Configure and use the Lotus Notes connector for SharePoint Server

Article
01/19/2023

APPLIES TO: yes-img-13 2013 yes-img-16 2016 yes-img-19 2019 yes-img-se Subscription Edition no-img-sop SharePoint in Microsoft 365

Before you begin

Before you begin this operation, review the following information about prerequisites:

The procedures in this article must be repeated on all the servers in the SharePoint Server farm that host a crawl component.

Prerequisites

The following sections list the required administrative roles, software and user accounts.

Required administrative roles

The following administrative roles are required to prepare any server that hosts a crawl component to crawl Lotus Notes content that is hosted by one or more Lotus Domino databases:

Administrator of the Lotus Domino server that you want to crawl.
Server administrator of the server that hosts a crawl component that you want to use to crawl Lotus Notes content.
Service application administrator for the Search service application.

Required software

The following software is required:

Lotus C++ API Toolkit for Notes.
Lotus Notes client application, available for purchase from IBM.
Lotus Notes Domino Server, available for purchase from IBM.

The following table shows combinations of versions of the Lotus Notes Domino server and Lotus Notes client that the Lotus Notes Connector works with.

This server version	With client 6.x	With client 7.x	With client 8.x
Server 6.x	YES	NO	NO
Server 7.x	NO	YES	YES
Server 8.x	NO	NO	YES

User accounts required to crawl Lotus Domino databases

A Domino administrator must grant a Lotus Notes user ID (which represents a Domino user) at least the Reader permission to the Lotus Domino databases and individual documents that you want to crawl. The Domino administrator must also add this Lotus Notes user ID and the Windows domain user account that is assigned to the SharePoint Server Search 15 service (OSearch15) to a mappings database on the Lotus Domino server that you want to crawl.

Note

Only the user account that is assigned to the OSearch15 service can be used to crawl Lotus Domino databases. You cannot use the default content access account or a crawl rule to specify a different user account to crawl Lotus Domino databases.

The following table summarizes the user accounts that are required to crawl Lotus Domino databases.

Required account	Comment	Example
Windows domain user account	The user account that is assigned to the OSearch15 service must also be a member of the Administrators group on the server that hosts the crawl component.	Contoso\User1, where Contoso is the domain name and User1 is the name of the Windows domain user account.
Lotus Notes user ID	The Lotus Notes user ID must be granted at least Reader access on the Lotus Domino databases and on the individual documents that you want to crawl. The Domino certificate also contains this Lotus Notes user ID.	User2 NOTE: The name of this account and its password do not have to match the Windows domain user account.

More information about this mappings table is provided later in this article, see Configure security mappings.

Install the Lotus Notes client application

Follow this procedure to install the Lotus Notes client application on the server that hosts the crawl component in the server farm that you want to use to crawl a Lotus Domino database. This client application serves as a protocol handler and is used to configure the Notes.ini file. Both are used by the crawler when crawling Lotus Domino databases.

To install Lotus Notes

Verify that the user account that is performing this procedure is a member of the Administrators group on the server that hosts the crawl component and has at least Manager permissions on the Domino server.
Copy the Lotus Notes client application to the server that hosts the crawl component that you want to use to crawl Lotus Notes documents.
Start the Lotus Notes Installation Wizard.
In the Welcome to the Installation Wizard for Lotus Notes dialog, click Next.
On the License Agreement page, click I accept the terms in the license agreement, and then click Next to continue.
On the Customer Information page, type a user name in the User Name box and the name of the organization in the Organization box, or accept the default settings, and then click Next.
On the Installation Path Selection page, specify the path for the program and data files, or accept the default installation paths, and then click Next.

Note

By default, program files are stored in the <SystemDrive>:\Program Files (x86)\lotus\notes\ folder and data files are stored in the <SystemDrive>:\Program Files (x86)\lotus\notes\data\ folder, where <SystemDrive> is the drive on which Lotus Notes is installed.
On the Custom Setup page, select the program features that you want to install on the local hard disk drive, and then click Next.

The table below shows the features and sub-features that are required by the Lotus Notes connector.
On the Ready to Install the Program page, if you do not want Lotus Notes to be the default email program, clear the selection Make Notes my default email program.
Click Install.

The Installing Lotus Notes page shows the status of the installation.
On the Install Wizard Completed page, click Finish.

Features and sub-features required by the Lotus Notes connector

Feature	Subfeature
Notes Client	Client Help Files
	Domino Enterprise Connection Services (DECS)
Domino Designer	Designer Help

Grant permissions on the data folder

Follow this procedure to grant Full Control permissions for the WSS_WPG group on the <SystemDrive>:\Program Files (x86)\Lotus\Notes\Data folder on the server that hosts the crawl component.

