Quickr Domino 8.2 Fix Pack 10 is available

Darren Duke  March 9 2010 07:38:30 AM

Get it from IBM Fix Central.


Fixes included:

FP 8.2.0.10
03/03/2010	CMCH82HMNB	When using Sametime integration, the option to Add Tools returns an error that the client does not support this functionality.
03/03/2010	RALFUZQC4	Issue where sometimes a page will not render, if your Domino server returns a redirected page.
03/03/2010	DWHN82RL7F	On a place that supports anonymous users, an unpublished document can become viewable by anonymous users if the Form type is changed within connectors.
03/03/2010	RELS7KNUHE	With versioning enabled, searching for content returns all versions of any document that matches the search criteria. (see fix  RELS7KNUHE  in “Additional Information for special fixes” section)
02/26/2010	MPUL7YTJF9	External Groups Members Expand as "Undefined" In Room Security
02/26/2010	MPUL7VCKCN	In the Member Management page, if more members exist than what will fit on page based on the number members to display per page, pressing the Last button does not bring you to the last page of members.
02/09/2010	BOAI825KV3	When using Connections, you may get a SemTagSvc is null javascript error when displaying a business card.
02/09/2010	MMOI7YUPEL	In certain circumstances, small attachments may not be fully uploaded using the the ActiveX control in IE6.
02/09/2010	None	Notes Sidebar connector does not prompt you for authentication if your password has changed in your directory (requires Quickr Connectors 8.2 HF6).
02/09/2010	HMON7ZENJE	Clicking a search result may return an error “Entry Not Found In Index” when the document being clicked is a response document and the parent document was moved from one room to another.
02/09/2010	ACHG7Z33LX	With Quickr Traditional Chinese localized version, a custom form with a time field will not display the correct minutes that was originally entered.
02/09/2010	JYJG7SA573	In certain circumstances, trying to access a file via the connectors can give an error “The file has been deleted on the server, please select another file”.
02/09/2010	BBAR82ALS3	When the Title of the place contains a double quote, the Customize / Basics page will not load.
02/09/2010	None	With the Quickr SOAP API, the namespace soapenv is required, but not documented.  Remove the soapenv namespace requirement.

• Comments [2]

Symantec adds support for Domino 8.5.1 to Backup Exec 2010

Darren Duke  March 3 2010 08:31:14 AM

To be honest, I didn't even know it wasn't supported.

With the application of hot fix 339930 this "support" is addressed, see http://seer.entsupport.symantec.com/docs/339930.htm for more information.

Remember to update any agents too. Joy!

• Comments [0]

Reminder, Chattanooga Lotus User Group (CHUG) is tomorrow (02/25)

Darren Duke  February 24 2010 10:33:00 AM

Registration required so you can get through security, but it is free to attend.

The great, funny and recently shorn  Rocky Oliver (aka LotusGeek) will be presenting. Head on over to https://www.simplified-tech.com/CHUGQ12010 for further details and to register.

• Comments [2]

The very un-scientific look at transaction logging on Domino - part 2 - a real world server

Darren Duke  February 17 2010 11:20:24 AM

In my earlier post, A very un-scientific look at transaction logging in Domino I'd speculated about the Database.RM.Logger.IO Domino statistics.

As I'd mentioned right at the bottom of that post (and Richard also did in a comment) IO.Avg.Write.Time is probably more likely the statistic you need for production and not necessarily IO.Max.Write.Time. We'll look at both statistics for a server that has few users (<100) but huge amounts of email traffic. This is a production mail and apps server where we will move the transaction logs from the c: drive to a discrete disk. Let's see what we get....

The server in question is Domino 8.5.1 running on Windows 2003 32 bit server. It has a lot of traffic. For this exercise we will move the transaction logs from the c: drive which houses apps, OS and page file drive and the TX logs (the way the original server was configured) and move them to a discrete SATA disk. This new disk is a straight 500GB SATA2 7200 RPM drive . The original OS, apps and page file drive was a 3 disk RAID 5 array using SATA drives on a Dell PERC 5 controller. Domino data is situated on a separate 5 disk RAID 5 array also connected to the PERC.

