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Integration for Notes 20.13 - User Guide - BTCal

Section 1: Introduction Section 2: Features and Advantages Section 3: Scope Section 4: Recommended Installer Prerequisites Section 5: Pre-installation Requirements Section 6: Configure the Domino Environment Section 7: Configure Integration for Notes BTCal in Exchange or Office 365 Section 8: Licenses Section 9: Installing Integration for Notes Section 10: Create and Configure Domino Databases Section 11: Modify the Notes.ini File Section 12: Re-start BTCal Domino server to bring it online Section 13: Verification Section 14: On-going Administration Appendix A: ZApp Appendix B: Configure GRIP Appendix C: On the Fly Encryption and Decryption Appendix D: Disable Encrypted Message Routing Appendix E: High Availability/Redundancy Mail and Calendar Routing for Foreign Domains Appendix F: Notes.ini Parameter Descriptions Appendix G: Notes.ini Parameter Values Appendix H: Considerations for Domino SMTP Domain Exposure Appendix I: Processing Repeating Meetings Appendix J: Deployment Quick Reference Appendix K: Customizable Non Delivery Report (NDR) Reason Codes Appendix L: Cross Platform Delegation Appendix M: BT Stats Database

Section 14: On-going Administration

After BTCal is installed, the administrator will need to monitor and maintain the integration. The information below will be useful in maintaining proper functioning of BTCal and provide some helpful tips on troubleshooting common issues. 

14.1 Operations

14.1     Operations

14.1.1    Basic Operational Information

The information in this section summarizes the main operational components of BTCal and explains how they work. Understanding the backend operations of BTCal may be helpful when troubleshooting issues during coexistence.

Integration for Notes consists of two main components:

  1. Server Task – BTCal

BTCal Server Task is invoked by a simple load command or by its inclusion into the list of the ServerTasks parameter values in the Coexistence Domino Server’s NOTES.INI file

An example of invoking the Server Task manually is by using the following command:

Domino

load BTCal

 

To determine if the BTCal Server Task is running, examine the list of Server Tasks for BT iCal Process

BTCal Server Task accepts the following Domino Console Commands:

 

Command

Description

tell BTCal quit

Quits the BTCal task

tell BTCal restart

Restarts the BTCal task

tell BTCal run

Forces immediate processing of all pending messages

tell BTCal show

Shows version information

tell BTCal flushstats

Writes stats records in the queue to the BT Statistics database

 

14.1.2 Data Flow through Integration for Notes

The bullets below describe step-by-step how information flows from one environment to the other (Domino to Exchange and vice-versa).

Domino to Exchange

  1. Exchange users are defined in the Domino Directory as users at a specific Foreign Domain (defined by Integration for Notes Server NOTES.INI parameter BTExchangeDomain)

  2. The Domino Mail Router delivers data destined for Exchange users to the Foreign Domain Mailbox on the Domino Coexistence Server (defined by Notes Integration Server NOTES.INI parameter BTEXCHANGEDB)

  3. Based on the pre-defined schedule, (defined by Notes Integration Server NOTES.INI parameter BTDELAY) BTCal periodically examines the Foreign Domain Mailboxes for messages to process

  4. Any item with field RoutingState equal to “Dead” and field DeadFailureReason equal to “Pending Removal by BTCal” is deleted from the Foreign Domain Mailbox

  5. Any other item is processed as follows:

    1. Each value of the Recipients field is matched against the Domino Directory

    2. If the value does not have a unique match in the Domino Directory, an NDR is generated to the originator

    3. If the value has a unique match in the Domino Directory, the value is replaced with the SMTP address that is constructed based upon the Notes.ini variables BTRECIPCONVERTFIELD (BTRECIPCONVERTFIELDMI, BTRECIPCONVERTFIELDRR, BTRECIPCONVERTFIELDGR if used) and BTEXCHANGESERVER.

    4. Field RoutingState is set to “Dead” and field DeadFailureReason is set to “Pending Removal by BTCal”

  6. Domino Mail Router combined with Domino SMTP Gateway converts the item into the MIME format and delivers it to Exchange.

 

 

Exchange to Domino

  1. Domino users are defined in Active Directory as Contacts or mail-enabled users with the target addresses pointing them to Domino

  2. Exchange SMTP Send Connector delivers data destined for Domino users to the Coexistence Domino Server

  3. Domino SMTP receives data from Exchange and places received items into a Domino Mail Router mailbox

  4. BTEx examines the From field of each received item to determine whether it is received from an eligible SMTP domain (defined by Notes Integration Server NOTES.INI parameter BTPROCESSDOMAIN)

  5. If value of From field is not an address representing an eligible SMTP domain, item is routed by Domino Mail Router without further processing

  6. If the value of the From field is an address representing an eligible SMTP domain (listed in the BTPROCESSDOMAIN), the received item is processed as follows:

    1. Each value of the From, SendTo, CopyTo, and BlindCopyTo fields representing an eligible SMTP domain is matched against the Domino Directory

    2. If the value does not have a unique match in the Domino Directory, it remains unchanged as an SMTP address

    3. If the value has a unique match in the Domino Directory, the value is replaced with the first value of the FullName field of the Domino Directory document

  7. If the received item contains iCal or has one or more attachments, field RoutingState is set to “Dead” and field DeadFailureReason is set to “Pending Processing by BTCal”; BTCal is then invoked with reference to the current item

  8. BTCal performs further processing of the item contents, if applicable, and releases it for further mail routing by clearing fields RoutingState and DeadFailureReason

  9. Domino Mail Router delivers the item to the destination Domino mailbox

 

14.2 Maintenance items

14.2     Maintenance items

The articles below are Quest’s recommended maintenance procedures for your Integration for Notes environment.

