Happy Birthday Bloglines

Bloglines turns 1. Thanks Bloglines!

A look at the new AutoWeek

You can see what the future AutoWeek site will look like here.

Domino 6.5.2 - Upgrade and Move

Let me start by mentioning once again that I am simply a manager. Okay, get the Dilbert cartoons out of your head. I am not a subject matter expert, so there may be a few things missing here, but for those that are subject matter experts, you'll probably get the gist of what I am trying to say.

We are getting closer to our upgrade and move.

This involves two operating systems, two hardware platforms, two versions of Domino, and two agencies. The operating system we are moving from is OS/390 on the mainframe, the operating system we are moving to is Windows 2003 Server. The hardware platform we are moving from is S/390, the hardware platform we are moving to is Intel (IBM Blade Server). The current Domino version is Domino 5.08, the version we are upgrading to is 6.5.2.

It might be bad enough trying to move from one platform to another, but why not make it interesting and throw in the upgrade at the same time.

We are basically looking at two scenarios. Feel free to share experiences, vote for the one that you think would work best, or throw out other options or suggestions if you are so inclined. Thanks in advance for any responses.

I will start out with a given. The Data Center will not upgrade the S/390 to 6.5.2 first.

Scenario 1 (Our choice):

Load W2K3 and Domino 6.5.2 on new server

Down the 5.08 server

Run the utilities (nfixup, nupdall, ncompact - see Redbook "Upgrading to Lotus Notes and Domino 6" SG24-6889-00) on all .nsf files on the 5.08 server


Make any server document changes that may be needed on the new 6.5.2 server

Down the new Domino 6.5.2 server

Take Notes.ini file, possibly from W2K Development Server as it is intel platform (get copy of S/390 version for reference) and change any server specific references to the production server name - XXXXXXX

Take all .id files from production 5.08 server to same directory on the new 6.5.2 server

Transfer (OS level copy - ftp files from S/390 environment) all .nsf files from old 5.08 server to new 6.5.2 server

Cross your fingers

Bring the server up - let it upgrade all of the applications

Run utilities again within Domino

Server will have new IP address, so change DNS to reflect the same name with the new IP address. r5.08 clients should still be able to connect.

Have Technology Operations upgrade the desktops around the state on a planned schedule.

Scenario 2 (The Data Center's choice - written as I understand it):

Load W2K3 and Domino 6.5.2 on new server

Bring the 6.5.2 server online in the r5.08 domain with a different server name

Replicate the applications over

The r5.08 server is also the Administration Server of the mail files. The new server will become the Administration Server. This update will happen during processing of the 'Push changes to new mail server' Adminp request.

Shutdown r5.08 and cross our fingers.

Make visits to users desktops (as they are dispersed across the state with limited technical staff, this cannot happen in a timely fashion) or send instructions to the end users explaining how to connect to the new server.

Note: I might mention that even though we are setup for mail we are not utilizing mail. The accounts have been setup to forward e-mail to an individuals respective Exchange account when e-mail is sent by an application. This being said I might mention that we do not have users using multiple Domino/Notes applications. We have a total of three applications and the audience for each is segregated, thus they don't access multiple applications. Individuals are taught to user their respective applications and not truly Notes. Their application has been set as their homepage, so they start Notes and they are in their application. Knowing this we know that there would still be some that are going to have a difficult time following directions to get pointed at the new server and set their application as their homepage. Just one of the reasons we along with our Technical staff like Scenario 1, not to mention that one application has doc links that would have to be changed throughout.

IntelliPRINTPLUS Developer Network

IntelliPRINTPLUS Users may want to check out the new IntelliPRINTPLUS Developer Network (IPDN).

Radicati projection

Radicati projects that Lotus will lose market share in Europe over the next four years. See it here.


Major reasons cited, increased competition and customer confusion on the strategy of Lotus Workplace & Domino.

News from Missouri

Looking for news from Missouri government agencies. You might check here to keep up to date via RSS feeds.

LotusScript Optimization

See the whitepaper entitled, "LotusScript Optimization: Improving Application Reliability, Speed and the End User Experience" from Teamstudio.

Blade Server

Our blade server came in last week. The OS was installed this morning and the hard drive subsequently failed.

