DominoBaloney

Mass mailing is killing your Domino server? Killing the sender is not an option

2012-01-23T14:06:00.001+01:00

Some weeks ago a customer called me complaining that Domino was not working anymore and, guess what, we find out that somebody was sending a big memo to hundreds of people, memo containing a big attachment!

How to deal with that case? No way.... Unless you read the really useful AdminBlast 2012 slides from Paul Mooney (tip #21) and also the following IBM Technote:

How to avoid performance issues related to mass email delivery in Lotus Domino

You just need two notes.ini settings:

RouterMaxEffectiveSizeIncAttach=1

RouterMaxEffectiveSize=xxx (where xxx is in kilobytes.)

When enabled, this restriction will cause the router to present the Non-Delivery Failure (NDF) message when the number of recipients multiplied by the message size (in k bytes) is greater than the value specified by the notes.ini setting. The value of the RouterMaxEffectiveSize=setting is set in KB.

P.S.
Thanks Paul :-)

Wired: IBM's Suarez and his e-mail-less experience

2012-01-22T00:12:00.001+01:00

For Suarez, it’s not just more efficient. It’s a nicer way to communicate. There’s a “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy” kind of passive-aggressiveness to the way many people use corporate e-mail, with the strategic bcc and the cover-your-ass e-mail message. “If you have been using e-mail in a corporate environment, you know that plenty of people use e-mail as a weapon against their own colleagues,” he says. “This was also creating a new way of working where you wouldn’t need to justify the work you did. You earned trust from your colleagues by being a lot more public, a lot more open and a lot more transparent in what you do.”

Via Wired article

Updates to the "Sametime 8.5.2 From zero to hero" installation guide

2011-12-21T10:33:00.000+01:00

In my previous post I wrote some remarks about installing Sametime 8.5.2, using a guide edited by Frank Altenburg from IBM Germany.

Frank informed me that he has updated his useful guide to install Sametime 8.5.2 in a pilot deployment to minimize the number of servers involved.

Once again, he did a great job, really step-by-step instructions.

Some remarks about installing Sametime 8.5.2

2011-12-02T17:25:00.000+01:00

Some weeks ago I installed a pilot Sametime 8.5.2 Standard infrastructure following the REALLY GREAT guide written by Frank Altenburg from IBM Germany.

Frank did a great job describing the step-by-step procedure on Windows OS.

IBM Sametime 8.5.2 Installation - From Zero To Hero - Basics

View more presentations from Frank Altenburg

After the installation I wrote some remarks about Frank's guide, hoping that it will be useful to other people doing it for the first time (I already forworded my notes to Frank).

--- START ---

Copy/paste command from the guide:
beware copy/paste text from the PDF file, because strange chars are included in the paste.
Even if I used a text editor to make the paste command, I had to remove the "strange" double quotes included in the commands (maybe a German char?), replacing them with "normal" double quotes chars.

PAGE 11: THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT!
item 3, about the Media Manager NOT working when installing it with a DNS Alias.
That's really important and, in my opinion, should be stressed even more.
In my experience, I overlooked it (my fault!), and continued the all installation until the end.

BUT then when I arrived to test the web A/V plug-in, it did not worked (connecting...).
Even I tried to enable the debug for the A/V plug-in but that was useless to understand the cause of the problem. I just realized that it was a connection problem.
Luckily for some reason I remembered the remark in page 11 (survival instinct):

PAGE 177: TESTING THE WEB CHAT
I tried to test this feature at this time of the installation but it was not working at that time:
I decided to continue the installation with STEP 12 (page 178, post installation) to set the Windows services and dependencies and virtual hosts, and restarted the server. After the restart, the webchat was working fine.

PAGE 346: SERVICE NAME ERROR
in the SC command text, the name of the service IS "IBMWAS70Service – STMediaServer_NA", not "IBMWAS70Service – STMediaServer_NS".
But luckily the screen-shot shows the correct command.

