Environment
Novell GroupWise 8
Situation
When the GroupWise 8.x Message Transfer Agent (MTA) receives a synchronization message from IBM Lotus Notes the GroupWise MTA shows the error :
"ADM: Error: [DB29] Add User Notes.IBM.John Smith/Domino"
Resolution
The error DB29 means "invalid character", the character that the GroupWise MTA does not like is the "/" forward slash. This character by default is part of the "Full Name" of a Lotus Notes user that gets synchronized over to GroupWise thru our Lotus Notes gateway.
By default our Lotus Notes gateway, is configured in part by a file called "notes.cfg" in the \GroupWise Domain\wpgate\Notes\ directory. The configuration switch in question that affects this problem is called "/NOALIAS"
The switch specifies the gateway user name selection based on Short name
or Full Name of the Lotus Notes user field.
If the switch is enabled the gateway takes the Full Name
otherwise it takes default Short Name.
or Full Name of the Lotus Notes user field.
If the switch is enabled the gateway takes the Full Name
otherwise it takes default Short Name.
To resolve the problem you can merely disable this switch in the "notes.cfg" file by making sure it has a ";" semi-colon character in front.
Additional Information
It was discovered that at least GroupWise 7 Service Pack 4 does not have this problem, apparently some type of change in GroupWise 8.x does not allow for the presence of the character "/" (forward slash) to be processed in a synchronization message, from Lotus Notes on the GroupWise MTA.
While making sure the Lotus Notes gateway uses the user "Short Name" (From Lotus Notes), does resolve the problem. It should be noted that the name that gets synchronzied over to GroupWise will normally be the First Initial, Last Name (JSmith), if the Lotus Notes / GroupWise administrator does not want the name synchronized that way. In this case since this gateway is soon to be "end of life'd" and because no development changes to this gateway will be made, administrators will need to consider alternatives to using this gateway, they are :
* You do have an alternative, to use IDM, Novell Identity Manger to provide a sync mechanism between Lotus Notes and Groupwise, both directions, by using the "Driver for Ldap" (I believe Notes talks LDAP also) or "Driver for Lotus Notes" and the "Driver for GroupWise".
If you needed assistance with this alternative, then you would need to open an SR with our Novell IDM/Edirectory group.
Information on Novell IDM and it's drivers can be found at :
https://www.novell.com/products/identitymanager/