To grant permissions on the data folder

Verify that the user account that is performing this procedure is a member of the Administrators group on the server that hosts the crawl component and has at least Manager permissions on the Domino server.
On the server that hosts the crawl component, click Start, point to All Programs, click Accessories, and then click Windows Explorer.
In Windows Explorer, go to the <SystemDrive>:\Program Files (x86)\Lotus\Notes\Data folder, where <SystemDrive> is the drive on which Lotus Notes is installed.
Right-click the Data folder, and then click Sharing and Security.
In the Properties dialog, on the Security tab, click Add.
In the Select the object names to select box, do one of the following, and then click OK:

If search is installed on an Active Directory domain controller, type domain\WSS_WPG, where domain is the name of the domain that is associated with the domain controller.
If search is installed on a server that is not an Active Directory domain controller, type server\WSS_WPG, where server is the NetBIOS name of the server that hosts the crawl component.

In the Properties dialog, in the Permissions for WSS_WPG section, select the Allow box in the Full control row, and then click OK.

Configure the Lotus Notes client application

Follow this procedure to configure the Lotus Notes client application. The configuration settings selected in this procedure are written to the Notes.ini file, which the crawler uses to discover how to connect to the Lotus Domino server.

To configure Lotus Notes

Verify that the user account that is performing this procedure is a member of the Administrators group on the server that hosts the crawl component and has at least Manager permissions on the Domino server.
On the server that hosts the crawl component, click Start, point to All Programs, point to Lotus Applications, and then click Lotus Notes.
On the Welcome page, click Next.
On the User Information page, in the Your name box, type the user name associated with the Domino certificate.
Type the hierarchical name of the Domino server that you want to crawl in the Domino server box. For example, Contoso/marketing/west.
Ensure that I want to connect to a Domino server is selected, and then click Next.
On the Notes ID File page, click Browse, and then locate where the certificate is stored. Select the certificate, click Open, and then click Next.
Click Yes to copy the certificate to the specified location.

Note

If you are not prompted for a Domino certificate, click Previous, and ensure that you have entered the correct information.
If a dialog appears that informs you that you are not authorized to access the specified directory, click OK to close the dialog. This error is expected if the account that you are logged on with does not have access to the email folder on the Domino server.
On the Instant Messaging Setup page, cancel the selection Setup instant messaging.
Click Next.
On the Additional Services page, click Next.
In the Lotus Notes message box, click OK.

The Lotus Notes Welcome screen appears.

Leave the Lotus Notes client application open. You will need it for the next procedure.

Verify access to the Lotus Domino database that you want to crawl

Follow this procedure to verify that the certificate that you installed has access to the database that you want to crawl.

To verify access

Verify that the user account that is performing this procedure is a member of the Administrators group on the server that hosts the crawl component and has at least Manager permissions on the Domino server.
In Lotus Notes, click File, point to Database, and then click Open.
In the Open Database dialog, select the Lotus Domino server that you want to connect to from the Server list.
In the Database list, select the database that you want to connect to, and then click Open.

The documents that are contained by the database that you selected are displayed in the Document Name section. This means that the server that hosts the crawl component as the necessary permissions to crawl these documents.
Repeat steps 1 to 3 for each additional database that you want to verify access to.
On the File menu, click Exit Notes.

Configure security mappings

Use the information in the following table to help you create the mappings database.

Item	Description
Mappings database name	Name of the Lotus Domino database that maps Lotus Notes user IDs to Windows domain user accounts.
Lotus Notes field name	Name of the field in the Lotus Domino database file that stores Lotus Notes user IDs.
Windows user field name	Name of the field in the Lotus Domino database file that stores Windows user names.
Form name	Name of the form that stores the Lotus Notes field name and Windows user field name fields.
View name	Name of the view for the form that stores the Lotus Notes user IDs to Windows user name mappings. NOTE: This name is case-sensitive.

Create the mappings database

Follow this procedure to create a mappings database by using Domino Designer. You only require one mappings database for each forest of Domino servers that contain databases that you want to crawl.

To create a mappings database

Verify that the user account that is performing this procedure is a member of the Administrators group on the server that hosts the crawl component and has at least Manager permissions on the Domino server that you want to crawl.
On the server that hosts the crawl component, open Domino Designer.
Click File, point to Database, and then click New.
In the New Database dialog, do the following:

Select the Domino server from the Server name list.
In the Title box, type a title for the new database.

This content automatically populates the File Name box, and it is appended with the .nsf file name extension.

If the title that you chose is more than eight characters long, the file name will be truncated.
Click OK to close the New Database dialog.

Click Create, point to Design, and then click Form.
Click Create, and then click Field.
In the Field dialog, in the Name box, type the name that you want to use for this field. This field will be used to store the Lotus Notes user IDs.
Close the dialog to save the field.
Click Create, and then click Field.
In the Field dialog, in the Name box, type the name that you want to use for this field. This field will be used to store the Windows domain user accounts.
Close the dialog to save the field.
Click File, click Save, and then do the following:

Type a name in the Save Form as box.
Click OK to close the dialog.

On the Create menu, point to Design, and then click View.
In the Create View dialog, do the following:

In the View name box, type a name for this view.
Select Shared from the View type list.
Click OK to save the view.

