Update to IBM Notes 9.0.1 in 20 minutes

This was for all 3 clients, Notes, Admin and Developer.

Fast or slow? Convenient or difficult?
You make the call, but if you jump at the chance to update your Apple devices the second a release comes out, you should do the same for Notes, Domino and Traveler.

After all, what is more important? Games and apps or your living and breathing inbox/sidebar/portal/streams?

And don't forget there is also a new version of SwiftFile to make life that little bit easier to get to inbox near zero.

Updates Gotchas

Holiday weekends are always great times to do server upgrades and mail migrations.

Funny thing is all types of things can go wrong.  Well here are some pieces for you all, just in case.

If you will be updating your classic community server (Domino Sametime) see this blog post from Marc Champoux where he outlines some steps and also hits on Quickr integration and some other issues.

Most of this was found when doing a Domino upgrade from 8.5.2 to 8.5.3. Also a Sametime upgrade from 8.0.1 to 8.5.2IF1 and Traveler from 8.5.2.X to 8.5.3.1.

Always backup everything first.

First thing to remember is to stop Domino from restarting automatically on reboot. Installing 8.5.3 will force you to reboot before you can restart Domino.

Second thing is you may find on reboot your server never comes back. You will be forced to have someone on site help you or go and do it yourself. The server, in this case a Windows 2003 server showed applying computer updates or something like that but it wasn't, just hung. 2 reasons can be guessed. One is remote desktop or your logoff did not go as planned and it hung with your login. The second is that 8.5.3 may ask if you want to upgrade the databases ODS. If so it stops with a yes/no request and if you did not change the automatic start to manual, you would be stuck too. So how do you resolve this? Easy, boot into safe mode of windows using F8. Then when you get to the desktop, run Domino and select yes or no to the question. But more likely you did not set automatic boot to manual. Do it now if you can and then restart the box. All should be good.

Another gotcha is Single Copy Template, an excellent idea, but if implemented without any thought, you may have errors which sayunable to open file or find single copy template. Also if you see ISpy errors about the single copy template, it is because Ispy uses the mail file template. Aha, you get the picture. So how do you fix it? See this Technote, #7002574 which explains it all. You shut down Domino and run the convert task and you must know the file name AND the Template Name. Example: >nconvert ispy50.nsf STDR85Mail mail85.ntf

Wait there is more. Hate the debug by default look of 8.5.3? Remove it using the console command:

set config debug_threadid=0 or to reinstate it set config debug_threadid=1 

Traveler showing it can't respond in the allotted time frame with a user in 25,000 microseconds. Use Kevin from Groupwave's Post and add the properties.   Thanks Kevin for that one which solved my problem!

Then there is a post I wrote that detailed how to resolve ST meetings, Classic community server version, though it was from 8.0.2 for cases when meetings would refresh every minute or 2 and wipe everything out.

Another Sametime item. If you see this, never mind the technote says its 8.0.2 related, we saw it on an 8.5.2 Sametime server, HTTP JVM: Caught exception from local listener: For input string: ""

Here is the Technote #1313986 about it. Sametime 8.5.2IF1 resolved this by the way in our case. 

Also if you need the File list of ST 8.5.2IF1, you can see this Technote #4031295.

An oldie but a goodie, Sametime BuddyList is broken in iNotes and you see errors in the console, try this fix from this blog post of Gunawan. I got through the language issue, pretty sure you can too.

Edited 11/28/11 In case you lost Sametime client connections, the server edits the sametime.ini file and not with your previous information. Follow these references to ensure all clients can reconnect...or not.

Wiki about VPS allowed when you list the clients you want to use.

ST_MINIMAL_CLIENT_VERSION setting: reference from the 8.5.1 docs. Set this to zero and all clients are allowed

After upgrading Sametime Server to 8.5.1 users using Notes 8.x Basic and older Notes clients cannot log in Technote 1443291

This post may get edited more over the weekend.

 

Reasons to Upgrade/Migrate Domino.Doc to Quickr

I have mentioned it before and for the sake of those still on the fence, let's revisit Domino.Doc for a minute and why it is important you upgrade it.
I know few admins out there even know anything about it or ever maintained it, but having worked with Domino.Doc since it was in beta in 97/98 (Quickplace as well since it's beta) I am happy to see a resolution finally coming from IBM.

From the IBM page of Domino Document Manager:

As of May 12, 2009, the software will not be available for purchase; end of support will take effect on September 30, 2012.

1) IBM is granting you license for license "free" swaps from Doc to Lotus Quickr.
This is important to you because it means there is no upfront cost and in most
cases your support licensing costs will go down next year over this year.
There are also Filenet licenses for some circumstances.
NOTE: This offer only until September 2010

2) The tool is available to move your File cabinets to Lotus Quickr sites.
It works well and takes some time to configure all the tweaking you want for the
new site but once ready to go, can be done at your leisure.

3) You get to upgrade your Lotus infrastructure finally so all servers run 8.5.1.
The tool in #2 requires a Lotus Quickr 8.2 server running Domino 8.5 or newer.
Now you have the perfect reason to get some funding for your upgrades,
Piggy Back the Doc upgrade and start taking advantage of Traveler, DAOS,
ID Vault, DCT and so much more efficient systems compared to the R6 or R7
version you are stuck on currently.

