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I work for a bank who is using Lotus Notes email and during the transition from Windows XP to Windows 7 the Lotus Notes client was upgraded from Client 8.0.2 to 8.5.3.

Given that these were the only two things that changed, our clients now randomly encounter the following error when running the Lotus Notes client:

Specified network name no longer available.

The error is extremely intermittent as to the affected user, however, the problem seems to consistently happen shortly after a user logs on to a workstation and launches the Lotus Notes client.

There is nothing written to the Windows or notes logs. The desktop is being redirected to a server as are the home drives and the Notes data directory. This has never, ever been an issue prior to the upgrading to Windows 7 and upgrading the client.

One thing that we notice (since the profiles and home directories are redirected) is that if we unplug a network cable with Lotus Notes running, the redirected desktop disappears (as expected) but Lotus Notes client does not give the "Specified network name no longer available" if we try to access a database in the disconnected state. It waits and keeps trying to communicate with the server. So we cannot duplicate the error forcefully, and it seems that a specific action is causing the error.

Has anyone seen this before, and if so how did you fix it? Domino articles seem to indicate a latency issue, but we have pretty much cancelled that probability out.

nullByteMe
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  • Can you a little bit more specify here (if yes then edit your posting)? WHEN do the error message comes up. Is that part from the Lotus Notes client? Do you placed the Notes user Data on a fileshare (its not supported by IBM, but some companies does that)? Do you run Lotus Notes in a citrix environment? – BastianW Aug 05 '14 at 13:47
  • @BastianW the error messages appear to be a part of the Lotus Notes Client, but I'm not entirely sure. I make this assumption because it is the only thing that is no longer functional. The notes user Data is on a file share, and it has been for years without this issue. It is not being run I a Citrix environment. – nullByteMe Aug 05 '14 at 23:09
  • The error message may be coming from the Notes client, but if so it is originating in the Windows networking layer and just being echoed up by Notes. (A google search reveals loads of references to the exact error message in non-Notes contexts.) – rhsatrhs Aug 06 '14 at 00:12
  • Hm, the fileshare construct is not supported by IBM. However we had done exactly THE same in an environment. We got some "uggly" issues with that construct as the network performance drop often some packages. For the beginning it was OK, as there wasn´t so much traffic, however over time it increased. So we now use the Notes build in Roaming in 8.5.x which is VERY great and is a good improvement over the old unsupported file share solution. You should try that, I´m sure it would be an improvement for you as well. – BastianW Sep 25 '14 at 17:10

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I don't know if this will help you, but in our company we had the same situation, mostly after changing PC's to Windows7 and migrating DOMINO 8.0 to 8.5.3. We solved this by adding the Domino hostname with it's IP in the HOSTS file (\Windows\System32\drivers\etc) Regards

Erwann
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  • Thank you! GREAT suggestion. I'll try this and let you know the outcome. We did the EXACT same thing as you described. – nullByteMe Jan 15 '15 at 23:59