IM

Ugh! The Application Domain Committee is suppose to be looking at Instant Messaging as our top priority. We also have calendaring/scheduling, and collaboration as topics to look at later. It feels to me much like looking for an office suite and researching what word processor we want as a standard and then we will go look at what spreadsheet to use. To take full advantage of some of the products out there they need to be utilized with complimentary products. An e-mail standard was already made for our committee, which I can't truly say is the wrong choice for our environment, but I have commented that I am not sure it is totally the right one either. I think such issues of IM, C/S, and collaboration should have been taken into account up front when looking at the e-mail products.

The committee chair basically has stated that IM is our top priority right now and there really is no direction other than the committee has been told to look at it. Right now the sky is the limit and we can look at it however we want. Meaning free options, such as AOL Instant Messenger are currently in the running. Seems kind of silly not to try to narrow down the research as there are a lot of IM services, clients, etc.. out there. I can't say that a committee chair should know everything, but he was unaware that you could get free IM accounts, such as AIM, MSN Messenger, etc. Could be in for a bumpy ride.

Test Drive

I didn't think this sounded like such a bad deal. Test drive a Jeep Wrangler Unlimited and get a $75 Visa gift card. Of course, it was by invitation only. They wouldn't even have to pay me to test drive one, but we won't tell them that.

Attic Fan

I mentioned having to replace an attic ventilation fan. This picture was taken from the opening in the attic. You can see the fan in the distance. That is where I had to get my 6' 2" frame to be able to replace the fan.

Keynote speaker

Phil Burgess, Ph.D, was the keynote speaker. He gave a fine keynote. He appears to be an interesting character. It was interesting to watch him prior to giving his speech. Here to talk about the digital world. He sat quietly at a round table with some of the other presenters with what looked to be some white sheets of notebook paper and some yellow sheets of notebook paper, no electronic device, no powerpoint slides, etc.. He stacked his pages and kind of rolled them lengthwise as he got up to approach the podium, reached the podium, layed the pages down and began to speak. He did not flip through the pages, he simply spoke until he was done.

One of the things that he said, that many bloggers may want to quickly try to dispute, is if one were to go back in time and bring an individual to the present, the Internet would probably be the item they would be the least impressed with.

I can relate. The first time I watched a video across the Internet and being impressed showed my wife to which she said it was so small and she can already watch much bigger videos on the tv without the choppiness, etc..

Missouri Digital Government Summit last break out

The last break out session I attended was "How to Design and Implement a Performance Management System". It gave an overview of St. Louis CityView.


It was definitely not what I had expected. I was expecting a system used by city agencies that consolidated all information into a centralized system with a standardized way of collecting and analyzing the data. It is basically a training program that trains individuals from the different agencies some presentations skills, how to use Microsoft PowerPoint and how to put metrics that their agency does capture into standard templates that allows all of the information presented to executive staff into the same format. I think that it has to be beneficial for the Mayor and his staff to hear presentations of what the agencies actually do, as I can't imagine how an elected official could know what all of the agencies do, but think an electronic system allowing one to view and analyze the data might be better. The presenter did say that the information allowed them to be reactive. Hmm. I don't know that I have heard many in the IT world say that as though it was a good thing.

It appeared that there were others that were wanting more from it to, such as how to actually design and implement a performance management system in respect to application development. I think many are trying to figure out how one can measure application development. Some say it is an art and can't be measured and some argue that is not the case. It does appear that there are a lot of people that have been tasked with trying to measure their application development efforts and have been banging their heads against the wall to truly determine what is a meaningful measurement and how they can utilize the measurements and not simply a number for numbers/reporting sake.

When asked about measuring application development by one in the audience the presenter went on about Microsoft Project. When he asked if that answered the persons question and the person shrugged it was easy to tell he was looking for the golden bullet on what can be measured as a metric for application development that is meaningful and can be reported. I think a lot of people are still trying to find it.

Workspace and Bookmarks

Do you want to let your thoughts on Lotus Notes Workspace and Bookmarks be known? Then fill out the survey. I am a workspace fan.

