Domino Blog News, views and directions on IBM Lotus Domino http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/ en-us Fri, 11 Dec 2009 10:43:16 -0400 Lotus Protector Converted Me! Fri, 11 Dec 2009 10:43:16 -0400 http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/lotus-protector-converted-me Andrea Waugh-Metzger http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/lotus-protector-converted-me?opendocument&comments http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/lotus-protector-converted-me
I had the good fortune to be able to shadow a Lotus Protector Proof of Concept installation.  Lotus Protector for Mail Security is a content filtering solution that blocks spam and viruses out of the box and also provides rich content filtering of inbound/outbound messages (the filtering part is pretty cool...more on that later!).  Now, normally an anti-spam/anti-virus solution wouldn't exactly get me stoked!  This, on the other hand..was pretty darn cool!

So the customer I visited was looking to replace their existing anti-virus solution (from one vendor) as well as their anti-spam solution (from another vendor) and possibly take out another solution that was doing some address verification and re-writes.  All-in-all, they had 5 boxes in conjunction with their Domino mail solution that provided those features.  We hoped to replace those 5 boxes with one - yes, one - a Lotus Protector instance.  (big hopes, in my mind at the time!)  I was prepared for a very long day of installing and configuring software.

When we got there, the customer had a VMWare instance waiting for us, and Lotus Protector was installed in that instance in little to no time with no intervention (it was a self-expanding ISO image) and we were ready to begin configuring rules.  First, we connected Lotus Protector to the Domino LDAP (or any LDAP) so that it could do address lookups, use groups for administration or filtering rules and fun things like that.  Once it was connected to LDAP, we validated the pre-configured rules for anti-spam and anti-virus - changing only a few variables for how the messages got routed or quarantined.  Then - and this is the really cool part - we setup a sample compliance rule to check for any emails that might be storing credit card or Social Security Number information.

Then, we setup where to route informational notes which could be either to a group or individual email account -- OR (this is the cool part) through an RSS feed.  We chose to do RSS feeds and setup a feed in the admin's Notes 8.5.1 client.  And, because the admin was using Notes 8.5.1, they also had complete integration into Protector to manage spam mail settings and more on Protector directly from in the Notes client.

We setup a few more rules, validated the configuration and voila...we were done!  Then we re-routed mail flows so it only went through Protector, not the other appliances, and watched it work!  The interesting part...within a 2-hour timeframe of Protector being in place, the admins were able to identify more than 5 messages either coming into their environment or out of the environment that has credit card information in it - all b/c of a rule that took less than a minute to setup!  I thought that was pretty cool!!

I don't want to get into all the cool things of Protector right now because I'd hate to spoil your fun of learning about it next week at Lotusphere!  But all I can say is that it made a convert of me and I know think it's an AWESOME tool!!  If you're going to Lotusphere next week - take a look at it.  They will be at Pedestal #7 in the showcase and are also presenting on Thursday from 10-11am (ID207).

See you there! ]]> http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dxcomments/lotus-protector-converted-me http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/lotus-protector-converted-me?opendocument&comments More Virtual Desktop Questions Mon, 30 Nov 2009 08:49:42 -0400 http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/more-citrix-usage-questions Andrea Waugh-Metzger http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/more-citrix-usage-questions?opendocument&comments http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/more-citrix-usage-questions
So while we are on the subject..let me ask some other questions - some about Citrix, some not.

Citrix Performance
Some of you have stated your performance post ND8 is great, some not so great.  How many users are you getting on Citrix, in average in post ND8? If you are having performance problems, did you review the Notes/Citrix 8.5 performance whitepaper? Did that help or are you still having scaling problems?

iNotes
What about iNotes?  Are you using your Citrix clients to feed up iNotes to your end-users or is that being done natively on your desktops or thin clients?  If you do use Citrix for iNotes access - how's your performance there?  What browser are you using for it - IE or Firefox?

Other Virtual Methods
Do you use something other than Citrix for virtual desktops today?  Anybody still using Windows Terminal Services to serve up those thin clients?  Anything else in use?  I know today we only support Citrix...is there really a need to still support Terminal Services or other virtual desktops??

Thanks so much for your help, everyone!  This is great stuff and is really helping the developers!! ]]> http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dxcomments/more-citrix-usage-questions http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/more-citrix-usage-questions?opendocument&comments Looking for Notes/Citrix Implementations Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:28:22 -0400 http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/looking-for-notescitrix-implementations Andrea Waugh-Metzger http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/looking-for-notescitrix-implementations?opendocument&comments http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/looking-for-notescitrix-implementations
I've had many customers ask about running Notes on Citrix and how others are doing it.  I know many of you are successful - some, wildly successfuly!  We're looking to outline success (or trial) stories about it and need your help.  Also - do you think that topic would be beneficial?  Is your company starting to look at Notes on Citrix as an option?  Send me an email if I can interview you to get your story.

