News, views and directions on IBM Lotus Domino http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/ en-us Tue, 24 Jun 2008 21:58:47 -0400 Tue, 24 Jun 2008 21:58:47 -0400 http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/reduce-storage-costs-with-domino-8.5 Domino Andrea Waugh-Metzger http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/reduce-storage-costs-with-domino-8.5?opendocument&comments http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/reduce-storage-costs-with-domino-8.5
With DAOS you can consolidate the storage of attachments for all users of a Domino server.  Common content is stored only once (outside the Notes database) and DAOS manages reference counts on the shared content.  For example, in the "old way", when a user sends an attachment to a group of people, each person receives a copy of that attachment in his/her mail file.  

In the "new way", with DAOS, when an email is sent to multiple recipients with an attachment, one reference of the attachment is stored in DAOS, and the recipients of the message get a"small ticket" or pointer to the DAOS store.  In addition, DAOS keeps a count of how many "links" are provided.  

So, less copies of an attachment in a mail file translates to less I/O on the server, faster database operations such as compact, less network bandwidth used and a significant reduction in the amount of storage used.

How does it work?

DAOS is local to the Domino server and is not cross-server.  Each mail.box on the Domino mail server is DAOS-enabled.  Then, when a message is deposited in the mail.box, any attachments are removed and stored in DAOS.  Only a reference to the attachment is routed for each target database on that mail server.  I've already gotten a couple of questions from customers on how it works, so I thought I'd share some of the more "pressing" things I've been asked:
 

• If an attachment is edited and re-attached, it is detected as a new file attachment and stored separately
• If the message is replied to or forwarded, DAOS still only uses the pointer or "small ticket" for the new messages
• For non-DAOS enabled databases, the entire attachment is copied (so for local replicas, the full attachment will be in the local mail file)
• The current plan is to allow the administrative client to see DAOS reference counts, attachment sizes, etc. and administer the DAOS store

How do I use it?

DAOS is optional and is a service specific to each Domino server partition.  Also, it requires transaction logging be enabled on the server and the ND8 ODS.  Participation is a per-database property setting that can be enabled via a compact command.  In addition, DAOS objects count against the quota of the mail file and are reported as part of the file size.

And since I'm sure you'll ask -----

DAOS is completely different from and shares No code with Single Copy Object Store (SCOS)!

So - it's pretty cool and something I'm sure you will want to take a look at - either in the beta or once 8.5 goes production later this year.  I'll post more information about it and how it works as we come closer to the release date. ]]> http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dxcomments/reduce-storage-costs-with-domino-8.5 http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/reduce-storage-costs-with-domino-8.5?opendocument&comments Fri, 20 Jun 2008 14:40:56 -0400 http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/are-you-upgrading-to-domino-8 Andrea Waugh-Metzger http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/are-you-upgrading-to-domino-8?opendocument&comments http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/are-you-upgrading-to-domino-8
If you are getting started or would like more information, here are some good sites for you:
Upgrade Central
Domino Wiki  
Notes/Domino 8 Deployment Guide

Also, some tidbits of information for you about the upgrade:

Did you know you can upgrade the client first?  That's right!  More than 90% of the new features in the Notes client are contained to the template and so don't require a Domino8 server.  More than that...it's actually SUPPORTED during the upgrade!!  Many of my clients are taking this route, as it will provide a huge amount of value very quickly.   The 3 features that won't work are unprocessed meetings (ghosted meetings), message recall and the out of office enhancements.

You can do a spoke/hub type of upgrade instead of a hub/spoke.  That's where you start with your mail servers instead of your hub.  This is a good option if you are on 6.5, as a hub-first type of upgrade might require some additional planning in terms of resource reservations, etc.  This option is actually outlined in the Deploying Notes/Domino8 redbook.

If all of your client desktops don't have enough memory, don't just install the basic code.  For example - there are 2 "versions" of the installation code for the Notes client - Standard and Basic.  The basic installation set does not have the Eclipse components and is a much smaller installation.  One suggestion is to use the Standard install set for all workstations - even if they can't run the Eclipse components.  Simply modify the desktop icon and add the "-sa" parameter after the notes.exe.  This will open Notes in the "Basic" mode.  Then, when the client gets upgraded, you don't have to install a whole new code set to get the Eclipse components.

