Network Timeouts with Lotus Notes Attachments

[david-schroeder_2]

When opening Lotus Notes attachements we get the generic error of "operation did not complete in a resonable amount of time". This point you to a network timeout. The WAN link from this site to the site that contains the Lotus Notes server is a 56K frame-relay link. Sites that are connected via a non-frame 56K link do NOT experience any of these problems. Does anyone have any suggestions?

[MickPhelps]

show int on the frame interfaces.

Look for input/output errors, queue drops, interface resets, etc...

show frame pvc to see BECNs FECNs and DEs.

Is your frame connection line speed 56K or is that just your CIR?

Mick.

[david-schroeder_2]

Mick,

There are no input/output errors, no queue drops, not interface resets.

The counters for input and output BECN's, FECN's, and DE's are 0.

The frame connection has an AR of 56 and a CIR of 56. The line does show a spike to around 40% utilization when opening the attachement but the timeout still occurs.

Thanks for responding,

Dave

[MickPhelps]

Does the 40% utilization continue until you receive the error, or does it drop for several seconds before you get the error.

You may want to do some ping tests to determine your response time to the notes server from the client.

Since your interface and frame numbers appear healthy, it may be just coincidental that its happening over the frame connection. Do traceroutes from the client and from the server to determine that your not having a problem with asymetrical routing. Also, try running FTPs from the client using frame and a client not using frame. Verify that your throuput numbers are similar.

Run extended pings from your frame router to its peer over the cloud. Set your byte size to 1500 and your data to 0x00 and another run with your data set to 0xff. Make the number of pings in excess of 100.

Mick.

[david-schroeder_2]

Mick,

I have run the 1500 byte pings with different data patterns when I'm trying to open the attachement.

I do get and occassional ping drop. The response times on the pings are comparable across the frame and non-frame 56k links. The 40% is just a spike. It drops back down prior to the timeout error. I will double check to make sure I see no interface errors when this ping drop occurs. I would guess that maybe the Lotus Notes application itself is not handling a packet drop with a retry but with a timeout. ???

Thanks,

Dave

[MickPhelps]

It sounds like a Notes problem, but I wouldn't bet money...

Have you tried the FTP test to/from the Notes server?

Even if you dropped the occasional packet, I wouldn't expect Notes to error out. It sounds more like some sort of services issue... like reverse DNS lookup failure. Like Notes is waiting for something to occur before sending the attachment.

Hook up a sniffer to the Notes segment and see what kind of requests go out during the failure that don't get responses.

Mick.

[david-schroeder_2]

Mick,

The FTP works fine. I am going to have the phone company monitor the line to see where my packets are being dropped when I'm accessing the attachment. They do not drop in the router or I would expect to see some packet errors or errors in the interface. This is strange all around since I see no errors on either end of the connections. It could very well be a Lotus Notes issue but it still bothers me that this works across non-frame connections of the same size.

Thanks,

Dave

[cybrgenx]

After looking at the history the problem seems like it's with the lotus notes server not with the frame-relay. with you pstn dialup config is it the same config as the LAN config, eg the DNS/WINS settings?

and with the routing, does the route to the server from the desktop go the same way as the server to the desktop?

QOS being used?

[david-schroeder_2]

QOS is not being used in this scenario. The routing is consistent. I did discover this morning that if I send the attachement that cannot be opened to an Exchange mailbox and then send from the Exchange mailbox back to the Lotus Notes mailbox, I then can open the e-mail and attachement from the Lotus Notes mailbox just fine. Sounds like a Lotus notes problem to based upon that.

Can you elaborate on the PSTN dialup config/Lan config question. There is no dialup involved here as we are using dedicated lines.

Thanks,

Dave