How to enable communication between multiple Lotus Sametime servers

In our Notes/Domino organization, we have set up a primary and secondary Lotus Sametime server. The primary server is a Notes/Domino server and is set as a standalone machine. The second server is on a separate Notes/Domino server, and was set as a member of the primary server at the time of installation.

Clients of the primary Lotus Sametime server are only able to communicate with members of the primary server. Clients of the secondary server are only able to communicate with members of the secondary server.

We would like to enable communication between multiple Lotus Sametime servers. For instance, we'd like a member of the primary server to be able to send messages to a member of the secondary server. We were not able to add users from the primary server to the secondary server or vice versa.

How can we add members of the secondary server into the contact list of members of the primary server?

The easiest way to confirm that your Lotus Sametime servers are members of the same community is to check the "Community" settings in the Lotus Sametime Web administration client.

1. Open a Web browser, go to the Sametime Web Administration Utility (http://yourserver/stcenter.nsf and choose the "Administer the server" link), expand the "Configuration" heading and then choose the "Connectivity" option.
2. When the "Configuration - Connectivity" page opens, click the "servers in this community" tab.
3. If you see both the primary server and secondary server under the "Meeting Servers that are connected" section, your Lotus Sametime servers should be able to communicate with one another.

I'm going to go out on a limb here, and suggest that you will not see both servers in this section. From the description of your setup, I'm guessing that your infrastructure is that your primary server is on one machine and your secondary server is on a separate machine.

But from what you have indicated, both servers are members of the same Lotus Domino domain ("member of the primary Sametime server at the time of installation"). This means that the servers already "trust" one another -- being members of the same organization. They are therefore able to see all servers and users within the domain, because the Sametime servers share the same Domino directory.

Side Note:

A Domino domain is a collection of servers and users who share the SAME Domino directory (names.nsf/ Public Address Book, etc). An organization is a security mechanism for creating and identifying entities (servers/users) within the Lotus Domino domain.

If both servers are members of the same Domino domain, then you simply need to create a Sametime connection document in your Domino directory, similar in the way to creating a replication connection document.

1. In your Domino Administrator client, go to the configurations tab, expand the Server's Twistie and then choose "Connections."
2. On the Action Bar, choose "Add Connection", make the connection type "Sametime", complete the Source (Primary server) and Destination (Secondary server) server fields and add an optional network address for the destination server.
3. Add another connection document going in the other direction.

Give your system a little while to detect the new configuration, and you should see both Lotus Sametime servers listed as "Connected."

If your servers are not part of the same Lotus Domino domain, then you will need to do a little more work:

1. Cross certify the two servers , so that the servers trust one another.
2. Configure Directory Assistance on both Lotus Sametime servers, so the servers can access one another's directories.
3. Create the Lotus Sametime connection documents described above, so the Lotus Sametime servers can communicate.