Before the TX Log move, we have our stats. The server has been running about 6 days at this point.



Post TX Log move, after 6 days we have the following:


As you can see the difference is nothing short of staggering. The IO.Max.Write.Time is reduced by 99% and the IO.Avg.Write.Time went down by 77 orders of magnitude!

I can only imagine what a transaction log write that takes 8.2 seconds will do to Domino performance.If you have any doubt that the recommendation to move Domino transactions logs to discrete drive(s) is hog wash, then I beg to differ. If you have a very busy server and/or lots of users get the fastest drives possible (currently solid state drives or SSDs). There was some talk a while ago on Stephan Wissel's blog where SSD's we accused of being the latest panacea for poor Domino performance and that they are no faster in sequential writes than traditional (mechanical) drives. While they maybe a panacea (but you want a fast server, right?) they are hands down faster than traditional drives. If you are seeing high IO.Avg.Write.Time values then it could be well worth the investment. Regardless of where you sit on the SSD debate, put transaction logs on a discrete drive or array, period!

I''ll take a second to point out why I believe the IO.Number.Writes is so low on the second screen grab. This is not due to moving the TX Logs, but because this customer moved from Symantec Mail Security for Domino Anti-Spam to Lotus Protector for Mail Security. This removed some 4,000 messages per day from the Domino system (mail.box, etc) as Protector blocked them. I'll keep track of this over the next few weeks and when/if we get to a comparable IO.Number.Writes I will post again (quick math says 10 weeks....on a Windows server, hum). I have a feeling the IO.Avg.Write.Time and the IO.Max.Write.Time will not be adversely affected.

• Comments [6]

Like many others before me, a review of the IBM Lotus Notes and Domino 8.5.1 - The Upgrader’s Guide

Darren Duke  February 16 2010 05:16:41 PM

First the disclaimer, I received this e-book for free from the publisher Packt Publishing . I hope this in no way affects my opinion. Not sure why I was asked, I have trouble stringing 5 sentences together for a blog entry, but it did stroke my ego quite a bit ;)

Oh, and I hate ebooks....I read on the toilet and while planes are taking off or landing! Kindle is what you start a fire with.

Anyway enough TMI, on with the show....

I have not, as of yet, read any of the other reviews out on the wibbly wobbly web, and especially Planet Lotus of this book. I would suggest you read more than this review if you plan on purchasing it. I actually own the previous release of this tome, the 2007 Lotus Notes Domino 8 Upgrader's Guide so I was expecting more of the same, but updated. By that I mean some useful information, ton's of references to SOA and a somewhat high level overview of new features. I still use it now and again, so I guess that is a good measure of the book. If it sits on my desk for more than a few days..... I think the ND 7 version of this book is laying around STS galactic headquarters too.

I think "Upgraders's Guide" is a stretch. In the original ND8 version of the book, the upgrade section for ND 8 was from pages 117 to 132. That is 15 pages of the original 249 pages. It was more like a "What's new in ND 8" book. So, is the newer release more "upgrady"? Not really. More of the same, but with a modicum of 8.5.x goodness mixed in.

Additionally, whilst not an ISSL (IBM Software Services for Lotus, the services arm of Lotus) sanction, endorsed or otherwise book, many of the authors work there. Expect some weird ISSL/IBM words, like "Systematic Normalization". Read this and you will be a scrabble champion in no time.

First, the update....

The new version weighs in at 295 pages, while removing some sections and adding others. The upgrade chapter, now at 18 pages seems light.  Given that ND 8.5 is the first release that may require some forethought and preparation it seems a bit light. This section is almost identical to ND 8 book. DAOS is given some space in the Domino 8.5 Enhancements chapter (chapter 10) and covers the basics, but again, I just get the feeling that "Upgrader's Guide" is a bit of a stretch.

Speaking of DAOS, I would have liked to see all the storage savings techniques outlined in one specific, dedicated  chapter. Design and Document compression are in there, but SCT and LZ1 are not (maybe because the are not new). Still leveraging all of these techniques can lead to substantial savings, way beyond DAOS on its own.

