Getting started with Locations and Accounts

Your connections to servers

The first time you start Notes®, Notes® asks a series of configuration questions. Using your answers to these questions, Notes® automatically sets up your connections and accounts to Notes® applications, your mail, and the Internet. You can create or edit a connection or account at any time by clicking Tools > Client Reconfiguration Wizard. Notes® stores all the resulting information in File > Preferences (Locations and Accounts panels), as well as in your Contacts under Advanced.

You have the ability to edit these documents by hand, but it's best to use the wizard so that the information in the documents will be entered correctly.

• A Connection document contains information Notes® needs to locate a specific Domino® server, such as the server's Domino® name and network address (usually an IP address). To see your Connection documents, open your Contacts and click View > Advanced > Connections.
• A Location document contains information Notes® needs to manage your connections whenever you change the way you're connecting to servers. You usually change the way you connect when you start Notes® in a physical location away from your LAN. To see your Location documents, click File > Locations > Manage Locations.

  For example, when you switch to the Home (Network Dialup) location, Notes® attempts to use remote access software in your operating system to dial your Internet server (either a network server in your organization, or an ISP) and give you access to the Internet using your preferred Internet browser, as well as access to your Internet mail and newsgroups. When you switch back to the Online location, Notes® assumes you're reconnected to the LAN. If none of the supplied locations is accurate for the way you connect to Notes®, you can create your own Location documents.

• An Account document contains information, such as user name and password, about an Internet connection such as Internet mail or an Internet newsgroup. You may already have Internet mail accounts with your organization or service provider; Notes® will create the equivalent Account documents in your Contacts application. To see your Account documents, open your Contacts and click View > Advanced > Accounts.

Ways to connect

Most people work in Notes® on a LAN most of the time, but you can use several methods to connect while away from your organization's network. You can work offline while disconnected, and use replication to synchronize your information with Domino® servers the next time you're connected.

Before you can create any connections, you must have one of the following physical ways to connect:

• A LAN
• A cable modem and digital cable service (also called broadband, or perhaps fiber optic, service)
• A DSL modem, a digital subscriber (DSL) telephone line, and any necessary connection hardware for the combination
• A dialup modem that is compatible with your operating system, a direct-dial, analog telephone line, and remote access software in your operating system that you can use to call a network server or ISP. Notes® does not support direct dialup using a modem.

What you need to know to set up connections

You also need to gather certain information for connecting to mail, Sametime® contacts, Activities, Notes® applications, and the Internet, depending on both the type of physical connection and the type of applications you want to use. To learn what information you need for Sametime® and Activities, see those sections of the Help. See the following paragraphs to learn what information you need for mail, Notes® applications, and the Internet.

Mail connections

Decide whether you want to use:

• Notes® mail on a Domino® server
• Internet mail, either on a commercial server through an Internet Service Provider (ISP), or on an internal Internet server in your organization
• Both Notes® and Internet mail

For Internet mail, you also need to find out whether your organization or service provider offers the Post Office Protocol (POP) or Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) for incoming mail, and decide whether you want to use a Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) server for outgoing Internet mail, or send outgoing Internet mail through a Domino® server.

Sametime® connections

• If your administrator has not set up your Sametime® server connection through a policy, you must obtain the name of your Sametime® server and enter it by clicking File > Sametime > Log In to Sametime.
• Decide whether you want to log on to Sametime® automatically upon starting Notes®, or manually. You can adjust this setting on initial login, or later by clicking File > Preferences, Sametime®, Communities, and the name of your server.

Connections to Notes® applications

• If you're using a LAN, Notes® manages your connections to the Domino® servers that hold Notes® applications. Ask your administrator for assistance if you have trouble getting to a particular server. Or, if you know the server name and IP address, click File > Locations > Manage Locations, open the location, and click the Connection Configuration Wizard button near the top of the window.
• If you're connecting using a dialup phone line, you need the names of Domino® servers you want to access. If your organization has no network, passthru, or hunt group server, you may also need phone numbers for each Domino® server. A network server lets you make one call to connect to all Domino® servers and, if your organization allows it, the Internet. A passthru or hunt group server lets you make one call to connect to groups of Domino® servers. Ask your Domino® administrator what servers your organization has available.
• If you're connecting using cable or DSL service, you need the names of Domino® servers you want to access.

Internet connections

If you're using a LAN, your organization may give you direct access to the Internet, or access through a firewall using a proxy server. Ask your administrator for all relevant proxy server and gateway information before you configure Notes®.

For other physical connection methods, your organization may have a network server available that you can dial to gain Internet access. Or you can dial an Internet Service Provider to gain access.

If you use a LAN, cable, or DSL connection, you need the Internet address of the network server. If you use a telephone line, you also need the server's full phone number.

Connections to Internet newsgroups or address directories

When you have your connection to the Internet working, check to see whether your Internet Service Provider (or organization's internal Internet server) has a newsgroup (NNTP) or address directory (LDAP) server available. This information is usually available on an ISP's website or from your administrator.