PAGE 390: DIRECTORY NAME (bold) where to create the Plugin directory, did not exist.
The dir name
“C:\IBM\WebSphere\AppServer\

profiles\webchatSTPPNProfile1\installedApps\sametimeSSCCell\SametimeProxy.ear\stproxyweb.war”,
it did not exist in my installation (at following the order of installation of the guide...):
I found out the dir name should be:
“C:\IBM\WebSphere\AppServer\profiles\webchatSTPPNProfile1\installedApps\webchatSSCCell\SametimeProxy.ear\stproxyweb.war”

PAGE 391: WRONG URL TO CHECK THE VERSION OF THE PLUGIN
The correct URL is
http://webchat.renovations.com/stwebclient/Plugin/VersionInfo.txt

PAGE 405: JUST A REMARK
This is not wrong, just some people maybe did not create any rooms in advance, maybe they do not know how to do that, and the example URL makes sense only for your server not for the guy making the installation: I was so tired during this step that I thought that the URL should exist also in my installation ;-)
My fault.

--- END ---

Sametime client for iPhone / iPad... but not from IBM.

2011-11-23T10:35:00.001+01:00

QuipIM for Sametime Standard from conundrumsoftware

It's not a free app (3.99 EUR), but you do not need to install/manage a Sametime Proxy server to allow iPhone / iPad users to connect using the brand-new free app developed by IBM.

Just connect to your Sametime Community server: it simply works.

Monster Domino databases: finally I catched one!

2011-11-13T21:32:00.000+01:00

P.S.
click on the image to zoom.

Installing Traveler 8.5.3 on Domino for Linux: installer hung.

2011-11-11T12:13:00.001+01:00

Yesterday I tried to install Lotus Notes Traveler 8.5.3 on SUSE SLES 11 SP1 64bit, virtualized on VMWARE. I did it directly from the Linux box, running the GUI installer inside a terminal window.

The Traveler installer started normally, in graphical mode: unfortunately, after a few screens asking some parameters, the installer hung (this installation will time some time...) for a long time, never completing the installation process.

I also tried to run the text-mode installer script (silent mode), also this from the a terminal window opened directly on the Linux box, but no luck.

I googled on the web for a solution, other people seems to have my issue:
it seems that the problem is about IBM java vm on Linux (maybe), so one hint was killing some (stuck?) java processes in Linux. For me, killing java processes was not useful.

To make this story short, I opened a Putty terminal connection to Linux and run the silent mode installer (text-mode): bingo, the installation ended correctly (and quickly).

Here is the official Traveler 8.5.3 documentation

Need to mobilize attachments saved in your precious Notes DBs?

2011-11-05T16:19:00.001+01:00

then have a look to Lialis Lotus Webdav!

Some months ago I personally met with Marten Vosmer and I could feel his passion and commitment developing this useful product. Great job.

Here's a useful demo:

Happy Birthday Kevin, already 2 years old!

2011-11-04T00:19:00.002+01:00

So pround of you Kevin, we all love you so much, son.

Permalink for IBM Technotes?

2011-10-18T15:33:00.001+02:00

Every now and then, looking for an old IBM Technote , the link is missing, both in some blog posts and also from a Google search result...

Just for example

My blog post url:
http://www.dominobaloney.com/2011/04/ibm-technote-of-day-imap-view-and.html

title: IMAP view and folder synching
url: https://www-304.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21447408

Even in the Google search, the main result url points to an IBM url:
http://www.google.it/search?q=ibm+%22imap+view+and+folder+synching%22&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

Is there any way use permanent links for IBM Technotes?
Or an automatic redirect mechanism from IBM?
Or am I missing something?

Symantec and Backup Exec for Domino: happy (sweet and sour) ending

2011-07-30T14:31:00.000+02:00

Somebody will remember my complains about a Symantec support a ticket I opened some months ago and was not still solved in the proper way. Also Keith had some problem with the Symantec support.

Luckly Ron Ruggles, a Symantec Senior Product Manager, read our blog posts and personally apologize for the delays and for the bad perception we had about their technical support.

Moreover he involved the best technicians to try to solve our tickets asap (in my case Russ Perry) .

