IBM Notes and Domino 9.0 Social Edition Beta available for download

I am really excited to evaluate, IBM Notes and Domino 9.0 Social Edition. IBM announced the beta release and is available for Download now.

Saw the installation Note from Mitch Cohen, cant resist from download.

Download information available here

Refer IBM Notes and Domino 9.0 Social Edition Beta forum here

I would continue blogging as i make progress on testing. Stay tuned.

Unable to launch Domino console

One of my blog follower emailed me about the problem he is encountering with Domino Server, they are not able to view server Domino Server console / java console.

So here is solution for the same.
1) Ensure that Server has the following notes.ini parameter

ServerController=1
TCPIP_ControllerTcpIpAddress=10.30.40.50:2050

Note: 10.30.40.50 is the IP address of the Domino server.

2) You can start Domino server using following command

c:\lotus\domin\nserver.exe -jc

The Server Controller runs in its own window. You can minimize a Server Controller window, but do not close or kill the window to stop the Server Controller. Instead, use the Controller Quit command from a console to stop a Server Controller and the server it controls. 

Optional arguments to use when running the Server Controller

nserver -jc	Runs the Server Controller, the server, and the Domino Console
nserver -jc -c	Runs the Server Controller and the server
nserver -jc -s	Runs the Server Controller and the Domino Console
nserver -jc -c -s	Runs only the Server Controller

3) You can add "-jc" at the end of the ImagePath value in regedit by looking for domino service entry:
MyComputer->HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE->System->CurrentControlSet->Services->LotusDominoServer(datadirectory)->Enum

Edit the key ImagePath. 

"C\Lotus\Domino\nserver.exe" -jc "C:\Lotus\Domino\Data\notes.ini"

The Server Controller listens over SSL port 2050 by default, which is adequate in most situations. However, to specify a different port, change the value of the Port_Number setting in the dcontroller.ini file located in the server's data directory.

Lotus Notes/Domino 8.5.3 Fix Pack 1 available for download

Lotus Notes /Domino 8.5.3 Fix Pack 1 is available for download at Fix Central.

For download information refer the technote

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg24032242

• If you have Notes 8.5.3 Basic Configuration or Notes/Admin/Designer (Basic edition) 8.5.3 installed,use the Notes 8.5.3 Fix Pack 1 Basic install.


• If you have Notes 8.5.3 Standard Configuration or Notes/Admin/Designer (Standard edition) 8.5.3 installed, use the Notes 8.5.3 Fix Pack 1 Standard install.

The Top 20 High Weight SPR fix list described below, for more refer the fix list details here

IBM Sametime 8.5.2 IFR1

IBM Sametime 8.5.2 IFR is now available for download and install. Sametime 8.5.2 Interim Feature Release (IFR) 1 further extends unified communications to new mobile devices and adds additional social collaboration capabilities.

Remember "IFR" does not mean Interim Fix Release it means Interim Feature Release, it could be confusing. Its a release with some major additional features.

I am pretty impressed with few new enhancements.

IBM Sametime Standard 8.5.2 IFR 1 includes


•  A new native Instant Messaging client for Apple iPhone and iPad devices that includes a   
    dialer for Sametime Unified Telephony licensed users


•  New browser-based meeting participation on Google Android tablets and Apple iPads


•  New Sametime meeting room features and options such as Active Speaker indication


•  New platform support including Mac OS X 10.7, Domino® 8.5.3, Internet Explorer 9, and
    Firefox 6 and 7


In addition to the enhancements in Sametime Standard, Sametime Advanced 8.5.2 IFR 1 also includes:

•  Offline messaging


•  Multi-file and folder transfer to individuals


•  File transfers to multiple people simultaneously


•  Organizational tree view.

For more information on part number and description refer here

Prevents unwanted replication of deleted documents - Purge Interval Replication Control (PIRC).

This is a problem seen in almost every Notes/Domino environment old documents being added back to Domino database.
The most common case occurs when an old version of a NAB (Domino Directory) is brought back online after several months or years. When this occurs, previously deleted person documents, group documents, server documents, and other design elements can replicate back into the environment because the deletion stubs have already been purged.

How deleted documents reappeared after replication, How can this happen?

1. The purge interval is more frequent than the replication schedule.
2. A document was modified on one database replica after it was deleted on another replica copy.
3. A document was modified more often than the deleted document

Finding the old documents that reappeared is rather difficult and time consuming. To prevent this IBM has come with PIRC (Purge Interval Replication Control).
Lotus / Domino 8.5.3 has integrated with new feature, Purge Interval Replication Control (PIRC) prevents old documents from replicating back into the environment.

PIRC prevents documents from replicating back in two ways.
1. The first is by modifying the 'since time' used by the replicator.
2. The second way in which PIRC prevents older documents from replicating in is by stopping the
    documents from being added to the database via NoteUpdate.