Given this book is written by ISSL peeps, I would have expected a notice somewhere about transaction logging and the potential impact on the server. Transaction logging has a bad rep (deserved or otherwise) in the install base, this would have been a good opportunity to address this. Given it's importance to DAOS many customers are looking at it for the first time. A suitable warning about using the same drive as the OS, Domino, or anything else should have been front and center.

Other 8.5 new features are covered too, Notes Shared Login (NSL), ID Vault and DCT along with LotusSphere Show and Tell quality step by step guides. iNotes updates have a number of pages dedicated to it. That's good to see given the shock most users will have with the radically improved 8.5 iNotes interface.

Next up, Domino Development. I was slightly disappointed with this chapter (chapter 8) at first brush, but the shear amount of change (Eclipse, XPages, etc) made for a sobering thought. It is good 50,000' overview, but that is all. If you are looking for XPages info, this ain't the place. I guess the "Upgrade" is that you now have XPages. Go forth and and sexy-ify your Notes apps.

Next, the bad.....

As I've said, the title needs some work.
DB2 still makes an appearance. Really? I think you can drop this from now on.
Quickr is there in chapter 9 (Integration with Other Lotus/IBM Products), but this is an old, old release.

The chapter order (see below) seems a bit out of whack. Chapter 10 is where most readers would probably want to start. DAOS is the reason a whole lot of upgrades have taken place. Just my $0.02.

Chapter List

Chapter 1 - Overview of the new Lotus Notes client features
Chapter 2 - Lotus Notes 8.5 and SOA
Chapter 3 - Productivity Tools
Chapter 4 - Lotus Domino 8.5 server features
Chapter 5 - Deployment Enhancements in ND 8.5
Chapter 6 - Upgrading to ND 8.5
Chapter 7 - Coexistence between ND releases
Chapter 8 - What's new in ND 8.5 Development (full chapter available below)
Chapter 9 - Integration with other Lotus/IBM products
Chapter 10 - Domino 8.5 enhancements
Appendix - 3rd party solutions

Conclusion

If you are looking for reasons to upgrade to 8.5 then this book is for you. If you are looking for an overview of features added since R8, then this book is for you. If you are an avid Domino fan-boy (or girl) you may want to give this a whirl, just don't expect a soup to nuts deep dive (or XPages).

Given the lack of Domino related literature available for purchase, I want to thank Packt and the authors of this series. It is a lot of information to cover in 294 pages. Some information is good, some superfluous but overall I would recommend this as a option for "occasional" Domino administrators or IT managers looking for the what and why of new stuff in 8.x.

Finally, I can't quite shake the feeling that maybe this should be two "guides" from this point on. 8.5 was a massive feature release, both from development and from administration. I think it is hard to do both justice in a single work.

To entice you further, the kindly folks at Packt have offered Chapter 8, What's New in Notes/Domino 8.5 Development for free.  What are you waiting for? Should you wish to purchase either the e-book or the r-book (real-book, you heard it here first!) from the publishers site or the r-book from Amazon (US).

Kudos to anyone who can write a book. I have trouble filling up the 140 characters in Twitter.

• Comments [0]

A very un-scientific look at transaction logging in Domino

Darren Duke  February 16 2010 07:43:00 AM

02/25/2010 - Update - be sure to check out part 2 - with a real world server after you have read this.....

Below are Domino console screen captures of two servers. They are pretty much identical:

• Both are 32 bit Domino on Windows running 8.5 FP1
• Both are running Quickr 8.2 FP9
• Both are transaction logged with circular, 4GB logging
• Both are running in vSphere 4 U1 servers
• Both servers have no load other than clustering to each other (the screen shot was taken at 4:30am, so I'm pretty sure. No load.
• Both have been up for about 20 minutes.

Having said all of that, note the database.rm.logger.io.max.write.time statistic value in each. This is the output of a

sh stat database.rm.*

These statistics show transaction logging information.