I was still so disappointed with Symantec that I did not want to spend more time on the subject, Symantec already had lots of logs file, comments, e-mail, and so forth. No need to make other conferences, end of story.

Anyhow Russ took all the info from their Knowledge Base, created a test environement by himself and find a workaround. He send me a memo inviting me to test the workaround: I asked my client to give another try and we verified that it works. Russ also wrote a Technote in case other customers will face my same problem.

Here are some thought on this experience:

before Ron and Russ intervention, I gave up with Symantec Backup Exec for Lotus and I would never recommend it to other customers: now I changed my idea, at least I'm willing to give Symantec another try, even though I'm still afraid of the support, but at lease now I have the email address of Ron and Russ ;-)
blog post are useful to share experience about a product: company like Symantec cannot afford to have an online bad reputation, and I appreciated Symantec decided to commit with our cases
I expected Symantec to avoid such bad situation in advance, not just fix them afterward when it can be too late. How? Make statistics about open tickets, calculate average solution time for tickets, involve more experience people when tickets are open for too long, have the chief support officer call customers to have feedback about too long opened tickets, not trust just the support people but force them to pass it to other more competent people
by my side, I should not have been so patient with the support people, silently collecting logs, waiting for this and that reason: since I did not know Backup Exec, I trusted completly the Symantec guys and silently followed all their instructions, and that was not good
who is going to pay for the days we spent on the tickets? Is Symantec giving free license, a fruit basket or any other bonus because of that bad experience we had? little hope...

Anyhow, I really thank Ron and Russ for their commitment to solve our problems, they made the difference, welcome back Symantec.

Need to access/sync Quickr files from an iPad (or any webdav client) ?

2011-07-16T19:15:00.004+02:00

During UKLUG2011 I had the chance to meet with Marten Vosmer from Lialis.
We had a nice chat all the evening, both guests of the Crossware dinner in the oldest pub in Manchester.

Marten's company is developing a webDav interface for files hosted on Lotus Quickr, both for download/sync documents and also for uploading! Think about iPad/iPhone webdav-compliant apps!
More info here.

I like when a business partner is filling in a market gap left from IBM.

You can see a demo from the following youtube video, using goodReader app from an iPad:

P.S.
BTW, Marten you owe me a Lialis XXL t-shirt ;-)

Thoughts about Symantec and Backup Exec 2010 with DAOS-enabled Domino server

2011-07-07T01:51:00.002+02:00

Somebody will remember my previous post about issues with BE 2010 agent for Domino on a DAOS-enabled Domino server...
It seems I'm not alone complaining about Symantec technical support, opening tickets for a long time (mid Feb in my case), or trying to close them without a solution.

In my specific case, after months collecting logs and receiving several phone calls from Symantec, I reached the last level of Symatec support: after some attempts, they found out a "solution" for the backing-up DAOS-enabled databases:
move the DAOS base directory INSIDE the Domino DATA directory, usually not recommended (even though that's the default setting, which is "DAOS" dir inside the Domino DATA dir).

Actually I like engineers from the Symantec Support, very kind people, but some of them don't have a clue about what a Lotus Domino server is (they are just logs collectors), whilst others don't know WHY my DAOS base dir cannot be outside the DATA dir (they said that the sw agent just relies on Domino API for DAOS) ....

Anyhow, now the backup is running: I will monitor the Domino server to see IF it will face any performance issues.

BTW, what is your solution for a Backup agent for Domino, DAOS-compatible, that you are happy with it?

BES: KB04533-"IT Policy Rejected. Please wipe handheld and try again." error received during enterprise activation

2011-07-06T09:46:00.001+02:00

KB04533-"IT Policy Rejected. Please wipe handheld and try again." error received during enterprise activation

DDive 2001, the Italian Lotus User Group event!

2011-07-01T00:49:00.004+02:00

Starting 1st July evening until Sunday 3rd July, DDive 2001, the Italian LUG event, will be held inside a castle, the Valbona castle! Not joking, it's a real castle, not a Disney-style one, built around year 1200.

