Rainer Brandl

Domino Server: Copy Database Commands

Of course there are multiple ways to create copies or replicas of databases either to other folders on the same server or to other servers ( especially when the servers are running in a cluster ).

I always use the following way and it´s working very fine:

First, you have to set an entry in the NOTES.INI of the server where you want to put the commands directly in the console:

Cluster_Admin_On=1

You also can set this NOTES.INI setting directly from the console with a
“set configuration Cluster_Admin_On=1” – you don´t have to restart the server, … ! This parameter is taken “on the fly”.

Now to the commands:

cl copy sourcedatabase targetdatabase
> Example: cl copy dev/demo.nsf prod/demo.nsf
> Creates a copy of the database dev/demo.nsf in the directory prod

cl copy sourcedatabase targetdatabase replica
> Example: cl copy Server1!!dev/demo.nsf Server2!!dev/demo.nsf replica
> Creates a full replica of the database dev/demo.nsf on Server 1 on Server 2
BEWARE !! If you have DAOS enabled on the source database you will see that DAOS is not automatically enabled on the target database !! https://bit.ly/3p7tpIc

cl copy sourcedatabase targetdatabase template
> Example: cl copy Server1!!dev/demo.nsf Server2!!dev/demo.nsf template
> Only creates a template from the database dev/demo.nsf on Server 1 on Server 2 without any data

You also can use this command to create copies, replicas or templates within a program document:

Program name: nserver ( or server on Linux )
Command line: -c “cl copy Server1!!dev/demo.nsf Sever2!!dev/demo.nsf replica”

If you plan to run multiple “cl copy” commands you can pack them into a single text file ( in the example it´s called “command.txt” ):

cl copy demo/test1.nsf demo1/test1.nsf
cl copy demo/test2.nsf demo1/test2.nsf
cl copy demo/test3.nsf demo1/test3.nsf

and then you can create a program document where you run the commands included in the text file this way:

Program name: nserver ( or server on Linux )
Command line: -c “< path/command.txt”

11 comments

  1. I’m trying this out and the server seems to launch another “server” process and says:
    Server exiting:: Partition .local.notesdata is already in use.

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  2. Not working in Domino 12.0.2. It used to work previously v9/10. Error message
    “Database open error: destinationdb.tmp: Database is being Compacted; Compact must finish before use”

    Database is not DAOS or NIF enabled.

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  3. It`s working !!!
    set the requested NOTES.INI settings “Cluster_Admin_On=1” in two files
    C:\Program Files (x86)\HCL\Notes\notes.ini
    and
    C:\Program Files\HCL\Notes\notes.ini

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  4. I`ve set the requested NOTES.INI settings Cluster_Admin_On=1

    and not working on 12.0.1 . Comes back with error that”The requested function is not supported by the software on the server” .
    Tried it on a 9.0.1 FP11 – it`s OK.
    Tried it on a 10.0.1 – it`s OK

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  5. Theses commands are not working on 12.0.1 . Comes back with error that”The requested function is not supported by the software on the server” . Tried it on a 9.0.1 FP11 server also, got same results. Perhaps I have done something wrong?

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  6. I wonder if there’s a way to append date timestamp to new copy? For example in yymmdd format

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  7. This is a great way to do this, especially with huge databases between different servers, because the network traffic isn’t routed through the Notes client, but directly from server to server.

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  8. Watch out for the Cluster Copying command. As far as I remember If you do a cluster copying from the console, it will lock until the copying is done. So if you are doing a copying of a 500GB database …..

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