Server 1


Server 2


What is the difference?

Server 1 has it's transaction logs located on a VMDK located in the same LUN as the server.

Server 2 has it's transactions logs located on a VMDK located on a dedicate SATA disk and hence, LUN.

Yes, yes, the Number.Writes is not equal nor are the logger bytes, but you get the idea. No entirely proof, but enough of a hint that you should try this too......right? What, you want to see similar Number.Writes?

Here server 1has just been rebooted (<= 5 mins), server 2 had been up 30 mins:

Server 1


Server 2


On the second set of screen shots we can see very, very similar IO.Number.Writes yet still server 2 has significantly lower IO.Max.Write.Time.  

As I said, very un-scientific and in production I'd be looking at the IO.Avg.Write.Time. Still quite compelling evidence for those who still don't think it matters where you put the transaction logs. So who has the highest IO.Max.Write.Time stat? Leave a comment below......

• Comments [1]

Is Quickr Domino "Enterprise Ready"? (aka How good is Quickr?)

Darren Duke  February 16 2010 04:12:10 AM

A few days ago, Mr Pierre Lalonde posted this question to a post about Quickr Domino.....

Hi Darren,
Since you are (I think) the Reference for Lotus Quickr product, I was asking me this question: How good is Quickr?
We use it internaly to create Quick Room Spaces for limited (< 15) users. Have you deploy Quickr 8.2 in large enterprise (> 1000)?
I think it's a good product, but still not so easy to use for everyone.
What do you think?
Thanks
- Pierre

I had indicated to Mr Lalonde that this deserved it's own post rather than a simple reply comment and here it is.....

First the $1M question. I believe the largest Quickr implementation I have personally neem involved in was for 850 users (give or take). I think for the purposes of this post 850 is close enough to 1000. That would mean the implicit answer to the question is "yes", however I'll clarify a few points.

1.        This is Domino. This is the Domino HTTP stack. Size your servers larger than you think you'll need or get a partner involved who can do this for you (IBM has a partner resource called TechLine that will do sizing based on a whole slew of answers you provide. We are still limited to 32bit Domino on Windows, but hopefully one day there will be 64 bit Quickr so we can keeps oddles and oddles of stuff in RAM.
2.        Quickr Domino can cluster just like "normal" Domino. As you add more concurrent users, start to look at a clustered environment. You will need some type of IP sprayer (Websphere Edge, etc) but this can even out your load very nicely.
3.        Make sure to tweak/tune the Quickr installation, specifically with caching and other options as outlined in the IBM DevWorks - Performance tuning IBM Lotus Quickr services for Lotus Domino article.
4.        If you are using SSL certificates for HTTPS access to Quickr make sure SSL_RESUMABLE_SESSIONS is sufficient (the default is 50, and a value of 0 is unlimited)
5.        Run DCT to ensure Domino is in an optimal state. Remember, you probably don't need to do all the DCT recommendations, so use with caution.
6.        On servers with a large number of places, upgrades and fix pack installs can take a fair while. Make sure you plan for that. And Quickr clusters are special, RTFM.
7.        Make sure you build your Domino server hardware for performance, that includes transaction logging. See this previous post for some pointers around this.

OK, so there's a few technical pointers. As you can see, Quickr Domino is absolutely capable of scaling to whatever level you need, provided you build your environment with that in mind. Now for some "production" tips....

1.        I like DAOS, and Domino Quickr is no exception. I know Rob Novak has tweeted he doesn't. YMMV. If you do it, leave the DAOS minimum size pretty large. You won't necessarily reduce the disk space used, but your NSF files will be far more svelte.
2.         End user adoption is difficult with any new technology, Quickr is no different. Find a user pain point that Quickr addresses, and roll it out in an over-the-shoulder fashion ("hey, Joe has Quickr.....I need it too"). "It will save disk space on the email server" is usually not sufficient for an end user to embrace Quickr ;)
3.        Know the product issues before you roll it out.....Folder ACLs, Manager access to create folders, etc. (some of these maybe addressed in Domino Quickr 8.5)
4.        If you are using the excellent Quickr Templates from SNAPPS, be sure you check for fixes and new releases before you do a fix pack install.
5.        If you are using connectors, you need to train the users. Errors when uploading will cause no end of issues for users. Also cancelling somebody's check out will lead to cage fights.
6.        Understand Quickr links will not work when disconnected. That sound obvious, but for users it is not. They are so used to replication that everything "just works". They may no longer be able to view a link in an email while on the plane. Hummm, maybe time for a feature request.....Offline Quickr attachment sync, like Activities does......