The location is really nice, in Veneto region, famous for Arts, food and wine.

The event idea is great:
not-only yellow bleeders (turning to blueish...), but also their family; half a day speeches, half a day funny activities.

I previously planned to attend the event, bringing also my family (yes, including Kevin!) but suddenly a friend of mine decided to get married, so I decided for my friend great day ;-)

Actually I will miss meeting the Italian LUG community, especially the event core organizers, ie Claudio Meregalli, Daniele Grillo and the new acclaimed IBM champ Giuseppe Grasso.

Good luck to ALL the speakers, especially Fabrizio Marchesano, Vittorio Foschi and IBMers Roberto Boccadoro, Marco Paolini and Davide Pannuto!

Ed Brill is the guest star, don't miss his closing speech!
Ed, don't miss this chance to taste Northern Italian food, in the Anthony Bourdain style ;-)

See you next year!

Lotus Domino R5, long time no see...

2011-06-24T14:28:00.001+02:00

Just recently I had the change to administer an R5 Domino server...
Kind of a different era, strange feeling for the time running away... ;-)

P.S.
Upgrade planned!

Welcome Quickr Connector for Windows 64 bit !

2011-06-07T14:38:00.002+02:00

Steve Foley from IBM kindly informed me about the long-awaited full-working release of Quickr Connector for Windows 64-bit!
Thanks Steve. See my previous post here .

Quickr Connectors are now officially support Windows 7 64-bit as well as Office 2010 (32-bit and 64-bit support). This support includes Windows 7 64-bit Explorer.

IBM FixCentral - Quickr Connectors 8.5.0.1_HF7 and may be deployed in production by any appropriately licensed customer.

Backup for a Domino server? Disappointed with Symantec BE 2010....

2011-05-19T00:14:00.001+02:00

Having some really nasty issues with Backup Exec 2010 remote agent for Domino 8.5.2 64 bit, DAOS enabled, Windows 2008 R2 (64 bit)... Officially supported.

Not working when trying to backup DAOS-enabled mailboxes!

After a while (it seems is collecting the test .nsf file first) I get the error
0xe000fe09 - The directory is invalid

I suspect it is a matter of DAOS dir directory, but I'm not sure...

Problem is I contacted the Symantec Support and I had several session with different people, for many weeks, investigating several areas, escalating the ticket higher and higher.

I talked with different support guys, very polite people indeed, but they could not find a solution.

Usually they query the knowledge base, but they have little o no experience with Lotus Domino servers.
I expected to meet some really expert guy, both BE 2010 AND Lotus Domino+DAOS metter.

After many weeks I obtained to talk with another engineer, Symantec guy called it backline engineer if I'm not wrong.... (!?).

I cannot count how many tests I did in behalf of Symantec usually in conference call:

several sessions to get low-level logs, both Domino side and BE 2010 server (enabled special registry keys)
uninstalling/deleting Notes client from the server (not a good practise anyhow)
setting the PATH env variable
walking inside the Windows registry
running a tool called Dependency Walker on a specific BE executable file
running daosmg sync command, even if all was already synched
restaring just the Domino service several times
restarting several times the Windows server hosting Domino
pinging Domino host from several hosts
exploring Domino notes.ini
...

I wonder if you have a better feedback with BE 2010 remote agent for Lotus Domino, especially 64 bit on a Windows 64 bit release.

Please report.

Traveler Can't create Java VM ?

2011-05-14T05:59:00.000+02:00

If you find out that your Lotus Notes Traveler task is not starting and you get an error message like

Traveler::AddInMain: Can't create Java VM

on the Domino consolle, you can start finding the cause from the following IBM Technote:

"Traveler::AddInMain: Can't create Java VM" message during Lotus Traveler start-up

Actually in my specific case the problem was about my server little memory, as suggested in a previous forum post by Corey Quinn.

In the Domino server notes.ini I added the following parameter

NTS_Java_Parms=-Xms96m -Xmx128m

to limit the max memory for the Java VM: the Traveler is back to life.

