SOLUTION: Optimised & stable set-up for Notes under Citrix XenApp

HCL Notes/Domino 8.5 Forum (includes Notes Traveler)

Subject: SOLUTION: Optimised & stable set-up for Notes under Citrix XenApp

Feedback Type: Suggestion

Product Area: Notes Client

Technical Area: Install

Platform: Citrix

Release: 8.5.3

Reproducible: Not applicable

Hello folks, I am hoping that the following will help others struggle a little less than we had to, to get a usable & stable (ish) deployment of Notes 8.5.x under Citrix XenApp 6.5. I'm not saying this is the only or even best way, but it works :-) . . .

It is assumed that you have already read the standard IBM "Basic Steps to Install Lotus Notes 8.5.1 (or later) Multi-User on Citrix XenApp" guide: http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21447614

Good luck!

>
>>>> Background:
>

In our environment we have the 32-bit Standard Notes 8.5.3 FP1 client installed on 64-bit Windows Server 2008 RC2 servers running Citrix XenApp 6.5, with Appsense 8.1. The embedded Sametime client has been updated to v8.5.2 and the Quickr Connector v8.5.0 HF10 is also installed.

>>>>
Notes client set-up:

[EDIT 23/5/2012: If you have an antivirus product installed on the Citrix blade server (e.g. Symantec Endpoint Security ('SEP')), make sure you disable it BEFORE installing Lotus Notes. We just tried building a new blade image and with SEP installed, although Notes 8.5.3 installed, whenever a new user tried to load Notes it crashed during the initial set-up. Removing SEP before installing Notes on the blade fixed this problem]

The following command is used to install the Notes client on the blade server (note the quotes after /v and at the end of the command):

Notes853Setup.exe /v"SETMULTIUSER=1 MULTIUSERBASEDIR=U:\Notes85\ MULTIUSERCOMMONDIR=C:\Notes85\Common CITRIX=1"

Note: For some reason the "C:\Notes85\Common" folder was not created. Instead, all of the shared files were placed in "C:\ProgramData\Lotus\Notes\Data\Shared".

>>>>
Stub NOTES.INI for each user:

For new users, a new stub NOTES.INI is created in "U:\Notes85" (by a batch file) with the following contents:
[Notes]
; ***** SITA UK Notes Defaults START *****
Directory=U:\Notes85
FileDlgDirectory=U:\Notes85
NotesProgram=c:\Program Files (x86)\IBM\Lotus\Notes\
SharedDataDirectory=C:\ProgramData\Lotus\Notes\Data\Shared
SPELL_DIR=U:\Notes85
KitType=1
InstallType=6
InstallMode=1
SUDIALOG_ON=0
FaultRecovery_Build=Release 8.5.3
; ***** SITA UK Notes Defaults END *****
; ***** SITA UK Quickr Defaults START *****
EXTMGR_ADDINS=nqkrem
NSF_HOOKS=nqkrhkdr
AddinMenus=nqkrmn.dll
$QCInstall=1
; ***** SITA UK Quickr Defaults END *****
; ***** SITA UK Optimisations START *****
CONFIGFILE=C:\ProgramData\Lotus\Notes\Data\SITASetup.txt
DISABLE_CLIENTRECORD=1
Log=,,1,0,7,20000
Cache=%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Temp\NOTEsTMP\NOTESCACHE.NDK
View_Rebuild_Dir=%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Temp\NOTESTMP\
; ***** SITA UK Optimisations END *****

>
>>>> Optimisations for Citrix XenApp:
>

>>>>
0) Disable DEP on the Citrix Windows blade servers: Running Notes R8.5.x under Citrix XenApp 6.5 on Windows Server 2008 RC2 will result in significant instabilities (crashing) unless Data Execution Prevention ('DEP') is disabled ref. "LO67160: NOTES CLIENT CRASH ON XENAPP 6.5HF RU1": http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg1LO67160

To disable DEP on Windows Server 2008 type the following on an elevated Command Line (ref. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff542275.aspx):

bcdedit /set nx AlwaysOff

>>>>
1) Enable the Java Shared Cache Class for Notes to reduce memory usage: Ref. http://public.dhe.ibm.com/software/dw/lotus/Notes852XenApp50Final_Update.pdf

[EDIT 23/5/2012: Installing Fix Packs or add-ons may undo this change, so check the "C:\Program Files (x86)\IBM\Lotus\Notes\framework\rcp\deploy\jvm.properties" after any additional installs.]

>>>>
2) Assuming that the user's Notes data folder is on a remote networked drive:

Force the Eclipse "Workspace" folder to be under user's remote Notes data folder (on a network file share), not %USERPROFILE% on the blade server (typically "C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Lotus\Notes\Data\workspace"). This avoids issues with roaming profiles that become huge as the Workspace folder can become quite large (several 10s of MB) and make Citrix logon/off very slow. In addition it enables easy access to the Workspace folder to e.g. set debug parameters, or even remove the folder to resolve corruption issues (hard to do if on a Citrix blade server and as is typical, the user has no access to C: on the blade) . . .

Windows Explorer to "C:\Program Files (x86)\IBM\Lotus\Notes\framework\rcp".
Edit the "rcplauncher.properties" file:
Change the "rcp.data=" setting:
Before: "rcp.data=${env.USERPROFILE}/AppData/Local/Lotus/Notes/Data/workspace".
After: "rcp.data=<remote Notes data folder>/workspace" e.g. "rcp.data=U:/Notes85/workspace".

[EDIT 23/5/2012: Installing Fix Packs or add-ons (e.g. updating the embedded Sametime client) may change this setting by inserting a "\" after the drive letter and before the ":" e.g. "rcp.data=U\:/Notes85/workspace" - I know that this is the 'correct' Java notation, but have found that if you remove the \ e.g. change back to "rcp.data=U:/Notes85/workspace" it helps - YMMV.]