Inquiring minds want to know (and we want your help!!!)
]]> http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dxcomments/looking-for-notescitrix-implementations http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/looking-for-notescitrix-implementations?opendocument&comments AdminCamp 2009 Wed, 14 Oct 2009 10:06:45 -0400 http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/admincamp-2009 Domino Collin Murray http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/admincamp-2009?opendocument&comments http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/admincamp-2009
A special thanks to Rudi Knegt, Bernfried Geiger, and Jens Augustiny for making me feel comfortable and providing the opportunity to meet with members of the Notes/Domino community - and to Andrew Pollack who spent several hours driving in traffic while commuting from Dusseldorf airport... ]]> http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dxcomments/admincamp-2009 http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/admincamp-2009?opendocument&comments DAOS Updates for Domino 8.5.1 Tue, 22 Sep 2009 09:56:51 -0400 http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/daos-updates-for-domino-8.5.1 8.5 Andrea Waugh-Metzger http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/daos-updates-for-domino-8.5.1?opendocument&comments http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/daos-updates-for-domino-8.5.1
As we talk about what's new, we need to make sure we understand what you *already* get as a part of DAOS in Domino 8.5.  

Currently, when an email is received that has an attachment in it, the attachment is extracted and stored in an external file (NLO).  DAOS then determines if the DAOS store already has a copy of the attachment and if so, latches on to the existing copy of the object, bumps the reference count, and then deletes the duplicate object.  This happens on each server that receives the email - and each server would receive and store its own copy of the attachment.  With this, you get net disk savings because only one copy of the attachment is stored, BUT, unfortunately, that's limited to a server-by-server basis..there is NO savings when that file is transferred across the network.

Now, we've talked before about how DAOS saves you I/O operations on the server.  This is because in processes like copy-style compact, DAOS can detect that we are copying a DAOS object from a DAOS enabled database on the server to another DAOS enabled database on the same physical server, and then short-cut the process and just increment the reference count of the object and return a "DAOS ticket" to the database getting the new copy.  Essentially, this is copying the DAOS ticket instead of copying the object itself.  We call this inter-server copying.  Again, you get savings in I/O operations and bytes written for inter server objects, but NO savings across servers.

So now that we're all on the same page, let's talk about what's NEW in Domino 8.5.1...!!!

Let's face it...most of us have multiple servers in our environments.  And, as mail messages, etc. move from one server to another server, there's a lot of copying of objects (ie. replication) that goes on.  In Domino 8.5.1, DAOS is now enhanced so that it can EXTEND its optimization between clients and servers, and among servers!!  This is intra-server copying!  So, instead of sending a copy, the sending server says "I'm sending you an attachment with this unique key" and the receiving server can say "Wait..I already have it, here's the ticket..send that to me instead" or "Yup, it's unique, send the whole attachment, but only send it once for all my users"!!  Make sense?  So now, DAOS is smart enough to save you bandwidth across the network - and even better - this will happen automatically between any two 8.5.1 clients and/or servers as long as the recipient is DAOS enabled!!  That's right...the sender does not need to be using DAOS!

There's a lot of potential here!  Imagine if you will, you are at home and you're about to send an email with 2 large attachments on it.  In the past, you would send the email and "wait" while replication occurred and those attachments got sent.  NOW though...if those attachments already exist on the server, only the ticket gets sent...NOT the entire attachment!!  So, a replication process that might have taken you minutes before only takes seconds now!  Talk about making it easy!

Now, obviously, there's a great more detail involved than what I've just outlined for you - and a lot more that's coming!  (a LOT more) But, you get the idea here.  DAOS goes one step further in 8.5.1 to save both network bandwidth AND disk I/O AND disk space in your Domino environment!  So now we see...
  • Net disk savings because only one copy of the attachment is stored
  • Option to use a separate, low-cost storage device for attachments
  • Savings in I/O operations and bytes written for inter-server object copies
  • Savings in bytes transferred across the network
  • Savings in I/O operations and bytes written by other servers

Now, you just need to get to Domino 8.5.1!!!  

Really...does it get any better than this????!! ]]> http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dxcomments/daos-updates-for-domino-8.5.1 http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/daos-updates-for-domino-8.5.1?opendocument&comments Just What is This Directory Integrator Entitlement Anyway? Wed, 17 Jun 2009 10:34:26 -0400 http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/just-what-is-this-directory-integrator-entitlement-anyway Features Andrea Waugh-Metzger http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/just-what-is-this-directory-integrator-entitlement-anyway?opendocument&comments http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/just-what-is-this-directory-integrator-entitlement-anyway
Have you heard of it?  Well, let me tell you...you just might start singing it's praises if you aren't already!

So, what is TDI?  First of all, the term "Directory" in the product name I think is a little misleading, as TDI can be used for integrating anything- not just directories.  In essence, TDI reads databases or files in many different formats and can push that data into Domino.  For instance..it can take data out of your HR system and put it into a Domino database or the Domino Directory.  Or it can take data out of Active Directory into Domino.  Or from a web service or SAP or whatever into Domino!  It's practically limitless in what it can connect to and how you can use it to populate Domino!

