5.4 Domino networking

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5.4 Domino networking

The functionality of Notes workstations, Internet access, and Domino servers depends on the effectiveness and capacity of networks. To plan a Domino network with sufficient capacity, you must consider not only the traffic to and from Domino servers, but also any other traffic on the network.

5.4.1 Notes remote procedure call (NRPC) communication

Domino servers offer many different services. The foundation for communication between Notes workstations and Domino servers or between two Domino servers is the Notes remote procedure call (NRPC) service.

5.4.2 Notes network ports

During the server setup program, Domino provides a list of Notes network ports based on the current operating system configuration. If these ports are not the ones you want to enable for use with the Domino server, you can edit the list during setup.

5.4.3 Notes named networks (NNN)

Consider Notes named networks (NNN) in your planning. A Notes named network is a group of servers that can connect to each other directly through a common LAN protocol and network pathway-for example, servers running on TCP/IP in one location. Servers on the same NNN route mail to each another automatically, whereas you need a Connection document to route mail between servers on different NNNs.

Figure 5-4 shows an NNN example. The servers are in the same domain and use the same network protocol.

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Figure 5-4: Notes named networks servers

Important: 

Domino assumes that all servers in a NNN have a continuous LAN or WAN connection. If this is not the case, serious delays in mail routing between servers can occur. Be careful not to include servers with only dial-up connections in an NNN.

When you set up server documents, be sure to assign each server to the correct NNN. Lotus Domino expects a continuous connection between servers that are in the same NNN, and serious delays in routing can occur if a server must dial up a remote LAN because the remote server is inadvertently placed within the NNN. Also bear in mind that the Notes Network field for each port can contain only one NNN name, and no two NNN names can be the same.

NNNs affect Notes users when they use the Open Database dialog box. When a user selects Other to display a list of servers, the servers displayed are those on the NNN of the user's home server for the port on which the Notes workstation communicates with the home server. Also, when users click a database link or document link, if a server in their home server's NNN has a replica of that database, they can connect to the replica.

Note 

If a server is assigned to two NNNs in the same protocol, as in the case where the server has two Notes network ports for TCP/IP, a Notes workstation or Domino server connecting to that server uses the NNN for the port listed first in the Server document.

5.4.4 Resolving server names to network addresses in NRPC

Communications between Lotus Notes and Lotus Domino run over the NRPC protocol on top of each supported LAN protocol. When a Notes workstation or Domino server attempts to connect to a Domino server over a LAN, it uses a combination of the built-in Notes Name Service and the network protocol's name-resolver service to convert the name of the Domino server to a physical address on the network.

The Notes Name Service resolves Domino common names to their respective protocol-specific names. Because the Notes Name Service resolves common names by making calls to the Domino Directory, the service becomes available to the Notes workstation only after the workstation has successfully connected to its home (messaging) server for the first time. (The protocol name-resolver service normally makes the first connection possible.)

When the Notes workstation makes a subsequent attempt to connect to a Domino server, the Notes Name Service supplies it with the Domino server's protocol-specific name-that is, the name that the server is known by in the protocol's name service, which is stored in the protocol's Net Address field in the Server document. The protocol's name-resolver service then resolves the protocol-specific name to its protocol-specific address, and the workstation is able to connect to the server.

Note 

When resolving names of Domino servers that offer Internet services, Lotus Notes uses the protocol's name-resolver service directly.

5.4.5 TCP/IP: Domino on Linux

Note 

This information can also be found in the Release Notes for Domino 6.5.

Because the TCP/IP protocol is built into the Linux operating systems, you do not need any additional network software to set up a Domino server and TCP/IP on a Linux system. If you use DNS or a local host file, ping the Domino server by IP address and by host name. Then install the Domino server and run the server setup program.

There is an issue with the default size of the network queue as set on Linux with the kernel parameter tcp_max_syn_backlog. The default value is 5, but under certain conditions, that may not be large enough. On other UNIX systems the default is 20, which is a better setting.

It is recommended that the user change this parameter in their kernel by changing the value stored in /proc/sys/ipv4/tcp_max_syn_backlog (/proc/sys/ipv6/tcp_max_syn_backlog for ipv6) such that it is no less than 20. Since this is a parameter in the running kernel, it must be done each time the system is booted. Easy ways to accomplish this are by making an entry in your startup scripts (such as rc.local), or by making a change in sysctl.conf.

5.4.6 Recommendations for Domino partitioned servers (DPARs)

  1. Use IP addresses only when configuring hostname for partitioned servers.

  2. Set up partitioned servers using separate TCP/IP addresses.

    See the Domino Administration online help topic; select LAN Configuration -> Partitioned servers -> Partitioned servers and the TCP/IP network. To assign separate IP addresses to partitioned servers, use the notes.ini variable:

        TCPIP_TcpIpAddress=0,ipaddress 

    To bind port 80 to each partitioned server's HTTP process, as described in the online help, enable Bind to host name in the server document (Internet Protocols tab -> HTTP tab) for each server. Do not use the DNS hostname for this field; add each server using only the numeric IP address in the host name field.

    Using a browser, verify that each partitioned server can respond to requests on Port 80, after restarting your server.

  3. You can set up multiple Web sites using the new Domino/Notes 6 Web site document. On partitioned servers, you can set up virtual Web servers using server documents.

    When you assign IP addresses (hosts) to bind to a specific tap process, you must place the numeric IP addresses for each Web server in the hostname field of the server document. Do not use the DNS hostname for this field.

    For multiple addresses, separate them with semicolons (;). If you separate them by commas, they will be saved with semicolons; see Figure 5-5.

    click to expand
    Figure 5-5: Using IP addresses for Web servers

    9.12.23.73 is the partitioned server. 9.12.23.73 and 9.12.23.74 are both Web sites (or virtual servers, if you are not using Web site documents).

    Note 

    You can have up to 32 entries in this field.

  4. Create either Web Site Documents for the Web site, or virtual server documents to further define the HTTP configuration. There is a setting (Loads Internet Site Configuration Documents) in the Server Document on the first tab that must be checked to use only Web site documents to define the Web site.

  5. Restart HTTP. You should now be able to send HTTP requests to the partitioned servers and all of the virtual servers or Web sites for each partition.

5.4.7 Network Address Translation (NAT)

NAT is a method of translating an IP address between two address spaces: a public space and a private space.

Public addresses are assigned to companies by the Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) or leased from the company's ISP/NSP. Public addresses are accessible through the Internet (routable) unless firewalls and isolated networks make them inaccessible.

Private addresses are IP address spaces that have been reserved for internal use. These addresses are not accessible over the Internet (non-routable), because network routers within the Internet will not allow access to them. The following address spaces have been reserved for internal use. It is best to use these IP addresses and not make up your own.

    Class A: 10.0.0.0 to 10.255.255.255    Class B: 172.16.0.0 to 172.31.255.255    Class C: 192.168.0.0 to 192.168.255.255 

For example, users inside a company access the Domino server based on its assigned IP address, which is a private address (192.168.1.1). Internet users must access the Domino server through a NAT router, which converts the private address to one of its static public addresses (130.20.2.2). Therefore, a Notes client accessing the server from the Internet uses the public address.

Note 

Some companies use only public addresses. This avoids the potential duplication of private addresses if two companies were to merge their networks.



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IBM Lotus Domino 6. 5 for Linux on zSeries Implementation
IBM Lotus Domino 6.5 for Linux on Zseries Implementation
ISBN: 0738491748
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 162
Authors: IBM Redbooks

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