Just My Rambling Thoughts

I've moved...

2006-03-15T13:15:00.000-08:00

The new blog is up at Domino Thoughts. Come on over and check it out, all the fine content, as well as the "un-fine," from this blog has been moved, minus your comments.

If you're reading this from your RSS feed reader, please update the feed with the new one. I hadn't checked, but Bloglines says I have 8 subscribers. Thanks for subscribing!

Dominoblog 3.0 released

2006-03-14T16:46:00.000-08:00

Now that Steve has released the Gold code, I will begin the final steps to move this over to DominoBlog. I knew if I waited long enough it might happen ;-)

Look for some changes here soon is you used the domain http://www.dominothoughts.com and not the blogspot domain.

Smart Upgrade and CCH

2006-03-09T16:39:00.000-08:00

After I downloaded the CCH and installed it successfully on my PC, I wanted to create a new Smart Upgrade kit and deploy it to other users. Our server is running 6.5.4 FP2, and I've used Smart Upgrade before for updates, but never a CCH package. I created the package and filled in all the options as I have previously, but when users ran the Smart Upgrade they always were told that there was no update available for their release.

I must have checked the settings a dozen times, refreshed the design of the database, replaced the design of the database, and finally gave up and called support. They had me refresh the smart upgrade cache on the mail server (sucache refresh, in case you're wondering). Finally, Tina at support had me send her a copy of my database and she was able to recreate the issue (hers was working fine). Turns out that in 7.0.1/6.5.6 there's a new setting to say whether the target is 6.5.4/6.0.5 or previous, and also whether the kit is for the Notes client or full client. Getting that new template and applying to the database resolved my issue.

So if you find yourself in my boat, call support and request the new template. Or download 7.0.1 and take it from the install kit.

By the way, to make the smart upgrade install silently, add the optional argument "-noui" in the appropriate field of the Smart Upgrade kit.

Notes 6.5.5 CCH 1 available

2006-03-08T09:25:00.000-08:00

This is the hotfix that resolves the high CPU usage of nlnotes.exe. There's also a hotfix for 6.5.4 clients. Check with support on where to download.

7.0.1 included the fixes, so there's no hotfix to be released. Also, there was supposed to be a hotfix for the Sametime server as well, but there's been no mention of that in the message, I'm waiting for an update on that.

As part of the fix, you'll need to add the notes.ini setting to all clients, IM_WATCH_PUBLIC_GROUPS=0 . Use a policy to do this of course, but you'll need to "customize" the desktop policy (see Technote).

BES 4.1 for Domino available now

2006-03-07T10:20:00.000-08:00

The new version of Blackberry Enterprise Server, with support for Sametime, is available for download now. I'm doing just that as we speak, along with the docs, and we'll see how it looks. We have two servers here on 4.0 that have been working pretty darn well. I'm excited to see how the new version looks and performs.

Also, need to see what upgrading requires, since both BES serves use the same SQL database.

Blackberry lives on, RIM settles with NTP

2006-03-03T15:05:00.000-08:00

Looks like NTP got some money and RIM can keep on plugging away. It'll be interesting to see what impact if any this has, and also whether the "workaround" gets put in place. I've heard and seen comments that they were planning on putting it in place regardless, but this may make that point moot.

Who says blackmail doesn't work. Now it's time to fix the patent system.

Cystic Fibrosis update

2006-03-02T14:26:00.000-08:00

Andrew had his checkup last week. The doctors have been concerned that his lung function tests have been dropping over time and thought that he might need to go to hospital to have an IV line put in and start infusion therapy at home. We all, doctors and us, don't understand how his PFT test can be this low with his activity level - he plays soccer every day at school, plays little league and plays school sports (flag football and lacrosse) - and never seems short of breath or coughs. Obviously hospitalization is not something we were thrilled about, so we stepped up his current therapies at home with the intent of him always doing them correctly. Sitting in a kitchen chair while doing nebulizer treatments, instead of relaxing on the couch. Using a noseplug as well to make sure he inhales the meds instead of breathing through the nose, and other things.

Well, it looks like those improvements paid off some. His PFT test came back with a small increase of 4%, so we've avoided his first hospitalization for now. He did however drop 2 pounds since the last visit, so we're looking at making some changes in how he takes his enzymes and moving to Prevacid instead of protonix for now. We think the drop has more to do with his activity level, he's just finished lacrosse season at school, than medical.

Last thing is that the doctor's think he's a good candidate for the hypertonic saline therapy I wrote about earlier. We have to get two different strengths of saline from the CF pharmacy and mix it at home since no one sells the proper strength yet. We'll see if it's covered by the insurance!

One more thing, next week is the Wine Auction and Dinner at Onotria, benefitting the CF Foundation. Andrew's uncle thought this one up and it looks like it's going to be a fun night. Check out the Andrew's Angels site for more info.

Notes 6.5.5 , calendar delegation, and repeating meetings

2006-03-01T09:38:00.000-08:00

If you have users who manage another person's calendar, and only their calendar, we've found a problem with Notes 6.5.5 and delegation.

The delegate can no longer create a repeating meeting when then only have access to manage only the calendar. If you increase their ACL rights to author, which of course means they can now send mail on behalf of the person whose calendar they're managing, then repeating entries become available. Stepping back to 6.5.4 is the current workaround if changing the ACL isn't an option.

There is an SPR open for this, GLAS6LVQV4, but there's no KB article yet. We've been told it will be fixed in 6.5.6.

New Domains

2006-02-20T20:35:00.000-08:00

I've taken the plunge and bought a couple of domains. One for this blog - http://www.dominothoughts.com . Now to get started moving it to a Domino based template.

The other is for our site we use to support our fundraising activities for Cystic Fibrosis - http://www.andrewsangels.net . I'd like to make it Domino based as well, that way my wife could make updates to the site, instead of waiting for me to handcode the pages and upload them. Yes, we use Notes at home for some stuff, we aren't quite yet setup for a home server, but that could be coming!