What does this mean to you?  Well, many of my customers have asked me lately the following questions:
  • How do I use my Active Directory username/password for logging into iNotes?
  • How can I get my AD and Domino names to synchronize?
  • How can I get information like phone numbers or location out of my HR system into my Domino Directory?
  • My Sametime (or Quickr) environment points to AD for login/authentication - how do I used that same info for iNotes?

I'm sure many of you have the same questions - or ones similar.  Do you know what my first answer is to those questions?  Yup.. TDI!  You have this great, little-known tool totally FREE to you that does so much of what you need...and I bet you didn't even know it!

So...what is it..how do you get started?  Below are some links to great information to get you started.  And, please, let me know...are you interested in hearing more?  More details?  More how-to's?  I'm thinking about doing a series on TDI like I did for DAOS.  What do you think?  Would that be worthwhile???

Video on How to Integrate Domino with Active Directory using TDI
Document on Lotus Domino Integration with Tivoli Directory Integrator
Learning TDI (TDI 101)
TDI Users Group and Forum

Happy Reading!!! (TDI ROCKS!!!)
]]> http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dxcomments/just-what-is-this-directory-integrator-entitlement-anyway http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/just-what-is-this-directory-integrator-entitlement-anyway?opendocument&comments DCT, ID Vault and DAOS, Oh My! Thu, 23 Apr 2009 09:20:15 -0400 http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/dct-id-vault-and-daos-oh-my 8.5 Andrea Waugh-Metzger http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/dct-id-vault-and-daos-oh-my?opendocument&comments http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/dct-id-vault-and-daos-oh-my
Domino Configuration Tuner
So, I've written a few entries about DCT and how totally AWESOME it is!  I've had tons of customers use it already and they have just been amazed at how much it's helped them and how much it's pointed out about their environments.  And..I'm sure you're certainly aware of the great entries in the wiki on DCT and the great job Scott O'Keefe has been doing about keeping you updated on new DCT stuff.  Well, Scott is at it again..this time with his very own blog!  Enter the 'Tuner Blog!  That's right - Scott has a blog out there to enhance the awareness of the Domino Configuration Tuner and keep you apprised of new rule implementations.  And yes, the leading apostrophe is intentional - an homage to the old QuickTune days!  Head on over - there's some GREAT stuff out there!

ID Vault
This great feature has also been getting press lately, and many of you have asked about ID Vault and how to implement it.  Well, if you HAVE implemented it, or are thinking about it, make sure you take a look at this technote and you get Interim Fix 3.  There are some mandatory fixes in it for ID Vault.

DAOS
You all know how near and dear to my heart DAOS is.  I just can't stop writing about it!  So, take a look here!  That's right - yours truly co-wrote an article for developerWorks on DAOS!  I teamed up with Gary Rheaume (Lead Architect) and Pat Mancuso (Principle Architect and Developer) -- two great minds in the DAOS camp - to bring you information about how IBM is implementing DAOS and how you can achieve ultimate storage and server cost savings with DAOS in your own environment.  If I do say so myself, it's a fabulous article!!  ;-)  Take a look - hopefully it will help you in your quest to justify DAOS in your environment.

On a side note...
You've probably been noticing that my posts are a bit few and far between these days and I apologize for that.  Well, for the next month and a half, I'll try to get some guest bloggers in here to help out and bring you more frequent information.  You see, I brought a little life into this world on April 5th (her name is Amelia), and I've been a bit preoccupied!  Technically I'm out on maternity leave until late June, but the blog must go on!  So, bear with me and please keep checking back - there will be more to come!!   ]]> http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dxcomments/dct-id-vault-and-daos-oh-my http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/dct-id-vault-and-daos-oh-my?opendocument&comments Domino 8.5 Performance Benchmarks Thu, 12 Mar 2009 11:41:12 -0400 http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/domino-8.5-performance-benchmarks 8.5 Andrea Waugh-Metzger http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/domino-8.5-performance-benchmarks?opendocument&comments http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/domino-8.5-performance-benchmarks
The Domino 8.5 Performance Benchmarks are out!  This great article outlines the performance improvements seen in benchmark testing simply by upgrading from Domino 8.0.x to Domino 8.5.  And let me tell you...there are some IMPRESSIVE numbers in there!  The tests performed were intended to mimic the actions of everyday Notes/Domino users - with messaging and calendar operations on the server.  Then, the team measured % processor busy, disk operations per second and disk megabytes transferred per second.

We've been telling you that Domino 8.5 is THE release to help reduce TCO and these benchmarks help prove that!  The article summarizes:

You can realize substantial I/O reductions, reductions in disk operations per second by 22 percent to 33 percent, and reductions in disk bytes transferred per second by 31 percent to 67 percent. In addition, processor utilization has been reduced by as much as 20 percent. Upgrading to Lotus Domino 8.5 can lower your Lotus Domino deployment total cost of ownership.