Hope those help!  Happy Upgrading!! ]]> http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dxcomments/are-you-upgrading-to-domino-8 http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/are-you-upgrading-to-domino-8?opendocument&comments Mon, 2 Jun 2008 15:07:24 -0400 http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/have-you-heard-about-lotus-traveler Domino Andrea Waugh-Metzger http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/have-you-heard-about-lotus-traveler?opendocument&comments http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/have-you-heard-about-lotus-traveler
Traveler provides basic wireless mobile replication for Lotus Domino email/PIM data and runs directly on the Domino server as a server task (or on a separate server that has access to the mail files)!  This provides real-time replication of email (including attachments), calendar, contacts, personal journal and to-do access on mobile devices.  It communicates on SSL with 128-bit encryption and (wait for it) even integrates with Domino administration and policies!

Also, using optional WECM (the product formerly known as Lotus Mobile Connect), you can optionally secure your mobile connection even more over a wide variety of networks.  

Lotus Traveler supports Windows Mobile 5 and 6 (Professional and Smartphone) and is included in the Domino 8.0.1 release (there is a separate install component).

To install - you can download a CAB file to the device via web site, Active Sync via cradle attachment/etc or via memory card.  There is even an option for administrator-configured response file (bootstrap.nts).  The installer puts files in the \Program Files\Lotus Traveler directory, adds shortcuts, then launches and walks the user through the registration wizard.  So, yes, out of the box, the end-user must know their Domino server name (and LMC gateway if WECM is used).  But...with a configured response file, those fields can be pre-filled!

Once installation is complete, Traveler is minimized to the application bar and the client automatically starts whenever the mobile device is reset.

From an end-user standpoint, using it is pretty simple.  Truncated messages have a special icon, synchronization runs in the background, and I can set filters, alarms, which components I want to synchronize, etc.  Word of warning though -- even though your mail folders show up on the device, only Inbox and Drafts are synchronized by default - to get others, you have to select them in the Manage Folders areas.

Administratively, there are a few things you should be aware of before installing Lotus Traveler:

• Authentication uses the same mechanisms used by the Domino web server - so the http password must be filled in for the end-user.
• Directory Assistance can be used for more advanced authentication
• Databases MUST grant Manager access to the Lotus Traveler server (easier if the Lotus Traveler server is part of LocalDomainServers
• Policies are only supported for those users whose mail file is on a Domino 8.0.1 or later server
• Configuration data is synchronized between the device and the user's mail file - it's stored as a Notes profile within the database
• Use "Tell traveler showstats" on the Domino server command line to see statistics about Traveler

For more information, see the this document. ]]> http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dxcomments/have-you-heard-about-lotus-traveler http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/have-you-heard-about-lotus-traveler?opendocument&comments Wed, 14 May 2008 22:09:49 -0400 http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/domino-as-an-update-site 8.0 Andrea Waugh-Metzger http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/domino-as-an-update-site?opendocument&comments http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/domino-as-an-update-site
Domino as an Update Site!

Domino as an Update Site???  What is that?  Why should I be looking at it?  Why is it important to my Notes8 rollouts, you ask?  Read on!

As we all know by now, the Notes 8 client is built on an Eclipse framework.  One of the great things this provides us is the ability to do those wonderful side shelf and composite applications.  You saw them at Lotusphere - and you saw all the cool little things you can put out there to help make end-users a little bit more productive.  And, with the introduction of widgets in 8.01, we made it so that end-users can put their own productivity tools on their desktops without any administrative or development intervention.  Pretty cool, huh?!

So let's take this one step further.  Side shelf and composite applications can provide a lot of value in an organization.  I have customers who are creating applications to provide functions such as an employee yellow pages, a skills look-up application and even a way to hook into CRM applications.  These are all great uses!  But as an administrator, you have to wonder - how do I manage all those applications?  In the past, they were just icons on the workspace, and we all know how difficult it was to maintain those for an end-user.  Sure, you could write a script in an email that would add them - but what if you moved the database to another server?  It wasn't easy to maintain those icons on the workspace.  But now - now it's much more than just an icon on the workspace.  It's a composite application with multiple parts or a side shelf that's used every day!  What if there's a new feature?  What if the developer wants to change things?  Now what??

Enter server-based provisioning and Eclipse update sites.  

To add an Eclipse application onto your workspace, you point to an update site that has all the components of the application.  In addition, when an Eclipse application is written, you have the ability to point it to an update site (.xml) where the application will automatically "look to" for any updates.  So this concept of an update site is a powerful thing!

