Lotus Notes and Domino upgrades are comparable easy. The only challenge: poorly implemented Domino server will stay poorly implemented even after an upgrade. Unless of course you fix things. Once you know what you want to achieve there aremanyways to get there. You simply could use smart upgrade to push out the clients and just install the new server software. What you end up with is your "old" Notes/Domino installation running with new code. That doesn't really cut it. It is like upgrading your trusted old Volkswagen two seater to a Mercedes S class (5 seater) but refuse to take more than one passenger, since that was your limit so far (or for that sake: drive faster than 150 km/h since that was the max the VW did). So how can you identify the ideal upgrade? Some of the following stuff should already run in your Domain, so it wouldn't require any effort other than a nod, but there are Domino installations that run despite their poor configuration (Domino is very forgiving):
The Domino Server
You have defragmented your storage. You can use OS tools, an OpenNTF project or a commercially supported tool. Do that before and after the installation. You could consider different file systems used by other more stable operating systems.
You have implemented Domino Domain Monitoring (DDM) to run your server in "auto-pilot" (Don't forget the activity trends)
The Domino Configuration Tuner (DCT) has given you a clean bill of health
You have implemented the Certificate Authority and the ID Vault. You use OU to divide your user base (typically by functions/departments/locations)
You have cleaned your group structure to be machine verifiable and allows for next level automation
Users can create their own databases based on approved templates
All notes.ini variables you changed are in the server configuration document
Your SMTP routing is fully configured for Spam defense
The Domino server is clustered for high availability
Your network ports have encryption and compression enabled
DAOS is up and running (make sure you get your backups right)
Out-Of-Office is handled by the service, not the agents
The room and resources database is deployed
Adminp runs flawlessly ( make sure your system databases replicate properly)
Traveler is up and running (buy yourself an iPhone as excuse)
All databases on your server have both the latest design and the latest ODS (currently ODS51)
You have designed and implemented Domino policies for all aspects of Notes/Domino usage (that might very well a project in its own right)
On your Domino server you have space for all user profiles since you have implemented roaming user profiles
You have installed and configured your Sametime chat entitlement
You have installed and configured your Quickr entry entitlement
There is a widget catalog with useful widgets for your organization
Smart Upgrade is configured
Your routing and replication structure is Spoke-Hub, not Hub-Spoke (that's a topic for another post)
The Notes Client
You have defragmented your PC's harddisk. Do that before and after the installation. You could consider different file systems used by other more cherished operating systems.
Your machines have current drivers (Video is important) and patch levels
The Notes client installation has been moved to the Program Files for the application and the User Files for the user's data files (in Notes lingo we call that shared user install), so users logging into a workstation get their Notes install and not another.
You have implemented roaming users (one way or the other)
Policies configure and (if your users want to be dumb carefree) lock down your Notes clients
Shared login is implemented
The only version deployed is the full client, not the basic one. For weaker machines you use the notes.ini setting (deployed by a policy) to start the "classic" client
User know what the Notebook (formerly Journal) is for and use it
Important: The list above isn't the steps you need to do, but the results you should strive for. Don't settle for less. As usual: YMMV. Please comment what to add on.
Happy Birthday Anthony and Ernest
Sun, Mar 14th 2010 5:35a Stephan H Wissel 10 years ago the biggest adventure of my life started. It is still on and I'm still learning.
Happy birthday Anthony and Ernest!
Being a geek dad we celebrate with the appropriate present and stuff to chill out afterwards. [read] Keywords:
56
Broadband and web2.0 applications
Sun, Mar 14th 2010 4:33a Stephan H Wissel Singapore is one of the most wired companies in the world with a Broadband penetration exceeding 100% (Korea take that ). I recently switched to Starhub from SingTel on one of their midrange plans (not the alledged 100 MBPS one), so I was curious and headed over to SpeedTest to check how I'm doing. Locally I got 8.42 Mbps and overseas 5.37 (Boston), 4.76 (San Franscisco) and 5.3 (Texas) Mbps.
Should be ample power for any web based application isn't it? Not so fast. Just recall how most of [read] Keywords: lotus
symphony
ajax
application
applications
development
google
network
web 2.0
web2.0
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Boys and their toys VII
Sat, Mar 6th 2010 6:24a Stephan H. Wissel The good Movie Bag is loosing shape and SWMBO insists on replacement. SoI had a look at Varier: [read] Keywords:
164
Address Dialog on stereoids
Sat, Feb 27th 2010 3:23p Stephan H Wissel Over the long live of Lotus Notes the address dialog has been a trusted, never changing compagnion:
Over the years it got some facelift like the ability to drag and drop or the ability to sort by Notes hierarchy, language or corporate hierarchy (anybody seen that?) or to look at details in yet another window. It works OK as long as the number of names is small and diverse. However once you enter cultures that are notoriously short of last names and sport large companies it gets tedious to pic [read] Keywords: lotus
notes
show-n-tell
facebook
properties
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Quote collection
Sat, Feb 27th 2010 3:23p Stephan H Wissel A collection of quotes I like:
Thomas T. Nagle: Sustainable cost advantages are realized not by constant belt tightening,
but by the efficient use of resources
Edsger Dijkstra It is never enough to satisfy your own intellect (since it will be laid in your grave with you), but one must teach others, to use their mind.
The more one focuses on these two tasks, the faster one realized that they are the two sides of one coin:
Who teaches himself, discovers what can be taught
Antoine de Saint-Exup [read] Keywords: lotus
126
JavaScript Closures
Sat, Feb 20th 2010 8:30a Stephan H Wissel XPages allow you to use JavaScript closures in both client and server side code. There are plenty explanations available, which seem to make them rather more mysterious. After looking at a lot of them I conclude: "JavaScript closures are like riding a bicycle: nearly impossible to explain, but obvious and natural once you get it". So here is my try, from a LotusScript perspective.
First step in the puzzle is the fact, that there is no difference in JavaScript between a function and a class. To [read] Keywords: lotusscript
show-n-tell
xpages google
java
javascript
server
wiki
Netgear support hell reloaded - Part 3 - Salvation
Tue, Feb 16th 2010 3:24a Stephan H Wissel Netgear's local support was incredible helpful (Thx Andrew Tan). It turned out the motherboard is fried and one of the disk behaves "interesting". The WD green drives look good on paper, but not so much online. Anyway Andrew was so kind to loan me a spare Netgear unit, so I could resync the faulty drive [read] Keywords: google
84
Boys and their toys VI
Mon, Feb 15th 2010 4:24a Stephan H. Wissel It is a public holiday here in Singapore, so I can catch up with blog reading while the gentlemen are busy to collect hong bao (red packets). The Mobile World Congress in Barcelona is on with a lot of new toys:
The Samsung I8520 Halo running on Android with an integrated projector
Sony Ericsson X10/X10pro
More coverage at Heise (German), Engadget and elsewhere [read] Keywords: google
mobile
44
GTD in Singapore (or close by if you like)
Thu, Feb 11th 2010 3:24a Stephan H Wissel I love GTD. I'm a happy user of eProductivity (currently not so happy with myself, but that's a different story for a different day). Over time I got introduced to David and his team. In a recent conversation with Michael Dolan, the Director Coaching Services in DavidCo, he mentioned that DavidCo is planning to dispatch a coach to visit Singapore in the near future to serve an existing client. This presents the unique opportunity to engage DavidCo in a Corporate Seminar, get top quality Consulti [read] Keywords: consulting
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