How a server connects to another server
A connecting IBM® Domino® server uses the following steps to determine how to connect to a destination server.
When the connecting Domino® server successfully connects to the destination, it stops searching for additional connection methods.
- The connecting server tries to connect using the same method it
used the last time it made a successful connection to the destination
server. Note these two exceptions:
- If the server never connected to the destination server, the server searches for a path (consisting of a network port and any pass-through servers) to the destination server.
- If the server has connected previously, but the connection now fails, the server conducts a new path search if it is the first attempt of the day.
- The connecting server checks to see if it already has a WAN port connection to the destination server.
- The server examines normal-priority Connection documents in the Domino® Directory for information
on what path to use to connect to the destination server. A normal-priority
Connection document is one that has Normal selected
in the Usage priority field.
If multiple normal-priority Connection documents exist for the same destination server, the server chooses the Connection document to use based on the type of connection in the following order:
- Local Area Network
- Network Dialup
- Pass-through serverNote: A server that uses a pass-through connection to reach the destination server must first be able to connect to the pass-through server. To provide information on how to connect to the pass-through server, you may have to create an additional Connection document.
- The connecting server checks information stored in memory about other servers in the server's Notes® named network. It uses this information to define a path to the destination server. The server reads this information from Server documents in its local Domino® Directory.
- If the connecting server's local Domino® Directory does not contain information about the destination server, it tries to connect directly to the destination server on the LAN by using the server common name as its address.
- The connecting server checks the low-priority Connection documents. A low-priority Connection document is one that has Low selected in the Usage priority field.
- If the connecting server still cannot find a path to the destination server, it issues a message that a connection is not possible.
Note: For clients connecting to servers, the search logic is the same
except that the client tries to use the pass-through server listed
as default in the Location document to make the connection if Steps
1 through 5 fail.
To display information about how a server makes a connection, open the Miscellaneous Events view in the log file (log.nsf). To change the amount of information Domino® records about connections in the log file, change the log level.