IMAP service - recent service interruptions explained

According to a publicised schedule approximately 300 IMAP users were moved to a newly constructed, dedicated Domino server (clusters 6a & 6b) on Sunday, 19 July.

IMAP users are those who connect to a Domino server to access email via Thunderbird or a PDA device, using IMAP protocols.

The move to a dedicated Domino server occurred as part of a broader, ongoing approach to improve stability for the vast majority of users of Lotus Notes.

What happened?

The migration of the collective data went smoothly in itself, however major server software failures were encountered on Monday morning (20 July) after many users started accessing email.  As a result, IMAP users experienced either no email access at all, or email inconsistencies for at least the first half of the week.

IBM was immediately notified of the problem and was able to ascertain that it was due to large email files being accessed by IMAP during initial synchronisation to the IMAP client. 

IBM supplied a fix on Wednesday afternoon (22 July), which was immediately applied.  Since then, the server appears to have been stable.  They will continue to be closely monitored.

Acknowledgement and next steps

Significant progress has been made over the past months in achieving stability across the Domino servers overall.

With the current fix in place, it is hoped  that we are on track to a more stable environment

The ICE Program sincerely apologises for the inconvenience and frustration that IMAP users experienced during this time.