A new template was introduced in 8 called UPDATESITE.NTF.  This template can be used to create an NSF-based update site that can provide site.xml features and plug-ins.  Once you create this database, you can import all your update sites into this database and point your clients to this consolidated site.  It's that simple!   Now, the Domino server can selectively deliver incremental features and applications.  And to top it all off, the Domino server can centrally manage all my update sites for all my eclipse applications -- whether they are in the Notes client, the Sametime client, or any other eclipse-based client!  Your end-users have a single place to go to for user-based installs of applications, and your applications get automated updates!  It couldn't get any simpler!  

But wait..there's more!!  Since it's a Notes database, it can be replicated across the organization for geographical considerations, and you can use Domino security to provide fine-grained access to the applications.  So using Domino as an update site provides:

• Robust Domino-based security such as ACLs and reader fields for fine-grained access control
• Easy replication of features and plugins (read: http access from anywhere)
• Intelligent analysis and meta-data presentation of the entire update site in easy-to-read Notes documents (all plug-ins used by a feature are doc-linked)
• Built-in tools to import/merge from other update sites and...
• Globally change embedded URLs inside JARs (hello...globally change URL's??!!! WOW! Developer's don't have to update the apps for URL changes!!)

Like I said...it's a great feature and one that will make any administrator (or developer)'s life happier!  Imagine the possibilities - create an eclipse plug-in, have users access a single, standard site to install it on their machines, and you can automatically provide updates!

For more information, see the following:

• Domino8 InfoCenter
• ID103 - Deploying Notes 8 Clients (Lotusphere 2008 presentation)
• For additional information about NSF-based update sites in conjunction with composite applications, see the composite applications blog at IBM developerWorks, for example, the NSF-based update site posting and the site index .

Oh...and as an aside note....this being my first "real" post... Enough?  Not enough?  Detailed?  Not enough detail? ]]> http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dxcomments/domino-as-an-update-site http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/domino-as-an-update-site?opendocument&comments Tue, 13 May 2008 22:59:34 -0400 http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/dominoblog-has-a-new-blogger Andrea Waugh-Metzger http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/dominoblog-has-a-new-blogger?opendocument&comments http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/dominoblog-has-a-new-blogger
When Rob Ingram started this blog back in 2006 (has it really been that long?), his intent was to provide a place where you could get information about IBM Lotus Domino server infrastructure and administration, written by the team that builds it.   His goal was to help you understand that the future of Domino is Domino, that Domino is not going away, and that it has a great and bright future!  Rob and his team have done a great job of providing buzz around Domino over the last year+, and as many of you know, Rob moved on to bigger things in the IBM family and we all wish him well!  

So, in the spirit of continuing the buzz and continuing to provide you with information on Lotus Domino server infrastructure and administration, the torch has been passed!

My name is Andrea Waugh-Metzger, and while I am not a part of the team that writes Lotus Domino, I am a part of the team that helps to sell, plan, support and implement it for customers like you.  I am a field technical specialist (ITS, if you prefer) and have been working with Lotus Domino for almost 11 years now - the last 8 of them for Lotus.    

So how is a field person qualified to write a Lotus Domino blog started by the Lotus Domino developers, you ask?!  

As a field person, I'm close to you - the customer - the people that matter.  I started my life at Lotus in the ISSL team (Software Services for Lotus, LPS, LCS, etc.), where I worked with customers like you on Domino server infrastructure and administration projects.  I helped you optimize your servers, implement new servers, implement best practices, and migrate off other mail platforms.  I was deep in the trenches, just like you, every day.  A year ago, I moved to the ITS organization, and it's now my responsibility to evangelize the Lotus portfolio to my customers.  

So, as such, it's my responsibility to make sure you know all the great things coming out of Lotus Domino development - and how you can apply them to your organization today.  And let me tell you...there are some GREAT things!!!  There's no end in sight to the excitement about Lotus Notes and Domino and the buzz is only growing!  With the release of Domino 8 and the upcoming release of Domino 8.5, there are a TON of things to update the community on.  I hope to take this blog one step further and help you realize the value you can gain, the tips/tricks you can use, and how to really make use of these great new features!  I think it's going to be a great ride!