Domino 6.5.4 FP3 Available

2006-02-20T12:55:00.000-08:00

Looks like it's got some fixes for regressions in both 6.5.4 FP2 and 6.5.5, along with other fixes. Look for a FP1 for 6.5.5 soon, I'd guess.

Also, hotfixes for 6.5.5 and 6.5.4 for the Sametime client and server issues appear to have been pushed back to April 1. Too bad, I'd really like to get that installed since we're not updating clients to 7.0.1 in the near future.

Lotusphere: Sunday morning

2006-01-22T11:23:00.000-08:00

After sleeping in (9am) to recover from the travel and last night, I got up and walked over to the Boardwalk Bakery for a quick breakfast and then off to the Swan for Duffbert and Julian's session on Java Jumpstart for the Domino Developer. Now, I'm an administrator by trade, but dabble in development for different needs, but I also try to be a "solution provider" at my company to help promote Domino as a more strategic application.

Sadly, my name didn't get drawn for a book, but the content and delivery of both Tom and Julian was excellent. I'm thinking about ways to use Java for some of the things I do. But the charts agent really caught my eye. Excellent job, and the light saber pointer was too cool!

Unfortunately, I tried to go to John Head's MS Office integration session, but it was full. I'll try later for the repeat if I'm not watching the games.

Forgot to pack a camera, so just check out Flickr for the Lotusphere2006 photos

I am here

2006-01-22T11:12:00.000-08:00

Well, I got up at 4am and got my tired rear-end to the airport and got to the gate in time for boarding, after grabbing a coffee and danish at the $tarbucks...never have cut it that close. The flight, once they fixed a couple of seats in first class, was nice. Two decent movies, Just Like Heaven and The Incredibles. I flew American, and this is the first time I've encountered the $3 snack box and $5 breakfast sandwich. They don't even give out peanuts/snack mix with the beverage service! I wish JetBlue flew from LA to Orlando....oh well.

Checked into the Dolphin (yeah!) and then headed over to dinner at The Flying Fish with the CertFX crew and friends. What a nice place. Had some really good appetizers, and spinach and frisee' salad and a excellent seared ahi and couscous. So I blew 2 days food stipend, it was worth it.

After we headed to the ESPN club for Turtle's Gonzo party and I stayed til 1am meeting many new people whose blogs I read. So starts off one of my goals the year, meet and get to know more of my fellow Domino geeks! (Thanks Chris for that nice pic! No I really didn't spend the whole night drinking ;-)).

eWeek Review: Nice, but a little off

2006-01-20T13:23:00.000-08:00

OK, so eWeek does a very nice review of Notes/Domino 7. It's a very positive article that highlights many of the improvements in the product. But reading through the section on DB2 integration, the author shows he's not a Domino expert:

DB2 support will allow companies to build more scalable and robust applications than they would ordinarily be able to by storing data in Notes' native NFS (Network File System) data structure. The use of DB2 won't eliminate the need for Notes-specific development expertise, however, as developers will still need to work within the Domino Designer 7 client to create views and forms.

During the initial read, I thought it was a typo, but he then goes to spell out what "NSF" is, and then continues to repeat it in another paragraph. Hopefully, this author will be in Orlando next week and will get to learn what the NSF (Notes Storage Facility) is all about.

I emailed the author and sent him a link to the Inside Notes document on the Lotus site. I also commented that I thought the Good rating for Interoperability was low since ND7 supports multiple platforms, multiple development languages, multiple clients, and now multiple data stores. How well, it was a positive review!

Ocean water a therapy for Cystic Fibrosis?

2006-01-19T07:48:00.000-08:00

My son, Andrew, has Cystic Fibrosis and has been seeing a decrease in his lung function that his doctor's don't understand. He's a very active kid, either playing outside with his friends, playing Little League, or school sports (flag football and now lacrosse?!). His activity level, and lack of bretahing problems don't support the lung function test results he's getting. My wife and I think he's figured out how to make the "nice loop" for the PFT test and stopping, and his smirk a couple nights ago may confirm that. His doctor's are concerned it's something more serious and want to possibly put him on IV therapy that would require him having an IV port put in him - something we would like to avoid if not necessary.

This morning's check of CNN found the announcement of a therapy that may increase his lung function with just an inhaled therapy of sterile ocean water called hypertonic saline. The story of it's discovery is interesting, but the bottom line of the possibility of drug companies not making it for lack of a profit is disturbing to say the least.

Strangeness with Bloglines

2006-01-17T12:00:00.000-08:00

I use Bloglines as my RSS reader, and I really like it. This morning as I'm reading, I saw that Richard Schwartz's entry has "Von Richard Schwartz op None" and didn't think much of it. I hit Rob Novak's and saw the same thing and then looking around I started noticing that all the labels on the website are in Dutch. I know I haven't been in my preferences or account settings, and when I did go to look, English was showing as my language. A simple save set everything back....strange.

Lotusphere Online logins sent

2006-01-11T09:49:00.000-08:00

Just got me Lotusphere Online login information, and we're not all numbers any more!!! For the first time ever, I can use my email address as my login. What a leap in progress. First, Lotusphere.com gets pointed to the right place, and now this?!?! I don't know if I can handle all this change! ;-)

Converting R5 users to a Single Copy Template

2005-12-07T17:23:00.000-08:00

Started the final piece of the 6.5 upgrade last night - upgrading DWA users to the 6.5 template - using a Single Copy template, of course. Just one small issue - the convert task kept the "Prohibit design refresh or replace to modify" checkbox on some items checked when they were added to the user's mail file. And then after running the design task, those items were duplicated. That led to some ugly mail files in the morning.

So now, I'm trying to figure out the best way to remove the design elements from the user's that were updated last night.

