Thursday, December 10, 2009

ST-SnTT - The dreaded STPOLICY.EXE Error

Attention bleeding edge people, this is for you most likely.

Sametime 8.0.2 as we all know is NOT certified to run on Domino 8.5 or 8.5.1.

But as we also know, it does work.
(these are Windows servers I had problems with and I am ONLY discussing Windows 2003 server)

However some details must be known to get this to work correctly.

First, Install Domino 8.0.2, then Sametime 8.0.2.
Once all of that is okay, then upgrade Domino to 8.5 or 8.5.1.

Sametime will NOT install over Domino 8.5/8.5.1 so don't waste your time.

Great? All good? no

You may start to see this error(100's of times!?) in your server console and logs:

12/10/2009 07:35:33 AM Process C:\Program Files\IBM\Lotus\Domino\stpolicy.exe (6968/0x1B38) has terminated abnormally

This has plagued me before and I have fixed it. But as some asked me about it here are some more details.

A hint to fixing this came from IBM Technote # 1279888

It outlines how to fix this by stating:
The following JVM argument should be provided under the [Policy] section of sametime.ini file:

[Policy]
POLICY_VM_ARGS=-Xmx128m -Xms128m -Xgcpolicy:optavgpause

Possible workaround:
1. Shut down the Domino/Sametime server by executing the quit command.
2. Using Task manager, if nnotesmm.exe still exists, terminate it.
3. Delete pid.nbf from the data directory
4. Restart the server.


Great, why didn't I just use this after all its from ST 7.5?
Because the policy line is already in my servers!
If it isn't in yours, do this first, then do the next steps.

You see, I had fixed this earlier as I see the line in my sametime.ini.

BUT now we have one more thing to do, with a few steps to it.

1) Shut down the Domino/Sametime server.
2) Check all the Sametime and Lotus Domino services have stopped
3) Open the Services running on the server and tell the Lotus Domino Diagnostics to stop running
4) Run NSD -kill on it if services are still running or server looks like it is not completing the tasks

Keep in mind, if you have not updated the Java code on the machine lately, do this as well, get it at java.com.

And if there are OS updates now is as good as time as any to add them, after all the server is down anyway.

Then bring the Domino server back up and all is well.

While I can not substantiate this yet, I believe that Microsoft and/or other updates, perhaps even Java which get pushed down without one's intervention may be causing the server to restart without waiting for all the Sameitme services to fully complete shut down. Which could explain why this error just "pops up".

EDITED 12/22/2009: If you still get the stpolicy error, try adding this to the end of the sametime.ini line above so after "optavgpause" add -Xrs with a space after pause. This shortens the java cycle to clean up.

12 comments:

  1. There are also problems administering Sametime running on Domino 8.5 Really better just not to do it. Especially if you have an environment with more than 5 users and you may need support.

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  2. Agreed, I did stipulate it is not recommended, but as many people have been doing it, can only help them.

    While we haven't seen too many other issues, this is most common, I acquiesce to your better knowledge on this subject.

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  3. A warning: running ST 8.5 on Domino 8.5 and 8.5.1 crashed reproducable when I had added that "-Xrs" parameter to the sametime.ini.

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  4. Oliver, Thank you for saying this. I am still seeing the stpolicy error, but we can not reproduce it yet consistently to provide feedback to IBM.
    Happy to discuss this further with anyone as it eventually hurts your server.

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  5. I have the problem too.
    Windows 2003 Server R2 SP2 x64

    All IBM Products are 32Bit
    Lotus Domino 8.51 FP1 LP German
    Sametime 8.02 and 8.50

    I tested: Some reinstalls of the Server / Sametime, os reinstall, fully installed a new lotus domino 8.51FP1 Server.

    The problem is there since 8.5 at my Server.

    In my opinion its a problem with x64 and i am thinking about an Reinstalling of the OS in 32bit mode.

    I tested also in virtual machines and will test again 2003 x64 in virtual.

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  6. My actual workaround is to disable ST Policy service in windows. Restart the Server and the Error Message is gone.

    We have only the limited sametime version so we dont use the policys.

    If i enable it again the server will show not only that "Event" symptome also we cannot restart any notes services over the Domino Administrator (They will hang) and the server cannot kill nchronos.exe processes correctly and many other.

    So the workaround kills all that symptoms, but i dont know if that creates other "problems".

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  7. Yes disabling the task will stop it but create other potential issues as you pointed out.
    I wait for st8.5.1 i guess.

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  8. But you dont have the issues with the cannot restart processes or?

    Is your Server 2003 x64?

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  9. I tried this on my servers and still get the stpolicy error on one.
    Other ignores it.

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  10. This does also not help in the long term. I have now after a full week of running smoothly a hard crash of the server (No displaying that a error occured).

    I reactivated the service and will reinstall the OS to 32Bit to kill that problem for now.

    Do you have a PMR open for that if yes which number?

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  11. The reinstall went smoothly but helped nothing. Very Strange.
    I have the same install in an VMWare runnjing like a charm.

    I give up for now and hope the best that it will get fixed soon.

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  12. Anyone found something for this in the mean time? I have Domino 8.5.2 with Sametime 8.5.1 on Windows 2008 R2 x64 and the stpolicy problem is there. Seems IBM still hasn't fixed it.

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