Lotus Notes Basics

To change the Password in Lotus Notes

Click on File--> Security--> User Security

Insert your current password
Click on Change Password Tab--> Again insert the current password now,

Enter the new password & Re-Enter the new password

To reset the Password in Lotus Notes

To reset the user's Lotus Notes password, you have to send a mail request to Central Notes

Support i.e. centralnotessupport@ril.com

To Check Lotus Notes Database size

To check the Lotus Notes database size, login to Lotus Notes

Click on File--> Select Database--> Then click on properties

In the Database select the second tab i (Info), on the right side click on the %used Tab the %

button will shows the Diskquoata of the current user

On the Comapct button User can Comapct the database.

/*depends on the permission setup of the company*/

User Server in Lotus Notes

To check the User Server in Lotus Notes, login to Lotus Notes

Click on File--> Select Database--> Then click on properties

In the Database select the first tab i (Database Basics)

It will show you the server name

User Filename in Lotus Notes

To check the User Filename in Lotus Notes, login to Lotus Notes

Click on File--> Select Database--> Then click on properties

In the Database select the first tab i (Database Basics)

It will show you the Filename

Create New Location in Lotus Notes

Select File->Mobile->Locations
Select the Location
In this Window, engineer can configure the software
How to Switch From User ID to another

In The login Window Select Cancel

Select Switch to Different User ID
Browse the New ID and Select the Id file and configure Lotus Notes
How to know Mail server of current User

Go File->Mobile->Edit Current Locations

Select the Server Tab; it will display the Server details
To See the Lotus Mail ID’s Location

Go to File->Mobile->Edit Current Location

In Select on the advanced Tab see the User id to switch to…
/*on the Search light button also we can switch the ID*/
Achieve Settings

Select the Actions-> Achieve

Select the Actions-> Achieve->Settings
Click on settings Tab
To add a achieve Location click on add, for Edit and Delete tabs are also available
Put the achieve file name on description ,click achieve database for browse the location
Of the achieve file
Click on the folder icon
Browse the location and put the achieve file name
How to open another persons shared calendar

Click on calendar icon

Click on the down arrow on the calendar button
Select the open another person’s calendar
Select the user name and ok
How to add Signature in Lotus Notes

Select Tools->Preference
Select signature tab
Select signature put the text you want or image
How to Diagnose/Debug Notes Client Performance Issues
When you encounter a Notes 6 client performance issue, it is important to distinguish whether the
cause of the performance issue actually exists on the client, on the server, or elsewhere within the
infrastructure. It is also very important to gather a clear and concise description of the issue (e.g.,
where, when, and to whom the issue occurs, etc.). Having a thorough understanding of the issue
will make it easier to determine the type of troubleshooting that needs to be done, which can
include application-level debugging, network-level debugging, or another approach.

Here are several questions that can help you gather the information necessary to narrow down
specifics of the problem:

• What are the users doing when they notice the problem?
• What are the keystrokes the user makes directly leading up to the occurrence of the issue?
• Does the issue occur primarily when the user accesses a particular application/database?
• What is the reproducibility of the issue? Can you reproduce the issue on a clean
workstation?
• Is the issue load related? Does the problem usually occur during peak times?
• Is this a non-returning hang, delay, or loop?
• If this is a delay, how long is the delay (number of minutes/seconds).
• Does an error or status message display in a dialog box, the client status bar, or the local
or server NOTES.LOG?
• What is the result of pressing the Ctrl + Break keys during the problem? Can they continue
working or does the problem persist?
 • Are there any intermediary servers, routers, or firewalls between the affected client and
server? If so, does the issue happen when the client is directly connected to the server?
• Does it matter where the client is located;such as, on a particular network segment, LAN,
or WAN?
• When was the first known occurrence of the issue?
• Was the issue first reported after an upgrade?
• What is the scope of the issue?
• Does the problem follow the user to another machine?
• If this happens on only one or a few machines, you should review and troubleshoot each
workstation and user habits. For example, does the issue occur when the user performs
particular tasks such as switching between views or after leaving the client idle?