As far as the future upgrades, here's how to workaround the problem

Convert the R5 mail files to a standard D6 template, i.e. iNotes6.ntf.
"load convert mail/*.nsf * inotes6"
Convert the newly minted D6 mailfile to your SCT template, i.e. sct_iNotes654.ntf
"load convert mail/*.nsf * sct_inotes654"
Check the design to be sure no elements have the No Refresh column checked. Mostly the items are views, so that's a good place to look.
Run the Design task on the mail files/folder you just converted to replace the elements with pointers to the SCT template.
"load design -d mail" or "load design -f mail/jsmith.nsf"
Run Compact to reclaim the space the design was using.

This worked in my testing today to avoid the unwanted "No refresh". Now I just need to work on repairing the 400 or so files that weren't so lucky.

CFF Fundraiser at Pick Up Stix

2005-10-13T17:30:00.000-07:00

Want to help a great cause, and eat good food at the same time? On October 27th, Pick Up Stix will we having a fundraiser at all corporate owned stores (most of them are). Click the link in the title or the graphic and you'll get a coupon to turn in when ordering.

Go ahead, have lunch and dinner that day at Pick Up Stix!

Notes/Windows Single Logon & Password issues

2005-10-06T15:58:00.000-07:00

We've been hit hard by this issue:

Single Logon: In a multi-user installation, a user's Notes.INI file is altered after changing the operating system password
You are part of a multi-user Notes installation, but, after you change your operating system password using CTRL-ALT-DEL, you are presented with the Notes Client Configuration wizard. Why did this happen?

Part of the issue has been user and helpdesk education. Part has been a recent change in security culture that has caused user problems. But, at the root, it is likely an area that didn't get the QA it should have. And now we get to bear the brunt of the screams...

Lotusphere, Here I Come

2005-10-06T09:44:00.000-07:00

Well, approval finally came yesterday, and since I don't want to wait around to get hit by some travel freeze, I've gone in and registered for Lotusphere this morning.

Also a first, I asked (ok, strongly recommended) to stay at the Dolphin or Swan hotels instead of the usual Port Orleans. Not that there's anything wrong with the Port Orleans, we stayed there for a family trip a few years ago, but it's really hard to get back and forth when you're closing down the bars over at the Dolphin and Swan. Those cab fares rack up quickly! So unless the Travel dept screws something up, I'll get to sleep in later and stay out later this 'sphere.

News from last decade...

2005-10-05T09:41:00.000-07:00

This was one of the "headlines" in this morning's eWeek Healthcare update:

4. News: PDAs Expected to Change Health Care in Future

PDAs could change the way health care is delivered in the
future by providing doctors with easy access to patient data
and the latest information on treatment.

I swear, we've heard this every year, and still medical offices haven't caught up to technology. I remember about 4 years ago, my kid's pediatrician was using an early version of the tablet PC to update the file and write prescriptions - you just picked up the print out when you checked out of the office. That 'experiment' didn't last a year, but I'm sure cost was one concern. With managed care, HMOs, and everything else, it's very hard for them to pay for these upgrades. Maybe insurers should help foot the bill so that expenses do go down, all the way around. Better records, mean cleaner bills, which means less problems for the patients.

I'm sure my wife would appreciate that, every month she's combing over the EOBs for our son to make sure that the doctors, hospital, and especially medical labs aren't trying to get more money from us than they should. You'd be surprised how bad their billing is... or maybe not.

From the department of reverse psychology...

2005-09-29T16:12:00.000-07:00

Evidently, flight attendants think the movie-going public are a bunch of idiots and can't tell fact from fiction. They don't like the movie FlightPlan and want to make sure no one sees it. I think most of us would agree that not all flight attendants are trying to kidnap passengers. However, there have been some flights I've been on where I've thought the flight attendants would rather of had an empty flight.

Granted, most of the reviews I've seen highly suggest you don't see it either, but I think the flight attendants may cause some people to actually go and see the movie!

I'm sure Disney, the film's producer, isn't going to complain about the free publicity.

Whither MSN Spaces?

2005-08-25T17:10:00.000-07:00

Forgive me, for some reason this popped in my head while thinking of another entry idea that I've since forgotten...

So, what's going on with Spaces? It certainly doesn't seem to have caught fire, I don't recall hearing anything about it since it's launch, and the subsequent posting I made and response from someone at MS.

I'm sure people are using it, but I don't think it's up there against the other blogging tools. Maybe it's Microsoft's "consumer" version of blogging, for those that no one looks at....like mine??...no, that can't be...can it?...no, of course not.

Been on vacation

2005-08-09T11:05:00.000-07:00

Just got back from a 2 week + vacation. I hadn't been gone that long forever, and it was great! Check out the photos from the trip. We went to Montana, but drove from California, through oregon, Washington and Idaho. On the way back, stopped in Park City, UT and Las Vegas. The kids had a great time, probably better than I expected.

The reason was a family reunion in Montana, my mom's family is from there. The kids can't wait to go back, my daughter said she wants to move up there. I think she'd change her mind if we went there in January.

Domino Custom Password Policy

2005-07-14T17:24:00.000-07:00

I hadn't noticed this yet, probably since we just did the 6.5.4 Domino upgrade, but there is now the option to set custom password policies for Notes users. Thanks to some Italian legislation this has been added. So now you can set minimum and maximum lengths, whether or not usernames can be part of the password, force special characters, numeric characters, etc.

You can also force a user to change his password the first time he logs in to Notes! I think that's a very good reason to check this out.

I plan on checking this out to confirm that everything works as expected and possibly implement it once I go over it with our security team.

Read the technote documenting this new feature.

So....where have you been?

