Ask The Experts: GroupWise [39]

Q:  One of my users is reporting that, since yesterday, emails are no longer being synchronised to his mobile device. Appointments and contacts are still synchronised, and emails in one or two folders are still synchronised. In the groupwise-agent.log file, I see numerous messages of the type “Skipping item because it is in a disallowed folder” but as far as I am aware, no folders have been excluded from being synchronised. What could be wrong?

A:  Certain system folders, such as the Documents folder, are excluded from being synchronised. Check whether or not the user could have accidentally moved the Mailbox folder under the Documents folder. If this is the case just move the Mailbox folder back to be under the Home folder.

Q: My users are reporting that the GroupWise client is slow to work with. Opening mailbox items is slow and changing from one folder to another is also slow. The server utilisation is high, but in the HTTP interface for the POA I see no obvious reasons for this.  I have the feeling that there may be an issue with the QuickFinder indexes, but how can I prove or disprove that feeling?

A:  Start by configuring QuickFinder Indexing to run continuously.  Then:

• Access the GroupWise Administration Console and open the properties for the POA.
• On the Log Settings tab, set the Logging Level to Verbose and click on Save.
• On the QuickFinder tab, set the QuickFinder Interval to 0 Hours and 0 minutes and click on Save.
• On the QuickFinder tab, set the time for Start QuickFinder Indexing to a moment in the near future.
• Let QuickFinder indexing run for some time and analyse the log files afterwards.
• In the log files, you will find lines that are similar to the lines shown in figure 1.
• The number in brackets (0) represents the number of items that have not been indexed for the mailbox.
• If the number of items that have not been indexed for the mailbox is high, any search that is conducted on the mailbox will impact the POA’s performance. If simultaneous searches are conducted on the mailbox or on any other affected mailboxes, the POA’s performance will be impacted even more.
• Let QuickFinder indexing run for some more time.
• If the number of items that has not been indexed for the mailbox is high, this might be a transitory issue or a permanent issue.

For a transitory issue, the number of items that has not been indexed for the mailbox will decrease over time and eventually reach or near 0.

If a permanent issue, the number of items that haven’t been indexed for the mailbox will not decrease (noticeably) over time, and often you will find lines similar to the line below.

00:02:49 2E6C Error: Memory Allocation error [F03E] in Squeeze.QFSqzIndex.2 ()

For an issue like this, you need to manually intervene:

• Note down the FID for the mailbox.
• Access the HTTP interface for the POA and navigate to Configuration-Log Settings.
• Set the Log Level to Diagnostic and click on Submit.
• Navigate to Configuration-QuickFinder Indexing.
• Select Delete and Regenerate All Indexes, set the Indexing Level to Unlimited, check all 4 boxes, fill in the FID for the mailbox for both the Beginning User FID field and the Ending User FID field and click on Submit
• Run the previous step for any other affected mailboxes.

Afterwards, let QuickFinder Indexing run for a period of time and eventually, return to the previous configuration of QuickFinder Indexing.

This article was first published in Open Horizons Magazine, Issue 39, 2017/4, p37.

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