My Traveler is not the latest version available from IBM, so I'm not sure if it is a memory leak of the sw or it's just time to replace ther server itself ;-)

How does Quickr round-trip editing works in Firefox?

2011-04-26T13:01:00.003+02:00

Some days ago I had an issue with a Quickr feature called round-trip editing.

With round-trip feature enabled (default), if the Quickr Connector is installed and running on the local machine, a user watching a Quickr web page can click on a button named "Edit document":
clicking the button, the file is edited and managed by the local Quickr Connector (Windows only, of course), that is, for example, edit a file inside MS Word.

If the Connector is NOT installed on the user pc, that button will not be shown. (*)

The round-trip feature is also available on Firefox browser.

For some reason, the user could not see the "Edit document" button on the Quickr web page, even though the Connector was locally installed!

Moreover I wondered HOW a web browser like Firefox, not supporting ActiveX technology, could know that the Quickr Connector was installed on the user pc...

Luckily I got the answer from David on the Quick forum:
the local Quickr Connector is listening on port 42073 on localhost and the Quickr web page makes a call/reference http://localhost:42073/connectors.js to get info from the Connector (if Connector available).Wow!

Great news to know that web technique, for some reason I thought a call would not be allowed on a localhost machine...

Knowing the above technique, I found out that the user web browser was set with Proxy settings and "localhost" was not excluded by the proxy management. Bingo!

(*)
Administrators can control the round-trip feature on server qpconfig.xml .

IBM technote of the day: "IMAP view and folder synching"

2011-04-21T15:45:00.000+02:00

Interesting technote for those who still use an IMAP client to access Domino mail messages.

MAP view and folder synching

Quickr Connector on Windows 7 64 bit? No release date...

2011-04-14T09:46:00.000+02:00

Wondering why it is not yet available a Quickr Connector fully compatible with Windows 7 64 bit OS...

Yes, you can still use the Office Connector, the Notes Connector, but from my experience, what many customers REALLY want is the Windows Explorer integration that allows them to copy/paste files, etc.(also read Luis post ).

It seems that IBM will release an update the second half of this year (news from Lotusphere 2011), but I have no certain date from IBM.

I know many users getting pc with Windows 7 64 bit and they are, let's say, "frustrated" that they can't use the Windows Explorer integration.

Sadly I'm not alone, but "trouble shared is NOT trouble halved".

FileSendr 1.1.0: working with Chrome and Firefox, not working with IE8...

2011-03-04T10:18:00.004+01:00

I had some issues with FileSendr using big files on all major browsers, even correctly setting HTTP post and request sizes, XPages extlib, on my Domino 8.5.2 FP1, as described by the app author.

Finally I got it to work with Firefox 3.6.x and Chrome browsers.

At the beginning I change some Domino dojo 1.4.3 directory Uploader files, with bad results.

Since the problem seems related with the dojo Uploader component, I made a brand-new Domino dojo 1.5.0 directory, as described by the app author in the docs:

After that change, FileSendr is working correctly on FF and Chrome, but still not IE8...

From the openNTF forum it seems that also other people are having my very same issue... but still no solution found.

UPDATE 7th March.
I setup my Domino server with the following settings:
server doc -> HTTP Protocol Limits -> Maximum size of request content: 0 (unlimited KB)
web site doc -> Post data -> Maximum POST data (in kilobytes): 0 (unlimited)
Moreover, sometimes I experience that, somehow, the file upload progress bar is not trustworthy.

UPDATE 11th March.
I decided to install the very-first version of FileSendr - Release: V0.01, NOT based on Dojo 1.5:
too many issues with FileUploader 1.5 and IE 8...

P.S.
I guess the openNTF Discussions and Defects views need to be fixed:
the creation date column is not properly sorting the main posts.

Your Notes HTTP password changed? iPhone Traveler users...

2011-02-20T18:35:00.000+01:00

..., don't forget to change also your Traveler mail profile password inside your iPhone (or iPad) device:
I forgot to do it and of couse I had troubles with mail sync... ;-)

Luckily I remembred that I recently changed the HTTP password, so also I updated it on my Traveler mail profile too, and all is working now.
For the records, I also had to reset my device (Traveler web page or Domino console command) because my Traveler state was "unknow".