Here we go...I'll continue Rob's conversation - but your contributions are critical to the site's success. Let's make this a lively community with its own personality that will be shaped by our readers. Visit often, ask questions, give me your ideas, and please tell your friends, colleagues, boss, or overworked administrators about it!  

Upcoming topics include: (and I hope to get YOUR ideas for topics)

• Notes as an Update Site - Auto-Provision Your Applications
• What is TDI and Why Do I Care? (a great new, free, tool to make your Directory life easier)
• Sneak Peeks at Domino 8.5
• Many, many more!

Credits
Special thanks go to Ed Brill and the Domino development team for making this happen! ]]> http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dxcomments/dominoblog-has-a-new-blogger http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/dominoblog-has-a-new-blogger?opendocument&comments Tue, 11 Mar 2008 16:47:30 -0400 http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/introducing-lotus-protector Arthur Fontaine http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/introducing-lotus-protector?opendocument&comments http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/introducing-lotus-protector
But over time there has developed a second, separate layer of infrastructure that need to be managed in support of Domino -- in fact, for any e-mail system, not just Domino. For example, connections to the Internet introduce threats that need to be addressed, so the SMTP interface needs to present a locked-down posture, and filter unwanted content such as spam and viruses.  At the same time, continuing growth in sheer e-mail data volume, plus increasing regulation of corporate information, particularly compliance and legal discovery, combine to create pressures to better manage the ever-bigger chunk of an enterprise's data that goes through people's mailboxes.

Most of todays infrastructure on that second layer doesn't have much to do with specific Domino skills, and often may not even the responsibility of the Domino team.  Typically these products/solutions simply sit on the network or out at the edge, treating whatever is inside as the next relay in a generic SMTP stream.  Often that's a sensible strategy for increasing throughput, especially when inspecting for things like spam and viruses, which can comprise over 90% of SMTP e-mail volume.

Of course some vendors integrate with specific Notes/Domino (or Outlook/Exchange or GroupWise) APIs to create extra value, and we're always looking for ways to help our ISV partners improve their products for our mutual customers.  But some things are just hard problems for everyone.  For instance, encryption (popular with Domino customers) always throws a wrench into things when you need to inspect a piece of content.  And the client-server nature of Notes/Domino can often result in data in multiple places.  Since security systems can operate at different points in a network, it's problematic to make everyone's stuff work reliably across different functions and locations.  It is a pain point that our customers have shared with us.

Lotus Protector is the brand for a new family of security products being introduced over the next 12-24 months.  They create solutions for common e-mail security and compliance needs, but do it in a way that's consistent with the way Domino administrators operate.  For example, Lotus Protector products place a premium on being able to interoperate with Domino's  user and security frameworks, and integrating features tightly with Notes clients, presenting the most natural user experience.

The first Lotus Protector release is an antispam/antivirus appliance based on technology from Internet Security Systems (ISS), a company acquired by IBM in 2006.  This top-notch edge server solution is the result of some serious IBM/ISS research, and offers important capabilities like IP reputation filtering, which can drop the worst of the SMTP detritus before you even take receipt.  We're entering beta soon on Lotus Protector for Mail Security 2.1 (it's not 1.0 because of the proven ISS Proventia code base), and expect to have final product in market in 1H 2008.  A second major release is planned around year-end, introducing some pretty interesting Notes/Domino integration.

Going forward there will be Lotus Protector announcements in other security areas.  All offerings will solve specific e-mail related security and/or compliance challenges.  Each will be optimized for the interests of a Lotus Notes/Domino customer.  Stay tuned.  Feel free to  comment here on your  needs and desires regarding email security for the Protector roadmap. ]]> http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dxcomments/introducing-lotus-protector http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/introducing-lotus-protector?opendocument&comments Sat, 23 Feb 2008 07:46:52 -0400 http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/article-on-fips-140-2-for-domino-8.0.1 Rob Ingram http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/article-on-fips-140-2-for-domino-8.0.1?opendocument&comments http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/article-on-fips-140-2-for-domino-8.0.1 DominoWiki. One recent article that caught my eye was one on FIPS and how to use the new 8.0.1 encryption options.  Hope this adds  another valuable information source to the Domino community. ]]> http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dxcomments/article-on-fips-140-2-for-domino-8.0.1 http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/article-on-fips-140-2-for-domino-8.0.1?opendocument&comments Sat, 23 Feb 2008 07:29:13 -0400 http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/domino-8.0.1-has-shipped 8.0 Rob Ingram http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/domino-8.0.1-has-shipped?opendocument&comments http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/domino-8.0.1-has-shipped announcement letter and this technote for more feature info and of course the release notes. The fix list is also posted here on the support web site.