So..take a look at the results!  You also might want to think about moving to Domino 8.5 soon! ]]> http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dxcomments/domino-8.5-performance-benchmarks http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/domino-8.5-performance-benchmarks?opendocument&comments Making Notes ROCK on Citrix Thu, 12 Feb 2009 11:57:54 -0400 http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/making-notes-rock-on-citrix 8.0 Andrea Waugh-Metzger http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/making-notes-rock-on-citrix?opendocument&comments http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/making-notes-rock-on-citrix
So, I've been getting more and more questions about Notes on Citrix and how to make it perform for the Notes 8.x client.  So..in the interest of helping to educate the masses, I decided to learn about it myself and let you all in on some great configurations our Notes/Citrix team has been working with!  So...here you go!

We all know the Notes 8.x client isn't exactly what we would call "light".   There's a LOT of stuff in there (and that's OK)!  With Expeditor being used as a foundation and with all the great plug-ins and features we've added, it can take a fair amount of memory to run.  And, apparently, therein lies the issue when trying to put Notes clients on Citrix for end-users.  And, what exactly does that mean to you, the Notes or Citrix administrator?

Well, in the Notes 7.x days, a typical Citrix deployment would be able to house approximately 35 Notes users on a single Citrix server.  When Notes 8.0 came along, things worked a little bit differently.  Initially, the Notes 8.0 client did not collocate all components and this caused issues when running on centralized servers - like Citrix.  And, the Notes 8.0 client footprint was very large in comparison to 7.x and therefore the number of users you were able to place on a single Citrix server was significantly smaller - possibly even 1/3 of what you were able to house before!  Obviously, this was not optimal and made it so that many customers running Citrix would be faced with what many called an "undeployable" situation.

Obviously, with more and more of you running Citrix, something had to change!  So, in 8.0.2, the focus was on scalability improvements - including a reduction in the memory footprint in general and then the developers asked themselves the question "Is there anything specific to Citrix that can help?".  So, they collaborated with Citrix and brought a Citrix engineer on-site to work with the dev team to see what could be done.  And lo and behold - cool things happened!!!

One of the performance changes from 8.0.2 was a Notes-specific setting that was created that helped with the java class setting.  It had no major impact on single user clients, but made a significant impact in a multi-user client setting - like Citrix.  Essentially, it made it so that the client could share java classes across all the clients - saving a lot of resources!

Another change was the ability to support PAE on 32-bit systems, which allows 32-bit applications to access memory beyond the 4GB RAM limit.  So, when we move from a base Citrix system (Win 2003 with 4GB RAM) to a system with 8GB RAM, we can effectively double the number of users on that system.  So we're taking better advantage of the hardware.

Then, for Citrix only, development made the option to support running the Notes client on a 64-bit system - which means you can now have access to "almost unlimited" amount of memory.  What does this mean in terms of deployment?  Well, development tested a quad-core, 32Gb system and showed that they could increase the number of users on the system from 40-60 users to almost 150 users on a single Citrix system!  That's a HUGE benefit for those of you running Citrix!  You could potentially reduce the size of your Citrix farms!

Of course, there are a TON of details out there on how to do this and I guarantee I'm not doing this justice (I'm not a Citrix administrator)!!  So take a look for yourself...  There is a white paper about scalability for Notes 8.0.2 on Citrix XenApp 4.5. that outlines all this information including the testing configurations and results.  This white paper is currently about Notes 8.0.2, but will be updated for 8.5 in the very near future.

So..there you have it!!  Citrix administrators rejoice!!

Oh..and the developers aren't done!  This is an evolving process and obviously they would like to do more.  As we move forward with new Notes releases, the developers are looking to improve more - like the installation process on Citrix or easier upgrades from previous versions of Notes.  This might eve include making the install program Citrix-aware.  But..the developers need your help!  What do you need?  What do you see, as a Citrix administrator that concerns you about Notes on Citrix?  What issues/concerns do you have?  Feel free to comment here or send me an email and I'll forward that information on!  Your feedback will help! ]]> http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dxcomments/making-notes-rock-on-citrix http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/making-notes-rock-on-citrix?opendocument&comments Post Lotusphere Entry by Russ Holden Mon, 26 Jan 2009 11:35:06 -0400 http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/post-lotusphere-entry-by-russ-holden 8.5 Andrea Waugh-Metzger http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/post-lotusphere-entry-by-russ-holden?opendocument&comments http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/post-lotusphere-entry-by-russ-holden
For our first entry after the fabulous Lotusphere 2009, Russ Holden, Lotus Domino Chief Architect and IBM Distinguished Engineer wanted to say a few words and provide you all with an update on one of his presentations.  

Lotusphere 2009 was a huge success for the Domino team.  The reception of Domino 8.5 and its key features and messages was overwhelmingly positive.  In particular, the two major features which customers can deploy immediately - DAOS and XPages, were big hits.  Notes ID Vault was also extremely well received and recognized as a game changer for ID file and password management.  And, of course, we got a lot of feedback about what we still need to do and starting immediately (or Monday anyway) we'll get to work on the next big set of needs.

To follow up on a promise I made I'm posting the slides from the ID204 ("How to Reduce Disk Costs using Domino 8.5") that Nirmala Venkatraman and I did.  We made very heavy changes to our slides from the time of the initial posting to allow us to test Domino 8.5 Gold code and we wanted to make sure we presented the latest and greatest performance data.
- Russ Holden, Lotus Domino Chief Architect and IBM Distinguished Engineer


Thanks so much, Russ for posting your presentation and for everything you and your team has done on Domino 8.5 - it's truly an amazing release!