2005-06-14T23:55:00.000-07:00

Well, I've been realizing for the past few days that I haven't put anything up since before the Admin2005 conference. I'm finally giving in and making some time to post something, but note the time. :-)

The conference was wonderful, as I'm sure any readers stopping by have noted on other blogs. All my sessions went very well, good questions, good attendance and I didn't end exceedingly early for any sessions. My "Intro to DB2 for the Notes Administrator" session was so well received that it gets to go to Europe for the Admin conference in Europe. Sadly, I won't be joining it since they understandably can't pay for me to travel to present one session. Maybe next time...

Any way, things at work are swinging. The Notes 6.5 client rollout is going on at full speed...and working better than I had expected. We're using a home-grown SMS installer script to convert R5 users into Notes 6.5 multi-user installs. I'd prefer to have used a deployment tool, but it wasn't in the budget.

Our LMS/LVC issues appear to be behind us and they're starting a new major initiative that impacts about 25% of the company. I'm about ready to think that the training folks are starting to understand it and start something good. We also had a briefing from IBM on the futures and I think the users are warming up to the concepts, both for IBM's take on eLearning and also the Workplace concept around Portal and Workplace Services express.

Anyway, while I was at the Admin conference, I was talking with Chris Miller of IdoNotes fame and I'm about ready to bite and move the blog over to his hosting. Just need to decide on a domain name and work on the template and blog style. I'll also work on migrating content from this blog to the new one, since I'll hopefully get more readers once I move. And that would also mean a more regular writing schedule.

ADMIN2005

2005-05-16T09:41:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow, I'm leaving for the ADMIN2005 conference in Boston. I'm presenting again for the third time and looking forward to it, as always. On Wednesday I'm giving the Intro to DB2 for Notes Administrators, and participating in that evening's Ask the Experts. Thursday I'm speaking on Getting the Most from LEI and on Friday it's iSeries Performance. Luckily for me, my sessions are in the afternoon, so I can try to keep my west coast clock!

See you in Boston!

Great Strides for Cystic Fibrosis

2005-04-29T15:30:00.000-07:00

GREAT STRIDES is the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation's largest and most successful national fund-raising event. For the sixth year, my family and I, along with our team, Andrew's Angels are walking in the GREAT STRIDES walk at the Dana Point - Doheny State Beach walk on 05/07/2005. My son, Andrew, and all persons afflicted with Cystic Fibrosis would greatly appreciate your support. Your generous gift will be used efficiently and effectively, as more than $.90 out of every dollar you contribute will be used to fund the vital programs of the CF Foundation.
Making a donation is easy and secure! Just click here to make a donation that will be credited to our team. Any amount you can donate is greatly appreciated! 100% of your donation is tax deductible.
Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a devastating genetic disease that affects tens of thousands of children and young adults in the United States. Research and care supported by the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation is making a huge difference in extending the quality of life for those with CF. However, we continue to lose precious lives to CF every day. That's why your help is needed now more than ever to ensure that a cure is found sooner - rather than later. To learn more about CF and the CF Foundation, visit www.cff.org.
Andrew is 10 years old now, and a very healthy CF patient. He continues to take daily drug and physical therapies to help keep his airways clear, as well as taking enzymes at every meal to help him digest his food. All together, daily he takes 5 different medications and spends anywhere from 30-60 minutes a day doing his physical therapy. Because of these drugs and physical therapy, Andrew is leading the life of a normal, active 10-year-old playing in Little League and playing in the neighborhood with his friends. He sees the doctors at the CHOC CF Clinic once a quarter to make sure he's healthy and free of infections. So far, in the six years since his diagnosis, he has not had to be hospitalized.
For more information on Andrew and our past Great Strides participation, please check out our website. If you have any questions about the walk, or cystic fibrosis, please contact me.
Thank you for supporting the mission of the CF Foundation and GREAT STRIDES!

Well, the toy has arrived

2005-03-24T21:16:00.000-08:00

Andrew hiding from the camera,
originally uploaded by notested.

The Canon A95 was waiting for me when I got home from work tonight, and so as soon as dinner was over I got started taking it apart and getting it setup. Andrew wasn't very excited, he was trying to hide from the camera. Took a pretty funny video of him bobbing up and down.

New toys coming...

2005-03-21T19:11:00.000-08:00

Well, our printer has finally gotten so bad that my wife can't deal with it anymore. It barely prints two pages before it stops and you have to push the manual feed button and maybe that gets it going again.

Looking around I found a Canon IP4000 photo printer, well reviewed on Amazon and PC Week, and on sale at Buy.com with rebates. So we're buying that and a digital camera, a Canon A95, more rebates and on sale at Amazon (Buy.com had the same price, but was out of stock). Hopefully, the camera will get here by Friday so we have it for Easter with the family!

And then I'll finally get around to posting some pics to Flickr!

Still kicking

2005-03-21T19:03:00.000-08:00

Well, it's been a busy month so far. When you last saw me, I was starting a fun and exciting weekend of upgrades. How'd it go, you ask? All in all, not bad. We're still working on an issue with the LVC servers and creating new sessions, but the LMS is working well. Really well - our company-wide course is keeping the server busy and the hardware and software seems to be keeping up. We've built a new LDAP server to handle the added load and will put that in place later in the week.

Add to that finishing my ADMIN2005 presentations, and now going over the comments on the first edit, moderating a discussion forum on the Lotus User Group website, and now getting ready to work on something for my friends at CertFX. Oh yeah, baseball and softball season have started! I'm helping coach my son's baseball team, and watching my daughter's softball team. It's her first year and it's pretty darn fun, she's got quite the bat!

So anyway, I've been busy and will try to get back in the groove of posting, probably start with some lessons from the LMS move.

Upgrades, upgrades, upgrades

2005-02-08T22:30:00.000-08:00

This week is upgrade week at work. In advance of a major eLearning initiative, we're upgrading our LMS servers to new hardware. That's new hardware for the database and the application servers. Add to that, upgrades of the LMS software and the DB2 version, I'm looking forward to a fun weekend. Happy Valentine's Day!!