After I solved the problem I also found the info on the IBM docs.

Manually changing the password on the iPhone device too is really annoying, not really an "enterprise" way.
Or am I missing something?!

I can see blackberry / BES people laughing... ;-)

P.S.
BTW, I still have a Lotus Traveler version 8.5.1.2 .

Jim working on JDBC-based Relational Database XPages DataSource!

2011-02-09T22:28:00.001+01:00

Glad to know that Jim Quill has a blog and is writing about XPages, he's one of the few XPages gurus around.

I met him at ILUG 2010 and he's really a friendly guy, willing to help me with an XPages issue at the "Meet the Developers" area.

His boss, Philippe, during a LP2011 session told everybody that Jim will develop the "JDBC-based Relational Database XPages DataSource" and also "make it available on OpenNTF.org pretty soon as an open source contribution to the community".

Good news for us, a bad news for Jim who will work on it during night hours: have some good espresso coffee, not a Java blend :-)

How move your DAOS repository to another directory? (updated)

2011-01-14T11:46:00.003+01:00

From the Domino Administrator docs' "Managing the attachment storage repository" :

To move or restore the DAOS repository

From the Domino Administrator, click the Configuration tab and then expand the Server section.
Select the Server document to be edited and then click Edit Server.
Click the DAOS tab.
In the "DAOS base path" field, specify the new location for the directory. Save the Server document.
Stop the Domino server.
Do one of the following:

To move the DAOS repository directory, create the new directory in the new location, and use your operating system to copy the entire contents of the existing notesdatadirectory /DAOS directory to it.
To restore the DAOS repository directory, from your backup file, copy the backed-up contents of the notesdatadirectory /DAOS directory to the new file location.

Restart the Domino server.

UPDATE!
I just found out that you HAVE to restart the SERVER (hw or virtual):
restarting just the Lotus Domino service IS NOT enough!
After that, all will be fixed, no need to delete the daos.cfg (at least on Windows OS...) or manually update the notes.ini.

To get the above solution, I issued a "tell daosmgr status" and found out that:

14/01/2011 15.37.46 basePath = E:\Lotus\DAOS NEW PATH SET...
14/01/2011 15.37.46 baseStoragePath = d:\lotus\DAOS OLD PATH STILL REFERENCED!
14/01/2011 15.37.46 storagePath = d:\lotus\DAOS\0004\

Then I googled for "baseStoragePath" and found a great post by Paul Ferris: Moving DAOS Folder

fileSendr !

2011-01-12T00:45:00.004+01:00

Interesting utility from Declan Lynch to share large files: fileSendr
I also had to install XPages Extension Library on my Lotus Domino 8.5.2 server to make it work.

From openNTF:

With fileSendr you upload your big attachments to the fileSendr web interface and then use it to send an email message to your recipient that contains a link to download the file.

The link is valid for a set number of days and after that the file is removed from the system saving you disk space by not having it stored in a users sent box.

fileSendr is similar to services provided by YouSendIt or SendThisFile however you host it on your own systems giving the administrator tighter control over how long files are available and without the costly enterprise plans you would need to use external services.

ILUG 2010 memory snapshots

2010-11-17T02:43:00.004+01:00

ILUG2010 was my second ILUG event for me, I also attended the 2007 edition with my colleague and friend Vincenzo. This year another colleague, Fabrizio, was part of the "Italian dream team" in Northern Ireland ;-)

I thank the company I work for, Gruppo Ciemme, for allowing three people to join the ILUG.

I must admit I was a little bit worried that this year event would be disappointing because the 2007 edition was really amazing, brilliant and also a big surprise since it was my first Lotus Community event ever.
I was wrong.

For many reason the 2010 event was amazing as much as 2007.

I could make a list of all technical stuff I learned in Belfast, but I'll take some snapshots from my weak memory, just a listing driven by my emotions rather than from my brain.