You can find Russ' slides here...id204_blog.odp ]]> http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dxcomments/post-lotusphere-entry-by-russ-holden http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/post-lotusphere-entry-by-russ-holden?opendocument&comments It’s DAOS Time Again Wed, 14 Jan 2009 14:36:46 -0400 http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/its-daos-time-again Domino Andrea Waugh-Metzger http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/its-daos-time-again?opendocument&comments http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/its-daos-time-again
If you haven't visited the Lotus Notes and Domino Wiki before, you really should take a look now.  Not only do we have the great policy documentation up there mentioned in previous posts, we now have some GREAT entries on DAOS.  I encourage you to head over there to take a look.  In the meantime, here's a teaser of the kind of information you'll find...

DAOS FAQ:
This blog has talked a lot about what DAOS is and general concepts, but do you still wonder what you do if your DAOS catalog needs resync'd?  Also, how do you tell if attachments are really being created in the DAOS store?  What kind of troubleshooting can you do?  The FAQ wiki entry is a great place to get started to help you answer all those questions and more!

DAOS Backup and Restore:
I know MANY of you are waiting for this entry!  I gave you a teaser in one of my blog entries that development would be coming out with much more detailed information on how to do backups and restores of DAOS information and here it is!  This wiki entry is chock-full of detailed information including commands to run when doing restores, how to restore DAOS objects and how it all works when dealing with clusters.  A must-read if you are going to implement DAOS!

DAOS: How to Setup Resynchronization Events with DDM:
Once you have DAOS up and running in your organization, you will probably want to setup some DDM events on it.  This wiki entry gives you all the information you need on how to do that and what things to watch out for in terms of event messages as well.  So, to make sure you keep your environment running smoothly, take a look at this!

So..those are the main entries up there now, but trust me, more are coming!  (including one on best practices)  So, keep an eye out on the wiki home page for the DAOS tag and happy reading!

Oh...and don't forget...you can also learn about all these things and more at Lotusphere 2009!  There are quite a few entries on DAOS, so hope to see you there!
  ]]> http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dxcomments/its-daos-time-again http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/its-daos-time-again?opendocument&comments Domino 8.5 certified on Windows 2008 Wed, 14 Jan 2009 14:29:20 -0400 http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/domino-8.5-certified-on-windows-2008 Domino Andrea Waugh-Metzger http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/domino-8.5-certified-on-windows-2008?opendocument&comments http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/domino-8.5-certified-on-windows-2008
The Domino development and other teams have just signed off on Domino 8.5 platform certification for Windows 2008!  Testing is complete on this platform and you will soon see the Domino 8.5 release notes and technotes updated with this new support information.

Way to go Domino development and testing teams!   ]]> http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dxcomments/domino-8.5-certified-on-windows-2008 http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/domino-8.5-certified-on-windows-2008?opendocument&comments Notes/Domino 8.5 is OUT! Tue, 6 Jan 2009 16:34:47 -0400 http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/notesdomino-8.5-is-out Domino Andrea Waugh-Metzger http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/notesdomino-8.5-is-out?opendocument&comments http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/notesdomino-8.5-is-out Notes/Domino 8.5 has officially been released!  The long-awaited announcement was made today at MacWorld Expo!  Rather than repeat all the links, etc. here, I would recommend you head over to Ed Brill's blog and check out his blog post on it.  He provides a number of links for you, including the official release letter.

OH..and don't forget!  If you are planning on upgrading your servers soon to 8.5, there is already an interim fix.  Don't forget to add that as well.  It can be found on Fix Central.  Just select Lotus, Lotus Domino, 8.5.0.0 and your operating system, then sign-in to get the fix.  

Happy loading! ]]> http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dxcomments/notesdomino-8.5-is-out http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/notesdomino-8.5-is-out?opendocument&comments A Thought on Lotusphere 2009 Sessions Wed, 17 Dec 2008 08:47:32 -0400 http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/a-thought-on-lotusphere-2009-sessions Domino Andrea Waugh-Metzger http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/a-thought-on-lotusphere-2009-sessions?opendocument&comments http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/a-thought-on-lotusphere-2009-sessions Lotusphere 2009!  All the discussions I've had with the developers on more of the cool stuff coming out in Notes/Domino 8.5 as well as some of the case studies about topics I've already blogged about will be sessions you can attend yourself!  

So, rather than spoil the surprise, I decided I'm going to provide a brief list of some of the sessions I think you might be interested in.  These sessions cover the topics I've already blogged about, but might give more detail or provide case studies for how to implement the features.  Overall though, there are a TON of great sessions planned for Lotusphere 2009 and I just can't highlight them all (much as I would like to!!).  You'll just have to go to Lotusphere to learn more!!

JumpStart Sessions:
JMP 102 - IBM Lotus Domino Administrator Quickstart
( a GREAT overview of all the new stuff and more!!)

