SnTT - Which Database has an FTI?

Earlier this year, Martin Vogel and I gave a session at Engage titled "Teaching Young and Old Dogs New  Tricks: Notes & Domino Shortcuts You Wish You Knew," It was a great session with a filled capacity of the room.

But I was neglectful; I had planned to post some essential tips in my blog at the time but did not get to it. I will try to make up for it over the next few weeks.

The first one that not everyone may know about is how to find out which databases have a FTI, Full Text Index.

Here is the scenario:

You are asked to build new servers for your customer or organization and while looking at the old server, notice some indexing on some databases. This causes you to think, how do I find out which databases have an FTI so they can be rebuilt on the new server?

Good question, right?

I will first provide an answer for anyone not on R12 and then post the R12 way.

Pre R12 FTI Details for any given Database

1. Open the catalog.ntf in the designer client
2. Open the Views List
3. Edit the Applications\by Server view
4. Insert a column where you want it, and name it FT Index
5. Change the field for this new column to DbFullTextIndexed
6. Set the column to sort both ways
7. Save your changes
8. Replace the design of your catalog.nsf

NOTE: This presumes all your databases are set to show in the catalog.nsf, so not 100% foolproof

The R12 way to see FTI Details for all Databases on Your Server

Open the Administrator client

Go to the Files tab

Click on File-Preferences-Administration Preferences

Select the Files Tab

Add the FT Index (see screenshot below, FT Index is the last one in the list)

Reorder the column location, or it may end up in the 27th column

Restart the Administrator client to see the change

If you need it, you can copy and paste the full view into Excel if that helps you track what you are doing.

Pretty cool if you ask me that this got added in R12. I had asked for it in an Aha request, and it got done, so Aha is listened to by HCL, here is the link to that request:

https://domino-ideas.hcltechsw.com/ideas/DOMINO-I-264

It was the first item added to the column list since before R9 at least.

SnTT - When you need OS Acces, but DON'T Have it, OPENNTF to the Rescue

 

I should tag this as #HCLAmbassadorTips, but that is so #2020.

Picked up a new client from my home state with a small but necessary business, which they run on their HCL Domino application.

The problem started when I realized I needed to scrape their old website from a hosting provider and then put it under HCL Domino.

Simple enough to get the site files and fodlers, but when I went to add the site to Domino realized I did not have RDP/VPN/FTP access to their server at the OS level.

What do I do?

As it turns out, there have been a few tools that existed that do this, but being an Admin and not a Developer, I never needed them and never looked into it.

I ended up finding a solution at Openntf.org with a project called Remote File Browser.

It was posted in 2010, still works, and I am using an R12 beta client to work with it on my end and the R11 server on the customer side.

It does just what I needed:

• Create a folder
• Delete files
• Move Files
• Upload file
• Download files

Did you note an extra letter between the last 2 items? It seems you can download multiple files, but you can only upload 1 file at a time.

Okay, a bit tedious. I had about 40 files, but if I needed to edit the notes.ini or to change the SSL keys(if you are not using LE4D) and did not have access at the time, this does the trick.

Follow the instructions for it, copy it to the server, sign it, assign an ACL and then start browsing the server files.

Created a folder under domino\data\domino\html and then moved all the files.

Edit the Internet Site Document, so it knows which directory to read from and which HTML file to use as the primary page and restart HTTP, and it works.

If you know of anything similar and is available, free or for a fee, include it in the comments or message me to include the other options for everyone.

The best part is I get to cancel a meeting for later today that was about access.

SnTT - How to Stop a Domino Task/App using a Program Document

Here is something that I had no idea about.

In fact, I even opened an aha request to solve this.

Luckily someone else looked deeper into it than I did and found the answer.

I asked around but no one had an answer so here we go.

We all know we can create Program Documents to run tasks, but do you know how to stop the tasks?

A client had a 3rd party application that we had some issues with recently.

While waiting to get a fix or better understanding of the problem, we wanted to only run the tool during certain business hours to prevent the server from crashing as it had been doing every night around midnight.

But I could not figure out how to create a Program Document to stop the process.

Turns out Mike, one of their developers, had the same thoughts but being a developer had some ideas I did not think about. He gets all the credit, but we all get the benefit.

Turns out you want to enter the details as shown::

Maybe if the app/task has switches built-in, you can use them, like q, -q but in this case, we didn't have these options. 

