Lotus Domino Administrator 7 Help - Lotus documentation

Tip: Use policies to automate the setup of Connection documents for Notes users. Even if you use
DNS, you should set up Connection documents for Notes users in locations from which they have
difficulty accessing the DNS server.
For more information on policies, see the chapter ″Using Policies.″
Alternative IP name services
Microsoft networking services offers four additional methods of IP address resolution. These methods are
not as reliable as traditional DNS and hosts files and can cause name and address confusion. For best
results, do not use these methods when also using the Notes network port for TCP/IP.
v Direct NetBIOS broadcast -- The system sends out a name broadcast message so that all of the systems
on the local network segment can register the name and IP address in their name cache. If you must
use NetBIOS over IP and use Domino with both the NetBIOS and TCP/IP port drivers, avoid
name-resolution problems by giving the Domino server and the system different names.
Master Browser cache (for NT domains or SAMBA servers) -- Collects broadcasted names and IP
addresses and publishes them across the NT domain to other Master Browser systems for Windows
systems to access in their name lookups.
v Windows Internet Name Service (WINS) -- Uses NetBIOS broadcasts. Unlike DNS, which is static in
nature, WINS is dynamic. Note that the TCP/IP stacks of Macintosh and UNIX client systems may not
be able to access the WINS server.
v LAN Manager Hosts (LMHosts) -- A static hosts file method.
CAUTION:
On a Windows system, the combination of the system’s native NetBIOS over IP name-resolver service
and DNS can cause name resolution failure for the Domino server name.
For information on avoiding this problem, see the topic ″Server name-to-address resolution over
NetBIOS″ later in this chapter.
Ensuring DNS resolves in TCP protocols
When you register a new Domino server, you specify a common name for it. Within a Domino
hierarchical name, the common name is the portion before the leftmost slash. For example, in the name
App01/East/Acme, the common name is App01. The common name, not the hierarchical name, is the
name that the Domino server is known by in DNS.
Note: When you choose a common name for a Domino server that uses DNS, use only the characters 0
through 9, A through Z, and the dash (-). Do not use spaces or underscores.
Note: The DNS names held in Lotus Notes and Lotus Domino are not case sensitive; Notes workstations
and Domino servers always pass DNS names to DNS in lowercase.
You can avoid problems and extra work if you consider the DNS configuration, as well as the effect of
other protocol name-resolver services, when you choose the format for the common name of the Domino
server.
To avoid name-resolution problems that affect all TCP services on Windows systems, see the topic
″Ensuring DNS resolves on Windows systems -- All TCP protocols.″
For procedures to help you avoid DNS problems in NRPC, see these topics:
v Ensuring DNS resolves in NRPC -- Best Practices
v Ensuring DNS resolves in NRPC -- Alternative practices
v Ensuring DNS resolves in NRPC -- A practice to use with caution
Chapter 2. Setting Up the Domino Network 19
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