What is frustrating about the Notes client is that, once it hangs up, the user usually must reboot the entire computer. If the user attempts to relaunch the client, a message window says that the entire machine must be restarted. Of course, this necessitates shutting down all the applications that are currently open--tasks that may take an eternity in their own right.

So why does the Notes client get hung up? What can you do about it? A workaround to this problem is important to preserve your users' sanity, and a solution to the problem may not be that hard to obtain.

Why Notes Crashes

Let me start by saying that I believe any application is only as strong as its underlying operating system: No application can make up for a shoddy OS, and the Notes client software is no exception. Yet, because we all have learned to accept the idiosyncrasies of the various versions of the Windows operating system, too often we'll blame an application for being unstable, when in fact, the problem lies with the underlying faults that are occurring in the hosting operating system code itself. The Lotus Notes client software--and its relationship with different versions of the Windows operating system--is an excellent case in point. For instance, in my experience, the R4.6 client of Lotus Notes runs moderately well on Windows 98, yet has a rockier time on Windows ME. (I've yet to experiment with Windows XP.) Yet the same R4.6 client of Lotus Notes runs very well on Windows 2000, and is considerably more stable. The same is true of the R5 Notes clients. Why is one OS version better than another? If we examine the symptoms of a typical Notes client crash, we may find a clue.

Common Causes of Notes Crashes

The two most common causes of a Notes client failure are 1) low main memory resources and 2) incomplete external Windows calls to other DLL processes on the system.

In the first case, as memory is consumed by various Windows processes, contiguous memory in the Windows memory stack develops "holes" in which small segments of main memory can't be recouped. Different versions of Windows have different capabilities to effectively reclaim these "leaks." Windows 98 and ME are notorious for "challenged" memory management. Windows 2000, by comparison, has a much better virtual memory management system. So what happens? As more main memory is allocated to new processes--and more processes are swapped out to virtual memory--the operating system struggles to keep applications alive. Sooner or later, one of the Notes processes will get swapped out of main memory into virtual memory, and its space will be consumed by one or more different processes that may have been spawned by another application--perhaps that Excel spreadsheet or Word document that came in a Notes email message. When the time comes for the original Notes process to be swapped back into main memory, the size of the contiguous memory may be mismatched for what is now required by the Notes process. The result is that the client software hangs, waiting for more resources.

The second cause of failure may occur less frequently. In this case, the Notes client software launches an external process--such as an Internet Explorer browser window--through the prescribed Windows methods, but there is no feedback mechanism for the client software to know if the spawned launch of the application has been a success. Sometimes the Notes client software "hangs" because it's waiting for a response from the operating system that never arrives.

Why You Can't Relaunch Notes

Of course, living with flawed and failing memory systems is the epitome of working with the Microsoft Windows environment. When something hangs or crashes, we've learned to bite our lip, shrug our shoulders, and hope our last Alt/File/Save was successful. We just want to simply get back to work as quickly and simply as possible. If Notes were a simple application, an occasional crash would mean nothing to us: We'd simply click the icon again and forget it.

Unfortunately, Notes is not a simple application. Each time you launch the Notes client, up to 28 separate processes may be launched into Windows' main memory. These processes are intertwined to form background replication services, Internet connectivity, browser capabilities, Web-hosting previews, and a slew of other facilities. Once the processes have been launched, they communicate with one another to provide the user with the comprehensive services that are required by the Notes platform-independent architecture. All this is good: It allows developers to feel confident that a Notes application written on one operating system platform will work transparently on a different operating system version.

However, if one of those 28 processes should freeze--due to memory allocation problems identified above--the only way to safely relaunch all those Notes processes is to individually remove each of the previously remaining 27 processes from main memory. Once they're all gone, Notes can be relaunched successfully, spawning new versions of these 28 processes. However, unless every one of the 28 potential processes has been removed from main memory, the Notes client will not relaunch.

Crash Workarounds

One workaround for a Windows client that is suffering from frequent Notes crashes may be simply to give the machine more memory, especially if the user is running other applications that require considerable resources. Another obvious, though more difficult, workaround might be to upgrade to Windows 2000. A third potential workaround--one that I hesitate to suggest--is to teach users how to use the Windows Task Manager to individually remove any of the 28 remaining processes that remain in main memory. However, this is a difficult training task because Notes processes use no particular naming convention, and missing a single one will still cause problems.