Not everything in life has to be so difficult, nor requires a large blog post.

SnTT - Rooms and Resources Accidentally Delete a Resource and the Reservations

Last week I gave a session where I outlined a bunch of things I would like to see in the new Rooms and Resources database template should it get updated.

Yes some things were just more defined views, but other things that would make it more useful to admins, and users, were also included.

Well yesterday I learned the hard way about some things I knew, but I guess had not quite gotten to fix yet. Let me explain.

One of my clients has some very full RnR databases, 1 per region. Sometimes, against my preference, names or very similar names, are used in different places.

Tasked with clearing some old rooms, I set out to do just that and get on with my day.

And, of course, as you may have guessed, I deleted an active room.

Very active room.

400 reservations active.

As I saw when the pop up asked me if I wanted to notify people. I said no to that, knowing I can fix this. Well a few hours later, here is what really happened.

Oh.Yes.I.Did.

Domino problems are caused by admins, truth (except for developer agents that run amok).

I say, no problem, go to trash and undelete it. No Trash View in this R9 template. Note to HCL, please add one. Go into developer mode figuring it would be in the hidden view.

No

Call client developer and ask what they think, SOL. Soft deletion was not turned on.

Damn. Thought we had enabled it after last issue, but maybe the template got written over in an update or a restore and maybe we had only set soft deletions in the database itself and not the template.

In any event, I was blocked this route.

Call restore team, can you provide me with a backup from the prior 24-48 hours ASAP?
Yes, no problem they said.

Great, restore completes and I go to try to get back the data and...it shows me what I see now, not what I should have seen for a day ago.

AGH!

Call restore team, ask how it is possible. Well replication was on, ok, try again, turn it off this time.

And get notification, go open it up, same problem!

Well now I am confused. Got the team together to figure it out, and it seems they do incremental backup sand logs.

I said I don't want logs just data.

And 3rd time lucky, I open it up and it is the old data. Perfect, I start to copy a doc to test that pasting it back in will work.

BAH! No dice, this database doe snot allow pasting of documents.

WHAT!?!?!?!?!?!

Call back the developer, ask how I, as the admin, can not do this. Well, she knew why and where to look to fix it. And now I will let you know because someone out there will read this after pulling their hair out.

Open the database in the Designer client and go to the views section.

Find the view you need to paste into, you will need 2 of them.
The first is the resources view itself because you need to copy back the deleted resource.
The second is the view of Reservations, by Resource so you can paste back all of the reservations you killed accidentally.

Once you have the view open, locate the Querypaste section as shown in the graphic below and REM out all of the code there and save it.

Once you do this and reopen the database you should be able to paste everything back in.

Then run a Fixup and Updall to get everything cleaned up and reindexed and then test making a reservation that honors used and open times.

You learn something new every day, even after all these years.

EDIT: Adrian asked me on twitter about Adminp and Busytime. I forgot to discuss it, so here is what we did and what you should check.

Adminp at the customer is set to run on a set schedule, so it did not worry me, but you should go into the database and clear the delete request otherwise you will lose the setting in the names.nsf for the resource.

Busytime, I did not rebuild it because my tests showed it was working. Presumably because the dates/times had been in the database already and did not update but if you run into problems, you should follow the technote and clear the old busytime and let a new one start.

SnTT - In Which Port Settings Don't Quite Work

Been a long time since I wrote a Show n Tell Thursday so let's get on with it.

Building an IBM Domino cluster is not as difficult as it was years ago and I was done with the basic parts and wanted to test the fail over.

I figured easiest way to do this was to enter at a server console "stop port tcpip" while connected via rdp to the server.

I tested mail clients could fall over to the 2nd server and mail routed. Great.

Back to the server and server console and tell it to "start port tcpip".

I didn't think much about it and since there were some server updates to add to the box, I decided to shut it down after the updates were done.

It came back up and was running and I was working on another server in the domain when the client let me know no one could connect to the server. Odd, I was there and it "looked" ok. On closer inspection, it was not ok.

Errors that said databases could not be found, no route found, no network could be found, trace connections and some other fine error messages that mean nothing to the average person.

After poking around a bit, I figured the notes.ini needs to be edited. I checked with Rob Kirkland, of this book fame on Domino System Administration, and followed it to solve the problem.

