Starting up IBM Lotus Domino: Various scenarios, platforms, and troubleshooting resources
Smita S. Pungaliya
Software Engineer
IBM Software Group
Pune, India
April 2009
Abstract:
This article serves as a compilation of the various ways in which IBM® Lotus® Domino® administrators can start the Domino server on various platforms, covering the basics for the novice to the more advanced Administrator. It also includes a collection of Technotes addressing some common issues you might encounter while starting Lotus Domino.
1 Introduction
The topics covered in this article are as follows:
· Starting a server for the first time
· Auto-starting a server after a crash
· Starting a server using a script or scheduled task
· Starting a server as an application, then changing it to a service
· Restarting a server using Program documents
· Starting partitioned servers
· Common problems or errors while starting Lotus Domino
2 Starting a server for the first time
You have completed the Domino server installation and would like to start the server. To do this on Microsoft® Windows®:
Select Start > Programs > Lotus Applications > Lotus Domino Server
OR
Double-click on the Domino server icon on the Desktop.
To start the server on the UNIX® operating system:
Enter the path for the Domino program directory; for example, if you installed Domino in the /opt directory, enter:
/opt/lotus/bin/server
The important files required for Domino server startup are:
- Server.id
- Cert.id
- Notes.ini, with correct Domino directory path
- Names.nsf
For further information, refer to these IBM Lotus Support Technotes:
Doc#: 1095564, How To Start the Domino Server From a Directory Different from the Notes Data Directory
Doc#: 1173499, How to automatically start Domino when starting the Linux OS
3 Auto-starting a server after a crash
You may want the server to restart automatically after a crash. You can do this by enabling Fault Recovery on the server, as follows:
- From the Domino Administrator, click the Configuration tab and expand the Server section.
- Open the Server document, click Edit Server, and click the Basics tab.
- In the Fault Recovery section, check "Automatically Restart Server After Fault/Crash Enabled."
- Save and close the document.
4 Starting a server using a script or scheduled task
UNIX platforms
If you want to use scripts to start the Domino server on UNIX platforms, you can do so by using the cron jobs. Cron is a time-based job scheduler available on UNIX platforms. A cron job is used to schedule a task to run periodically (daily, weekly, or monthly) and is stored in the /etc/crontab file.
To create a cron job that starts Lotus Domino:
1. Create a text file to describe the cron job that you want to load into cron, using this format for the cron job file:
[min] [hour] [day of month] [month] [day of week] [program to be run]
where:
[min] = Minute at which the program should be executed, 0-59. Do not set as “*” ; otherwise, the program will be run once a minute.
[hour] = Hour at which the program should be executed; 0-23 or “*” for every hour.
[day of month] = Day of the month on which the process should be executed; 1-31 or “*” for every day.
[month] = Month in which program should be executed; 1-12 or * for every month.
[day of week] = Day of the week; 0-6, where Sunday = 0, Monday = 1, ...., Saturday = 6. or * for every day of the week.
[program] = Program to be executed. Include the full path information.
For example,
0 10 * * * ScriptFilename
will start Domino server daily at 10:00 am.
2. Save the file (for example, Dominostartup.cron).
3. Then type:
crontab Dominostartup.cron
4. Confirm that it was loaded by typing “crontab –l”. It should display something like this:
# DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE - edit the master and reinstall.
# (ipwatch.cron installed on Mon Mar 30 11:48:02 2008)
# (Cron version -- $Id: crontab.c,v 2.13 1994/01/17 03:20:37 vixie Exp $)
0 10 * * * /opt/lotus/bin/server
5. If you want to edit the cron job, then edit Dominostartup.cron, remove the existing cron job (crontab -r), and load it again (crontab Dominostartup.cron).
NOTE: Crontab jobs will run under the user that was in effect when you loaded the job in crontab. See man cron, man crontab, and man crontab -S 5 for more information, where man (short form of manual) commands in UNIX provide more information (help) about the specific topic. Refer to On-line UNIX manual pages for more information.
Some sample scripts are available in the following Lotus Support Technotes:
Doc#: 1237698, Sample startup scripts for Domino available in IBM Redbooks
Doc#: 1179847, Modifying the startup script for the Lotus Domino 6 Server
Doc#: 1190769, Parameters for Starting and Stopping Domino and the Domino Controller on UNIX Using a Script
Windows platform
On Windows, you can start the Domino server as a scheduled task, using these steps:
1. Go to Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Scheduled Tasks.
2. Click “Add Scheduled Task” to start the Scheduled Task Wizard; click Next to continue.
3. Browse and select the “nserver.exe” file from your Domino directory. Here, instead of specifying an executable file name, you can also specify a batch file name.
