Lotus
Notes is a well known emailing application, developed by IBM Corps. It is
considered amongst top three emailing platform with Microsoft Outlook and
Novell GroupWise. The first version of Notes application was launched in 1989 and the latest version launched is
Notes 9.0. Throughout the
development timeline of Lotus Notes, user experienced large number of
modifications that made the accessing much simpler and reliable. However there
are large numbers of error events available that bypass the technical efficiency
and make the situation troublesome for the user. In this article we will focus
upon few such events and their possible solutions.
Situation 1:
Error “File is not a database”
Reason:
The failure of Server
due to any reason results in shrinking of Lotus Notes database from GB to
bytes. When user opens Lotus Notes client he encounters a pop up stating “file
is not a database”. The occurrence of error can be due to transferring mails to
any other user mailbox or when user runs “nfixup” command on the database. The
last possible reason can be the attempt of user to open Lotus Notes database by
itself or by using files.
Solution:
There are
two possible solutions available to tackle this problem:
·
The user can restore data with the help
of last backup file. However in most cases it has been found that user has not
maintained backup files at regular interval of time, in that case user have to
recover their corrupt file.
·
User can opt for third party recovery
solution to recover their corrupted lotus notes files.
Situation 2:
"Server Error: This database cannot be read due to an invalid on disk structure"
Another scenario is also related with database corruption, which inhibits user to send or receive messages in Lotus Notes. Above shown error message is encountered by the user when he tries to send an email message to a random destination.
Reason:
However the
email is sent successfully after the error is encountered but message is not
saved in “Sent” folder. The reason behind the error message is when user checks
the option of “Always keep a copy” for the “Save mail that you sent”
option. The mentioned option saves every sent mail to the Sent folder. However,
in case you still encounters that no mail is saved in the Sent folder then it
suggest that Sent folder is corrupted. Due to this reason user is unable to
access any information or data available in the Sent folder.
Solution:
User
can make use of “Fixup” or “Compact” utilities to repair and
recover the corrupt mail database.
To use “Fixup” utility on Lotus Notes database following steps can be used:
To use “Fixup” utility on Lotus Notes database following steps can be used:
- From the Domino Administrator, select the server on which to want to run ‘Fixup’
- Now, click on the ‘Server – Status’ tab.
- Click on ‘Task – Start’ which is in the task panel on the right.
- Select ‘Fixup’ and then click ‘Start Task’.
It is worldwide accepted that Lotus Notes application is quite tough in-terms
of technological aspect. Hence we cannot expect a novice or a new user to
accomplish these steps accurately all alone. He must need technical specialist
guidance as it is matter of their crucial data. Also there is no guarantee that
after performing above mentioned steps precisely, user can repair their corrupted
Notes data. The severity of corruption of Notes can hamper the repair process. Lotus
notes can be repair with the help of any trusted recovery software in that
case.
There are
large numbers of such recovery tools available on the web but selecting a best
and reliable tool amongst them is a tough task. Thorough research is required
before finalizing any third party product as if selected an unworthy tool it
may make the situation much worse. The best and most reliable technique to
judge a tool is by using a license free or demo version of the tool. By this user
can have a complete overview of the product and can understand the
functionality on real time basis. Some of the trusted references are mentioned
below:
- Stellar Phoenix Lotus Notes Recovery Website:
- Office Recovery Website
- Unistal Recovery Website:
