Posts tagged: domino

As it is now the 4th in New Zealand, and Ed has started blogging on 8.5.3, I think we’re ok to repost this…

This is SUCH big news!

As of the release of IBM Lotus Notes & Notes 8.5.3, scheduled for tomorrow (October 4th 2011), customers that hold entitlements for IBM Lotus Domino (see list below) will automatically get the right to use IBM Connections Profiles and Files.

Entitlement to IBM Connections Files and Profiles, for no additional charge, allows you to tap into the knowledge of networks of professionals with a single click. This helps users to quickly find skills within their organization and to easily share content with other people and remove the need to send large files through email.

Whilst Notes has had the ability to integrate with Activities since 8.0 shipped, and Profiles since 8.5 became available, this is the first time that existing Notes/Domino customers have had the ability to add the features to their infrastructure at no extra cost.

Tap into the knowledge of networks of professionals with a single click through integration with IBM Connections

Lotus Notes 8.5.3 helps you quickly locate the people and content you need through integrated access to social tools from IBM Connections. This release provides an entitlement to the Files and Profiles features of IBM Connections 3.0.1 to customers with these licenses :

• IBM Lotus Domino Enterprise Client Access License
• IBM Lotus Domino Messaging Client Access License
• IBM Lotus Domino Collaboration Express License
• IBM Lotus Domino Messaging Express License

As a Lotus Notes customer, you can now deploy and access the Files and Profiles features of IBM Connections at no additional charge.

Access to the Files feature allows users to easily share content with other people and remove the need to send large files through email. It also allows you to socialize content you create, allowing people to easily find it, make recommendations, and share with other people.

Profiles helps users find the people they need by searching across the organization’s content using tags to identify expertise, current projects, and responsibilities. It socializes skills, interests, and organizational structure for others to discover and benefit from.

As most of our customers that have have Notes and Connections in place are aware, this integration makes a massive impact on Notes users – the ability to seamlessly look up social profile data about email senders and recipients, to update one’s status from inside the Notes client, to manage shared files through the sidebar plugin with the ability to drag/drop documents and files into a shared repository. Significant improvements, all now free with your entitlement!

IBM’s strength with Notes/Domino has always been integration and collaboration, not just mail & IM.  This makes it much easier to offer seamless collaboration in the Notes mail client.  Let’s go do it!

[Please check out Collaboration Matters’ SocialNotes fast-start offering, helping your organisation get these new entitlements implemented ASAP at an amazing price!]

[Blogged in the spirit of appearing in a Google search next time I hit this problem in 6 months time having forgotten this fix, as I always do]

When one tries to install Domino 8.5.x (specifically 8.5.2) on a clean Linux install (specifically Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick, though I’ve seen in on Centos and Fedora too), the Domino installer script just fails silently:

root@henderson:/install/linux/domino# ./install -console
 
Lotus Domino for Unix Install Program
————————————
InstallShield Wizard

Initializing InstallShield Wizard…

Preparing Java(tm) Virtual Machine…
……………………………..
(snip)
……………………………..
.root@henderson:/install/linux/domino#

No errors get written to the screen or any log files.  To get some troubleshooting data, one needs to force output to a log file:

root@henderson:/install/linux/domino# ./install -is:log /tmp/domino852log.txt
 
Lotus Domino for Unix Install Program
————————————
Your DISPLAY is currently set to  localhost:10.0
Answer Yes to continue in graphic mode
Answer No to continue in console mode
Answer Exit to exit application.
Do you wish to continue in graphic mode?[Yes]
No
Continuing in console mode
InstallShield Wizard

Initializing InstallShield Wizard…

Preparing Java(tm) Virtual Machine…
……………………………..
(snip)
……………………………..
.root@henderson:/install/linux/domino#

Of course, the install still fails, but this time we get an error message in the log file:

ERROR: Invalid bundled JVM. Missing ‘jvm’ file.

It turns out that this is demonstrating that the ‘JVM’ files required are part of a missing prerequisite.  To fix this, run the following (appropriate for Ubuntu):

apt-get install libgnomeprintui2.2-0 ia32-libs ttf-xfree86-nonfree

This then allows the installer to move on into the menu driven install process.

Make sense?

P.S. IBM, can we please have the installer logging out to a log file by default?  Even better, the installer on AIX does a number of pre-install compatibility checks – can we not have that on Ubuntu and the other Linux distros too?

Attachments in e-mail messages can be deleted when archived

Problem
When users archive e-mail messages to a 8.5.1 or 8.5.1 FP1 or 8.5.2 FP2 Lotus Domino server (server-based archiving), any archived e-mails that contain multiple attachments are saved in a state in which only the last attachment is readable. Only the last attachment is successfully stored in the archive database. The messages may appear to be intact and show all the attachment icons but attempting to launch or detach the attachments displays the following error message:
“Invalid or non-existent document: could not save file to c:temp…”

This situation only occurs on a server-based archive, not if you use a local archive. There is no indication of any problem in the server-based archive log.

A hotfix is available for Domino 8.5.1 that resolves this problem and once applied, any subsequent e-mails that you archive will be saved correctly. However, the hotfix does not restore any lost content.

Running a consistency check or “fixup” against the archive detects the corrupt e-mail messages. Fixup marks the archive as corrupt and subsequently removes the complete e-mail messages from the archive. There is no way to recover the lost attachments or the e-mails from the archive other than to restore the mail file and archive it again.
 
Symptom
Data loss of archived e-mail messages that contain multiple attachments.
 
Resolving the problem
This issue was reported to Quality Engineering as SPR# ADEE84REF5.
If you experience this problem and already have applied the hotfix, use a mail file backup to restore the e-mails and then re-archive the e-mails.

Product Development will release a permanent fix in future Domino versions. Additionally, customers impacted by the problem may request a hotfix by contacting IBM Product Support and opening a Service Request (PMR).

So, if you are running Domino 8.5.1, and use Archiving, get hold of this hotfix ASAP.  In the meantime, schedule a Fixup task and find out whether any of your databases are showing the issue. If so, you may want to restore from backup once the hotfix is installed and recover the lost attachments.

One of our customers has already been bitten by this – I hope you will not be affected.

More >

Hopefully you’re all planning your upgrades to Domino 8.5 right now, or even better, are in the midst of the upgrade process.  If not, why not?  Simply enabling DAOS may well cover the costs of the upgrade work.

Either way, this promises to be an excellent OpenMic call:

IBM is hosting an Open Mic conference call with Lotus Development and Support Engineering to discuss Upgrading to Lotus Domino 8.5 on Thursday, August 27, 2009 at 10:00 AM EDT (2:00 PM GMT). The call will last 60 minutes. Please dial into the call 5 minutes before the scheduled start. This conference call is designed to be an open question & answer format, so bring your questions. There will be no formal presentation.

Link: Open Mic conference call: Upgrading to Lotus Domino 8.5

So long, farewell…  

IBM has announced the dates that Lotus Notes/Domino 7.0.x and Lotus Enterprise Integrator 7.0.x will be withdrawn from marketing and from support.

Effective on the dates listed below, IBM will withdraw from marketing, part numbers from the following product release(s) licensed under the IBM International Program License Agreement:

Program number	VRM	Program release name	Withdrawal from marketing date	Withdrawal from support date
5724-E62	7.0.0	IBM Lotus Notes/Domino V7.0.0	October 15, 2009	April 30, 2011
5724-E62	7.0.1	IBM Lotus Notes/Domino V7.0.1	October 15, 2009	April 30, 2011
5724-E62	7.0.2	IBM Lotus Notes/Domino V7.0.2	October 15, 2009	April 30, 2011
5724-E62	7.0.3	IBM Lotus Notes/Domino V7.0.3	April 14, 2011	April 30, 2011
5724-E62	7.0.4	IBM Lotus Notes/Domino V7.0.4	April 14, 2011	April 30, 2011
5724-L76	7.0.0	IBM Lotus Enterprise Integrator V7.0.0	October 15, 2009	April 30, 2011
5724-L76	7.0.1	IBM Lotus Enterprise Integrator V7.0.1	October 15, 2009	April 30, 2011
5724-L76	7.0.2	IBM Lotus Enterprise Integrator V7.0.2	October 15, 2009	April 30, 2011
5724-L76	7.0.3	IBM Lotus Enterprise Integrator V7.0.3	April 14, 2011	April 30, 2011
5724-L76	7.0.4	IBM Lotus Enterprise Integrator V7.0.4	April 14, 2011	April 30, 2011

(my table based on information from the announcement letter)