On top of that, we're having to push forward our LVC upgrade to this weekend as well. Seems that the version we currently have (1.1.1) doesn't like users with apostrophes in their names. So all you O'Reillys, O'Briens, and D'Stephanos out there - no LVC for you. Fortunately, 1.1.2 fixes that, along with letting me get the last servers up to 6.x code. Oh yeah, there's still the Sametime (hey, if it's good enough for Ambuj, it's good enough for me!) server, but not this weekend.

I'm still waiting for a couple of clarifications from support on DB2 fixpak levels among other things - I'm hoping 7a is OK, since that means I can play with Beta 3 at work - hehehe.

Other than that, I'm just nailing down the timeline to get everything done, and waiting for the weekend to arrive. Oh yeah, and finish my drafts for the Admin2005 conference

Lotusphere '05 recap

2005-02-07T17:59:00.000-08:00

A much more detailed recap will be forthcoming, once I finish writing it up. Suffice it to say, the Kool-Aid tasted great this year, much better than a couple of year's ago. The energy and enthusiasm of the crowds, along with the great presentations, made for a great week.

I look forward to seeing more of the vision coming up, can't wait to get my paws on a copy of Workplace Services Express once it's available for download on PA. We're already talking with our IBM and Lotus reps about getting a meeting together to go over direction for this year - a first for us here.

I didn't get to meet as many people as I wanted, but that's what next year is for!

Twenty-twenty-twenty four hours to go...

2005-01-21T09:27:00.000-08:00

"...I wanna be sedated."

Sorry, couldn't resist a little Ramones thrown in as I started typing the title. Well, 24 hours from now, I'll be sitting in a jam-packed American Airlines 757 hurtling across the country towards Orlando.

Just have to go out at lunch and pick up a few accessories for the trip, and then pack tonight and hopefully get to bed at a decent hour. Gotta get up at 4am tomorrow to get to the airport on time! That ought to help get the jet lag over with quickly!!

I've added my information to the Lotusphere wiki on Ben Poole's site, I'll try and keep it updated once I arrive.

See you in Orlando!!

Out from behind the bushes

2005-01-18T20:14:00.000-08:00

Well, it seems that Ed Brill (I'll leave out the link tonight) posted a blog entry about his PubSub rank, and lo and behold if a link to his blog from my entry yesterday wasn't one of the recent links showing on his ranking.

So a hearty welcome to any readers who have clicked on the link wondering what this is. I guess my cover's blown now. Hopefully, you'll find a reason to come back and check in once in a while!

That's one way to get your blog noticed, I guess. The other way is to post a comment in Ed's blog entry about Spaces. ;-)

MSN Spaces - another spam bucket

2005-01-17T16:22:00.000-08:00

I'm watching with mild curiousity the small fire between Ed Brill's blog and the blog...er, "space"...of Jim Bernardo. It all started with Ed calling BillG on the carpet for his claim of 1 million users of MSN Spaces. While going to check out Jim's blog/space entry I noted the roll of "Updated Spaces" and noticed that about half the list I was looking at was very reminiscent of SPAM. Leave it to M$ to find a way to create SPAM Blogs. At least no one is forced to read them!

No wonder they've hit 1 million so quick. I'm sure that Spaces will be held in the same high esteem that Hotmail is.

Steal this database!

2005-01-13T14:18:00.000-08:00

OK, it's already free so there really isn't anything to steal, but if you're going to Lotusphere you need this database. Kindly created, once again, by rich text guru Ben Langinrichs with input from others, this is information you need prior to arriving in Orlando.

All the sessions are there for your perusal, compared with other sessions going on. Add sessions to your calendar (in the right time zone!), and set interest levels per session for later decision making.

10 days until Lotusphere!

2005-01-13T12:25:00.000-08:00

Its now only 10 days until Lotusphere starts with the Sunday Jumpstarts. And only 9 til I hop on a plane for Orlando.

I, along with many others, are really looking forward to this year. There just seems to be a buzz in the air unlike previous years. The new and upcoming products, the reiterated support for Notes and Domino, the ever increasing amount of great stuff coming from OpenNTF. It seems that the last week or so has seen an increase in the excitement of Domino as Lotusphere gets closer, let's hope the excitement continues to build after the keynote.

I can't wait to stand in line for my gallon of Kool-Aid!

It's getting closer!

2005-01-13T10:18:00.000-08:00

Notes/Domino 7 Beta 3 is almost ready. Judging by the re-worked page on the Lotus site, we might see it later today (please!) or tomorrow.

So far, I've been very pleased and excited about what the beta 2 has, and can't wait to see what's new in beta 3.

Is this a great time of year, or what?!

This might get me to buy a Mac

2005-01-11T11:52:00.000-08:00

I've been thinking about it for quite some time, but this might get me to pull the trigger.

It looks like a good machine for the kids to roam, as well as giving me a place to 'kick the tires' of a Mac. Of course it will need to be upgraded! ;-) Now when is that tax refund coming??

Here's the 'official' Apple information

I'm alive, really I am

2005-01-02T17:27:00.000-08:00

I've been kind of busy the last few weeks of December. First the usual holiday stuff - the kids' school had a Christmas production that was very nice - really well done. Of course, the shopping and Christmas preparations. Putting up the lights and decorations took time over 2 weekends to get done - it's not that we put out a lot, it's just we've been that busy.

Finally, in between all that, I was working on an article for THE VIEW. Converting a presentation I did at the ADMIN2004 conference. I spent about 30 hours over a couple of weeks on the first draft, and probably another 15 or so working with the editor on all the revisions, fixing and moving text, getting graphics, clarifying stuff. It's finally done, and looks like it will be in the Jan/Feb issue.

Aside from that, I'm trying to get started working on presentations for this year's ADMIN2005 conference - more on those later.

