • Andy
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Subject: Enabling User Preference “Prompt for location at start up”

We are still receiving loads of complaints about local replicas being opened vs server replica so any news or suggestions would be most appreciated.

One thing that seems to help with the confusion, is enabling an old notes client feature called “Prompt for location at start up” which presents the user with a dialogue box to pick a location document before notes completes loading. Seems to help the notes client open the correct replica of the user’s mail DB when they click on their mail db.

…Dave

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Subject: That should work

I think it could be something with the client.

Can you check the server connection? Make sure you use the local IP addres connection ONLY for the Online location.

What I am thinking is that the users are Online, but they are trying to connect to a server which doesn’t respond and then they get the local replica opened.

It’s strange but it happened a couple of times. mail.domain.com was used for all the locations and it responded with a different address inside and outside the company.

Hope it helps.

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Subject: We use fully qualified DNS names in all connection documents

So, the connectino documents use a name like this “mail.domain.com” which resolves to the ip of the mail server both internally and externally. Works really well and avoids a load of confusing connection documents.