We have a major project underway that is converting our entire agent force over to using Citrix for our line of business apps and for Lotus Notes. We currently have 1000 users converted and will convert another 1500 in the next two months. We have already deployed 30 Citrix servers and plan to expand to a minimum of 45 servers. We have a clustered File Server that stores the data directories for all users. All of the citrix servers access a network share on this file server so that the data directory for any connecting user is available on all Cirix servers. During a failover event on our clustered file server, it takes approximately 10 seconds for the secondary file server to gain connection to all the data stored in the SAN and become the active node of the cluster. When this occurs, approximately 10% of our user population receives an NSD in their Lotus Notes session. This prompts a high volume of calls to our help desk.
We contacted IBM Support under our Passport Advantage agreement and were informed that storing the data directory of a Lotus Notes client on a network share is not supported. It is not feasible to store the data directories for all users on each of the 30 Citrix servers so that data would be “local” to the user on that specific Citrix server.
We have already taken steps to increase the reliability to the individual servers that comprise the file server cluster. Hopefully this reduces the chance of any failover event. We are hoping to find alternative solutions that will completey remove this threat. A preferred solution would be a change to the Lotus Notes client that made it more tolerant of a temporary loss of connectivity to the data directory. If we cannot find a satisfactory solution to this problem, we will have to either convert all our agent force to a http-based email system or an alternative email client. Because we are currently using 7.0.2 clients on a R7.0.3 Domino server infrastructure, the current Domino Web Access does not provide the same level of functionality and useability that the agent forces requires. One possible solution would be to upgrade to R8.0.1 and convert all agents to using Domino Web Access with R8 templates. Implementing Domino Web Access R8 would significantly change the user interface. The intent of the Citrix deployment project was to remain as seamless as possible because our agent force is very sensitive to change. This is the reason that converting to R8 is a last resort. I am also currently part of a project that is determining whether or not we continue to provide email service to our agent force or we outsource the email service. Until this decision is made, we do not want to implement a change in email client that may quickly be followed with another change of email client.
Can anyone recommend a workarounds, e.g., changes in Lotus Notes configuration, use of third party apps or hardware, etc. that might either reduce or eliminate the impact of a failover event in our backend file servers?
Any assistance is greatly appreciated