Here's the list I liked/not liked in no specific order:

the kindness of Eileen Fitzgerald: always a pleasure to talk with her

the food from Northern Ireland:
it was ok tasting the Irish breakfast based on eggs, bacon, sauges and beans, but not everyday! One day we had the brilliant idea to ask for a typical Irish dish in a little town and, guess what, we received an all-friend dish (bacon, 2 sausages, beans, one egg, fried bread) for lunch. No dinner that night...
But we also eat fish and chips, some tasy soups and some Irish dessert too.
the smartness of Paul Mooney and all other guys working for the ILUG, both organizers and speakers
meeting Jim Quill at the XPages support area:
gosh, I asked him for a hint, he worked on my laptop and also called a colleague from the Lab to solve my problem. Amazing guy.
meeting Tony McGuckin and Martin Donnelly from the IBM XPages team in Ireland:
friendly guys working for our future ;-) They will release a book about XPages available after Lotusphere
meeting Ulrich Krause:
Mr. DAOS and chef of HappyTrigger on openNTF; I found out that he's from Duisburg (Germany), the same place where my Italian uncle and aunt worked for 30 years in a steel company.
finally meeting Ed Brill: really a friendly guy, jumping on the stage to publicly thank Paul Mooney for his efforts about ILUG (from all of us). Ed was also nice to answer my question about Traveler for Android 2.x
meeting Mary Beth Raven: always a pleasure to talk with her
finally talking with Julian "OpenLog" Robichaux:
this guy is a really a geek. And also a great podcaster on Taking Notes with Bruce Elgort.
He likes an old Italian dish: spaghetti with meat balls, as in The Sopranos ... ;-)
missing Bruce Elgort:
somebody told me that Bruce was not attending the ILUG event because Mr. Obama invited him to get first-hand info about the IdeaJam project ;-)
talking with Maureen Leland, chief Lotus Designer engineer:
interesting preview of 8.5.3 , source control ideas shared with the community ("shadow sources" new expression invented in ILUG 2010!). And she's also mother of six children! Wow.
talking with several taxi drivers in Belfast:
the subject most the time was soccer (Mr. Ancellotti in Chelsea, Mancini in Manchester City, old glory Zola) and also Italian food (pasta, ravioli, Bolognese tomato sauce with minced meat). Sometimes we talked about "the troubles" in town, politics of course, but never too deeply.
visiting "the murales" in Belfast, in the evening:
really amazing paintings reminding me of a bloody conflict I never really studied at school.
When back in Italy, I was amazed that our taxi driver was a history student that knew about the catholic-protestant conflict. Fate.
low temperature in Belfast:
really cold , brrrr. One evening it was so raining and so windy that I broke my umbrella and I also got so wet that I ran back to the hotel room.
Visiting the Rope Bridge and Giant Causeway:
interesting places worth a visit
meeting friendly sponsors guys:
Teamstudio's Mr. Bonanno, Simon and Micaela, Crossware's Paul, Integra's smart people (I apologize I can't remember your names), Notesconnector's guys from Minnesota, RIM's smart Jennifer and all the other sponsors.
some interesting pubs:
"The Crown" pub of course, a pub with warm music and also a tiny pub without turists but genuine atmosphere
meeting Miguel Calvo:
he's part of the Spanish user group community and he stopped me during a lunch break to say hello and have a chat. Nice guy.
meeting Rob Novak:
nice guy as usual, and not only for the Guinness beer ;-)
meeting Jamie Magee & Franziska Tanner, Matt White & Tim Clark, Bob Balaban, Steve McDonagh, and all blosphere stars
winning some prizes in ILUG:
ok, Mr. Miller is a lucky man ("busone" in Bolognese slang), he won an iPad and a BB phone...
But I won a BB Media Pack and Vincenzo an iPod Touch! Not bad.

Sorry if my list is not complete I skipped someone, getting older...

Unluckely I will not attend Lotusphere 2011, unless someone has a free entrance ticket for me... ;-)

In the mean time, I'll enjoy the memories from ILUG 2010. Cheers!