No excuses  now for not moving to Domino 8.0.1 with its compelling cost saving advantages like database compression or native 64 bit Windows support. This is on on top of the many improvements that were added previously in 8.0 (and 7.0 if you never moved from 6.x). ]]> http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dxcomments/domino-8.0.1-has-shipped http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/domino-8.0.1-has-shipped?opendocument&comments Fri, 25 Jan 2008 10:02:27 -0400 http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/whats-new-in-8.0.1-brochure 8.0 Rob Ingram http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/whats-new-in-8.0.1-brochure?opendocument&comments http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/whats-new-in-8.0.1-brochure Notes and Domino 8.0.1 brochure which includes listing on Domino 8.0.1 new features. For those not attending Lotusphere this week, we also communicated that 8.0.1 is expected to be available next month. For Domino 8.0.1, improvements include database compression, native 64 bit and FIPS 140-2 support. ]]> http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dxcomments/whats-new-in-8.0.1-brochure http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/whats-new-in-8.0.1-brochure?opendocument&comments Wed, 14 Nov 2007 14:08:32 -0400 http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/final-notes-domino-8-deployment-redbook Rob Ingram http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/final-notes-domino-8-deployment-redbook?opendocument&comments http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/final-notes-domino-8-deployment-redbook here.

The download numbers for the draft have been impressive at over 10,000 total since it was released as an internet draft on August 2 - including being the #1 most downloaded Redbook of any IBM  brand during August !   It has also received great feedback for many of you

Here is the table of contents :-
Chapter 1. Introduction
Chapter 2. Planning the Notes and Domino 8 Deployment
Chapter 3. Deploying the Domino 8 server
Chapter 4. Deploying the Notes 8 client
Chapter 5. Coexistence: Domino/Domino and Domino/Microsoft Exchange
Chapter 6. Lotus Notes 8 client features
Chapter 7. Productivity tools
Chapter 8. Domino Web Access
Chapter 9. New administration features
Chapter 10. New concepts in administration: Eclipse, composite applications, and provisioning
Chapter 11. IBM WebSphere Portal integration
Chapter 12. New application development features
Appendix A. Considerations for upgrading from Notes and Domino 6.5.x to 8
Appendix B. Lotus Notes and Domino client feature comparison ]]> http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dxcomments/final-notes-domino-8-deployment-redbook http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/final-notes-domino-8-deployment-redbook?opendocument&comments Wed, 17 Oct 2007 15:44:11 -0400 http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/common-webinar-on-domino-and-iseries Domino Rob Ingram http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/common-webinar-on-domino-and-iseries?opendocument&comments http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/common-webinar-on-domino-and-iseries
See this link for details and signup form:
http://www.common.org/webcasts/index.html#domino ]]> http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dxcomments/common-webinar-on-domino-and-iseries http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/common-webinar-on-domino-and-iseries?opendocument&comments Tue, 16 Oct 2007 10:11:17 -0400 http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/notes-domino-7.0.3-available Domino Rob Ingram http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/notes-domino-7.0.3-available?opendocument&comments http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/notes-domino-7.0.3-available announcement letter for 7.0.3.

The key availability dates are:-

• October 16, 2007: English
• December 19, 2007: French, Spanish, Italian, German, Catalan, Portuguese-Brazilian, Japanese, Korean, Chinese-Traditional and Simplified,
• February 29, 2008: Portuguese, Russian, Hebrew, Arabic, Hungarian, Greek, Turkish, Czech, Polish, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Dutch, Finnish, Slovenian, Thai

Noteworthy platform support additions in 7.0.3 include Windows Vista support for Notes, Designer, Admin clients and RHEL 5 Linux support for Domino server. The 7.0.3 fix list is already posted  here.

Update  - link to 7.0.3 product page ]]> http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dxcomments/notes-domino-7.0.3-available http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/notes-domino-7.0.3-available?opendocument&comments Thu, 11 Oct 2007 11:30:43 -0400 http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/domino-8-performance-advantages 8.0 Rob Ingram http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/domino-8-performance-advantages?opendocument&comments http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/domino-8-performance-advantages Domino 8 performance report on Developerworks. It reveals very significant reductions in I/O utilization compared to Domino 7, and at the same time shows no other significant performance tradeoffs  e.g: similar CPU usage compared to Domino 7. To sum up the report conclusions in one line.

