SnTT - Where'd Our Address Book Go?

If you are a Domino Administrator you know the answer to this question:
Can your Domino server start without the names.nsf file being found?

Of course not.

Yet, clients always try to prove you wrong.

A support ticket came in and it said the address book had gone AWOL. When i logged in to the network and check on the server, it was up and running. Scratching my head, I spoke to the customer and they ended up sending me a screenshot showing quite clearly how in the Admin client, the names.nsf was not visible from the left column where it usually would appear.

I pointed out that the view in the admin client is based on the Directory assistance and LDAP databases. If those are not running or configured you will not see them, but they are definitely there. (Yes, I had checked the physical files were there too) oddly enough I could not find much in searching online to explain it, so anyone with more in depth knowledge, feel free to comment and I will update this post accordingly.

It turns out LDAP had been loaded on the server manually, not via the notes.ini so at some restart they "lost" the files.

Edited notes.ini and loaded LDAP to bring everything back to normal.

The customer was adamant the server was down, yet they could tell, just like I could, that the server was up and running fine. An issue of education, or a case of change is not good which throws them off their game?

While it is our job to support and help the customers, we should also be taking the time to explain to them what is going on, how to resolve it, and why it happened. When we know.

I admit when there are just some things we don't know and the time involved to find out may not be equitable to clients. This was not one of those times, but we all run into the crazy exceptions that happen.

One can never be bored supporting customers, that is for sure.

Social Connections 9 in Stuttgart w/Me

They say 3rd time is the charm, I will once again be speaking at the Social Connections event scheduled for November 5-6 in Stuttgart, Germany.

However, this time I have been blessed to not do a competitive pitch, nor an accountability one, but a Spotlight session you can read more about here on Friday November 6th.

I look forward to seeing many friends and many more customers at the event.

I will be wrestling with and explaining the at times conflicting aspects of technology evangelism, life and work balance and how shutting down for 25 hours a week, or sometimes more, really is helpful.

I know, not my usual session but they wanted something we felt strongly about and well this hits it on so many levels, hope you all come and listen and appreciate it.

No slides will be shown at this session aside from the thanking the sponsors slide and my contact details. You may be asked to turn your phone off during this session, if you are up to the challenge, see you there.