I found the TCPIP port listed under disabled ports. Deleted it form there.
Found TCPIP=TCP,0,15,0,,45088 was missing which is for compression and encryption (see below).
Also missing was Ports=TCPIP

After putting it all back together, rebooted and all is good again. Still not sure why the commands failed and did not help this 8.5.3FixPack6 server but at least someone else out there will not have to waste an hour or 2 tying to figure it out.

Selection NOTES.INI parameter

          Nothing TCPIP=TCP,0,15,0,,12288,

Compression only TCPIP=TCP,0,15,0,,12320,

Encryption only TCPIP=TCP,0,15,0,,45056,

Both TCPIP=TCP,0,15,0,,45088,

EDITED: October 20, 2020 The below is pulled from the most awesome list of ini settings ever.

https://entwicklercamp.de/customer/notesini.nsf/85255a87005060c585255a850068ca6f/8d0f57b937909eefc1256e9e0045eddb?OpenDocument

Configuration for a TCPIP port.

Examples: TCPIP1=TCP,0,15,0,,12288

TCPIP=TCP, 0, 15, 0 [,,x] <----------- This is the setup for your TCP Port
.......|...|..|... Application Data buffer size (0 is default which = 8000)
.......|...|..Placeholder not used by TCP
.......|...Placeholder not used by TCP
.......This is the port driver name

The last parameter x ([,,x] above) can be decoded as follows:
0 X 8000 Encryption is enabled
0 X 0020 Compression is requested
0 X 4000 driver is internal
0 X 2000 no-op
0 X 1000 always for V2 and V3
0 X 0002 set to log modem I/O
0 X 0004 set to enable RTS/CTS

8020 which would be Encryption plus Compression is in hexadecimal code 45088

Selection NOTES.INI parameter
Nothing TCPIP=TCP,0,15,0,,12288,
Compression only TCPIP=TCP,0,15,0,,12320,
Encryption only TCPIP=TCP,0,15,0,,45056,
Both TCPIP=TCP,0,15,0,,45088,

SnTT - Traveler 9.0 IF1 In Case you get This Error

Sorry old picture, no new one for Tuesday.

While updating my IBM Domino server from 9.0 to 9.0HF328, I also saw an update for IBM Notes and Lotus Notes Traveler.

Just been busy and did not get to these yet and Domino and Notes went fine.

Traveler update however it seems was a corrupted download. Given it has been posted for 2 months I presume it is not IBM, but my download.

In any event, for those who like me end up seeing these messages after they ran the installer, which said it was done properly :

07/22/2013 08:28:52 PM  Notes Traveler: SEVERE *system Unable to open database C
 /IBM/Domino/data/traveler\map\CalMap.nsf.
07/22/2013 08:28:52 PM  Notes Traveler: SEVERE *system IBM Notes Traveler server
 could not be started.  The exception was com.lotus.sync.util.ComponentNotStarte
dException: Unable to open database C:/IBM/Domino/data/traveler\map\CalMap.nsf..
 Exception Thrown: com.lotus.sync.util.ComponentNotStartedException: Unable to o
 en database C:/IBM/Domino/data/traveler\map\CalMap.nsf.
07/22/2013 08:28:52 PM  Notes Traveler: SEVERE *system 14 records are pending to
 be logged, so they will be logged now.

You will find, if you try to open the files in the Domino Admin client that they are either corrupted or waiting to be configured or just not available and truncated.

So what to do? I tried fixup and that worked for the .nsf files. Trying to run it against the EsmMapDirTemplate.ntf file failed. I checked the downloaded update and sure enough when I went to look at the .JAR file it was inside, the .jar file threw an error at me and said it was malformed or corrupted.

Back to traveler 9.0, reinstall and all is good again. Now back to download a new 9.0IF1 and see if we can get this upgraded again

And for the record updating my Android client from the Appstore, which is now not in synch with the server client version. Either the way of the future, client side or going to be a problem in locked down companies perhaps?

Info below from http://ibm.com/support/fixcentral

	1.	interim fix: NTS_9000_IF1_WIN Traveler 9.0 IF1 for Windows More Information	May 10, 2013

SnTT- One way to troubleshoot SSO problems in WAS

This was a Mashup Center server and a Connections SSO integration on Websphere.
Prior to upgrading Connections from 2.5 to 3.0 it worked fine. But some place in the upgrade this, and some other internal items, broke. I was asked to lend a hand at troubleshooting it.