"Lotus Domino 8 not only equals, but outperforms the previous release!"

Remember that all of this  an be achieved with no changes in your current Domino 7 hardware. This is a very compelling TCO reduction for the cost of a server upgrade. Many of these I/O performance gains are made possible by tuning done within the Notes 8 mail template and by enabling ODS 48 on the server databases.

All the Domino platforms are covered in the report.  Actual I/O savings will vary by platform, but here is one quote related to the Windows 2003 platform.

"This test confirms that Lotus Domino 8 improves on the performance and total cost of ownership (TCO) when compared to Lotus Domino 7. Upgrading to Lotus Domino 8 and the Notes 8 mail template showed a reduction of I/O usage in our tests with a decrease of more than 50% total disks reads and writes. "

The reported  data is based on the use of a new Notes 8 Notesbench test workload which is described in this new report. IBM Lotus Notes 8 workloads: Taking performance to a new level. This heavier and more realistic workload uses larger mail files and document sizes and adds in loads from other common Domino server tasks such as transaction logging, journaling, Domino Domain Monitoring and more. These new workloads are also now part of the server.load test suite that is available with Domino 8 should you wish to run your own benchmark tests for sizing. ]]> http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dxcomments/domino-8-performance-advantages http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/domino-8-performance-advantages?opendocument&comments Wed, 10 Oct 2007 17:35:59 -0400 http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/domino-6.5-eos-timeline-announced Domino Rob Ingram http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/domino-6.5-eos-timeline-announced?opendocument&comments http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/domino-6.5-eos-timeline-announced Ed Brill covered this topic in his blog , but in case you missed it here is the announced timeline for End of Service (EOS) for Notes and Domino 6.5  products.  Key EOS date is April 30 2009, giving  users lots of time to plan migrations to Domino 8.x or 7.x. ]]> http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dxcomments/domino-6.5-eos-timeline-announced http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/domino-6.5-eos-timeline-announced?opendocument&comments Fri, 5 Oct 2007 12:12:50 -0400 http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/lotus-notes-traveler-podcast Domino Rob Ingram http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/lotus-notes-traveler-podcast?opendocument&comments http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/lotus-notes-traveler-podcast Lotus Notes Traveler mobile email  feature which will be delivered in Domino 8.0.1. Bruce interviewed my fellow product manager Shawne Robinson who is responsible for mobile email.

Topics discussed include:

• Is this a separate client or does it work in conjunction with the native mail apps on Windows Mobile?
• Is it push, pull, or some sort of hybrid?
• How does the administration work on the Domino side? (HINT: it's a Domino server add-in, and one of the supported configurations will allow you to access mail files on Domino 7 servers)
• Security and encryption (128-bit encryption out-of-the-box, with an option to use Lotus Mobile Connect for even more secure connections).

]]> http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dxcomments/lotus-notes-traveler-podcast http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/lotus-notes-traveler-podcast?opendocument&comments Tue, 18 Sep 2007 13:35:00 -0400 http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/domino-8.0.1-details-announced 8.0 Rob Ingram http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/domino-8.0.1-details-announced?opendocument&comments http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/domino-8.0.1-details-announced announced news on many new capabilties in the Lotus collaboration suite including what's planned for Lotus Notes and Domino 8.0.1, due out in Q1 2008. A number of important new capabilities are planned for Domino 8.0.1 in addition to the regular continuous maintenance improvements.

• Database compression which significantly reduces the storage size of Domino databases
• Domino 64 bit native support option for Microsoft Windows 2003 and IBM AIX platforms (other 64 bit platforms will be deliver in follow on releases). 64 bit enables Domiono to address far larger memory on the server than allowed  by the current system limitations. We just kicked off the 64 bit code pre-beta last  week with ISV's and nominated customers.
• Support for FIPS 140-2 standards encryption for Notes delivered email will be added in 8.0.1.

