Problems with Lotus Organizer 2.01
Song Wee Shiong
: Attn : All Users of Lotus Organizer
: LOTUS ORGANIZER 2.01
: Currently, we are testing the use of Lotus Organizer 2.01 in
: our network. The configuration is as follows :
: (a) Notes Server running the Lotus Organizer Scheduling
: Agent
: - Lotus Notes Ver 3.2 running on IBM OS/2 2.11,
: Microsoft LAN Manager 2.2
: (b) File Server containing the Organizer Data and Program
: files
: - Microsoft LAN Manager 2.2 running on OS/2 1.3
: (c) Client PC
: - Microsoft LAN Manager 2.2, Windows 3.1, DOS 5.0 or
: DOS 6.22, Lotus Notes 3.2
: The Organizer user's data file (*.OR2) is placed in a central
: directory on the file server. The Organizer program files
: (*.EXE) are also placed in a central directory on the file
: server. The Organizer Scheduling Agent is invoked as an
: add-in server task on the Notes Server. The user's mailbox
: is located on a different Notes Server.
: We faced the following problems in testing the use of Lotus
: Organizer 2.01 :
: 1. Performance & Stability
: With the running of Organizer in the background, we
: found there is :
: 1.1 Degradation of the system response on the
: client PC (15%)
: 1.2 A client PC also 'hangs' intermittently and
: has to be re-started through a cold re-start.
: 1.1 Performance
: User A sends a meeting notice to user B.
: User B does not open to read this meeting notice
: within Organizer. If user B continues to do any
: typing, say within Lotus Notes, user B will
: experience the situation whereby whatever he types
: is not reflected immediately on the screen. This
: synchronization delay between keying and displaying
: on the screen occurs at every 40 sec on user B's PC.
: During this time, we notice that the hard disk
: activity light flickers continuously and we cannot
: proceed further until this hard disk activity stops.
Do you run a lot of applications off the network? It seems like you are
running both notes and ORganizer programs from network file server, and
also retrieving Or2 files from another separate file server.. My
suggestion is to run the org program from the local drive. Even with
group scheduling, the program file can still be installed on the local
harddisk... After that, monitor the system, and see this "harddisk
activity" continues or not...
: As the no. of unread meeting notices increases, the
: system becomes slower at every 40 seconds interval.
: The PC's response when switching between the
: Organizer and Lotus Notes is also affected when
: there are pending meeting notices which are not
: read at all.
:
: 1.2 PC 'hangs'
: We encountered some 'freezing' of the client PC with
: Organizer running in the background. At times the
: 'hang' occurs when we attempt to do printing, some
: typing or reading of mails using Lotus Notes.
You may need to look into your network traffic... what is going on at
the machine level... if you are running Notes 3.2 and above, this problem
is very unlikely to be the notes problem. In anycase, check out the
MS LaNMAN network, it's not the most stable NOS out there..
My suggestion, remove all the unnecessary setup in the config.sys and
autoexec.bat, boot the machine clean... with minimum device loaded.
Look at your device settings, memory mappings, EMM386 parameters.. When
a machine suddenly "freezes?" in Windows, you can bet that some memory
conflict has occurred. Was the user doing something at that instant?
Note down and analyse any patterns...
: first. Otherwise, Lotus Notes will not be able to
: close successfully. A message 'Waiting for background
: program to stop ...' will appear. The system will
: remain in this state until one does a 'warm' or 'cold'
: re-start of the PC itself. One unorthodox method
: which was discovered to force a proper closure of
: Lotus Notes if Organiser is not closed before that of
: Lotus Notes is :
: i) Move the mouse pointer to the horizontal menu
: bar.
: ii) When the mouse changes from a 'clock' symbol to
: that of a pointer, quickly switch to the
: Organizer application screen (using Alt-Tab).
: Double click at the control menu box to close the
: the Organiser application.
: Both steps (i) and (ii) must be done quickly as the
: mouse pointer changes back to a clock symbol very
: rapidly. This is not an easy method to use.
Interesting problem... could this be due to the Network resource that the
Notes and Organizer is sharing..?
Bok Hai
LOTUS ORGANIZER 2.01
1. Performance & Stability
1.1 Performance
As the no. of unread meeting notices increases, the
system becomes slower at every 40 seconds interval.
The PC's response when switching between the
Organizer and Lotus Notes is also affected when
there are pending meeting notices which are not
read at all.
1.2 PC 'hangs'
We encountered some 'freezing' of the client PC with
Organizer running in the background. At times the
'hang' occurs when we attempt to do printing, some
typing or reading of mails using Lotus Notes.
2. Consistency of Software
At times, as the Organizer Administrator, we are not
able to create a new Organizer user entry, a resource
entry or meeting room entry. After attempting this
for several days, without any change made in the
system settings, it became possible to create such
entries. A few days later, it was again not possible
to do this. We are not sure what is causing this
inconsistency in using the Organizer's Administration
program.
3. Resource Requirement
Whenever the Organizer application is activated and
subsequently closed, a network connection to the
shared resource which contains the Organizer program
files (on the network file server) is still maintained
until the user exits from Windows. The user is not
able to disconnect this connection within Windows
itself. This connection takes up resources and
affects the printing of documents using other
Microsoft applications (Word, Excel etc).
4. Execution & Closing of Organizer as Smart Icon in
Lotus Notes
The Organizer can be invoked as a Smart Icon within
Lotus Notes. However, it is important that when
closing Lotus Notes, the Organizer which is invoked
as a Smart Icon within Lotus Notes must be closed
first. Otherwise, Lotus Notes will not be able to
close successfully. A message 'Waiting for background
program to stop ...' will appear. The system will
remain in this state until one does a 'warm' or 'cold'
re-start of the PC itself. One unorthodox method
which was discovered to force a proper closure of
Lotus Notes if Organiser is not closed before that of
Lotus Notes is :
i) Move the mouse pointer to the horizontal menu
bar.
ii) When the mouse changes from a 'clock' symbol to
that of a pointer, quickly switch to the
Organizer application screen (using Alt-Tab).
Double click at the control menu box to close the
the Organiser application.
Both steps (i) and (ii) must be done quickly as the
mouse pointer changes back to a clock symbol very
rapidly. This is not an easy method to use.
We would like to know if there are other Organizer users who
have encountered or are aware of such problems and know of any
possible solutions that we can adopt.
Looking forward to some response on this issue.
Thank you.
Bok Hai Suan
CPF Board, Singapore
(65) 229-3461