4) Read the Redbook if you need to know more. Link to it is here.

5) Connectors/Enablers/Plugins what ever you want to call them make your life,
the life of your employees, and your extended workers lives so much easier.
Connecting from Windows Explorer, Lotus Sametime, Lotus Notes, Stand alone client,
Lotus Symphony and Microsoft Office makes storing and accessing yoru data
simple, fast and efficient.

Please don't jump in with anyone to do this. Make sure they know and understand about Domino, Quickr and Domino.Doc, not just Quickr. Also keep in mind that your preferred partner may be using us or others to handle the work so always ask who will be handling your data.

As we get closer to Lotusphere some of you may want to discuss this further with us so please get in touch and we will set something up.

Installation and Upgrade for 8.5.1 Who's Ready?

Just got off my twice a month call regarding deployments and we got into discussions which left me scratching my head a little.

I admit to not always being up on the latest policy or piece of code in a version but something on the call I was told has been around since R5 and I was needless to say confused.

So if this great piece of code has been available, where has it been hiding?
Not saying IBM hasn't kept us informed but part of this sub group of design partners is to better understand the issues facing people when they upgrade to the latest clients. Evidently stumbled upon what I think we all meant but use different terminology.

For years we liked to customize client installations per customer sites using the Install Shield Tuner(and it's various versions) and preconfigured items. It made life easy for everyone and only occasionally required tweaking. Usually as more options expanded into the Notes client, but even with these it was a fairly simple enough way, once you built the installer.

Never used it? Read Andy Donaldson's blog post first. He really got it done simple enough to get you started or finished even.

Then see his follow up with slides and an update on Sametime in the R8 client which can be blocked from being installed.

You do need to know a little DOS as it helps for the batch file and commands needed to do some basic save/copy/delete etc.

But how else can you do this? You ask?

Copy the .exe file from IBM and just run it. This is way too manual and time consuming unless you need to do a one off install or for testing.

Upgrade by Email - DO NOT EMAIL THE WHOLE INSTALL PACKAGE. Just in case y ou were wondering. It will kill your bandwidth and server, especially when you send tot he whole company and it's 300+MB! This option can be painful to some on small bandwidth, but this basic process has been around for eternity. If you have created a finely tuned Install Tuner package this can work for you if your people can handle clicking on an icon.(We have worked with customers that claim their staff has no time to do this. We pointed out if we send someone to each desk it's the same time, but costs more, they still want us to do it)

You send the links out via an email and the files sitting on the file server someplace to do the installs. Doing this without a finely tuned package may cause network issues or delays.

SmartUpgrade (and it's relative SU by Wizard)- Works, but requires babysitting as it does not work with FixPack/Hot Fixes only proper releases or so my recent calls have informed me and I them.(If anyone has a more detailed answer let me know and will edit this). Set it up and add the next point release or full update and the server automagically lets everyone know when they can update and gives them options of time or skipping if they are busy.

Some side pieces to think about as well include:
Eclipse, Plugins, Widgets, Feeds, applications or databases and a slew of other pieces that may help your organization.

There are also some tools out there, from Tivoli, Microsoft and other vendors as well as Lotus Business Partners that help push out changes and track them if you are so inclined.

One problem still exists and that is when you find a single user and want to auto update them to multi-user. The below is from the Admin help file:

The Notes installation program does not support automatic Notes upgrade from single user to multi-user within the same release or from one release to another, although it is possible. To upgrade from single user to multi-user, see the Upgrading a Notes single user install to multi-user topic in this guide.

Now it seemed, there are some other built in ways to accomplish these installs and upgrades, but I am thinking it all got lost in the terminology. Transform files, manifests, configuration file, batch files, update sites.

Needless to say it all gets done, but requires one to sit down and WORK a little bit to get it right but you will be so much the happier afterward as will your support staff.

Plus you will never have earned your keep more than when you create this magic.

The Ghost of Sametime

As one should figure by now, today is Sametime day.

When upgrading from Lotus Sametime 2,3,7 to 8.0.2 you may experience the following:

Upgrading Domino to 802 so you can install Sametime 802 takes all the Sametime services out of the Windows services list. BUT, Domino still loads them, but one can not connect to ST of course.

EDIT: Of course Staddin was still loaded in notes.ini, I was just amused that the Windows services disappeared.

Once you have upgraded Domino to FP1, then restart it and shut it down.

Now install Sametime 802.

Bring the server back up and "POOF" Sametime Services are back running.

Strange but true stories out here in the wilds of Domino and Sametime upgrading to R8. All is well.

And don't forget to install all the Java update patches as well as the Sametime fixes.

Windows 2000 evidently still very popular

While cleaning my email inbox from 2 weeks of vacation I found an event local to me which I want to go to, but it's full already.

This section is from the Moving to the Modern OS Roadmap:

In this welcome session, we will review the event agenda and discuss some of the key challenges IT Pros face in today’s economy. We’ll discuss scenarios around Windows 2000, Windows XP, and the importance of moving to a modern OS. In addition, we will cover Windows Vista and improvements that have been made with SP2 as well as review guidance concerning Windows Vista deployments.

What can they tell these people on Windows 2000 that they haven't told them in the previous 9 years or so?