4. Enter a name for the task and select when you would like to run this task. Click Next.
5. Enter the time and day when this task should run. Also, enter the Start Date; click Next.
6. Enter the user name and password used for Login.
7. Click Finish. (If required, you can set the Advanced properties)
In addition, you can create a batch file (DominoStart.bat) to start Domino server as a service, as follows:
@echo off
net start “Lotus Domino Server (LotusDomino8data)”
5 Start a server as an application and then change it to a service
When you start Lotus Domino for the first time on the Windows OS, you are prompted to start it either as a Regular Application or as a Windows service.
If you select it as an application and later want to change it to start as a service, you can do so by using a command prompt, as follows:
1. Start an MS-DOS prompt, go to your server's program directory, issue the following command:
ntsvinst -c -t"Lotus Domino Server (lotusdominodata)" -i"C:\Program Files\IBM\Lotus\Domino\notes.ini"
and replace "C:\Program Files\IBM\Lotus\Domino\notes.ini" with the path of Notes.ini file on your server. You can also change the title to whatever you want by replacing "Lotus Domino Server (lotusdominodata)".
Usage: ntsvinst [options]
-c Create Notes Service
-t "Title for Notes Service" (for example: -t"Domino Server - ALICE")
-i Full path to NOTES.INI (for example: -ic:\notes\alice\data\notes.ini)
For further information, refer to these Lotus Support Technotes:
Doc#: 160554, How to install a Domino server as a Windows service
Doc#: 1201781, Can the Domino server controller be started as a Windows service?
6 Restarting a server using Program documents
A Program document is used to run a server task automatically at a specific time. You can also use a Program document to run an OS/2 command file, a UNIX shell script or program, or an API program. You can use the Program document to schedule tasks and/or programs.
For more details, refer to the following Technotes:
Doc#: 1090175, How to shut down and restart a Domino server via a Program document
Doc#: 1101503, How to Create Batch File Using NT 4.0 AT Commands to Automate Quitting and Restarting Domino Server
7 Starting partitioned servers
You may want to run multiple instances of the Domino server on a single computer, to reduce hardware expenses and minimize the number of computers to administer.
On a Domino partitioned server, all partitions share the same Domino program directory, and thus share one set of Domino executable files. However, each partition has its own Domino data directory and Notes.ini file; thus each has its own copy of the Domino Directory and other administrative databases.
If one partition shuts down, the others continue to run; and if a partition encounters a fatal error, Domino's fault recovery feature restarts only that partition, not the entire computer. For more information, refer to these Lotus Support Technotes:
Doc#: 1234038, How to start partitions individually on a Lotus Domino partitioned server
Doc#: 1358451, Running partitioned servers on Windows Server 2008
8 Technotes addressing common problems/errors when starting Lotus Domino
Below are listed some relevant Technotes you may find useful when troubleshooting server startup issues:
· Doc#: 1257955, ‘Select a Server' dialog appears when starting Domino server with the -jc option
· Doc#: 1272830, Error: 'File not found' when starting Domino server
· Doc#: 1207216, Error starting Domino server: 'Warning: Cannot record event - cannot keep with event occurrence rate!'
· Doc#: 1229340, 'Error #5: Access is denied' when attempting to start Domino server service on local computer
· Doc#: 1271555, Error: '... can't bind a network address ...' when starting server
· Doc#: 1233344, 'Error on Listen function: The requested TCP/IP port is in use on this system' starting Domino
· Doc#: 1089138, 'File cannot be created. Server exiting' error when restarting a Domino server
· Doc#: 1305186, Error, "Init/Termination in NSF" starting Domino server
· Doc#: 1085298, Domino Server unable to locate mapped drives when started as a Windows NT service
· Doc#: 1166098, Lotus Domino server service fails to load successfully
· Doc#: 1305727, Domino server startup fails with error "sesh: Error executing /domino/lotus/bin/server: Exec format error"
· Doc#: 1223060, Domino server fails to start with 'Error writing to process file pid.nbf'
· Doc#: 1298163, Domino server fails to start with "file size limit exceeded" error
· Doc#: 1272242, Domino server will not start after modifications to notes.ini file
About the author
Smita Pungaliya is a Software Engineer currently working on the Domino Server team at IBM’s
Technical Support Center in Pune, India, before which she worked extensively with the Lotus Domino/Notes Mail & Messaging team. She is an IBM Certified System Administrator for Lotus Notes and Domino 6/6.5. You can reach her at spungaliya@in.ibm.com.