We in IBM Support are often asked questions that go a little outside the standard "How do I?" questions. One question that is asked fairly often is "How do I split - or combine - my resource reservations databases(s)?" Sometimes, it is necessary to split databases due to a corporate sale and often you've asked us how to combine several databases that you've inherited over time in order to simplify maintenance.

The methods used to split or combine a resource database are the same as you'd use to do the same for any Lotus Domino database, with only a few caveats. In this article, we explain how to split one resource database into two, but you would use the same agents and methods to combine 2 databases also.



Some things to keep in mind:

This is not a process designed by IBM development teams, nor has it gone through IBM Quality Assurance testing, but it is the result of many years of experience, and the methods used are standard methods.
Keep all Rooms, Resources and Reservations for any particular SITE in the same database.
Be sure you don't leave duplicate databases, rooms, or reservations after you've finished copying documents.
Write a standard change plan with a backout plan as required by best IT practices.
Back up every database you touch (all Resource databases as well as your Domino Directory) before starting.
Test, test, test in a test environment.
Test everything by using ONE test room with existing reservations and one test database in production before your actual move.


For simplicity sake, this document will go through how to divide one resource database into two. Also, it is written based on the assumption that the new RRDB will reside on the same Domino server as the original. For instructions on how to move a resource database to a different server, see the following technote: How to move the Resource & Reservations database to a different server

- Create an unencrypted backup copy of the original resource database (RRDB) as well as the Domino Directory and store them in a safe place.

- Create a new RRDB.

- Shut down rnrmgr, sched, and calconn.

- In the original RRDB, create Simple Actions agent to move the site, room, and reservation docs:



- Click on the Add Action button, change the Action field to "Copy to Database", click on the Select Database button and choose the server and new RRDB:




- Save and close the agent.

- In the original RRDB, run the agent on the sites, rooms, resources, and reservations that you want to move to the new RRDB:












- Create a formula agent in the Domino Directory to update the mail-in documents with the new RRDB file name:







- Run the agent on the Mail-in documents of the rooms/resources that you moved to the new RRDB:







- Run the command "load updall -R names.nsf" from the Domino Console without the quotes.

- In the original RRDB, create an @DeleteDocument agent and use it to delete the sites, rooms, resources, and reservations that you moved to the new RRDB:






- Save and close the agent.

- In the original RRDB, select the sites, rooms, resources, and reservations that you moved to the new RRDB and run the @DeleteDocument agent to delete them:











- Recreate busytime.nsf (or clubusy.nsf if your server is in a cluster) by following the process outlined in this technote: How to recreate the busytime.nsf and clubusy.nsf databases on a Domino server

- Load Sched, RnRMgr, and Calconn.