General Information on use of Lotus Notes 5.0
by multiple users
through Windows 2000 Terminal Server
Lotus Notes 5 seems to work well when installed on a Windows
2000 server operating as a terminal server. The only minor problems depend
upon how you handle networked desktop files for roaming access from any
workstation etc.
There are three main ways of doing this:
1. NOTES.INI file pointing to network drive for Notes to
store all it's files in.
Directory=H:\notes
Simplest form of networking Notes but without further tweaks
can leave large cache files etc. on the network slowing performance
2. NOTES.INI file pointing to local hard drive with
individual entries such as ID file, Desktop file(s), Name & Address Book
etc. pointing to network home drive.
Directory=C:\Notes\Data
Desktop=H:\Notes\Desktop.dsk
Desktop5=H:\Notes\Desktop5.dsk
WinNTIconPath=C:\notes\Data\W32
KeyFilename=H:\notes\sknight.id
Names=H:\notes\names.nsf This method has the advantage that files such as the cache,
template files which are the same for each user etc. are stored on the C: drive
but does cause problems as, for instance, the Bookmark file is re-pointed using
an entry in the current Location document which can easily end up pointing at
someone else's Bookmark file on the C: drive.
3. NOTES.INI, desktop files, address book copied to C:
drive during login and back to home drive on logout.
The advantage of this is the files don't get corrupted the
moment there is a problem on the network (Local Notes files seem very
susceptible to corruption when used across an unreliable network) but of course
they may or may not get copied to and from the network correctly causing other
problems.
Over the years I have used parts of all the above methods to
allow users roaming Notes across different PC's. When you use
Windows 2000 and Terminal Server with Notes the only real problem occurs with
Method 2 because if using a common data directory on the C: Notes creates the
file ~notes.lck here preventing another user starting Notes. The solution
is to move partially to Method 1 where the Notes data directory is stored on the server so
that the ~notes.lck file gets created there.
Add these lines to the NOTES.INI in the user's home drive, adjusting the username for each user:
Directory=H:\notes
cache=D:\notes\data\cache\sknight.dsk
This means a separate cache file is created on the server's hard disc for
each user - without this they will all either point to the same cache file (does not work) or the directory pointed to by "Directory" above
which would place a 10Mb or so file for each user on the network....
As long as the Notes client is installed in the same path and
drive letters are mapped the same, the user can either use Terminal Server or a
Windows workstation to login and still be able to run Notes using the
same NOTES.INI file, desktop settings, bookmarks etc. When running Notes
for the first time since these changes, a cache file with the
new name will be created on the workstation hard drive - if PC use is such that
these files would build up they can easily be deleted from a command placed in
the login script or AUTOEXEC.BAT. | 