In conclusion, yes, Domino Quickr is Enterprise Ready. IMHO.

• Comments [3]

In or near Chattanooga. TN? Come attend the inaugural LUG

Darren Duke  February 15 2010 12:07:00 PM

Impressively named "CHUG" for now (this has got to be the best LUG acronym yet). During a recent STS and IBM Domino 8.5 Proof of Technology (PoT) we held in Chattanooga, TN we discovered that the locals had the desire to form a Lotus User Group. Over the past few months Lisa Duke of STS and Michael Millard have been setting it up with help from IBM.

The great, funny and recently shorn  Rocky Oliver (aka LotusGeek) will be presenting on February 25th. Head on over to https://www.simplified-tech.com/CHUGQ12010 for further details and to register.

• Comments [3]

Windows 7 and Snow Leopard now "officially" supported as of Lotus Notes 8.5.1 FP1

Darren Duke  February 11 2010 06:20:16 AM

I saw this a few weeks back but forgot to blog about it.....the title says it all. From the 8.5.1 FP1 release notes:

Support for Notes on Windows 7, Snow Leopard (Mac OS X 10.6.2), and RHEL 5.4
Windows 7, Snow Leopard (on Mac OS X 10.6.2), and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.4 Desktop certification testing has been completed. Support for RHEL 5.4 has been added to 8.5.1 as well as 8.5.1 FP1.

For documentation regarding these newly supported platforms and information on 64-bit Windows 7 support, see Technote #1385293.

From the technote listed above it also looks like Windows 7 64 bit is also supported.

Now, can we get Windows 7 32 and 64 bit support for the Quickr connectors?

• Comments [1]

Some more rambling thoughts on LS10

Darren Duke  February 4 2010 03:38:18 PM

Like good wine, I usually have some better outcomes after sitting for a while. The other day I blogged my initial LS10 thoughts but over the past couple of days these have percolated some more.

The most interesting thing I kept hearing (over and over again) was Cognos. At first I thought this was a bit strange being an IM (Information Management) product, but over the course of several days the amount of times I heard "Cognos" I was beginning to thing I was attending Cognosphere. Indeed someone tweeted "Cog-knows" several times during the OGS. All this Cognos speak was around "Social Analytics". This phrase was only surpassed by "Lotus Knows" and "Collaboration Agenda" during the week. I expect social analytics to be a cornerstone of both Connections and Vulcan over the coming months. Hopefully social analytics encompasses search. It would be nice to find stuff ;)

Upon reflection, I guess the argument could be made that Cognos *could* be a Lotus product as it is on the glass. Additionally over on Ed's blog I have often posted that Lotus really does need some type of reporting tool to go toe to toe with $harePoint. You heard it here first!

The other phrase that rang with abandon was "Collaboration Agenda". I like this. It gets out of the weeds of "my product is better because x". Lotus always has marketed products and it is good to see them selling the "vision". Here's my attempt.....

Lotus Knows Your Collaboration Agenda

Or maybe

Lotus Knows You NEED A Collaboration Agenda

I think the phrase forces people to think. When I first saw it on screen during BDD it made me question myself, "What is *my* collaboration agenda" and I started having the conversation with myself (I find I get the answers I want when I talk with myself).

Finally, it is good to see the Lotus Knows campaign being continued and expanded. Germany is the next roll out. I still think we need some wider penetration to tier 2 and 3 cities as PoT attendees have not yet heard of it. Still, kudos for Lotus (and in particular the executives who made/make it happen).

• Comments [0]