Using Desktop Settings to configure managed mail replicas

In a hybrid environment, use Desktop Policy settings to enable managed mail replicas. Managed mail replicas helps ensure that IBM® Notes® users in the service have quick, local access to their mail when connected or disconnected from the network.

Before you begin

Enable managed mail replicas through a Desktop Settings document that is assigned to a policy. Read about using administrative policies to understand the requirements for assigning policies to users in the service.
Note: Best practice is to configure managed mail replicas before you provision users. If you use this approach, you can resolve any managed mail replica issues ahead of user provisioning.

About this task

Managed mail replicas are available beginning with Notes 8.5.2. They provide the following advantages to Notes users in the service and are recommended:
  • They are created automatically on the clients.
  • They are used automatically when the client Location is configured to connect to the mail server.
  • Replication between managed mail replicas and server-based mail replicas occurs automatically and in the background.
  • When clients are connected to the server, user mail actions are done on the local managed mail replicas. Users are not interrupted by network I/O or replication operations between the client and server.
  • They provide users with local access to previously synchronized mail when the client is disconnected from the network.

The following tables describe the most important settings in a Desktop Settings document to consider when you configure managed mail replicas. For settings not shown, the default settings are generally good to use.

Table 1. Managed mail replicas: Desktop Settings > Mail > Mail Settings
Setting Value to set How to apply this setting Applicabilit Comments
Local mail file Created managed replica or Convert local replica to managed replica

(Required)

 Set value whenever modified At managed mail replica creation or conversion. Converting a local replica to a managed replica allows your company to standardize on managed replicas.
Mail file location On server

(Required)

 Set value whenever modified When the mail application is opened. The Notes client automatically uses the local copy after it is created. At other times, the client uses the server.
Use local mail.box to send messages (faster) 1

(Required)

   When mail is sent.

The service enforces this setting, regardless of the value that is specified here.

A sent mail message is placed in the local mail.box and sent in the background.
Table 2. Managed mail replicas: Desktop Settings > Mail > Managed Replica Settings
Setting Value to set How to apply this setting Applicability Comments
Amount of free space required before cache is created

value Mb

 Set value whenever modified When the managed mail replica is created.

Type a value that you choose. Setting field to a value such as 1,000 (1 Gb) ensures that a managed replica does not use the remaining free space on initial creation.

If you do not specify a value, no free space check is done.
Table 3. Managed mail replicas: Desktop Settings > Mail > Client Settings
Setting Value to set How to apply this setting Applicability Commenets
Auto-retrieve document setting

Enable document without attachment

   When a truncated (partial) document is opened If setting is not enabled, users are prompted to retrieve truncated documents.
Enable server to poll for new mail and trigger replication on notification of new mail Enable

(Required)

   When the client is notified that new mail is received on the server.  
Table 4. Managed mail replicas: Desktop Settings > Preferences > Replication > Default settings for a local replica
Setting Value to set How to apply this setting Applicability Comments
Create a full-text index for faster searching

Enable

 Set value whenever modified When the managed mail replica is created. The setting is optional.
Encrypt replicas Locally encrypt Set value whenever modified When the managed mail replica is created. The setting is optional.
Table 5. Managed mail replicas: Desktop Settings > Preferences > Replication > Default replication schedule
Setting Value to set How to apply this setting Applicability Comments
All settings Schedule as you normally do.   When the Notes Client is open  
Table 6. Managed mail replicas: Desktop Settings > Preferences > Mail
Setting Value to set How to apply this setting Applicability Coments
Check for new mail Not necessary     The Enable server to poll for new mail and trigger replication on notification of new mail setting enables this behavior.
Mail checking internal Any value     Specify any value. The Enable server to poll for new mail and trigger replication on notification of new mail controls this behavior.

Results

It is possible for users to see the following message after they are provisioned when managed mail replicas are enabled: 
Access to this server has been restricted due to excessive load.
Creating many managed mail replicas simultaneously can degrade server performance. For this reason, the service controls the number of managed mail replicas that can be created simultaneously on a mail server in the cloud. If a mail server in the cloud reaches the limit, a user can see this error on the Replication and Sync page during initial replication of the managed mail replica.

This error reflects a temporary condition. If the mail server cannot create the initial managed mail replica, it tries to create it again automatically at the next replication schedule interval or when the client is restarted.

A user who sees this error can open and use the server-based mail file in the meantime. One way to open the mail file is to click File > Open > IBM Notes Application and browse to the server and mail file replica.

Parent topic: Using administrative policies
Related concepts:
Using administrative policies

Related information

Managed mail replicas explained