Happy New Year

2005-01-01T11:38:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year and a belated Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and Happy Festivus! Maybe I'll get more in the blogging rhythm this year!

Checking for SPAM with charset=windows-1251 and Earthlink

2004-12-08T11:41:00.000-08:00

We added a block in our filtering software to block anything with the Cyrillic charset Windows-1251 recently. It's been working well, catching a few hundred spam messages since being started. However, we've also caught valid email sent by Earthlink customers using Earthlink's mail client.

I've added them, for now, into our allowed domains list. Also, I've sent an email to Earthlink support telling them that they need to fix their problem - we'll see how far this goes.

I'll keep you posted...

Blackberry Enterprise Server 4 Released... almost

2004-12-03T16:21:00.000-08:00

First I got a notice that BES 4 for Domino was released. Looking over the new features, I can't wait to get it downloaded and start testing. Everything over the air, no need for Desktop manager! I'm waiting to test it and see what's reality in the new version. That would have been good today with a user problem we had.

But then the other shoe drops. I get an email from Blackberry last night:

Dear BlackBerry Enterprise Server for Lotus Domino user

You may experience an issue when you upgrade to BlackBerry Enterprise Server version 4.0 for Lotus Domino.
Please read the knowledge base article found at the following link to learn more.

Link to technote

For more information or assistance please contact your BlackBerry support provider.

Thank you
Software Releases
Research In Motion Limited

Well, that really put the fire out - well, that and the fact I need a place to test it, but that's easy. At least I can install on the test box without getting the license error.

New Blackberry

2004-12-02T14:43:00.000-08:00

I just (two weeks ago) got a new Blackberry, the 7100t from TMobile. Its actually a pretty nice gadget. I was concerned about the keyboard and typing, but the SureType functionality is actually very good and easy to get used to. The biggest issue I'm having is that outside the screen is not easily readable. Indoors, its great, and luckily I'm not in need of having to read it outside very much.

The other issue is that two days in a row, I stopped getting messages forwarded to it. Out of the blue, with no reason. Once was in the morning after trying to send a PIN message to a user, the next was the next day in the middle of the night. I got an email at around 12am but one sent a 1am didn't get through. It finally got fixed yesterday and everything since has been fine, but it's a little disconcerting as we just switched to TMobile. One thing we do like so far is ordering, compared to our previous carrier, ordering is very easy, especially when needing to order units in different area codes. I'll keep you updated on how it goes.

Season's First Snow...in Orange County?!?!

2004-11-22T16:38:00.000-08:00

I live in Orange County - infamously known now as "The OC." Saturday night we had one huge, loud thunderstorm accompanied by a pretty good rain shower, good enough to cause the cancellation of my son's final winter baseball game. Driving to church Sunday morning, we were greeted by the beautiful sight of snow-covered foothills. We normally will see a dusting of snow on the peaks a couple of times a year, but now much else. Today's coverage was the biggest I've ever seen here, coming a good thousand feet lower than the peak and a wide area of the foothills around where we live. The picture below was taken from across the valley from where we live, but it gives you an idea of how much farther down the foothills the snow came. (Photo: OC Register)

iNotes 6.5.2, Sametime and SSL

2004-11-19T18:37:00.000-08:00

If you're running iNotes(DWA) and using and forcing an SSL connection, and your Sametime server isn't setup for it, you've probably noticed that presence awareness for iNotes 6.5 clients isn't working. That's due to Domino 6.5.2 using whatever HTTP port is setup on the DWA server to access the Sametime server to avoid browser security errors from popping up for the end user. See the technote for more information.

Changing Passwords and Learning Management System using Domino LDAP

2004-10-25T10:17:00.000-07:00

Here's a little trick that may come in handy for some shops using Lotus LMS and Domino LDAP. We've got quite a few users using LMS that don't have email for one reason or another. This presents the issue of how to get them to change their password after their initial login. Of course we can't force the change...yet..., but we can give them a link to the change password URL of a Domino server so they can be told to change it and actually be able to change it. This will take minimum skills in editing text files - the JSP used to show the link. You'll also want to point to a server that has an SSL cert so the passwords aren't clear text. On to the fun stuff!

The JSP file in question is studentHomeNavigation.jsp. Open it in your favorite text editor and find the Resources section which shows the Resources menu items on the nav column on the left. Find the spot you want to add the link and paste the following text in. You'll need to change the server name to match your own of course! ps - You'll need to remove the space inbetween the '<' and the next character for the code to work.



<%-- Display Password change link - user ProgressReport persmission - added 8/4/2004--%>

         < lms:permissioncheck permissionname="Home_Progress">

            < tr class="hmPrimNavBgOFF" valign="top">

             < td width="1">

              < div class="homeNavBulletPostion">< /div>

             < /td>

                   < td width="99%">

              < div class="homeNavItemPostion">< a href="javascript: void openWindow('http://webserver.domain.com/names.nsf?ChangePassword', 'pswdchange', 'resizable,scrollbars')" title="Change your password." class="homeNavOFF" onmouseover="window.status = 'Change your password.'; return true" onmouseout="window.status = ''; return true">Password Change< /a>< /div>

              < /td>

            < /tr>

           < /lms:permissionCheck>

The permissionCheck parameters add security checking so that the user has to be logged in and have rights to view the Resources section, I set it up to use the ProgressReport permission, but you can use whatever looks right to you. There's no need in showing the link to anonymous users.

After you add in the text, save it and store it in your repository so you have it after upgrading in the future - remember upgrades write over existing JSPs. After you save it on the server, it's usually just a matter of time before it appears on your website.

We've also used this method to add link to the Sametime test meeting for LVC users, but I'll leave that for you to figure out - I wouldn't want to spoil the fun of self-discovery!

iNotes, GZIP and Home PCs

2004-10-21T10:07:00.000-07:00

One thing that running Domino Web Access, nee iNotes, has helped me realize is how great the "standardized" desktop is. When you have thousands of PCs and laptops out and you know what the software is and what patches are on it - and have methods for installing the patches - it makes the job of troubleshooting issues so much easier.