Tools for Troubleshooting

Here is a list of some tools often used for troubleshooting Notes client issues. Some of the tools
listed can be used on both the client and server. Following this list, there is a description of how
some of the tools can be used to actually troubleshoot Notes client performance issues.

Notes System Diagnostic (NSD)

One of the primary data collection tools for Notes/Domino is the NSD utility. NSD runs on both the
Notes client and the Domino server automatically; however, sometimes troubleshooting may require
that you run the NSD utility manually. This can help determine certain problems during Notes client
hang or performance issues. It can also be used to capture snapshots of the process stacks to help
identify the activity during the occurrence.
http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg27003599

Notes/Domino Logging
Logging is used for monitoring and troubleshooting problems on both the client and the server. As
there are too many logging options to list them all, we have mentioned just a few that are
commonly used for troubleshooting certain types of performance issues.

• Network level debug:

LOG_SESSIONS=1
LOG_CONNECTIONS=1
DEBUG_TCP_ALL

• Performance problems when performing a particular task or function:

CLIENT_CLOCK=1

• Agent/Application logging and debugging:

LOG_AGENTMANAGER=1
DEBUG_AMGR=*

• View/Indexing logging:

LOG_UPDATE=1
LOG_VIEW_EVENTS=1
Domino Semaphore Debugging
Notes/Domino uses semaphores and a lock manager (software flags/locks) to ensure that certain
tasks complete before others can begin. Many times performance issues occur because a process
has a semaphore locked, causing other processes to back up while waiting for access to something.
Enabling semaphore debugging is very common in the early stages of working performance issues.
NOTE: Semaphore timeouts do not always indicate a performance problem. It is not uncommon for
semaphore timeouts to occur on a busy server. For related information, refer to Optimizing server
performance: Semaphores (Part 1).

Domino Statistics
Domino can generate server and server-platform statistics. For related information, refer to the
Domino Administrator Help topic "Statistics and the Domino System".

Operating-System Level Performance Monitoring Tools

• Windows NT Performance Monitor (Perfmon)

This tool can be used to monitor CPU, disk, memory, and network performance. For
additional information on this tool, refer to the following:

Rules-of-thumb for monitoring Windows NT/2000 and Domino statistics

Improving Web site performance
www.microsoft.com

• Filemon for Windows

Filemon monitors and displays file system activity on a system in real-time.
• iostat
The iostat command reports Central Processing Unit (CPU) statistics and input/output
statistics for the entire system, adapters, tty devices, disks, and CD-ROMs.
• vmstat
The vmstat command reports virtual memory statistics. For related information, refer to the
article titled "Rules-of-thumb for monitoring Sun Solaris statistics".
• truss
A Unix tool, the truss command is used to trace the system/library calls (not user calls) and
signals made/received by a new or existing process. Use strace on some linuxes.
• tprof
A Unix tool, the tprof command reports CPU usage for individual programs and the system
as a whole. This tool can help determine which sections of a program are most heavily
using the CPU.
• Intel VTune
This tool can be used for profiling system/library calls on Windows. For more information,
refer to Intel® VTune™.
• Network Sniffers
Network sniffers are diagnostic software applications that provide protocol-level analysis of
data flowing through a network, packet-by-packet. This information can help administrators
monitor and identify performance problems.

Troubleshooting scenarios:
Depending on the type of problem, there are different approaches that can be used to trouble shoot
an issue and to collect related data. Below are examples of troubleshooting that may be applicable if
users report slow client performance.

• One of the first things usually done for performance issues, is to enable semaphore logging
and collect some initial data. Normal sets of data to collect at this point are the console log,
semdebug.txt files, and NSDs. We typically request a series of NSDs (or stack dumps) to be
taken during the performance problem. Taking sequential NSDs (or stack dumps on
Windows) will provide a picture of what the processes are doing. If semaphore timeouts are
occurring, this data is correlated to see the particular processes/threads that are locking the
semaphores.

• Many times, third-party software/hardware is involved. If you encounter a performance

issue, you should consider disabling or removing third-party software/hardware and then
re-testing the issue. This is a good practice just to ensure that some other non-
Domino/Notes application is not involved. This includes software such as Notes add-ins,
anti-virus software, and backup/archival software. If you re-test without these and the
 problem does NOT occur, IBM Lotus can help work with the third-party vendor to correct
the problem.