>>>>
3) Disable unwanted Lotus Notes Windows Services:

"Lotus Notes Smart Upgrade Service". We do not use Smart Upgrade, as Citrix blade images are built and then rolled out instead, so not applicable for our use case.

"Multi-User Cleanup Service". Note: The Multi-User Cleanup utility was designed for roaming users on multi-user installs, so not applicable for our use case.

>>>>
4) Remove use of LOG.NSF to improve performance:
Ref. http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21290447

Windows Explorer to "C:\ProgramData\Lotus\Notes\Data\Shared".
Remove log file template: Make a compressed (.ZIP) backup copy of "log.ntf" and place the .ZIP file in "C:\ProgramData\Lotus\Notes\Data".
Delete log.ntf from "C:\ProgramData\Lotus\Notes\Data\Shared".
Note: The above works in conjunction with the "log=,1,0,7,20000" value in NOTES.INI (see below), which must be set during client set-up, by policy etc. - This prevents "Unable to open log file <notesdatapath>\log.nsf: File does not exist" errors.

>>>>
5) Fix for embedded Sametime client 20-30 second 'freeze' at login:
Ref. http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21584605

Windows Explorer to "C:\Program Files (x86)\IBM\Lotus\Notes\framework\rcp".
Edit the "plugin_customization.ini" file with Wordpad.
Change the setting "com.ibm.collaboration.realtime/startBroker=" from "true" to "false".

>>>>
6) Workaround for multiple Sametime icons in the Windows Taskbar:
Due to some unknown issue (IBM do not support Sametime under XenApp), we were seeing multiple (3 or more) Sametime client icons appearing in the Windows Tasktray (appeared connected to running other applications under Citrix). Eventually we decided to just disable the icon in the Taskbar.
Ref. http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/nd8forum.nsf/Response+Print?OpenForm&ParentUNID=410C627B3765100F8525769B00521160

Windows Explorer to "C:\Program Files (x86)\IBM\Lotus\Notes\framework\rcp".
Edit the "plugin_customization.ini" file with Wordpad.
Add the following line (as a new line at the top of the file, just below the comments line):
com.ibm.collaboration.realtime.application/useSystemTray=false\r

>>>>
7) NOTES.INI optimisations: The following NOTES.INI settings can be used to improve client performance:

7.1) Prevent high volume of AdminP requests to update Person documents with user's workstation:

DISABLE_CLIENTRECORD=1

7.2) Set Notes clent to not use a log file (LOG.NSF):

Log=,,1,0,7,20000

7.3) Assuming Notes data folder on remote network drive: Move Notes cache file to C: drive of Citrix blade server:

Cache=%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Temp\NOTESTMP\NOTESCACHE.NDK

7.4) Assuming Notes data folder on remote network drive: Move Notes temporary view rebuild folder to C: drive of Citrix blade server:

View_Rebuild_Dir=%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Temp\NOTESTMP\

>>>>
8) Enhanced Registry settings & Hives to store for each user:

8.1) Enforced Settings - Values set & maintained for each Citrix session:

Prevent "Lotus\Notes\Data" folder structure being created under Notes data folder location: Under "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Lotus\Notes\8.0", a new String Value called "NotesIniPath", set to "<data folder path\notes.ini>" e.g. "U:\Notes85\notes.ini". Ref. http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21422525

If using the Quickr Connector: Force location of Connector's temporary folder to be off the Citrix server's C: drive, otherwise files not uploaded by the Connector may be lost at end of Citrix session: Under "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\IBM\Lotus Quickr\Desktop Integration", a new String Value called "LibrariesRoot", set to "<desired temporary folder>" e.g. "U:\QkrTemp".

8.2) Managed Settings - Hives to save from a Citrix session when closing & apply to a new session (to retain user preferences) e.g. with AppSense - Manage the following registry hives:

8.2.1) All of "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\IBM", in particular:

1.1 "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\IBM\Lotus" hive to retain user settings for Lotus Notes.
1.2 "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\IBM\Lotus Quickr" hive to retain user settings for the Quickr Connector.
1.3 "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\IBM\Sametime" hive to retain user settings for the Sametime client that is embedded in Lotus Notes.
1.4 "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Lotus" hive to retain user settings for Lotus Notes.

8.2.2) If using the Quickr Connector: Manage the following AppData folder to retain Connector login credentials file if using basic authentication:

2.1 Manage the contents of the "%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Microsoft\Credentials" folder e.g. "C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Credentials" to retain user login credentials file for Quickr servers (save this file at the end of each Citrix session and apply to new sessions) e.g. file called "56CBB9F12BDDFB42B0A976B95BE36559" located in "C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Credentials".

>
>>>> Recommended Resources:
>

IBM What versions of Lotus Notes support Citrix XenApp 6.5: http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21578153

Christian Henseler's oracle-like "Lotus Notes 8.5.x on Citrix XenApp Installation & Configuration Best Practices Administration (W4S1)": http://www.admincamp.de/konferenz/ac2010.nsf/bc36cf8d512621e0c1256f870073e627/001e979ea891dba8c12576fe00292c2b/$FILE/T4S1-Lotus_Notes_8.5.x_on_Citrix_XenApp.pdf

Useful 3rd-party document: "Test Infrastructure: Notes 8 client within Citrix": http://tronza.net/?q=node/9

IBM Troubleshooting Lotus Notes on Citrix environments: http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21273848

Feedback number WEBB8UDC74 created by ~Chris Quetwebergettu on 05/17/2012

Status: Open
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