I first asked the Wizard of WAS, Dave Hay if there was anything I should know about Mashup Center as I have never used it. His help in discussing ways to troubleshoot this is greatly appreciated.

For the newbie and even someone who scratches their head at the Websphere Admin Console, sorry the Integrated Solutions Console, it is a bit confusing but once you get  the hang of bits of it you will be fine.

I am not going to go over how to set up the SSO but how to enable the trace and logs to help you get tot he bottom of the problem.




This could be used for any one needing SSO troubleshooting for WAS in general.

1. Login to the WebSphere Admin Console
2. Go to Troubleshooting -> Logs and Trace,
3. Select the WebSphere server in question,
4. Then click on Diagnostic Trace,
5. And then choose Change Log Detail Levels,
6. You will see a *[All Components] with a twistie (+ sign)
7. Click on the expanded twistie and scroll down until you find .com.ibm.ws.*
8. Click on this one's twistie and find  .com.ibm.ws.security.*
9. Now click on the whole reference to  .com.ibm.ws.security.*
10. And you can select the level of traces, in this case I selected the All messages and traces since we did not know what area exactly was failing.
11. This will change the text in the box above the list to: *=all for the selected item.
12. Click Apply, Save, OK
13. Restart WAS

To revert it back, change the *=all to *=info and then
Click Apply, Save, OK
Restart WAS

So what will you get and where is it found?

1. Login to the WebSphere Admin Console
2. Go to Troubleshooting -> Logs and Trace,
3. Runtime Messages and expand it
4. Open Runtime Error
5. You should now see towards the bottom a list, if any, of the errors and with code and references to help you troubleshoot your problem.

In our case we had an incorrect ou that appeared twice breaking everything. But we also had some other tinkering.

Good luck

SnTT - Sametime Meetings 8.0.2 Drop after a Minute

While at LoLA this week I got stuck with a Sametime Meeting problem, R8.0.2 server.

The issue was one would login to a Sametime Meeting, but after about a minute, the screen would automatically refresh. And keep doing it every 75 seconds or so.

We had just moved the physical server so my first guess was an incorrect IP address someplace was causing it. Indeed I found one reference which had not been changed to the new IP(Q/A teams at IBM I feel your pain).

Didn't change it.

Looked at the Firewall, added some ports (different firewall was in use at the other location)and got closer but something was still wrong.

Checking the java console showed the connection trying to connect to the correct name, but incorrect IP, used the internal one while an external person would try to connect. DNS is fine, but there it was.

Open the stconfig.nsf database and went through the options and found an IP address instead of the FQHN (Fully Qualified Host Name).
Under Meeting Services, find:
HTTP Tunneling Host Name: server.company.com

Under CommunityConnectivity:
Community Trusted IPS: internal#,external#

Changed those references and restarted the server and now it stays up and connected.

Goes to show that even when you test something works, you need to test it under different circumstances to make sure it works as designed.

Q-SnTT - DA Configuration Reminder

When involved in the Quickr world, at times(ok, almost all the time) you may want to connect external people to your server.
How do you do it?
Create a Directory Assistance database (Ctrl+N, select the server and advanced templates to find it). Name it da.nsf.

In the DA document select LDAP if you need to include an external LDAP server or Notes for internal Directory Catalogs (DirCat) or Extended Directories.
Fill in the blanks. It is fairly obvious what to fill in where....EXCEPT for
the field called Domain, which is NOT asking for your Lotus Domain.
Name it anything else and then save it and you are good to go.

Why is this? I don't know, but it is.

On the tab marked rules(the middle tab usually) select trusted for credentials and say YES.
On the LDAP tab, if you selected it, if you are not using SSL make sure to select the proper options, otherwise you will not find your LDAP server.
Caveat, AD (Active Directory) requires a Base DN to be used, o=companyname most likely)
If you selected Notes instead of LDAP on this tab you would put any of the other Domino directories you will be using, no need to include the names.nsf itself, it searches that by default.
And don't forget to mark it Enabled.

Next save it all.
Then add the da.nsf to your server document on the basics tab.

Now go to a server console and type "Show X R" without the quotes.
You should see names.nsf first then your LDAP server.

Any problems, you know how to find me.