On the other side is the remote user on their home PC. We had been getting loads of support calls from users at home getting messages like "Error encountered fetching data" or "Error encountered retrieving data" when a user opened their Inbox or tried to read a message. After consulting the Lotus KB it appeared to be an issue with IE and certain patches that were necessary for it to work. The underlying issue was related to GZIP and iNotes5 templates which we are still using as we go through our upgrade to 6.5, but we were hopeful that the users would read the home page we have for iNotes and use the links to update their systems.

OK - stop laughing - I know you're just rolling on the floor, but I had a short moment when I believed, mistakenly, that the user would take the initiative and "fix" their own problem. O how wrong I was!!

After getting still more calls about the same issue, we finally decided to just pull the plug on GZIP until we can get more iNotes users moved over to the 6.5 template. How do you disable GZIP, with a notes.ini setting of course! And it is:

iNotes_wa_GZIP_Disable=1

And of course you're going to use your server configuration document to apply that, right??

Lotus LMS and LDAP

2004-09-30T19:00:00.000-07:00

This just in from the "Geez!" department...

We use Lotus LMS and Domino LDAP. We are busy putting employee data into the two directories we serve up via DA. Well, we've got the agents all set to run, data is being populated, but when you look up user details in the LMS the user's location doesn't appear. Not good. I've checked and confirmed via an LDAP browser that the field is visible via LDAP so it looks like an issue with the LMS. Call IBM and they say, yes, it is a known issue that's being coded for, but also the point me to a technote that indicates that this is a field that isn't stored in the LMS, it's only accessed in the LDAP directory. This means you can't run reports based on location - but wait, what if we want to run location based reports???

Well, we've decided to combine to pieces of data into the departmentNumber - the actual department number and the location data. At least our departments and locations are one to one, mostly.

One more thing - there's no "easy" way to do a mass update. Data from LDAP is only updated when the user logs into the LMS. Guess I'll be looking at LEI or maybe Directory Integrator for this little job. 'Cause no one ever needs to do a mass update, nope not me!

Building Private Views in Notes 6

2004-09-21T13:52:00.000-07:00

Like many users, we get requests for help creating private views in many databases. Previously, someone would build a "private on first use" view and then remove it after the view is opened by the user. Alot of time is spent, and then if the view is stored on the desktop and the user loses their desktop, the view is gone and has to be rebuilt.

After some thinking and research, I remembered/found again the DXL export tools. I'd read about them , and heard them talked about, but hadn't really done anything with them - dammit Jim, I'm an Admin, not a developer!

Well, yesterday I was poking around trying to slice some helpdesk information to help get calls resolved in a better way and created a private view. I was pretty happy with how it turned out, and wanted to give it to the admin that does the user work, but I really didn't want to create a new private on first use view that others might see.

So I found the DXL export utility (Tools - DXL Utilities in Designer) and exported the view. But wait, there's no import utility!! Searching the help database, there was an example to import a whole new database, but I didn't have the patience to re-write the code for importing one file into an existing database so off to Google I go. And the first hit was a link to Andrew Barker's blog and this nice agent that does the import for you. Thanks Andrew!!

Drop that agent in the database, test the agent - and it works great. Next step, email the DXL file to the other admin and have them import it. Works great, except I had created the view as a private view, so when the other person imported it, it wasn't visible to them.

So maybe, I can fudge the security on the view?? I opened the DXL file in Notepad and searched for my name. There it is in the $Authors and $Readers at the bottom of the file. Just had to add the canonical name for the user, and you're all set. Import that and you're good to go.

Firefox PR1 and Thunderbird .8 available

2004-09-14T20:26:00.000-07:00

Just released, at least in the last 24 hours, is the Pre-Release of Mozilla Firebird. A really nice browser that I've had very little trouble with. And being Open Source software, there are some very cool extensions that are available. Caveat: some extensions will be disabled until they are updated for compatibility with PR1. This affects the View in IE extension in particular for those of us that still need IE for certain products - can we say iNotes?

Also available is the .8 release of Thunderbird mail client - say goodbye Outlook Express. The best thing about this release is the addition of RSS support, so you can read your blogs in your mail if you don't have a preferred reader. On the downside, there's no support for OPML yet - extension anyone - so importing your blogs may be a little daunting. Also, the same compatibility issues apply for extensions here, so my wife may need to live without the Contacts sidebar for a little while.

Sametime, LDAP and Notes 6.51

2004-08-25T14:35:00.000-07:00

Added a new Sametime server Monday night. Nice speedy new hardware, and upgraded to Sametime 3.1 IF1 (Have to wait for new version of LVC before LIMWC 6.51 can go out). I decided it was a good time to start using LDAP for authentication of the Sametime clients, since that would allow for Quickplace interop. Evidently, I missed a technote when searching the KB - LDAP and Notes 6.5x clients don't play well together.

The Notes 6.5x client defaults to the Notes abbreviated name for login - LDAP doesn't get that. Hell, it didn't get using the shortname without editing the search filters! The other thing that using LDAP wreaks havoc on is the presence awareness in the Notes client - oops! Sure, there's a technote on extending LDAP to use the abbreviated name, but it's not working correctly either. It seems to be truncating the field value so only part of the name is displayed, so this means that we still can't login using the abbreviated name.

I'm on the phone now with IBM and hopefully will have some good news later.

UPDATE:
After 90 minutes talking to IBM, we nailed it down to a couple of issues.

First, I used the search filters in the technote. The search filter has a problem returning more than about 200 characters, and since there were 5 attributes being returned, it went over the limit. Cleaning out a couple of filters that weren't necessary resolved that.

