Troubleshooting steps when Sametime Community server is rejecting Sametime 8.5.2.x release server.

Starting 8.5.2.x, in some configurations Sametime® server decide to reject another community server that is configured to be connected. What can be done to troubleshoot server-to-server rejection issues like this?

Starting in 8.5.2.x an issue was detected that invalid server documents was being read from names.nsf. Invalid document field content cause Sametime server to stop reading server document of any type - i.e. Domino, Sametime®. As a result, not all Sametime servers are added to the trusted list and thus reports rejecting connection attempt.

You can use the following troubleshooting tools, explained in detail below:

• Names.nsf
• Sametime[date].log
• CommunityConfig.txt
• Trace files

By default the files are located off the domino directory, as follows:
\lotus\domino\trace\sametime[date].log
\lotus\domino\trace\*.*
\lotus\domino\data\names.nsf

Use the following steps to check or diagnose the problem:

I. Verify connected server Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN)

If a new server is installed into the community, check that the server's FQDN can be successfully resolved.

For invalid FQDN the following error message appears in the sametime[date].log file

W StConfiguration [date], [time] Server [name] has wrong net address [FQDN] ignoring.

This warning means the server's FQDN is not resolvable and is not added to Server list.
See communityconfig.txt for all known servers.

II. Verify that the server document include valid information

It is possible to review names.nsf -> server documents properties and make sure the following essential fields are available and valid:

[ Form] field should be [Server]
[ ServerName] hold server name value
[ NetAddresses] hold server FQDN
[ Sametime] field should exist - value [1/0]

See sample of server document properties

To see if the information passed correctly from names.nsf to Community server, open Sametime.ini, add these two lines under [Debug] section:

ST_NL_TRACE=1
ST_DDA_CONFIG_TRACE=1

The information will be saved in the \trace folder in STConfiguration[date].txt and STCommunity[date].txt.

For example, this is the error that appears in trace file when missing NetAddresses field:

No item NetAddresses was found on the result buffer of NAMELookup

III. Verify trusted server Ips

In some case the following message in sametime[date].log can point to invalid configuration:

E Server [date], [time] Rejecting server component [IP], not in trusted ips list

1. The reason for it can be missing server IP in the StConfig.nsf -> CommunityConnectivity document -> Trusted IP field

2. It can also indirectly hint that one of the servers in names.nsf have missing essential fields. Install recommended fix to get detailed information related to the invalid server document (SPR ARIY8ZMMAJ)

A fix is available on IBM Fix Central. This interim fix is strongly recommended for Community Server versions 8.5.2 and 8.5.2 IFR 1, to avoid this negative effect on the server connection.

• For Windows 8.5.2 IFR1 download 8521-ST-COMMUNITY-IF-ARIY-8ZQLDC-WIN
• For AIX 8.5.2 IFR1 download 8521-ST-COMMUNITY-IF-ARIY-8ZQLDC-AIX
• For Windows 8.5.2 IFR1 download 8521-ST-COMMUNITY-IF-ARIY-8ZQLDC-LINUX
• For Windows 8.5.2 IFR1 download 8521-ST-COMMUNITY-IF-ARIY-8ZQLDC-SOLARIS
  

Open a service request with IBM Support to obtain the fix appropriate to different environments or operating systems (OS) that are not listed above.

Installation Instructions on Windows:
1. Stop Sametime and Domino server.
2. Backup existing StNameLookup.dll/sym StConfigNotes.dll/sym
3. Apply the attached files
4. Start the server.

Installation Instructions on Linux/Solaris/AIX:
1. Stop Sametime and Domino server.
2. Backup existing libstnamelookup.so and libstconfigNotes.so binaries located in the domino binaries folder.
3. As root user extract the provided .tar file in the domino binaries folder by running the tar -xvf command
4. Start the server.

Review log file for invalid configuration messages:
The fix can successfully ignore invalid server documents and continue reading all available server documents.

In additional to fixing the behavior, detailed printout for invalid document content is available in \trace\sametime[date].log

See printout sample:

• Server configuration - missing expected [NetAddresses] field in server document, ignoring server.
• Server configuration - incomplete server document for server [ServerName], ignoring server.
• Server configuration - missing expected [Field Name] field in server [ServerName] document, ignoring server
• Server configuration - missing expected [NetAddresses] field in server [ServerName] document, ignoring server