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Planning
Use this topic as an overview of planning task.
Planning server-to-server connections
Servers must connect to each other to exchange data, for example to replicate databases and exchange mail. You can create connections between servers across a local area network (LAN) or wide area network (WAN), by using a pass-through server (a server that acts as an intermediary server between a client and its destination), or over the Internet. Create a Server Connection document whenever you need to establish any new or additional server connections. You can modify this document when necessary.
Remote modem access and server topology
Servers that are not on the same LAN or WAN can use modem connections to communicate with each other. For example, servers in remote field offices can establish modem connections with servers in a central office to route mail or replicate databases.

Planning
Use this topic as an overview of planning task.
- Roadmap for deploying Domino® servers
  Use this as a tool when planning how to integrate HCL Domino® into your existing environment.
- Planning server-to-server connections
  Servers must connect to each other to exchange data, for example to replicate databases and exchange mail. You can create connections between servers across a local area network (LAN) or wide area network (WAN), by using a pass-through server (a server that acts as an intermediary server between a client and its destination), or over the Internet. Create a Server Connection document whenever you need to establish any new or additional server connections. You can modify this document when necessary.
  - Remote modem access and server topology
    Servers that are not on the same LAN or WAN can use modem connections to communicate with each other. For example, servers in remote field offices can establish modem connections with servers in a central office to route mail or replicate databases.
  - How a server connects to another server
    A connecting HCL Domino® server uses the following steps to determine how to connect to a destination server.
  - Replication and server topology
    As the number of HCL Domino® servers on your network increases, so does the amount of replication required to distribute information across the network. Because replication uses memory and processing time, plan how servers connect to perform replication. If you allow servers to replicate at random, so that a given server replicates a single database with multiple servers, or perhaps replicates different databases with different servers, servers can become so overloaded with replication requests that it interferes with their ability to respond to client requests.
  - Creating a local area network (LAN) connection
    Create a connection document to schedule mail routing to and replication between servers on a LAN.
  - Forcing a server connection to use a specific protocol
    If multiple protocols are available for connecting a source server to a given destination, you can specify which protocol to use by setting the usage priority in a Connection document describing how the source server contacts the destination.
  - Setting up external domain lookups
    An HCL Notes® user who wants to open a database on a server outside the local HCL Domino® domain, can do so only if there is a connection document in either their local Contacts, or in the Domino Directory on their home server that describes how to reach the target server. To enable Notes users to connect more easily to servers outside of their domain, you can create an External Domain Network Information (EDNI) document in the Domino Directory.
  - Internet connections
    To enable an HCL Domino® server to connect to another server across the Internet, you must establish Internet access with an Internet Service Provider (ISP) and register an Internet domain name with the ISP -- for example, renovations.com. After you contract Internet service, create Connection documents to instruct the local Domino servers how to contact the target server.
  - Pass-through servers and hunt groups
    Pass-through is a process that runs on a server and establishes connections between the users and servers connected to that server and other servers. Pass-through connections use an intermediary server as a "stepping stone" to connect the two servers.
  - Planning for modem use
    For an HCL Domino® server to communicate with a remote Domino server by modem you can install one or more modems on the calling and receiving servers, configure the communication port, and create a network dialup connection from the calling server to the receiving server.
  - Connecting Notes® clients to servers
    After you set up a server to accept inbound connections, it can accept them from both servers and clients. The methods used to establish connections from clients to servers on remote networks are similar to those used when connecting one server to another.
- Planning directory services
  HCL Domino® provides a range of directory service features.
- Planning a mail routing topology
  HCL Domino® offers you considerable flexibility in configuring your mail system infrastructure, allowing you to use HCL Notes® routing, SMTP routing, or both, for internal and external messages.
- Planning a cluster
  When planning a cluster, it is important to consider the performance and ability of your hardware. The cluster must have enough CPU power, memory, and disk space to handle the cluster traffic and the number of databases and replicas required.
- Planning the TCP/IP network
  The default TCP/IP configuration for an HCL Domino® server is one IP address that is globally bound, meaning that the server listens for connections at the IP addresses of all NICs on the computer. Global binding works as long as the computer does not have more than one IP address offering a service over the same assigned TCP port.
- Messaging overview
  The HCL Domino® mail system has three basic components: Domino mail servers, Domino mail files, and mail clients. The Domino mail server is the backbone of an organization's messaging infrastructure, acting both as an Internet mail server and an HCL Notes® mail server. Domino provides standards-based Internet messaging through its support of the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), Post Office Protocol version 3 (POP3), Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP), and Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME). At the same time, Domino supports Notes mail through the use of Notes routing protocols -- Notes remote procedure calls (NRPC) -- and the Notes rich text message format.
- Planning your Notes® client deployment
  Use the references listed here to plan for, install, upgrade to, and configure the HCL Notes® client.
- Planning security
  An important aspect of planning security for your Domino® environment is understanding the tasks and features involved with securing each type of resource.

Remote modem access and server topology

Servers that are not on the same LAN or WAN can use modem connections to communicate with each other. For example, servers in remote field offices can establish modem connections with servers in a central office to route mail or replicate databases.

Support for direct dialup modem (X.PC) connections is available only in releases of HCL Domino® earlier than release 8.5. You may continue to use Domino® Administrator 8.5 to configure and maintain direct dialup modem support, but only on servers running releases earlier than 8.5.

To create a topology for remote servers, first determine which databases the workstations and servers access frequently. In particular, think about how you want to route mail and replicate databases. Determine if users and servers in remote locations need access to certain mail and other databases. If so, consider these methods to make the databases available:

Create replicas of the databases on a remote server
Place modems on local servers that remote users need to access.
Set up a pass-through server for use by remote servers or users.

Setting up a pass-through server enables remote workstations or servers that connect to one Domino® server to access additional Domino® servers also. Using a pass-through server consolidates modem resources on a few Domino® servers and centralizes administration and troubleshooting.