Second, Sametime and anonymous bind to LDAP don't work "that well." Binding with a user ID to LDAP resulted in the notesmail attribute popping up, and so authentication and presence awareness are working.

Hopefully, the technotes referenced previously will be amended to add these suggestions since they are already in the internal technotes that were used by the support tech I spoke with.

Which OS Are You?

2004-08-09T16:30:00.000-07:00

BBspot - Which OS Are You?

As for me,

Which OS are You?

And now for something "work related"

2004-08-06T00:17:00.000-07:00

Since one of my reasons for starting the blog was work-related, I thought I'd take the opportunity to post something in that vein.

Looking at beta 2 of Notes last night, I came across something very good. Domino Web Access nee iNotes worked in Firefox! I didn't notice anything in the release notes specifically, but it was a good thing to see this. Also, as noted elsewhere, the UI has changed a little, and I think I like it. I recall seeing that it was supposed to look similar to the Workplace UI (gasp).

Anyway, it a first step. More to come...

Three days in a row!!

2004-08-05T23:48:00.000-07:00

A new record, posting three days in a row. I don't know what to do...Maybe I'll take a day off.

So, anyway, since I'm in a vacation recap kind of mood, let's get back to the middle of the state. Driving home, we went through the "heartland" of California, and it was interesting to see the changes, as I said. It was also interesting to find modern oases. Out in the middle of nowhere, an exit appears and there's a row of gas stations - usually with gas much cheaper than what we paid for at home - and fast food restaurants, and the occasional local eatery. Even saw an Indian restaurant at one stop. To both my wife's and my joy, one place had an In-n-Out Burger. There's nothing like an In-n-Out burger to a southern Californian. My wife likes the cheeseburger with onions, for me a single, animal-style, no tomato. Like manna, especially when it was 103 outside. Excuse me, while I wipe the drool from my mouth.

More on the "lost month"

2004-08-04T09:51:00.000-07:00

On our way back from Tahoe we spent a night in Modesto. Yes, it was planned - and actually a nice stop instead of driving all the way home after the gold mine exploration.

Everyone always talks about the Bay Area, or southern California areas and how nice they are. The central regions of California really have their own beauty to them. Even in the dry summer months, the background sea of dried yellow grasses with the oak trees sprouting from below are quite a sight. Coupled with the sheer agricultural output of the area and it's amazing. We visited a cheese factory, yes a cheese factory, that produces one million pounds of cheese each day! Not bad for a place almost in the middle of nowhere, eh?

The other amazing thing is how much the area has grown, how much new housing is going up - many parts are looking too much like Irvine, or Thousand Oaks, or "insert your local new area here". It's unfortunate that urbanization/modernization is causing many areas to lose their community character. Or they need to rebuild downtown to reflect the "bygone" era to retain a sliver of what it used to be like.

More later...

How to go a month between blogs

2004-08-03T19:31:00.000-07:00

OK, I didn't realize that I had gone a month between blogs. I've got a couple of weeks covered - I was on vacation for one, and at a seminar for the second.

As far as vacation goes, we went to Lake Tahoe for 5 days. I hadn't been to Tahoe for over 20 years, and it was great to go back. It's beautiful in summer, all the trees, surrounding mountains, and of course the lake. Even though it has lost some clarity, it's still clearer than any other lake around. Took the kids on a waverunner one afternoon - what a kick with my daughter (5) and son (9) - laughter and wide smiles at 30 MPH. Next day, the whole family took a powerboat out for a trip over to Emerald Bay and the requisite speeding on the way over. All in all, a very relaxing time. On the way home, we snuck in some "education" and visited a working gold mine - everyone donned a hard hat and went 400 feet below to see how the mine works and the history of mining. Actually a very entertaining hour.

More stories coming, really!

Did you ever wonder...

2004-05-23T18:50:00.000-07:00

what drives you to remain in a situation, be it personal or professional? Some recent conversations while I was away prompted this little inner conversation on my return trip. Is it complacency, familiarity with the other person or people, be it loved ones or co-workers, or a genuine care for the person.

More and more these days, I am finding that "genuine care" for the workplace is a misguided direction. Companies, in my view, care less about their employees each year, as shown by their increased "costs" for health insurance, lowered raises, and general "just be thankful you have a job" attitude towards appreciating their employees. This is an overall impression I've received in speaking with others, though your mileage may vary. Complacency, or perhaps fear of looking and keeping a new job, seems to rate pretty high on the scale for workers.

Anyway, some food for thought, maybe we'll continue this thread later...

Back in town

2004-05-17T11:47:00.000-07:00

Just got back from the Admin2004 conference. Had a great time - wonderful speakers, great networking opportunities. Met a diverse, interesting group of people that I ended up hanging out with three nights with.

Good food, good wine, great conversations - and some really interesting experiences over the week made for a memorable group of new friends.

I'm still here

2004-04-30T16:54:00.000-07:00

Just been really busy with work, stuff outside work, and family stuff - lots of "stuff" going on. Most of it's good, some of it a pain (guess where the pain is - and where it's from).

More about all this later...but now it's "Miller Time" - but not really Miller, maybe a Pacifico!

This Just In..

2004-04-03T11:09:00.000-08:00

I was really thinking about this yesterday while having that internal discussion about starting to blog and decided that blogging can be informative for the reader, and sort of therapeutic for the writer. It can allow me to "blow off steam" about things - mainly work-related at this point - that are bugging me.

So I'll beg your pardon up front if what you sometimes read is more rant that substance - maybe the rants will make me want to balance them out with something else more useful. I hope so.

And so it begins...

2004-04-03T09:09:00.000-08:00

Well, here it is my first post. I'm using this to test out the theory of my usefulness as a 'blogger' so we'll see how it goes. I hope my future posts will be more interesting that this.

I'll be writing on what's going on my life and hopefully you'll find it worth reading about.