Notes db in user by someone else

[QaptainQwerty]

Users in my department access the office network from home or from a different network via Citrix client ver. 4.20 or higher running on Windows NT Workstation 4 SP3 or higher. One problem they frequently have involves launching Lotus Notes version 4.6. The error message is

Database is in use by someone else. In order to share Notes database, all users must use a Notes server instead of a file server.

The error happens at Notes startup, with the Workspace still unpopulated. Once the error shows, users can only click the OK button & then get kicked out of Notes.

It doesn't seem to be really a file lock issue because I cannot find any open file from the NT server's perspective. It is not a problem with the Domino server because if I go to another non-Citrix workstation and launch Notes I would get in fine. What is the real cause then? The problem seems to go away over time, but I would love to know how to fix it on the spot instead of letting it passes away on its own.

 

[geier]

We have a similar problem with our Citrix-Users (but we use a Novell machine as file server) - they get a message because of a lock situation. Once they launch the Notes Client via Citrix a file named ~notes.lck is written into their personal directory. If they get kicked out due to a network error they can't log back in because their network session isn't closed properly so the Citrix Server still holds their session. Generally this session is dropped by the Citrix Server after 5 Minutes of inactivity, but most of the time we have to call our Citrix-guys and ask them to cut the connection manually.

 

[parmetta]

This problem can also be caused when backups are running and Notes attempts to deliver a message to the database. Most backup applications have a means of selecting to NOT lock the database while backing it up.

Sometimes you can cure this by dropping a user using the Admin client but most often it takes a restart of the server. Not a good answer but it fixes the problem.

 

[QaptainQwerty]

My Citrix admin has identified the problem and has a workaround for it!

The problem is that in notes.ini, the cache variable is set to c:\temp\cache.dsk. This is fine as long as users are in the office and write to their own c: drive. However, when they connect to the office network via Citrix, the c: drive is no longer their own c: drive but is actually the Citrix server's c: drive, that is, every Citrix session has a c: drive and it points to whichever Citrix server that happens to pick up the load.

The workaround is to change the cache variable to point to c:\temp\username.dsk, where username is the user's unique username in the domain.

 

[chr1s]

I have the same problem, but my mail sever is NT4.0. Most clients are Win 95 and a couple of Win 2K.
I was mailed a possible fix, which involved not locking files whilst BackupExec was backing them up.
(This problem was mentioned by 'parmetta' above).
Unfortunately, it has not resolved the problem.

Will this 'cache' fix work on my NT network? And will i have to apply it to all the clients, or is it on the server?

 

[QaptainQwerty]

chr1s,

I think my fix should work for any system running Citrix and Notes clients, regardless which platform Notes run on. It's really a Notes setup issue so I even think it doesn't matter if it's Citrix or anything else that serves as the terminal server. Give it a shot, I would love to know that one more admin's life is made easier.

 

[chr1s]

I am not running citrix. I have an NT4 mail server, and 95/2000 clients.

I have searched the client notes.ini for 'cache' etc.. and can not find the variable you refer to.

I appreciate your help on this one.

chEErs