Domino Diva

Server Error Device is Busy In Use

Kim Greenekim@kimgreene.com  

 I received a call from a customer this morning saying noone could access their mail files.  The really strange thing about the situation was that the log.nsf, names.nsf, ... could be opened.  It was just a problem with the mail files.  When users tried to open their mail files, they received the following error message.

"Server Error: Device is Busy/In Use"

The console showed messages like this for mail files the router was trying to deliver mail to:

"Error delivering to servername/domain mail/xxxxxxxxxxxx.nsf; Device is Busy/In Use"

I dumped the server call stacks for all Domino jobs on that server and the job call stacks for any jobs I thought could be suspect.  I looked through the output and didn't find anything suspicious.  Next I invoked the QP0FPTOS api to identify if there were any IFS locks on the objects. The output showed there indeed were IFS locks on the files.  I issued the RLSIFSLCK command against a few mail files.  This did no good, the objects remained locked.  The only time the RLSIFSLCK command cannot release a lock is if it is a directory lock or if there is a save lock. 

This tipped me off to look at the job log for the save job.  This customer takes their Domino servers down every evening, saves the data directories, and then starts the servers after the save is complete.  The save output showed that the first Domino server had been saved fine, however the save job for the second server, the server we were having this issue with, was still active.

Once the save job was ended, the problem went away, no server restart was required.  The mail files are able to be accessed again and the customer is very happy.

Now it's time to get outside and enjoy this beautiful weather since it's the weekend!

• Comments[3]

i for Business

Kim Greenekim@kimgreene.com  

This is one name change that went over extremely smoothly, in fact, I think it is the only name change for the operating system that has gone over so smoothly.  For a little background, the System i (AS/400, iSeries) has always had a different name for the operating system associated with the hardware platform.  When the System was known as the AS/400, the operating system was called OS/400.  The OS/400 name was kept when the system was renamed to iSeries.  Then along came the name change to System i.  At that time, the new hardware was Power 5, so the operating system was renamed to i5/OS.  We have had that name for the past few years, now along comes the new Power 6 hardware, uh, wait, guess we have to rename the operating system again.

Luckily they didn't decide to rename the OS to i6/OS, as you can guess what would happen when Power 7, 8, ... would come along.  Instead, the name has been shortened to simply 'i'.  Mark Shearer, VP of Marketing and Offerings for Business Systems, made this announcement last Wednesday morning at the IBM Town Hall session at the COMMON conference.  This is the first time I have seen an IBM executive get up in front of the COMMON crowd and announce a name change and actually get applause.  I think it helped that everyone knew it would be an endless cycle of renamings if the operating system name continued to follow the hardware version.  So now we have 'i' running on IBM Power Systems. 

The new name 'i', will also be known as 'i for Business', since this operating system is known for running business applications.  A positive that will come out of this announcement is that we will actually be seeing 'i for Business' in IBM advertistments, and no, it won't be hidden on some corner of the advertistment so tiny you can't read it!  Anytime the new Power Systems hardware is mentioned, all 3 operating systems that run on the hardware will also be advertised: i for Business, AIX, and Linux. 

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IBM Power Systems

Kim Greenekim@kimgreene.com  

 It's official, at the COMMON conference last week, Mark Shearer and Ross Mauri announced the new IBM Power Systems.  Both the System i and System p have shared the same hardware for a number of years.  What's great about this announcement is what Ross Mauri explained to the COMMON attendees at the IBM Town Hall session last Wednesday morning.  Ross Mauri is the General Manager for the Power Systems Division at IBM.

The big news Mr. Mauri shared with the crowd is that there will no longer be separate pricing for System i and System p hardware.  Wtih the new Power Systems announcement, the price i customers will pay will be same price p customers will pay for the hardware.  This announcement brought a loud applause from the crowd, as i customers have traditionally paid more for memory, disk, and other hardware components than p customers. 

I think this announcement is a very good thing for the System i.  Not only is there pricing equivalency between the hardware platforms, but now when IBM Power Systems is advertised, i will also be advertised.  This is something we have needed for a long, long time, more advertising.  Things are definitely looking up for the platform we now know as the former System i !!

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