A fourth workaround is to get a Notes relauncher.

What Are Notes Relaunchers?

A Notes relauncher is a program specifically designed to interrogate the Windows memory stack for remnant processes spawned by the Lotus Notes client. The relauncher then removes those processes automatically and allows the user to relaunch the Notes client and respawn new versions of the processes. This means you don't have to shut down the rest of your applications in order to relaunch the Notes client: merely run the relauncher and get back to business quickly. (Caveat: Relaunching Notes after an abend of any process will probably cause any previously opened Notes database to resynchronized. This, in itself, may take considerable time if any particular Notes database is large.)

Over the past three years, I've used three different Notes relaunchers with considerable success. Each relauncher varies in terms of the speed and completeness by which it removes Notes remnant processes, but they all seem to work well.

The process of using the relaunchers is usually the same: Click an icon, and Notes is relaunched. There's no requirement to stop any other applications that may be running in Windows' Task Manager.

ZapNotes 3.2

The first relauncher I suggest is called ZapNotes 3.2. It is available here on Notes.net as a free download in the Iris Sandbox. ZapNotes reads through the Notes.INI initiation file that resides in either the Notes folder or the Windows System folder. It reads this INI line by line, looking for each of the 28 processes that potentially may have to be configured to be spawned by the Notes client. It then removes each process it finds from the Windows memory stack. Finally, it allows you to then optionally relaunch the Notes client software without shutting down any other application.

NotesMedic Pro

By comparison, Cassetica's NotesMedic Pro (www.cassetica.com) is a faster and more customizable relauncher than ZapNotes. It also places a NotesMedic icon on the user's sys tray for ready access. This means the user doesn't have to search through the Windows Program Menu to find the relauncher.

NotesMedic Pro can be configured to run against a Notes.INI file that resides in a user-specified path, a neat feature if you're running multiple versions or client configurations of the Notes client. It can also be configured to run against a completely different version of Notes, existing in a separate location. Finally, it can be configured to launch applications--such as the Notes Designer client--in association with the relaunch of the Notes client itself.

I've been using Notes relaunchers for over the three years, and I can heartily recommend NotesMedic Pro. A free individual licensed version of the software is available at www.cassetica.com, but an enterprise licensing agreement--one that allows your entire organization to use NotesMedic Pro--costs about a thousand dollars.

JumpStart 1.1

The third Notes relauncher with which I've experimented is Osprey Consulting's JumpStarter 1.1 (http://www.osprey.org.uk). JumpStarter is also free if you register at Osprey's site. What separates JumpStarter from the other relaunchers is its full customization for relaunching non-Notes programs as well Notes client processes. According to its authors, JumpStarter can be configured to restart any number of background processes. While I've only had the opportunity to test JumpStarter as a Notes relauncher, the potential for restarting background TCP/IP processes, frozen Windows IE browsers, and other endemic Windows OS failures offers an endless opportunity for experimentation.

Building User Competence

Considering that the Notes client software is so ubiquitous in providing so many comprehensive services to an organization's desktops, it's likely that Notes will always be a tough application suite to run under Windows. (Or maybe Microsoft will finally provide a stable client operating system!) Alas, though the failing of the Notes client software isn't necessarily Lotus' fault, sooner or later, an angry user will come to you demanding to know why he or she has to reboot the desktop each time the Notes client freezes.

My approach to answering this question is to simply give the users what they need to get their systems back up as quickly as possible. By giving each user a relauncher tool to recover from a failure--with a modicum of training and explanation--I've found that the demands that I defend the Notes client software quickly fade. To my way of thinking, this is only fair. After all, why should I be forced to defend Notes when most Notes client failures have more to do with Windows than with the Lotus Notes suite itself?

Thomas M. Stockwell is Editor in Chief of MCMagOnline. He can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Thomas M. Stockwell is an independent IT analyst and writer. He is the former Editor in Chief of MC Press Online and Midrange Computing magazine and has over 20 years of experience as a programmer, systems engineer, IT director, industry analyst, author, speaker, consultant, and editor.  

 

Tom works from his home in the Napa Valley in California. He can be reached at ITincendiary.com.

 

 

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