Lotus Domino Administrator 8 Help - Checking NRPC connectivity in TCP/IP

TROUBLESHOOTING

Checking NRPC connectivity in TCP/IP
IBM® Lotus® Notes® connectivity relies on TCP/IP communication. The first step in troubleshooting TCP/IP is to verify basic TCP/IP configuration and connectivity.

For Notes and IBM® Lotus® Domino™ to work properly with TCP/IP, the protocol stack on each computer must already be configured properly. Ensure that the brand and version of the protocol stack is certified for use with this version of Lotus Notes/Domino. For more information, see the protocol service provider's documentation.

Use the PING executable to verify IP-level connectivity. The PING command is available in all Microsoft® Windows® and UNIX® environments.

1. From the server, ping the server itself by numeric IP address.

For example, at a DOS prompt, type:

PING 131.103.50.159

and press ENTER.

This step confirms the following:

TCP/IP is installed and configured with a correct address.
If any other computer has the same IP address. A computer's IP address must be unique on a network segment; that is, only one computer on a network segment can have a particular IP address.

If this fails, TCP/IP is not set up properly on the local machine. Contact the site's network administrators for technical assistance.

2. From the server, ping the destination computer (the Notes workstation) by numeric IP address. This indicates if the path to the remote host is clear and whether you can communicate with IP through network routers. If this fails, continue to Step 3.

Tip

To obtain the IP address of a Notes workstation, from the workstation use the commands shown in the table in Step 6.

3. From the workstation, ping the workstation by its own numeric IP address. If this fails, continue to Step 4.

4. Ping the server from the server itself by its DNS fully qualified domain name (FQDN) to verify that it was added to the network correctly; then ping the server from the workstation by FQDN.

For example, type:

PING iodine.lotus.com

5. Ping the server by DNS alias name from the server itself to verify it was added to the network correctly. Then ping the server from the workstation. Ideally the server host alias names all should be the same as the Domino server names. Sometimes the server's FQDN may differ from the Domino server's. That is when the alias name is used, being the same as the Domino server's name.

For example, type:

PING Iodine

If you reach this point and the connection is failing between workstation and server, try creating a Connection document in the Contacts of the workstation. This document contains the numeric IP address of the destination server. It is best to resolve IP addresses by DNS or hosts files and not by Connection documents.

Note WINSOCK.DLL is the Windows Sockets interface provided with TCP/IP network software for Microsoft Windows. If you're using an incorrect (or incorrectly placed) version of WINSOCK.DLL, Notes may exhibit problems related to WINSOCK.

6. If pinging by numeric address succeeds, but pinging by the alias name fails, the problem's source is in name resolution and not in physical network connectivity. The following table list the commands you use (depending on the operating environment the server or workstation uses) to gather the following information about the system's IP configuration:

IP address
Host name
If present, the default gateway

If new information appears when the computer is restarted, record the information and call Lotus Support Services.

After you've gathered this information, perform the procedure titled "Checking TCP/IP name resolution in NRPC."

Operating system Command/location to use Explanation

Macintosh Control Panel, TCP/IP, Load Ping, "TCPIP Config" window Not applicable

UNIX®/Linux® ipconfig <interface name> or
ifconfig <interface name> Different switches or commands may be required for each UNIX® platform; consult
a UNIX expert if necessary.

Windows 2000/XP ipconfig (or see the Network settings in Control Panel) Issue this command at a prompt, or see
the Network settings in Control Panel.

Glossary

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Glossary

Operating system	Command/location to use	Explanation
Macintosh	Control Panel, TCP/IP, Load Ping, "TCPIP Config" window	Not applicable
UNIX®/Linux®	ipconfig <interface name> or ifconfig <interface name>	Different switches or commands may be required for each UNIX® platform; consult a UNIX expert if necessary.
Windows 2000/XP	ipconfig (or see the Network settings in Control Panel)	Issue this command at a prompt, or see the Network settings in Control Panel.