Show n' Tell Sessions:
SHOW 101 - ID Vault, Roaming and DAOS: Get Ahead of the Curve with IBM Lotus Domino 8.5
(a GREAT session where you can see it all in action!)

Track Three: Planning & Managing Your Collaboration Infrastructure:
ID110 - New Single Sign-On Improvements for your IBM Lotus Notes/Domino Windows Environments
ID202 - Release the Power! Deploying New Features in IBM Lotus Notes Domino 8.5  
(this one will go over a GREAT case study about how IBM implemented ID Vault, dynamic policies and Auto-Populated groups together to create an ultimate experience!)
ID203 - IBM Lotus Domino 8.5 Server Performance Improvements
ID204 - How to Help Reduce Your Disk Costs Using IBM Lotus Domino 8.5
ID207 - How to Get the Most out of the Lotus Domino and Attachment Object Service
(a session that's near and dear to my heart, Gary and Dave will outline the lovely details of DAOS)
ID209 - Getting the Most Out of Your IBM Lotus Domino 8.5 Messaging Servers
ID210 - ID Vault in IBM Lotus Notes/Domino 8.5
(I've blogged about ID Vault, but in this session, David and Gil give you the skinny in detail!)

So there are a few that really caught my eye (sorry - as you can tell, I'm an Admin at heart!!).  BUT - Like I said, there are many, many more great sessions lined up, so please take a look at the session abstracts!

Hope to see you at Lotusphere!
]]> http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dxcomments/a-thought-on-lotusphere-2009-sessions http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/a-thought-on-lotusphere-2009-sessions?opendocument&comments Synchronizing Notes Contacts with Blackberry Tue, 16 Dec 2008 10:44:31 -0400 http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/synchronizing-notes-contacts-with-blackberry- 8.0 Andrea Waugh-Metzger http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/synchronizing-notes-contacts-with-blackberry-?opendocument&comments http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/synchronizing-notes-contacts-with-blackberry-

How are you doing Notes personal contact synchronization for your end users?  

If you remember, in previous versions of Notes, the way to get personal contacts to synchronize over-the-air with your Blackberry was to have the end-user manually select "Action -> Synchronize Journal" and/or "Action -> Synchronize Contacts" in the menu.  This would synchronize the contacts with the mail file (also used for Domino Web Access).  Then, your end-users would have to do this regularly in order to get any updates.  Most of my customers found this more than a tad bit annoying, and therefore found other "interesting" ways to get contacts to synchronize.  Not fun, right?

One work-around that I'm finding more and more people using is the use of Roaming Profiles instead.  Now, the use of roaming profiles has its own implication in ND8 (roaming is not supported with the Standard client until 8.5) as well as implications for administration, etc.  It's a heck of an undertaking just to get contacts to synchronize!

So...there's a MUCH easier way to do it in ND8!

You may have noticed that in 8.0.2, the menu options mentioned above for "Synchronize Contacts" are gone.  Well - they've been replaced by a much better option for your end-users!  To enable the new, improved and EASY way of synchronizing your contacts (so you can get over-the-air synch with your BB), just do the following:
1.        From the Notes client, select "File -> Preferences" (or other options to get to your preferences, depending on your O/S)
2.        Click on the "Contacts" header in the navigation pane on the left to get to your Contacts preferences.
3.        Make sure you select the option for "Enable Synchronize Contacts on the Replicator...".

If you switch to your replicator tab, you will see a "Synchronize Contacts" icon added to your replication.  Now, when you replicate, your contacts will replicate too!  You can even setup a schedule to replicate them on a regular basis!!  It's THAT easy!  No more manual synchronization tasks for your end users!

Try it out!  And, you may make your end-users happier and your life easier!

Clarification NOTE: At this time, this only works for the Contacts - not the Journal.  To Synchronize the Journal, you would still have to do it manually or through some other method.  
]]> http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dxcomments/synchronizing-notes-contacts-with-blackberry- http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/synchronizing-notes-contacts-with-blackberry-?opendocument&comments Learning Plug-In for Lotus Notes Mon, 8 Dec 2008 14:55:07 -0400 http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/learning-plug-in-for-lotus-notes 8.0 Andrea Waugh-Metzger http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/learning-plug-in-for-lotus-notes?opendocument&comments http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/learning-plug-in-for-lotus-notes Learning Plug-In for Lotus Notes!  It's a publicly available side-shelf plug-in that you can provide your end-users so they can view and filter Notes 8 Learning materials!  Once installed, your users will have access to:
  • Task-based demonstrations
  • Videos
  • Tutorials
  • Product Tour
  • Web Seminars
  • Self-paced e-learning
  • Reference Cards

Go take a look, download it and try it out today!! ]]> http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dxcomments/learning-plug-in-for-lotus-notes http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/learning-plug-in-for-lotus-notes?opendocument&comments New GREAT Policy Documentation! Thu, 6 Nov 2008 08:57:32 -0400 http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/new-great-policy-documentation 8.0 Andrea Waugh-Metzger http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/new-great-policy-documentation?opendocument&comments http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/new-great-policy-documentation
And, I know I promised a quid pro quo.

