XFOR: Dirsync Restarts After You Restart the Exchange Notes Connector (288111)

SYMPTOMS

For large organizations that have a very large number of mail users in Exchange Server or in Lotus Notes, directory synchronization (dirsync) over the Microsoft Exchange Connector for Lotus Notes may take several hours. If you are an administrator, and you start a Full Reload operation of the directories during the middle of a business day, message flow between Exchange Server and Notes may be delayed or stop because of the bandwidth-intensive dirsync operation. If you restart the connector services or the Exchange Server computer, dirsync restarts after the connector has been restarted, and message flow continues to be affected.

CAUSE

This issue can occur because when the Exchange Notes Connector restarts, the propagation control table is read for a list of operations to run. An entry in the table called ProcessNow determines whether dirsync was cut off when the connector was shut down. ProcessNow is set to TRUE as soon as you start dirsync.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this issue, follow the procedure in this section.

NOTE: Before you start this procedure, confirm that the Exchange Notes Connector is currently running, and that dirsync is in progress.

Stop the Exchange Notes Connector.
Start Task Manager, and then stop any instances of Lsdxa.exe.

Lsdxa.exe is the process that performs directory synchronization.
Depending on the direction of the Full Reload operation, open the following folders:
- If you are performing a Full Reload operation from Notes to Exchange Server, open the Dxanotes folder.
- If you are performing a Full Reload operation from Exchange Server to Notes, open the Dxamex folder.
NOTE: In Exchange Server 5.5, the dirsync folders are usually located in Exchsrvr\Connect\Exchconn. In Exchange 2000, the dirsync folders are usually located in Program Files\Exchsrvr\Conndata.
Use Microsoft Notepad or any text editor to open the Pcta.tbl file.
Locate the entry called ProcessNow=TRUE, change the value from TRUE to FALSE, and then save your modifications to this file.
Clean up the transaction buffer that was generated from the partial dirsync, and then rename or delete the Temp folder that is located at the same level as Dxanotes and Dxamex.

The Exchange Notes Connector automatically re-creates the Temp folder when you restart the connector.

NOTE: This step is optional; however, it is recommended that you complete this step.
Restart the Exchange Notes Connector.

After you complete this procedure, you may notice that one instance of Lsdxa.exe is running, but dirsync is does not restart.

MORE INFORMATION

It is recommended that you schedule dirsync during off-peak hours, or disable dirsync if you are not going to add any more users to the Notes address book or the Exchange Server directory in the future. Typically, dirsync does not affect message flow except in low-bandwidth situations, or where message traffic volumes are extremely high.