LS09 SpeedGeeking Presentation

Sorry this took all week, it was on my Ideapad which has been sitting quietly waiting for me to play with it again. Next week when I go towards Tampa to see clients it will get used again.

So what is/was Speedgeeking you ask?

SpeedGeeking!
Tuesday, 6:00pm - 7:00pm
WALT DISNEY WORLD DOLPHIN Pacific Hall B

Expanded for 2009 with two tracks! One track for app dev and one for admin! It all started here at Lotusphere, and it's a condensed, immersion-style and rowdy approach to hearing from some of the best and brightest and a wildly popular approach to learning about the tips, techniques (and sometimes crazy) ideas that they have been working on. Participants will migrate as a group around the room from one 5-minute demo station to the next, while stop watches, buzzers and a loud-mouthed emcee keeps things fast-paced and on track!

My session, repeated about 15 times in an hour and a half was about errors and troubleshooting strange jvm and domino or customer problems. Regular readers knwo I get all the fun ones and although I did not elaborate on the slides, if you were there you know what I mean.

Remember, NEVER use nlnotes.exe on your server unless you absolutely, positively MUST because whatever you do with it overwrites anything else you do in your NAB.

Sametime does not have a DNS but it DOES check every server reference in ANY directory it is supposed to see to validate the server and a IP address/DNS lookup match.

The slide with the FUC IT has links to where to find ALL of the switches for those tools, make sure to grab it.

There is no substitute for customers to keep one amused, really.

Enjoy! Any questions post them or email me and I will elaborate further.

If you want my speedgeeking presentation, you can get it here for .odp (Use Symphony like I did!) or here for .pdf.

Also remember the places to look for other help and information are here

Lotusphere Thoughts and PostSphere Ideas

"Beyond your wildest dreams" that's a line I heard from so many people, BPs, custmers, even IBMers.
"Best Lotusphere ever!!!!"
And that came from almost all the bloggers and even the Turtle, whom I finally met in person and thanks for his Gonzo Lotusphere page from oh, 99 or so. And his lovely wife, Nora.

I must say, although I was occupied with my server and other plans which I can not blog about here, yet, it really was a great week.

And it is a week for some who come in on Friday or Saturday. From the Friday dinner to BALD, Penumbra, Special Bloggers, Press passes, Exhibitors sharing ideas it was just a great show.

And while I know many thought the economy would hurt the show, and I am sure some exhibitors may think it, the truth is there was a 2% increase in registrations and lunch was always overflowing, as were many sessions.

Nice to have BDDay in the Swan and the logistics of getting everyone to/from lunch was great too.

I received 3 passes for exams(I think we were supposed to get 2) this year and I actually made it to the lab to take one.
The new Quickr for Domino cert exam. As usual, I failed, once again proving that theory rarely equals the reality of knowledge or how to accomplish the task in front of you.
My 12 years or so on Lotus Quickplace and Lotus Quickr obviously does not equate to exam questions. Such is life. I knew there was a reason i don't have any certs even after 15+ years on Lotus Notes and Domino.
For those that pass these exams, I hold nothing but respect for you all, especially some of my fellow bloggers who have all of these.
For customers who ONLY ask for them, well, call us after so we can help you.

Speaking of customers I saw many, spoke to some new ones, finished discussions with potential clients and even got to take some pictures of my server cube around Lotusphere. Pictures will get posted some day.

It looks to be a great year, economy be damned, and I look forward to perhaps having a pedestal next year to sell my servers from given how many people wished I had brought more to the show.

I can't do it all justice and will stop here. Next year I promise to not keep Bill up all night and to show up to Gurupalooza and the bloggers photo shoot.

Lotusphere...Sleep is for ....

Can't really say but suffice it to say in the 3 days I have been here the world has indeed shaken, changed and gone freezing.
This morning was 32, 24 with the wind chill, Universal will be VERY cold tonight.

Yesterday 2 highlights for me. One the session of the women of Lotus, more on that later. Second the Speedgeeking. My first time doing it and if you listened to me, thank you and if you didn't, well the slides will be posted next week.
Did the same presentation about 12-15 times and under the 5 minutes so I hit what I set out to accomplish. Topics included LDAP, BES, nlnotes.exe and other tidbits of useful information.

So many meetings though is inhibiting my time on the show floor and in sessions. On the bright side, our portable server is getting great interest in and outside of IBM and if you have any interest in OEM or rebranding it for your needs, please contact me ASAP.

