Start/notes.ini Parameters/CREATE_NIFNSF_DATABASES

CREATE_NIFNSF_DATABASES

Parameter: CREATE_NIFNSF_DATABASES
Short description: Automatically enables NIFNSF — separate view index files (.NDX) outside the NSF — when new databases are created.

Profile

Parameter
CREATE_NIFNSF_DATABASES
Category
Performance / Memory
Component
Server
Available since
10.0
Supported versions
10.0, 11.0, 12.0, 14.0, 14.5, 14.5.1
GUI equivalent
Server document → Transactional Logging → "Enable NIFNSF when creating new databases" (since Domino 12.0.2)
Possible values
0 = disabled (default), 1 = automatically enable NIFNSF when a new DB is created

Description

NIFNSF ("Moving views out of databases") separates view indexes as standalone .NDX files out of the NSF. This reduces NSF file size, speeds up backup/restore, and decouples view index maintenance from NSF I/O.
With CREATE_NIFNSF_DATABASES=1, the server activates this separation automatically for every newly created database. Existing databases remain unchanged — they must be converted to NIFNSF once via load compact -c (with NIFNSFEnable=1 active).
The .NDX files are placed in the directory configured via NIFBasePath. Without NIFBasePath set, they are placed in the Domino data directory.

Example configuration

NIFBasePath=D:\NIF
NIFNSFEnable=1
CREATE_NIFNSF_DATABASES=1

Notes & pitfalls

  • Prerequisite: ODS 51+ (since Domino 10) and active transaction logging.
  • Affects only newly created DBs; existing ones must be migrated separately via load compact -c.
  • Direct companion to NIFBasePath and NIFNSFEnable — without those two, the auto-switch has no effect.
  • .NDX files have a hard limit of 1 TB per file.
  • Since Domino 12.0.2 the same function can also be set in the server document under Transactional Logging; the notes.ini entry remains valid as an override.
  • Change takes effect after a server restart.

Sources (HCL Product Documentation)