Well, I like to make good on my promises - so here you go!!  ;-)

The wonderful developers of Domino policies were listening and read your comments.  They have come to your rescue!  In the Notes/Domino Wiki, there are now 2 different Policy entries!  And, yes, there will be more!

The first entry is a general Domino Policies FAQ.  In this entry, Mark Skurla does a great job of answering some of the more pressing questions about policies such as the different types of policies (organizational, explicit and dynamic) as well as what to be aware of when creating policies and how they get applied to the client.  It's a great overview of some of the more pressing questions!  Great stuff!

The second entry goes into much more detail and is one I think you will really like a lot.  This entry explains Policy Precedence.  I don't know about you, but some of my customers have been asking questions about policy precedence and policy hierarchies.  Why is this important?  Well..think of it this way:

Many of you outlined that you have one big (or a few big) policies for the organization.  I haven't seen or heard of a lot of implementations of policies that really go down to the deep, detailed level for end-users to take advantage of some of the more detailed settings that are now available in ND8.  As you know, you now have the ability to set specific settings for a small group of users (executives for example) and can do that through the use of hierarchical policies.

In the policy precedence entry, Mark outlines how the three levels of policies (explicit, group and organizational) can work together to apply various policies with broad or narrow scopes for end-users without too much difficulty.  His entry provides some great examples of how to set these and it's a great read for anyone looking to better understand policies and how powerful they can really be.

So - go out to the Wiki and take a look!  And, comments and questions are encouraged!  It's through your help and your interests that postings like those come about - so let them know what you think!!  Happy Reading!
]]> http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dxcomments/new-great-policy-documentation http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/new-great-policy-documentation?opendocument&comments Do You Use Domino Policies? Fri, 17 Oct 2008 08:59:07 -0400 http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/do-you-use-domino-policies Domino Andrea Waugh-Metzger http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/do-you-use-domino-policies?opendocument&comments http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/do-you-use-domino-policies
I believe it was back in Notes/Domino R6 that we introduced policies.  But, I know most of my clients didn't really "leverage" them until the R7 timeframe - if at all.  As we move forward with ND8 and then with ND8.5, the Lotus developers have done even more with making things available via policies.

So...a little background on policies:

A policy is a document that identifies a collection of individual policy settings documents. Each of these policy settings documents defines a set of defaults that apply to the users and groups to which the policy is assigned. Once a policy is in place, you can easily change a setting, and it will automatically apply to those users to whom the policy is assigned.  You can use policies to help with things like
  • Registration
  • Desktop settings
  • Lotus Traveler
  • Lotus Symphony
  • Roaming
  • Security
  • and much, much more!

So, policies can really help make your administrative life much, much easier and can help you control a significant portion of your environment.  So let me ask you a couple questions...
  1. Do you use policies in your organization today?
  2. If so, how do you have them implemented?  Is it by OU?  By groups of users?  Or just one big policy?
  3. What do you leverage policies for?
  4. What would you like to see done with policies?
  5. What questions do you have about policies and/or how they work?

I promise a quid pro quo as well on this!  If you have questions, I will do everything I can to answer them and hopefully we can help get you to embrace policies in your organization!
]]> http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dxcomments/do-you-use-domino-policies http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/do-you-use-domino-policies?opendocument&comments A New Way to Manage Notes User IDs and Passwords Fri, 19 Sep 2008 08:18:52 -0400 http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/a-new-way-to-manage-notes-user-ids-and-passwords Domino Andrea Waugh-Metzger http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/a-new-way-to-manage-notes-user-ids-and-passwords?opendocument&comments http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/a-new-way-to-manage-notes-user-ids-and-passwords
When you create a Notes ID for an end user, where do you put it?  Do you keep a copy of it somewhere so that you have access to it in the future?  What about the password?  Do you use a generic password so that if a user forgets it you have a copy with a known password to give them?  And when a user requires that original copy (because of a lost password or such) how do you deal with any changes that occurred from the time the id was created until the time they requested a new one?  Things like name changes, certificate changes, encryption keys, etc?  And what about users with multiple versions of the ID file - on shared computers or such?

A lot of questions, I know.  But these are also questions I get asked all the time by my customers wondering how to handle things like this.

Over time, many customers have dealt with this issue in many ways - from using a file server to implementing a complex and expensive 3rd party tool to manage Notes IDs.  Unfortunately, you usually have to compromise one thing for another - security vs. usability.  It's easy to place the ID file on a file server or in a Notes database and use generic passwords - but it's not very secure.  Or, some of the 3rd party tools make it very secure, but they aren't particularly easy to use or manage.  We're often left with a solution that is cumbersome and/or expensive to manage.  

It's pretty much been the only thing you can do to manage those id files and provide some level of password or id file recovery for your end users.  Is it easy?  NO.  Is it secure?  Not usually.  Is it a pain in the administrative you-know-what?  YES!  This has led many of you to ask "Why can't we just get rid of the id file?"   But then, you stop and think about the security infrastructure the id file gives you and you wonder - "Well, maybe there's a better way."  THERE IS!

Domino Administrators Rejoice!