Thanks to Paul Mooney for adding my video to his Adminblast Video, the Admin is your master!

LS09 Come see the DOMCUBUS at...

After some meetings with the Foundations teams, can't say anything about that other than it was an interesting Round Table, and I got to meet Jimmy Bracco, even if briefly, maybe more time tomorrow. he has a BoF which should be interesting.

Yes Lotusphere really is about connecting to everyone. Last night at kimono's I got to meet so many Bloggers/Twitters it was great. And for reference you can get food at kimonos till midnight. Thanks to Uffe for my late snack and drinks.

So everyone that wants to see the DOMCUBUS or buy one or discuss OEM deals, today I had 2 different vendors ask if I can rebrand it for their solution, one hardware, one software, so please do ask me any questions.

Anyway, come visit the machine and it's yellow keyboard and mouse, available separately if you want a set.

Pedestal 324, my friend Michelangelo Gambacorta was kind enough to share some ped space for the day for me. Please be kind enough to look into his RSA and Fax solutions, it should be of interest to some of you. Pick up a brochure or a card or a flyer and then find me, you know you want one. And don't forget about the Lotusphere special!

And on Wednesday you can see it in the Foundations lab, from 9-1, Scott Hooks of Lotus911 is letting me hangout with it there. Perhaps other places too. Inquire within.

Fud Buster Friday #23 - IBM is Dropping Lotusphere

Microsoft spoilers abound, but this one is perpetual.

Every year Lotus reminds us that next year we will be back in Orlando and gives us the dates.
Every year Microsoft touts that IBM is dropping Lotusphere, just like Devcon, Lotusphere Europe and similar events.

IBM renewed it's agreement with the Swan/Dolphin for another few years, I think we are good to 2012, but if anyone knows better let me know.

Should IBM expand Lotusphere is really the question. In looking at my calendar
see it here:


It is obvious that I need more hours in my day and Lotusphere needs more days in it's week. Or Lotusphere maybe needs to get broken down further and bring back Devcon so all the AppDev has a proper place and time. Then the Sphere could be about the infrastructure, products and of course, Admin. But then I am a little biased.

But seriously, the show is so large and so difficult to match your time, coupled with client meetings, IBM partner meetings, special on site meetings, company business and of course support still of our clients, it does take it's toll.

So as we all hunker down and fly(no more water landings please, kudos to Capt. Sullenberg!), drive (congratulations to Goodyear you just sold me 2 new tires this morning for my bald and flat rear ones) or Bus(Lotus911 doing it again?) remind everyone you meet, see or bump into anywhere in the world Lotus is alive, well and kicking and this year will see some heavy hitting from IBM.

So for the Microsoft lover in your organization, and all Star Trek fans, remind them

Do you know the Klingon proverb that tells us revenge is a dish that is best served cold?

RIP Ricardo Montalban.
It's 32F in Seattle right now.

Speedgeeking am I, Admin Side of Course

Rocky was kind enough to let me take part in this boondoggle of an event as a presenter.
Since I have not made it to previous years, my bad/meeting conflicts, I am looking forward to it even more than you.
Want to know what I am discussing?
Errors. yes, those excellent wordings from developers that help you as an Admin resolve the situation.
Officially the title is something like Strange,But True, fixes for errors and jvm problems.
JVM, routing, SMTP, Replication, ID login, passwords, recertification, Traveler, Quickr, BES, well almost anything really.
How do you understand these esotericisms? Do they have guiding forces to help you in their secret codes? Tune in to find out more.

So if you are an Admin and you have errors you'd like resolved, post them my way, yours might get picked for usage. I will also post/reply any answers....after Lotusphere, so I know you will visit us at Speedgeeking :-)

And I hear they serve beer at it too! So come have some fun and learn a thing or 2 maybe.

S10e Update, Ideapad to the Rescue

I started my review of the Ideapad from Lenovo and while Lotusphere will be the true test, I have some feedback to everyone.
Especially @olufsphere who really wants one.

1st I have a 3cell battery. Do I care? No, because on full power it lasts for over 2 hours .....easily.
On extreme power saver(or whatever you want to call it) it seems to last forever. Again, Lotusphere 2009 will be the test, live blogging indeed!

