Microsoft KB Archive/256860

= XFOR: Lotus Notes Users Unable to View Free and Busy Times of Exchange Server Users by Using the Calendar Connector =

Article ID: 256860

Article Last Modified on 10/28/2006

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Exchange Server 5.5 Service Pack 3
 * Microsoft Exchange Server 2000 Service Pack 1
 * Microsoft Exchange 2000 Enterprise Server

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This article was previously published under Q256860



SYMPTOMS
If you try to view the free and busy times of Exchange Server users by using the Lotus Notes client, the free and busy times are only displayed as a gray bar when you click Find Free Time in the invitation to perform a free time search. Exchange Server users can view the free and busy times of the Notes users. No events are written to Windows NT Event Viewer and no definitive errors are reported if debugging is enabled in the Exchange Calendar Connector (excalcon) task on the Notes server.



MORE INFORMATION
This issue can occur because of a Lotus Notes limitation. When a Notes user queries the calendar of another Notes user, Notes Schedule Manager attempts to supply the data. It checks the Notes primary public Names and Address Book (NAB), the Names.nsf file, to determine if the target user is on the local Notes server or not. If the target user is on the local Notes server, the free and busy times of the user are stored in the local instance of the Busytimes.nsf file. Schedule Manager simply looks up the information and returns it to the requestor.

If the target user is on a different server in either the same or a different Notes domain, or if the user is in a different system altogether, Schedule Manager passes the request to a second task that is called Calendar Connector. The Calendar Connector task reroutes the request to the appropriate Notes or foreign domain, specifically to a Calendar Connector task in that other domain. In the case of the Exchange Server foreign domain, the Calendar Connector task is a new task called Calendar Connector (or Exch Calconn), which is added to the Notes server as part of the Exchange Calendar Connector installation process. When the data is returned, the Notes Calendar Connector task returns the data to the requesting client.

By default, the Schedule Manager task that runs on the Notes server only queries the primary Names and Address Book (the Names.nsf file) for the invitees person document, even when cascading address books have been configured. If you perform a directory synchronization of the Exchange Server recipients to a different NAB (for example, the Exchange.nsf file) the Notes clients cannot view the free and busy times of the Exchange Server users.

Lotus Notes support has documented this issue.

Additional query words: calcon, troubleshooting, notescal

Keywords: kbprb KB256860

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