Respond by 30 June, 2004

Smart Upgrade

Maybe there is something that I am missing. It seems that there would be a lot of enterprises, IBM/Lotus included, that would have a lot of their Windows desktops locked down and not allow those utilizing the desktop the privileges to do installations. In such environments what good is Smart Upgrade? I wonder how IBM/Lotus roles out client upgrades themselves (maybe they use Tivoli???). In talking with IBM/Lotus Support I was told that the individual needed these rights (I also think the alwaysinstallelevated registry setting is similar - I am not sure if there is a direct correlation on this key via setting the permissions or if this is simply another way to basically accomplish the same thing - nonetheless this opens the desktop to installations as well) for the Smart Upgrade feature to work and that Windows can't mess with Notes permissions and Notes can't mess with Windows permissions. Rather than open up permissions on the desktop for the installation, why not have Smart Upgrade utilize the Run as... feature and have the installation pass administrative account info just for the install. Smart Upgrade appears to be a feature that an Enterprise would greatly benefit from. Running against our development machines logged on with accounts that have installation permissions on the local machines this does appear to work well. I can't see convincing our Technical folks that opening up the install permissions to everyone is a good thing.

Updated: Follow-up Missouri Digital Government Summit

Well the CIO had the same opening message and remarks he had last year and the same message he had at the Statewide IT Staff Meeting. The message he spouts is not one that anyone has a hard time understanding. Basically he says that we need to stop being state government such that a person has to know our organizational structure to get anything done. I think most can buy that. If you need to start a business you don't want to have to go to 6 different agencies to get all of your stuff. You need to be able to get it done at one spot. He states that we should be no different than Wal Mart, Target, Amazon, etc.. Everyone doesn't know their organizational structure, they just go to their web site and purchase what they want. Why not allow the citizen to do that with the State. It might at least be nice to highlight the items or steps that have been taken since the last time we heard the speech rather than just hear that we need to do it, throwing in some recommendations on how to do it wouldn't be bad either. The concept keeps getting mentioned in regards to the Internet, but if it is such a good idea, which I believe it is, then why not do it for those that do transactions with the State of Missouri in any form, phone, in person, etc.

In a nutshell the Enterprise Architecture break out presentation said Enterprise Architecture is good.

The next general session talked about collaboration. In a nutshell it said collaboration is good.

I skipped out on the next break out sessions, went back across the street to the office, got some e-mail done and downloaded 6.5.2.

The next breakout session I went to ended up being different than I had expected. I'll post more on that later.

6.5.2

Downloaded 6.5.2. I would have downloaded it sooner, but hadn't realized that the listing NOTES/DOMINO 6.5.2 ESD ASSY ENGLISH was the one I wanted. I am use to seeing multiple listings like NOTES CLIENT 6.5.2 WIN95/98/2K/NT/XP ENGLISH, NOTES, DESIGNER AND ADMIN CLIENTS 6.5.2 WIN95/98/2K/NT/XP ENGLISH, and DOMINO SERVER 6.5.2 WIN2000/NT/03 ENGLISH. Evidently since the move to the new site, you have to select the Electronic Software Distribution (ESD), then it will take you to the listings I am use to seeing. Anyway, if all goes well and we can get our apps tested, maybe we can deploy 6.5.2. Our blade server is finally in and it is scheduled to get the OS loaded on Tuesday. Getting closer.

Missouri Digital Government Summit

I'll be at the Missouri Digital Government Summit tomorrow.

Notes 6.5.2

Looks like 6.5.2 has made Gold Build.

Busy busy

Hopefully I'll get more posts going, but have been rather busy lately at home and at work. At home just keeping up with mowing the grass has been a challenge. I took off the afternoon yesterday to replace an attic ventilation fan that went out. I must say that tall people were not meant to crawl through short attics to replace things. Hmm, maybe I should have called Duffbert.

Nissan X-Trail

I saw these running around all over while in Mexico and I wish they sold it here in the states.The pictures don't actually do it justice. Nissan bring it to the United States!

Ford Expedition

Not a bad looking Expedition in the Zinio version of Trucks Magazine.

Test Drive Visual Studio

Click the pic below to see an interactive exercise that provides a step-by-step demonstration of building an XML Web service with Visual Studio .NET 2003.

I'm a swinger

I found out on MSN (Slate) that I'm a swinger.

Sitemeter for A Visual Life

As many more artistic people are stereotypically portrayed as Mac users (and possibly rightfully so) it is intersting that the figures on my photoblog site would reflect this more.