So for those that ask, it runs an Atom processor, you know I bumped the RAM up to 1.5GB total and comes with a paltry 80GB drive. Note to Lenovo, small doesn't mean limited disk space! There are larger drives, ahem, available, but my guess is they are more than this cost($50 more upfront if I could get that model, not likely to be $50 to upgrade the drive). Still if any Lenovo people will be at Lotusphere I would be happy to test drive your larger drives on a long term basis.

So how did I test it? Well I loaded Lotus Domino 8.5, Lotus Notes 8.5 and Admin client, throw in twirhl(my Twitter program), Skype, Norton whatever came with it(being removed as I write), plus the usual pieces and parts and was running it along with Firefox on a site with a video on how to remove your door panels for a 2002 Camaro, hint, don't do this while your baby daughter(1.5 yrs) is sitting in the from driver's seat. Although she learned a lot about wiring and taking the door apart :-)

I had to replace my front passenger side speaker, um, blew it playing something too loudly, toss up between Hendrix, Guns n Roses, Aerosmith and Billy Squier. But the new speaker sounds beautiful, maybe I will review that one day, in any event I couldn't drive to Lotusphere with a bad speaker for 2.5 hours could I?! Taking Notes Podcasts would sound horrible.

So all this was running in the background, occasionally closed the lid for sleep mode when busy, but worked on battery power alone at the lowest energy configuration and after about 2 hours only used 25% of the battery life. And Domino was still running processes for me in the background.

So the answer from me is go get it and have fun!
Or if you are in the US, or don't mind a US keyboard I should say, I have a deal for you coming out in a day or 2 which you might appreciate.

A Lotusphere Must Have

I rarely write reviews of products, in fact this might be the only one.
But as some know I received my Lenovo Ideapad (netbook)S10e on Friday. E stands for education.

Unfortunately for me some server issues cropped up and I was not able to really enjoy the unit until late in the day and the weekend.

It's small, light, moderately fast at processing, good battery life, webcam, built in mic and speakers(loud), wi-fi works well too, has an option to open up a browser or some apps without starting the full machine. Haven't got that to work yet, wireless issues it seems.

Stuck an extra 1GB ram in it, max is 1.5 anyway on this XP home version.
80GB drive, which is only 72gb accessible and about 50Gb free before i do too much to it.

I don't like the mouse pad buttons. They make a loud annoying click, prefer the thinkpad soft touch. Screen is a tad small, but then what did I really want to do with this device anyway, its about convenience and weight for me.

This will make my life so much easier in Orlando. Live blogging or just taking notes it will be much smoother and also on my back. Leaving the 17" monster at home.

Pricing for it is about $375(you can find it on lenovo site for $349 at times or via discounters. Mine is black, not pink or the other colors but for the price(dealer rate plus an end of 2008 $100 off and some other discounts put it in a range that we could not turn down. Plus clients will want this once they see it.

So if you haven't seen it or used it, catch me in Orlando.

Fud Buster Firday #19 - 3 strikes you're out

Maybe in Baseball, but what about blogging?

DOH! This is my 3rd attempt to write something. The previous 2 may appear down the road, but they weren't what I wanted to say right now.

In bowling getting 3 strikes is a Turkey, go figure!
In tic tac toe, 3 in a row wins.
If at 1st you don't succeed try, try again.
Evidently 3 is the key.

IBM recently posted some updates to how they work with their Business Partner(BP) community. Most of the document is about IBM Global Services (IGS), something I am a veteran of in a previous capacity.

IBM needs it's BP and IGS to work together and provide customers with services and support. But IBM itself must also be there to play ball with everyone.

Consider this verse in the Ecclesiastes 4:12 of the Bible: "A three-ply cord is not easily broken." The problems happen when only 2 strands are working.

Sometimes we feel like IBM has let us down as BPs or as customers.
Maybe we as BPs let IBM or our customers down.
Other times IGS is at fault.

We need to work together especially in times like these to the best of our abilities. Do your share to become part of "The Power of The Community". Reach further, do something you never did before, IBM, IGS and your BPs are listening if you ask them for help.

If you don't need anyone's help, right now, then help us by blogging, commenting, evangelizing, promoting, attending, speaking or doing anything that will let others know you aren't out of it, but inside it all.

Your life is long and the road to the finish is full of opportunities so stick with it, try again, don't give in to the 3 strikes theory, you are worth much more than
that. A little imagination can go a long way. Homer never gives up and if he can make it happen, you sure can.

So no matter if your family, friends and colleagues tell you otherwise(3 again), do what you want to do and make it happen in 2009. You have a little time now to plan, think and get setup make use of it before it's too late.