PIRC use Cutoff date of a database. The cutoff date is the date when purge last ran. Purge is the process which removes deletion stubs from a database. Purge runs at one-third of the purge interval. So if the purge interval is set to 90 days, then a database may have deletion stubs up to 120 days old. Therefore PIRC will use this date to prevent documents older than this date from replicating into the database. If the cutoff date is not set in a database, which happens when replication history is cleared, the current date minus the purge interval is used.

PIRC can be enabled using database Replication Setting under Space Saver tab.

You can also use Compact '-PIRC On' and '-PIRC Off' to enable PIRC to individual database.

PIRC generate DDM event when When PIRC blocks a note that is being pushed from a non-PIRC server.

For more information on PIRC refer IBM technote for complete details here

Download IBM Lotus Domino / Notes 8.5.3 Gold version

IBM has released Lotus / Domino 8.5.3 Gold which includes a vast array of end-user feature enhancements.

Entitlement to IBM Connections Files and Profiles, for no additional charge, allows you to tap into the knowledge of networks of professionals with a single click. This helps users to quickly find skills within their organization and to easily share content with other people and remove the need to send large files through email.


Lotus / Domino 8.5.3 is now available for Download at IBM Passport Advantage.

All-in-one Admin Tool Collections of tools for Domino Admins

All-in-one Admin Tool that consists of a collection of tools, that will help admin for quick troubleshooting agent related issues.

1. Updated version (V2.1) of the "Out Of Office Diagnostic Tool"
2. Tool to present a selectable list of profile documents for removal from a database
3. Prohibit Design Element Diagnostic Tool which presents design elements that have the prohibit flag enabled with the option to remove the flag
4. Create a LotusScript copy of a database primarily to be used for database corruption
5. Rebuild a mail database Inbox due to corruption or accidental removal of the documents from the folder
6. Given a list of mail databases this will edit the ACL entry for the mail file owner to editor, designer, or manager
7. If you suspect that you have duplicate templates on a server this will present you with a comprehensive list of duplicates
8. Given a list of databases this tool will enable or disable all background agents in a database by editing the database property "Disable background agents for this database"
9. Given a server name in your organization this tool will gather your specified mail database attributes and create a Comma Separated Value (CSV) file to be opened as a spreadsheet
10. DXL Tool to export a select document to XML format

To download the tool and refer complete details here

IBM released Notes/Domino 8.5.2 Fix Pack 3

Notes/Domino fixpack 3 is availbale for download, it included some new features (the whole fixlist can be found here):

SPR# EFEZ8FLKMF - Ensure that updates to admin.exe and designer.exe are installed only if those components are already installed.

SPR# XTCN8GPEN9 - Fixed a Mac specific client hot-fix issue where a Hot Fix needs space between FP (fixpack) and SHF for the basic portion of the string.

SPR# AHAS8BSH8B - Prior to this fix, Drag and Dropping of files to Notes was slow and large files sometimes failed.
SPR# DCHR7PU3LL - Tables with long fields are not wrapping when printed. If the table size exceeds the paper size, we will shrink the table to fit the paper. This avoids truncating printed content but will affect the original table layout. (Technote #1416913)
SPR# HIKA8E7RT3 - A MIME message which contains <![endif]> is not rendered correctly with embedded browser enabled, resolved in client. (Technote #1499287)

SPR# JDAM7DBS9U - Message received if exceeding mail file capacity should specify mail file size limitation. Regression in 8.5.

To download Notes/Domino 8.5.2 Fix Pack 3 from Fix Central, click the link 

Domino data can be deleted during server shutdown on UNIX and Linux platforms

In certain cases on a Domino 8.5.2 FP1 server, the contents of the Domino data directory can be deleted during shutdown on UNIX and Linux platforms. This does not happen frequently or on all Domino servers. However, if this does happen, a backup restore of the data will be necessary

This issue has been reported to Quality Engineering as SPR# DWON8FVMYS and will be fixed in Notes/Domino 8.5.2 FP3 and 8.5.3

Complete details are available at

https://www-304.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?mynp=OCSSKTMJ&mync=E&uid=swg21500850&myns=swglotus

Lotus Notes 8.5.2 FP2 and Notes Single Sign On

Lotus Notes 8.5.2 FP2 is released and available for download. One of the fix that i would like to highlight which is not listed in fixlist for 8.5.2 FP2 is Notes single sign-on for 64 bit Windows 7 is now fixed.

We all know Notes single sign-on feature is not supported for 64 Bit version of Windows 7.

Notes single sign-on is a feature allow you to login automatically to Notes using your Windows password. It's not the shared login, It's the old single sign-on feature.

With installation of 8.5.2 FP2 you can now use Notes single sign-on and sync windows password with Notes. So thanks to IBM for makig it work with 8.5.2 FP2 on 64 bit Windows 7.

Cheers !!!

How to disable Notes client users from manually saving Sametime chats

Recently one of my friend being an IT Manager of a company asked me how do we block users from manually saving Sametime chat transcripts.