WXP 33.33%
Mac 29.17%
W2K 16.67%
W98 12.5%
W95 4.17%
Linux 4.17%

Sitemeter Charts for bonj.blogspot.com

A view of sitemeter. Visitors so far:
W2K 54.17%
WXP 25%
Mac 12.5%
W98 4.17%
Linux 4.17%

The items without the lock are free, the ones with would require a paid account.

Reagan Remembered

Just as many remember where they were and what they were doing when JFK was shot, I will never forget where I was on March 30, 1981, when I heard the news that President Reagan had been shot. I was sitting on a bench in the high school locker room tying my shoes when the announcement came over the intercom. Where were you?

NSF Middleware Initiative Goes Beyond Science

No it is not Notes. Just glancing at this article it looked interesting. I need to find the time to read it, so this is kind of a bookmark for me and sharing it with others.

In the market for a new car?

Check this out. Looking to buy a new car and already know what you are going to get? Why not get $250 too. Check out The GM $250 Challenge.



Maybe check out a new Saab 9-2x


* Test drive by July 6th, 2004.

How Americans Get in Touch With Government

David Fletcher had posted a link to this report entitled, "How Americans Get in Touch With Government". I thought it interesting enough for those that may deal with web development in the government sector to mention it as well.

Counter

I switched counters yesterday. Not a big deal. There isn't much traffic here and only a bit more on my photoblog, but it is interesting to see how many hits it gets. The other counter I was using (Jellycounter) was fine and I think I like the layout of the stats better on it. You get the stats for a 5 day free trial when you sign up for a Jelly Counter, if you want to keep it after that you have to pay. Good job Peder at Jellycounter.

I looked around for a few minutes and went with Sitemeter simply because it is free and has some stats free. It is mentioned on Blogger. Blogger also has stats, but not for the free accounts. Not sure if the loading performance is really any different, but Sitemeter is on this side of the pond (in the US, not in the UK - not that there is anything wrong with the UK), but the counter won't have to keep making the trip.

The stats are kind of nice to see what people were looking for. It would appear that someone from Harvard just found the site by doing a Google search on Bonj. That probably means only one thing, my friend at Harvard found the site again via a Google search. Hi Cathy!!
CC

Wave!

It is interesting how it seems that when you are on a tractor working along the side of the road you can wave at anyone and they will reciprocate without hesitation and vice versa.

Interesting - Chat and Awareness for Microsoft Outlook

Instant Tech has a product called Instant TeamMessenger, which allows one to implement Sametime Chat and Awareness features in Outlook.

If yours is an organization that has already deployed Microsoft Outlook ® as your corporate email system and Lotus Sametime® as your corporate instant messaging infrastructure, you can now leverage your IT investment painlessly and add value to both investments quickly.

Now your e-mail/IM users can dynamically see the on-line status of co-workers from within their Outlook in-box, contacts and calendar. Armed with the knowledge of who is on-line at that moment, users can start a secure chat session to reduce response time and cut to the heart of work in common. Instant TeamMessenger™ adds personal archiving of your chats with other people, no longer do you have that great chat with someone only to close it and lose the valuable conversation you just shared, with Instant TeamMessenger™all your chats are stored for easy retrieval in the Microsoft Outlook Journal folder.

I actually ran across this in the Lotus Software Knowledge Base. Technote # 1165201

A decision was made - August 3!

The Missouri Supreme Court handed down their decision today in regards to when the vote will take place in regards to the constitutional amendment adding the provision that to be valid and recognized in the state a marriage will only be between a man and a woman.

The vote will take place on August 3rd. My understanding on the big debate and the party lines is that it would benefit conservatives (Republicans) if it were combined with the November general election as the topic often brings out more conservatives, meaning more Republican votes, thus a better chance for the Republicans to oust the incumbent Democratic Governor. Hence the opposite is true for the liberals (Democrats), having the gay marriage issue voted on in August would not influence more conservatives to vote in the General election, thus a better chance for the Democrats to keep the coveted office of Governor.

Sometimes politics can be interesting, sometimes it can be frustrating (why can't we still use common sense on some things), and unfortunately it can also get old listening to and watching the little games they can play. Hey, this year they did recognize that English is the common language used in Missouri.

Tech Ed - Cool

I have been behind on my reading lately, but wanted to say Congrats Duffbert (um, Tom Duff)! ePromag.com contributing technical editor doesn't sound bad.

Duffbert is also part of Team-TSG along with Joe Litton, you can find Duffbert's personal blog here.