Unable to Connect to a Lotus Notes Server Over Router

 Last reviewed: July 2, 1996
Article ID: Q150832
The information in this article applies to:
  • Microsoft Windows NT operating system version 3.1
  • Microsoft Windows NT Advanced Server version 3.1
  • Microsoft Windows NT Workstation versions 3.5 and 3.51
  • Microsoft Windows NT Server versions 3.5 and 3.51
  • Microsoft Windows for Workgroups version 3.11
  • Microsoft Windows 95

SYMPTOMS

A Lotus Notes client on a Windows NT or Windows 95 computer using NetBIOS and NWLink on Token Ring may fail to connect to a Lotus Notes server on Ethernet. This symptom can also occur when a Notes client is on a FDDI ring.

CAUSE

The network adapter on one side of the conversation is on a link that has a larger frame size than the link on the other side, and IPX does not do fragmentation. According to the IPX specification, it is up to a higher level to determine the maximum transmit unit (MTU). For NetBIOS traffic over IPX there is no MTU negotiation scheme.

WORKAROUND

To work around this problem, decrease the frame size of the Token Ring network adapter to 1,012 bytes on the Windows NT computer.

WARNING: Using Registry Editor incorrectly can cause serious, system- wide problems that may require you to reinstall Windows NT to correct them. Microsoft cannot guarantee that any problems resulting from the use of Registry Editor can be solved. Use this tool at your own risk. 

   1. Run Registry Editor (REGEDT32.EXE).

   2. From the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE subtree, go to the following key:

      \SYSTEM\CURRENTCONTROLSET\SERVICES\NWRDR\PARAMETERS

   3. Set DefaultMaxPacketSize (reg_dword), to 1012 (decimal).
For additional information about configuring Lotus Notes clients on Windows, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 

   ARTICLE-ID: Q104944
   TITLE     : Configuring Lotus Notes Client on Windows NT
               Using NWLINK

KBCategory: kb3rdparty kbinterop
KBSubcategory: ntinterop ntnetserv ntsrvwkst
Additional reference words: prodnt ipx spx nwlink router ethernet tokenring
packet frame drop

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Last reviewed: July 2, 1996
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