Lotus Notes Failed to NSFDbOpen ERROR (4043374)

Title: Lotus Notes Failed to NSFDbOpen ERROR
Date: 02/2007
NV Version: 7.1.3+
OS Version: UNIX/LINUX
Application version:6.5.5
Plugin version:3.311



Description: How to resolve a "Failed to NSFDbOpen" when backing up Lotus Notes.


Symptoms: When backing up a Lotus Notes Database on a UNIX/LINUX server, the following errors are noted in the Netvault Logs:

Error 2006/10/20 15:43:30 213 Data Plugin lntest Db terminate: Failed to NSFOpen Db '/local/notesdata/mail.box'.
Error 2006/10/20 15:43:33 213 Data Plugin lntest Failed to NSFDbOpen '/local/notesdata/mail.box' file. This database is currently being used by someone else. In order to share a Notes database, all users must use a Domino Server instead of a File Server.

There are several different causes for this error:

1. The Database is being accessed by a program using the NSFDbOpenExtended which locks access to the database while the program has the database open. To restore full access to the database either execute the program when access is not required or change the program so that it uses the NSFDbOpen function.

2. There is an operating system or other program opening the database exclusively which locks Notes from accessing the database file. To restore full access to the database execute the program when access is not required.

3. The structure of the database has become damaged so that Notes is unable to open the database file. Try using the $FIXUP program or restore a backup copy of the database.

4. If a Notes API program is running on a server and is opening a database located in a sub-directory of the Notes Data directory, the API program obtains the name and path of the database from the NOTES.INI file. There is a known issue where the last character in the filename in the NOTES.INI can be a space. For example:

"APIDATABASE=API\FILENAME.NSF "

The error will be displayed to the second task attempting to open the database, so if a user has the database open then the API task gets the error. Alternatively, the user gets the error if the API has opened the database first. To restore full access to the database, remove the trailing space from the file name in the NOTES.INI. This issue has been reported to Lotus Quality Engineering.

5. The Lotus Notes Data directory has been linked to a new path by a symbolic link and the data directory is addressed within the Netvault APM by this symbolic link rather than the full path name. This particular issue can easily be identified bu comparing the Domino Note.ini "Directory=" entry with the (Netvault client) ~netvault/config/nvnote.cfg "[Directory:DataPath]" value. If these are not the same - then check the paths for symbolic links. To resolve this problem, reconfigure the Notes APM using the full directory paths for all paths required.