There's a new feature in Domino 8.5 that will help to ease your Notes ID file woes.  It's called the Notes ID vault.  The Notes ID vault is meant to help you manage and maintain Notes ID files without compromising the security of the ID file itself.  Imagine if you will, a world where:
  • During registration, the Notes ID file is automatically stored in a secure database
  • End users can recover their password on their own
  • Multiple copies of the Notes ID file are automatically synchronized
  • Specified auditors have access to encrypted data for litigation and other purposes

Shouldn't you be able to manage those ID files without compromising the security of them?  Shouldn't end-users be able to recover their password on their own - maybe without even having Notes Administrator intervention?  And what about during those messy litigation efforts when you need access to someone's encrypted mail file without knowing their password..shouldn't you be able to do that easily too?  Anyone who's been a Domino Administrator has got to be saying "Yes, Yes, Yes and YES!"

That, and much more is what Notes ID vault provides.  Essentially, Notes ID vault is implemented with your certification hierarchy and policies.  When you register a new user ID (you can even get all your existing IDs, so don't worry), you have a new option to place the ID file in the vault.  Then, using the Domino Administrator client, you can configure the vault settings like password recovery, setup vault auditors, configure vault security or extract the ID from the vault when needed.  And, once everything is configured, end-users can now access the recovery configured in the vault and get it back themselves.  Then, through the beauty of policies, those multiple copies of ID files, etc. is synchronized and very nicely managed.  How much cooler can you get??!!

So there you have it, folks!  I think ID vault is going to make life a lot easier for many people!  Watch this space for upcoming posts on more details like security and implementation.  And..I'm hoping to get a nice case study for you from IBM's own implementation of ID vault!  Stay tuned!
]]> http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dxcomments/a-new-way-to-manage-notes-user-ids-and-passwords http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/a-new-way-to-manage-notes-user-ids-and-passwords?opendocument&comments Conduct Your Own Health Check Fri, 12 Sep 2008 15:33:44 -0400 http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/conduct-your-own-health-check Domino Andrea Waugh-Metzger http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/conduct-your-own-health-check?opendocument&comments http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/conduct-your-own-health-check
Often, questions like these result in discussions with consulting groups like IBM's Software Services for Lotus (ISSL) or the Lotus Field Support organization (FSS).  These organizations focus on best practices and do a great job of coming on-site and giving you a detailed, thorough review of your environment and a nice report on what you could do better.

While these detailed reports are great, and should be performed on a regular basis, what about those in-between times when you just want to get an idea of where you are?  What if you are a self-service kind of organization who wants to make sure you have done everything you possibly could before bringing in the experts??

Well, Domino Configuration Tuner is for you!!

In a nutshell, Domino Configuration Tuner (DCT) looks at your server settings and compares them to a pre-defined catalog of "best practices".  It then generates reports that explain any differences between your settings and "best practices" and suggests changes you can make, as well as providing you with references to supporting publications that give more details about those settings.

DCT is currently available as part of the Notes/Domino 8.5 Public Beta program and is implemented as a template that is included with the Domino Administrator client install.  The first "official" release of DCT will ship with Notes/Domino 8.5 and is designed to evaluate Domino 7.0 and later.  

How Does it Work?
First off, DCT is a template.  It's implemented as part of the Domino Administration client and does not run on the Domino server itself.  On the "Server/Analysis" tab of the client, you will see the option for "Domino Configuration Tuner" in the left-hand selection outline.  When you choose that, a local copy of dct.nsf will be created.  Then, simply click "Run New Scan" and you are off!  DCT will look at settings in server documents, the notes.ini and database advanced properties.  Individual configuration settings are flagged when their values are known to cause problems.  Out-of-range and unexpected values are also reported so that undefined behavior can be prevented.

What Does it Look For?
During the scan, DCT leverages a set of Rules that are based on accumulated knowledge about Domino Configuration collected from Lotus Support documents and known customer issues.  In the current beta release of DCT, there are 90+ rules that are evaluated.   Also, you can disable individual rules if they don't apply to you or your environment.  In addition, all details about Domino, the O/S and hardware variations that apply to a configuration option are posted and the DCT rule will honor those variations.  For example, the absence of an ini parameter that does not apply to Windows will not be reported when DCT is run on a Windows server.  And...the great part about these rules is that they will be updated by Development and Support on a regular basis and can be "downloaded" into your client.

What Do You Do With the Report?
After DCT runs, you will receive a report that outlines any discrepancies between the rules and your configured settings.  The report will outline the current setting, what server(s) it is on, and an explanation of the setting and associated "best practice".  Most of the rules that are evaluated have a wiki post in the Notes/Domino wiki and DCT will point to that wiki posting in your report.  In addition, the report will outline any additional references for the setting such as links to relevant documents and on-line reference material.

I think DCT is a great tool for every customer and should help answer those little "nagging" questions about your environment.  There's much more to tell (like some details about some of the rules), but I'll save that for another blog post!  So - what do you think?  Think it could be helpful??? ]]> http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dxcomments/conduct-your-own-health-check http://dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/conduct-your-own-health-check?opendocument&comments