Open the view that you created in step 14.
On the Objects tab, select the column that you created in step 7. In the lower right pane, select Field and then select the field that has the same name.
On the Objects tab, select the column that you created in step 10. In the lower right pane, select Field and then select the field of the same name.
Click File and then click Save to save the view, and then close Domino Designer.

Add user accounts to the mappings database

Follow this procedure to add user accounts to the mappings database using the Lotus Notes client. You should add all accounts which require access to the mappings database and the Domino server.

To add user accounts to the mappings database

Verify that the user account that is performing this procedure is a member of the Administrators group on the server that hosts the crawl component and has at least Manager permissions on the Domino server.
On the server that hosts the crawl component, open the Lotus Notes client application.
Click File, point to Database, and then click Open.
In the Open Database dialog, do the following:

Select the Domino server from the Server name list.
Select the mappings database that you created earlier.
Click Open.

In the left pane, select the view that you created for this database.
Click Create, and then click the name of the form that you created earlier.
In the form, in the field that you created to store the Lotus Notes user IDs, type a Lotus Notes user ID that you want to map to a Windows domain user account. For example, ContosoUser. This field is case-sensitive.
In the field that you created to map to the Lotus Notes user IDs, type the Windows domain user account that you want to map to the Lotus Notes user ID that you entered in step 7. This must be in the form of domain\user, for example, Contoso\user1.
Click File, and then click Save to save the document.
Repeat steps 6to 8 if you want to add more mappings. Otherwise, go to step 11.
When finished, save the form and then close the Lotus Notes client application.

Restart the server that hosts the crawl component

You must restart the server that hosts the crawl component before continuing to the next procedure.

Important

After the server that hosts the crawl component restarts, do not open the Lotus Notes client application again. This is because the Lotus Notes client application might lock files that could cause the following procedures and crawling Lotus Domino databases to fail.

Register Lotus Notes with the server that hosts the crawl component

Following this procedure to register Lotus Notes with the operating system of the server that hosts the crawl component.

To register Lotus Notes

Verify that the user account that is performing this procedure is a member of the Administrators group on the server that hosts the crawl component.
Run Notessetup.exe on the server that hosts the crawl component by using the same credentials that are used to provision the Lotus Notes Connector.
On the server that hosts the crawl component, in Windows Explorer, go to the <SystemDrive>:\Program Files\Microsoft Office Servers\15\Bin\1033 folder, where <SystemDrive> is the drive on which Microsoft SharePoint Server is installed.
Double-click NotesSetup.exe.
On the Welcome to the Lotus Notes Index Setup Wizard page, click Next.
In the Register Lotus Notes for use with SharePoint Server dialog, do the following:

In the Location of the notes.ini file box, ensure that the correct path of the Notes.ini file is specified. The default path of this file is <SystemDrive>:\Program Files (x86)\lotus\notes\notes.ini, where <SystemDrive> is the drive on which Lotus Notes is installed.
In the Location of the Lotus Notes install directory box, ensure that the correct path of the Lotus Notes installation directory is specified. By default, the path of this directory is <SystemDrive>:\Program Files (x86)\lotus\notes.
In the Password box, type the password for the user name that is associated with the Domino certificate.
In the Confirm Password box, retype the password for the user name that is associated with the Domino certificate.

We recommend that you leave the Ignore Lotus Notes security while building the index box cleared. This allows the crawl to include all Lotus Notes documents in the search index without restriction. Security for these documents and objects is determined by the mappings table and provides security data without excluding documents from the index.
Click Next.
On the Specify Lotus Notes Owner Field to Windows User Name Mapping page, do the following:

In the Lotus Notes server name box, type the NetBIOS name or IP address of the Domino server.
In the Lotus Notes database file name box, type the file name of the Lotus Domino database that maps the Lotus Notes user IDs to Windows domain user accounts. Ensure that you include the .nsf file name extension with this name, for example, Mappings.nsf.
In the View name box, type the view name of the Lotus Domino database that stores the Lotus Notes user IDs to Windows user name mappings.
In the Lotus Notes field name column title box, type the name of the column in the Lotus Notes database file that is used to store Lotus Notes user IDs.
In the Windows user name column title box, type the name of the column in the Lotus Notes database file that is used to store the Windows user accounts.

Click Next.
On the Completing the Lotus Notes Index Setup Wizard page, click Finish.

Provision the Lotus Notes Connector

Follow this procedure to provision the Lotus Notes Connector with the operating system of the server that hosts the crawl component.

To provision Lotus Notes

Verify that the user account that is performing this procedure is a member of the Administrators group on the server that hosts the crawl component.
Open SharePoint Central Administration. In the System Settings section, click Manage services on Server.
On the Services on Server page, in the Service column, find the Lotus Notes Connector service.
In the Action column, click Start.
On the Lotus Notes connector settings page, in the application pool section, select Create new application pool, and then enter a name for the new application pool.
In the Configurable drop-down, select or register the same security account used for installation of the NotesSetup.exe.
Click Provision.

The Lotus Notes connector is now provisioned and started.

Restart the OSearch15 service

The server administrator of the server that hosts the crawl component must restart the OSearch15 service before a content source can be created for Lotus Domino databases.