Cisco Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Directory Services Release Notes

4.2.7.22

 

 

When the MeetingPlace Directory Services server is rebooted after performing a large operation 
involving importing and exporting data, it does not have enough time to process all the outstanding 
entries in the journal file. As a result, when the server is brought back up it will work on processing 
whatever hasn’t been processed in the journal file. This may be a lot of data if the server hasn't been 
backed up or restarted for a long time. When processing the data in the journal file, MeetingPlace 
Directory Services may appear to be busy and won't process any other changes. While the journal is being 
processed, all other MetaLinks are suspended and no changes are processed. Additionally, it won't allow 
any ADUA logins.  
 
In this situation, we recommend entering the “net stop mpdirectory” command in the command prompt to 
stop the MeetingPlace Directory Services before a reboot so that it can write to the journal file before 
shutting down. 

As soon as a MetaLink is enabled, one can look at the contents of the suspense directory to check the 
progress of the synchronization. There will be an “inProgress” subdirectory containing a suspense file. If 
there are no errors, the suspense file will only contain a header. As errors are found during 
synchronization, they will be appended to the end of this file. (Note:  Consult the MeetingPlace 
Directory Services System Manager’s Guide (SMG) when analyzing any errors that are found.)  
Once the synchronization process is complete, this file will be moved to the suspense directory and can be 
replayed (replaying the suspense file will attempt to resynchronize entries that didn’t take the first time, 
but were not errors, such as those that returned “server too busy” messages). If no errors are found after 
the synchronizing is complete, the file is deleted from the “inProgress” directory.  Again, refer to the 
MeetingPlace Directory Services SMG for replaying and error correction procedures. 

Just like any other mission critical database or application, the MeetingPlace Directory Services server 
should be backed up regularly. It is STRONGLY recommended that you use the backup utility provided 
with MeetingPlace Directory Services software. Consult the MeetingPlace Directory Services SMG for 
information on how to use the provided utilities.  

Note that the use of external backup utilities of the server running MeetingPlace Directory Services can 
result in errors and corruption of the database. Most external backup packages stop processes or close 
files on the target server so that files may be backed up. MeetingPlace Directory Services does not handle 
this properly. If you use an external backup utility, it is recommended that you stop the external backup 
service on the MeetingPlace Directory Services server.