• If it appears that the slowdown may be related to database/application indexing and

accessing views, we would typically start by enabling the following logging:

LOG_UPDATE=1
LOG_VIEW_EVENTS=1

• The Update task cycles through the databases on the server every 15 minutes updating
views. If you find that view updates take longer than only a few seconds to complete, that
would indicate something to investigate further. Additionally, we should see any highly used
database being indexed every 15 minutes during the day. However, if it takes longer to
cycle around to a particular database, this can indicate that the indexer was most likely still
busy with the previous cycle of indexing databases.

• Client clock debug is requested many times to see what the NRPC communication looks like
between the client and the server. This is enabled in the client NOTES.INI and the output is
written to the CONSOLE.LOG for the client.

CLIENT_CLOCK=1
CONSOLE_LOG_ENABLED=1
This is mostly used to help narrow down what NRPC functions are taking a longer time,
although some inherently take longer than others. This debug is not used to define the
problem, as there are many factors involved. Instead, client clock data may help direct the
troubleshooting effort towards another area; such as, authentication taking long, opening
views taking long, updating a note taking long, an error occurs at a particular point of the
conversation, etc. Based on this, additional logging or debugging will probably be required.
Again, you should not start troubleshooting by just collecting client clock data, and say that
it indicates a problem; it is used to help guide the troubleshooting effort. Client_clock is
best used when there is a defined task the user does which exhibits the performance
problem and the data can be captured for that particular task. Then, if there are other users
or times where the problem does not occur, capture the data when the user performs the
same task and compare. Client clock data is rather verbose, so try to catch the problem
with the minimal amount of steps.

• If you are receiving “Server not responding” or “Network operation did not complete” type
messages, then you may want to look towards enabling network level debug/logging. If
timing out, Client clock can be used to see at what point in the process it occurs.
Connection logging and session logging can be used to confirm that the connection has not
been closed on one side (server or client) but not the other. TCP debug in Domino can
sometimes identify TCP level errors that are occurring. Errors will occasionally occur, so you
should look for errors that occur repeatedly.

LOG_SESSIONS=1
LOG_CONNECTIONS=1
TCP_DEBUG_ALL=1

• Perfmon data can be used to look at the TCP objects, and see if connections are being
dropped repeatedly. Sniffer data can also be used to get a closer look at the TCP level
communications. Tools like Ethereal provide some built-in analysis. This is very low level
debug that can be useful to determine where and when connections are being dropped.

• Another simple network level test is to look for TCP level packet loss or fragmentation. This
is discussed in the document titled "How to Ping by Packet Size to Establish MTU"
(#1086718). A simple test can be done to repeatedly ping the server from the client for a
period of time to monitor how often packet loss occurs.
 • Then, there is the whole area of application-level performance tuning. One of the early
questions above asked was: What are the users doing when they notice the problem? This
is particularly important if the problem usually occurs when using a particular application.
In this area, you would get more into looking at the particular databases, agents, and views
that are being used when the performance is worst. Logging and additional debug can be
enabled for views and agents. Custom debugging can be added to the application to see
what is taking longest. For related information, refer to the following articles:

Application Performance Tuning - Part 1

Application Performance Tuning - Part 2

Final Remarks
This document has tried to make performance problem analysis a more exacting science. There are
many different pieces that all must come together and perform to provide each Notes 6 user with
the experience they expect. In many ways the Notes 6 client is like a fine watch. There are many
moving parts, but when one goes out of sync with the other parts it can lead to poor performance.
You have been given guidelines to keep all the parts of the Notes 6 client synchronized. There is a
list of known issues to help solve some problems you may encounter; and there are steps which
describe the information IBM Lotus Support needs to help resolve your problem as quickly as
possible. IBM wants every customer to be 100% satisfied with the Notes 6 client and beyond.

By
Tintu Kuruvilla,
tintu.kuruvilla@ril.com
Relaince IT Services,
Gr Floor MAB,
RTEC NOCIL,
Thene Belapur Road,
New Mumbai.