Given that Notes/Domino was announced (and made available) on August 30 2005, and will drop off general support on April 30 2011, that adds up to a 6-year lifespan for this release of the product – impressive commitment to customer investment protection I would say…

However, if you are still on 7.0.x now, I would have to ask why?  There are such massive enhancements in Notes/Domino 8.0.x and 8.5 that you really must be looking to get up to date ASAP…

A useful and much-needed clarification of the different fix types available for the Lotus Notes & Domino 8.0.x and 8.5.x codestreams:

This document provides an explanation of the differences between Lotus Notes and Domino Maintenance Releases, Fix Packs, and Cumulative Client Hotfixes. It is important to note that client Fix Packs are NEW in 8.0.2 and will help address the most pressing customer issues in a well tested public deliverable.

What is a Maintenance Release?

Maintenance Releases (MR) are scheduled updates containing a large number of Server and Client fixes. They contain 500 to as many as 2,000 fixes. Maintenance Releases are shipped more frequently (1-2 times a year) shortly after a feature release ships, and less frequently as a release matures. Maintenance Releases undergo extensive testing which includes: bug fix verification, regression testing, interoperability testing with products that work with Notes/Domino, and are deployed in a production environment.

What is a Fix Pack?

Fix Packs (FP) are released periodically between Maintenance Releases to provide a greater level of stability for customer environments. They contain a small number of safe fixes that help to address the issues the broader customer base is or is likely to experience. The SPRs selected to be fixed focus on bad regressions, crashes, hangs, security issues, data loss issues, and critical functional bugs. To ensure quality, the triage criteria for inclusion in a fix pack targets safe fixes that have been deployed in a production environment, doesn’t impact translation, and doesn’t contain new features.  By delivering a limited number of fixes in a smaller package, customers can deploy with less testing and less risk then a bigger Maintenance Release.  Customers can also spend the time needed to validate a Maintenance Release before deploying, while utilizing Fix Packs in the interim to address the bulk of the more pervasive issues. Fix Packs undergo testing which includes: bug fix verification, targeted regression testing, interoperability testing with products that work with Notes/Domino, and are deployed in a production environment.

What is a Cumulative Client Hotfix?

A Cumulative Client Hotfix (CCH) is a bundle of Client Hotfixes. The client fixes included in a CCH are hotfixes that multiple customers need urgently for deployment but cannot wait for the next Fix Pack or Maintenance Release. The fixes in a previous/obsolete CCH for a particular Notes Client release are rolled into the current CCH for that same Notes Client release. For example, CCH3 would contain fixes from CCH1 and CCH2. We do more pointed testing on a CCH vs a typical hotfix to ensure it is a higher quality deliverable. Extensive regression testing is not performed on a CCH but the fixes are merged into the next Maintenance Release or Fix Pack where we do perform that level of testing. Starting with 8.0.2 CCH1, CCH releases are now available on Fix Central.

What is a Interim Feature Release?

A Interim Feature Release (IFR) is an optional update for a specific new feature. Notes 8.0.2 Interim Feature Release 1 is the first update delivering additional Sametime Entry features for Lotus Notes 8.0.2 Refer to www.ibm.com/support, Technote No. #1327080, for frequently asked questions and known issues.

As Volker might say “it’s complicated” 😉

One of the most common questions I get from customers is regarding Lotus version support – i.e. ‘what release of Domino does Quickr 8.1 support?‘, or ‘what version of Websphere Application Server is needed for Connections 2.0.1?‘

This is often quickly followed by ‘but that’s not the same release of Domino as I need to run for Sametime 8.0.2!‘ or ‘how can I run Connections 2.0.1 and Quickr 8.1.1 on the same Websphere server if they need different releases?‘

IBM clearly has a tough job to keep up testing and support across all its products, as well as maintaining the dozens of languages it translates them into, multiple client and server platforms and also keeping up the quality and timeliness of the new releases – I don’t envy them this task at all.  I applaud IBM/Lotus for the wide level of support they do offer…

However, I think there are ways and means to ensure that:

• There is one standard set of releases/fixpacks supported at any one time, across all the Lotus products (e.g. one version of WAS for Connections/Quickr J2EE/Sametime Advanced/Sametime Gateway/Portal, one version of Domino for Quickr Domino/Sametime Standard etc).
• Whenever a major new release of the ‘framework’ products (i.e. WAS, Portal or Domino) is released the ‘extension’ products (Quickr, Sametime, Connections etc) are updated to support it ASAP.
• That customers can (if the hardware/VM has enough capacity) run all the ‘extension’ products on one ‘framework’ server/image concurrently.