In addition, we announced that 8.0.1 will deliver  a new capability, Lotus Notes Traveler, which enables basic mobile email replication over the air to wireless handheld devices, as well as a new Domino Web Access lite option for bandwidth constrained users. ]]> http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dxcomments/domino-8.0.1-details-announced http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/domino-8.0.1-details-announced?opendocument&comments Tue, 18 Sep 2007 13:30:00 -0400 http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/data-compression-in-8.0.1 8.0 Rob Ingram http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/data-compression-in-8.0.1?opendocument&comments http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/data-compression-in-8.0.1
Our initial lab performance tests using live mail files are showing an average savings of approximately 40% in storage space! The exact savings you should expect to see will depend on the content of an individual database. In addition, we are seeing further I/O reductions from this with no measurable CPU usage increase. This reduction is IN ADDITION TO the already lower I/O that is enabled with Domino 8.0 (We will be blogging about and posting the 8.0 performance gains results very soon).

This compression effort had originally been planned for delivery in Domino Next release, but the results of the work were so significant that we wanted to get this benefit in the hands of all customers as early as possible.  The setting to enable compression in 8.0.1 will be configurable, so you do not immediately need to convert all servers or DBs to the new compressed format.

We will publish  more details of our final test results as we move this capability into the Domino 8.0.1 shipping code  - 8.0.1 and this compression capability is due to be available in Q1 2008.

This will provide yet  another truly compelling economic reason to upgrade to Domino 8.x. ]]> http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dxcomments/data-compression-in-8.0.1 http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/data-compression-in-8.0.1?opendocument&comments Tue, 18 Sep 2007 13:34:00 -0400 http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/fips-140-2-support-in-domino-8.0.1 8.0 Rob Ingram http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/fips-140-2-support-in-domino-8.0.1?opendocument&comments http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/fips-140-2-support-in-domino-8.0.1 FIPS 140-2 standard.  To address this need, Notes 8.0.1 will support a configuration to use a FIPS 140-2 validated cryptographic module (IBM Crypto for C) and FIPS 140-2 approved algorithms for Notes email and document encryption.  In particular, this will include support for the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) algorithm for Notes mail, document and ID file encryption.   Support for AES may also be useful to address encryption requirements in other countries and organizations.

It's also worth noting that in Domino 8.0, customers can now configure SSL on the Domino server to use AES (either 128-bit or 256-bit). ]]> http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dxcomments/fips-140-2-support-in-domino-8.0.1 http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/fips-140-2-support-in-domino-8.0.1?opendocument&comments Tue, 11 Sep 2007 19:15:42 -0400 http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/how-internet-mail-threads-work-in-domino-8 8.0 Rob Ingram http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/how-internet-mail-threads-work-in-domino-8?opendocument&comments http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/how-internet-mail-threads-work-in-domino-8
Domino 8 added support for 'References' and 'In-Reply-To' IETF RFC 2822 header fields in addition to the 'Message-ID' header. The sending email system would also have to support these header fields for conversation threads to remain intact.

For Domino 8, we did some limited testing with various popular internet email systems. (this is not intended as support statement). At the time, only some of these mail systems appear to support  both new header fields and not all behaved consistently. Even Microsoft Outlook appeared to have different support levels for these headers when using different protocols  - eg MAPI vs IMAP and POP. Google Gmail and Thunderbird IMAP did appear to support the headers in our tests.

So internet conversation threads will work depending on the other system you are collaborating with.

For the real geeks out there, you can read the detailed RFC here, and refer to section 3.6 for the field definitions. ]]> http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dxcomments/how-internet-mail-threads-work-in-domino-8 http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/how-internet-mail-threads-work-in-domino-8?opendocument&comments Wed, 5 Sep 2007 09:15:00 -0400 http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/notesdomino-8.0-c-api-toolkits-posted 8.0 Rob Ingram http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/notesdomino-8.0-c-api-toolkits-posted?opendocument&comments http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/notesdomino-8.0-c-api-toolkits-posted
http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/lotus/downloads/.

Here are the toolkit platforms that are avaiable:-

Lotus C API Toolkit for Notes/Domino 8.0 for Win32
Lotus C API Toolkit for Notes/Domino 8.0 for UNIX
Lotus C API Toolkit for Notes/Domino 8.0 for i5/OS
Lotus C API Toolkit for Notes/Domino 8.0 for zOS ]]> http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dxcomments/notesdomino-8.0-c-api-toolkits-posted http://www.dominoblog.com/dominoblog/dblog.nsf/dx/notesdomino-8.0-c-api-toolkits-posted?opendocument&comments