Though they have use desktop policy to set 'Do not save transcripts automatically', but a user can still manually save a chat. How can you prevent users from manually saving their chat transcripts?



Here is the solution, there is a notes.ini parameter that can be included in the notes.ini to prevent a user to manually save their chats.

IM_ALLOW_SAVE_CHAT=0

This can manually be placed in the user's notes.ini file or can be pushed via a Desktop settings document within a policy under Notes.ini tab.

Lotus Connections Files and Status Updates Plugins for Lotus Notes

For those who have Lotus Connections implemented in their Organization, there is a reason to smile. Status Update and Files plugins are now available as Notes side bar.

I am using that's since last few weeks. For plugin details visit IBM Business Solutions Catalog for additional plugins and widgets.

There`s a nice presentation from Mitch Cohen available here.

Lotus Notes/Domino 8.5.2 FP1 is availbale for Download.

IBM has released Lotus Notes/Domino 8.5.2 FP1 and is available to download at Fix Central.

Refer Release Notes for Preliminary fix list contained by FP1 here.

Quickr 8.5 Folder ACL security

Quickr 8.5 has one of the significant enhancement is Folder ACL security.

Secure folders with ACLs is a new feature that allows security on a folder in eTeamRooms. This means you can now use folders to secure sensitive content instead of Rooms.

Also a new folder icon to display folder is ACL'd or not. Thanks to IBM for introducing this feature.

So in Quickr 8.5 Editors can now create folders! This is a excellent enhancement.

As per IBM folder security enables by default, ensure you have following parameter enabled on qpconfig.xml.

                     
Also make sure you have enabled Folder security using Customize, Basic option. refer print screen for details.

 

Once Folder Security is enabled, you can see option "Who Can Access This" option while creating folders in Rooms.

 

You can differentiate between ACLd folder and normal folder using icon.

 

 

Lotus Notes 8.5.2 New Client Preferences

Lotus Notes 8.5.2 have few new client preferences:

•  Sort Inbox by Sender's LAST name

• Always show details in mail header

• Always get a return receipt
• Close original email after replying or forwarding

• More signature options

To have this preference ensure you have Notes 8.5.2 client installed and Mail file template version 8.5.2

Enjoy reading i will keep posting on newly added features.

Lotus Notes 8.5.2 Preloader

I am really impressed with Lotus Notes Client 8.5.2, some great new features. One thing that i would like to highlight is Notes preloader, which allows for faster Notes client startup by preloading some required Notes libraries when the OS is started.

The preloader option is off by default. You can enable the preloader option during Notes client install or upgrade. Using the Launch parts of Notes when the operating system starts to enable faster Notes startup option in the user interface.

Preloader run it does the following.
Calls NotesInit which causes low level Notes DLLs and files to be loaded
Reads several client databases including DESKTOP8.NDK, CACHE.NDK, BOOKMARK.NSF, and NAMES.NSF
Loads a number of Java JVM DLLs

When the preloader runs, it preloads a portion of the Notes APIs and subsystem, a portion of the Java JVM, and some NSF databases that are used immediately at the time of the Notes client startup.

The NNTSPRELD.EXE runs with user privileges, in the same manner as the NLNOTES.EXE process.


To confirm preloader is install check the Windows registry
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run - IBM Lotus Notes Preloader

For more information on Notes Preloader refer Technote 1424193

Notes Client upgrade and ODS upgrade

Everytime i upgrade my Notes Client, i used to manually upgrade the ODS version of local database. Untill i came across an interesting ini parameter, which forces ODS upgrade of local databases on Clients.

Notes 8.5.2 Client provide the ability to have user's local On Disk Structure (ODS) upgraded.
 
NSF_UpdateODS=1

Notes start upgrading the ODS version of important databases first, after Client restarts.

For other databases, the ODS upgrade will take place in a background process and while a database is upgraded, the end user will not be able to use the database.


Basically it does run compact against all databases with "-C -ODS -Quiet -Client -UpdateIndexes".

Lotus Domino 8.5.2 available for Download

IBM had release Lotus Domino 8.5.2 and is available for download.

Notes 8.5.2 download part numbers in case you need them.

Download instruction can be found here

Lotus Domino 8.5.1 FP is available for Download

IBM has released Lotus/Domino 8.5.1 FP4 and is available for download at FixCentral.

 Installation takes longer time as compared to previous HF installation. On my Laptop with 3 GB RAM it took around 25 Min. Installation also depends on realtime antivirus scanning.

Lotus Domino 8.5.1 FP4 Preliminary Fix List

IBM has selected Notes/Domino SPR's to be fixed in the latest Fix Pack release, 8.5.1 Fix Pack 4. This notice serves as the Preliminary Fix List.

IBM Lotus reserves the right to remove any fix from this targeted release if it does not pass quality assurance tests.

The details information on SPR`s can be found here