Domino Statistics:

NI: Logging Domino server operational statistics.

Monthly to Quarterly Maintenance Schedule:

NI: Recommended monthly to quarterly maintenance schedule for stable environments.

General fault diagnostics:

NI: KB articles to assist in fault diagnostics and maintenance procedures

Domino Configuration backup:

The Domino configuration can be retained through a backup of the Names.nsf database and the Notes.ini for the Domino Coexistence server. This can be done following the deployment and completed again in the case of any configuration changes.

The Domino and Windows Coexistence servers can have a full backup completed following deployment through a snapshot if these are deployed to virtual server.

Domino application database backups:

The Domino Coexistence server does hold application databases (.nsf) that may have data stored and updated during processing depending on configuration.

The below listed files, if used, are recommended for a regular backup in line with the organization’s policies.

  • BT Cache

  • BT Document Store

  • BTCal Whitelist

  • BT GRIP Local

  • BT IDVault

It is recommended is to create replicas of these databases on a Domino server in the environment that has a regular backup schedule. Backups configured directly on the Domino Coexistence server are not recommended as these can impact performance.

 

 

 

 

14.3 Troubleshooting issues

14.3     Troubleshooting issues

14.3.1 Mail flow issues

This section focuses on issues with mail flow through the Binary Tree Coexistence server and will not cover how to troubleshoot mail routing issues in Domino or Exchange/O365.

Follow the set of troubleshooting steps below corresponding with the direction of the mail flow: 

Notes to Exchange issues

If mail is not flowing properly from Notes to Exchange, follow the below steps to help identify the issue:

  1. Stop the Router task on the Domino coexistence server

  2. Stop the BTCal task

  3. Send a test message from a Domino user to an Exchange user

  4. Check the mail.box on the coexistence server

    1. If the test message is missing, the problem is either a routing issue in Domino or the user is not pointed to the foreign domain used by the Domino coexistence server

  5. If the test message is in the mail.box, start the router

  6. The test message should be delivered to the btexchange.box

    1. If the message is not delivered to the btexchange.box, the Foreign Domain document is not pointing to the btexchange.box

  7. At this point, the test message should be in the btexchange.box and address should not have been updated; the recipient should still show as “John Doe/Corp/Contoso”

  8. Stop the Router task

  9. Issue the command “load BTCal” start the BTCal task

  10. After processing, the message should be removed from the btexchange.box and will now appear in the mail.box

  11. Open the mail.box

  12. The recipient address should have been converted and now shows in SMTP format; the address will be built using the BTCal values in the Notes.INI file (BTEXCHANGESERVER, BTRECIPCONVERTFIELD (BTRECIPCONVERTFIELDMI, BTRECIPCONVERTFIELDRR, and BTRECIPCONVERTFIELDGR if used))

  13. Check the SMTP address in the message against the ProxyAddresses attribute of the user in Active Directory

    1. If the address does not exist or is not matching correctly, either adjust the configuration of the BTCal settings or update the directory sync configuration to build the correct secondary SMTP address

  14. If the address matches an address of the user in Active Directory, restart the router task

  15. Confirm that the message is routed to the Exchange Transport server

  16. If the message is not delivered to the user, troubleshoot the routing in Exchange

 

 

Exchange to Domino Routing

If mail is not flowing properly from Exchange to Domino, follow the below steps to resolve the issue:

  1. Stop the BTCal and Domino router task

  2. Make sure the SMTP listener task is running on the Domino coexistence server

  3. Send a test message from an Exchange user to a Domino user

  4. Open Mail.box and confirm the message has been received. If the message is missing check the following:

    1. Confirm that the Domino user AD object has a target address that points to the Domino environment

    2. Check routing in the Exchange environment. This will include send connectors

    3. Confirm that the Domino server SMTP Listener task is running and configured to receive mail form the Exchange environment

  5. Start the routing task

  6. The message should be resolved to the Domino X400 format. If the message is not resolved, confirm the following:

    1. The SMTP domain is used is listed in the global domain document as an alias domain.

    2. The Domino server is configured to perform an exhaustive address lookup

    3. The local part of the SMTP address does not resolve to a person document in Domino Directory.

 

14.3.2 NDR (Non-delivery report)

An NDR can be generated one of two ways. When a server in the routing path is not able to deliver a message, an NDR will be generated. This section, however, will cover the second way an NDR can be generated: when calendar items cannot be sent to an intended recipient. Though NDR messages can be customized, the following screenshot is an example of a typical NDR generated by BTCal.

The first paragraph of the NDR message (above) explains why the calendar item was not sent to the intended recipient. Use the listed meeting information (Location, Time, Chair, etc.) to troubleshoot further.

 

14.3.3 Address lookup issues

For name resolution issues, follow these best practices from HCL. Click the link below and follow the troubleshooting steps.

https://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg1LO60436

 

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