Now this post promised some ‘constructive feedback’ right?

Well how about this?

Twice a year, say 1st April and 1st October (in order to align with quarters but not conflict with end of IBM FY and holidays), IBM could:

• (In the lead-up to that date) Decide internally what the recommended development/deployment levels for each of the major ‘framework’ products will be for the next 6 months.
• Test all its major ‘extension’ products against that set of releases, and develop any fixes/workarounds/documentation updates required to ensure support.
• On that date, publish a statement of its recommended development/deployment levels for each of the major ‘framework’ products, along with any updates to ensure that ALL current releases of Lotus products will work on these levels.
• Maintain support for this set of ‘framework’ products throughout that 6 month period for all current products.
• Any newly released releases that require newer versions of the ‘framework’ or ‘extension’ products would feed into the following set of standardised levels.

 
This would allow all customers (and ISVs) to develop their own standard builds/images that they can run all the current lotus products on, sharing the same infrastructure if required. It would make IBM’s and customers’ internal support much easier as more environments would be running the same recommended releases, and I believe it would significantly increase the rate of upgrades to new releases of both ‘framework’ and ‘extension’ products as they could be approached in a manageable and consistent way.

Now obviously, I don’t have access to IBM’s internal development processes or resources, so I don’t know if this is achievable or even feasible.  I also don’t know if 6 months is the right period, perhaps an annual review might work better?

However, I honestly believe that such an approach would have huge benefits for Lotus customers worldwide, and in the long-run, for IBM itself.

What do you think?  I’d love to hear your feedback, even if you shoot the idea down in flames!!

Hopefully everyone that is responsible for Lotus Domino, Quickr or Sametime servers is now aware of the imminent SSL certificate expiration issue.  If not, you need to get up to speed ASAP – the certificates expire on May 18th, that’s next Monday folks.

There are a series of IBM ‘open mic’ Q&A calls taking place this week to answer any queries surrounding the issue.  The first two took place yesterday, the last one is at 12:00EDT today, that’s 5pm UK time.  So if you have any questions outstanding, you need to get on that call.

Chris Miller did a great job of providing a transcript from the first of these calls, and IBM has now published an MP3 recording of the same call.  If you weren’t on the calls yesterday, I recommend reviewing this recording – a lot of very useful information was shared.

If you are using, or are planning to use, Transactional Logging on your Domino servers, then this technote should be your Bible:

Notes/Domino Best Practices: Transaction Logging
 
Abstract
The following document is a draft checklist for Domino Best Practices – Transaction Logging. The document includes references, links and Best Practice guidelines.

The Transaction Logging process captures database changes and writes them sequentially to the transaction log. This improves performance and ensures data integrity of databases by committing to the transaction log first before writing to the Notes database. If a critical failure occurs and the server is restarted the databases will be automatically recovered without the need for a consistency check or you can use the transaction log and a third-party backup utility to recover your databases when archival logging is used. Its main purpose is three-fold: to improve performance on the Domino server through sequential writes to the transactional logs, better data integrity by avoiding inconsistencies and data corruption, and faster server restart and crash recovery.

In planning for a new Domino 8.5 deployment utilising DAOS and ID Vault, I came across the following technote:

Problem

An issue has been found with the Lotus Domino 8.5 ID Vault feature which requires customers to apply a patch to the Lotus Domino server.  See below for additional details.

Content

Customers that are piloting or deploying the ID Vault feature on Lotus Domino 8.5 using production ID files are required to apply this fix.  This issue was found internally at IBM and impacts the Domino 8.5 server on all operating systems.  

A fix is currently available for most operating systems and can be downloaded from the IBM Fix Centralweb site.  Refer to the following technote for details on obtaining the fix.

Technote #1381562 — Readme for IBM Lotus Domino server release 8.5 Interim Fix 3 (85IF3)

At this time, customers running Domino on Solaris, iSeries and zLinux must contact IBM Support to obtain the fix.  This issue has a Software Problem Report (SPR) tracking number of NEKO7NSNFR.

So if you’re using (or planning to use) the ID Vault feature, make sure you acquire and apply Domino 8.5 Interim Fix 3…