Java forever

2010-11-01T18:33:00.001+01:00

Best practices to kill your Domino performances?

2010-10-13T22:47:00.000+02:00

Recently I had the chance to see some Lotus Domino boxes (version 8.5.1) with really bad configurations or out of control situations:

Domino transaction log dir set to the SAME disk unit as Domino data directory
DAOS directory inside the Domino data dir
a Notes database with the size of almost 64 GB and with nasty access troubles
a Domino mail directory, defined as a link under the data dir but actually saved to an external USB disk formatted as FAT32

Is there anything worse than that ? ;-)

Is your Lotus Domino 8.5.2 crashing?

2010-10-02T11:58:00.000+02:00

I've installed a few Domino 8.5.2 server + interim fix 1 (HF16), but just yesterday one customer called me complaining that his server was crashing 3 times in one hour.

After my initial surprise I collected the text log files from the server and analyze them (also using the Lotus Notes Diagnostic tool). I found the following IBM 1445756 Technote "Domino server crashed frequently after upgrade to 8.5.2 in DbSearchSyncUnread function" () inviting us to call the IBM Lotus Support.

After my phone call to IBM, I received the HF26 hot fix in one hour. So far so good.

German have good taste for wine

2010-09-19T22:44:00.001+02:00

Glad to hear that Cantina Tollo winery won an award as the best Cooperative winery in Europe!

I really love their Colle Secco Rubino Montepulciano d'Abruzzo wine and I never miss to buy some bottles when I go back to Abruzzo. Usually I give it as a gift to my friends and they never complain, for sure ;-)

"... an extraordinary award for the Abruzzo Region: the election of Cantina Tollo as the best Cooperative winery in Europe. The nomination came from the German publisher Meininger, the most important in Germany for specialized reviews, which in the last issue of Weinwirtshaft reports Cantina Tollo as the winner ahead of France (1 point per cent difference) and Germany (2.7 per cent). Also on a national level, great was the surprise. Even though among the top 10 wineries there are those from the north of Italy, with 4 cooperative from Alto Adige , 2 in Trentino and one in Piedmont, Cantina Tollo's winning states the first place is completely from Abruzzo, even in comparison with "jewels" such as the Alto Adige Winery Terlan, or Cavit from Trento. The news was announced at the end of July, but nobody thought that the grading refers to the entire Europe, not only to Italy. Cantina Tollo’s victory proves once again that our country has everything it takes to win the French myth and that central Italy has the capability of competing with real "models" of success The evaluation criterion was wine tasting."

When Borland was talking about OOP

2010-09-18T13:30:00.001+02:00

Glad to find the following VHS video in my hometown bookshelf.

I bought it from a newstand in the early nineties, that time the Web was still not available.

I was so thrilled about OOP ;-)

Lotus Domino server: when OLE Automation stop working...

2010-09-02T10:15:00.000+02:00

There was a Domino server happily running on Windows 2008 64-bit and there was a scheduled LS agent too.

Usually that agent, using OLE Automation, created MS Excel worksheets there were temporary saved in the Windows temp folder: suddenly it stopped working! how come?!

It was useless to trap any error message inside the code...No error messages, nothing, and only when running server-side (client-side it was fine).

Before almost getting crazy, the answer to the was found on the IBM forum (thanks Beppe) that send me to the StackOverflow post.

I created the missing folder "Desktop" in the following path:
C:\Windows\SysWOW64\config\systemprofile\Desktop

After that, the agent was running as expected.

My beloved Quickr 8.5 (beta 8) new features

2010-08-29T00:22:00.000+02:00

As and old fan of Quickplace (Quickr old name) since version 2.x, I was thrilled to join the managed beta for Quickr 8.5 (thanks Karen).

I had the chance to view the latest beta (code drop 8) and I am happy to see important features developed for Quickr by the IBM team: congrats guys, you are doing a great job.

Also my colleagues liked the new features but the usual exclamation was "Finally!" (hard to hear some "Wow" nowadays...). Many Quickr users are waiting those new features since a long time ago, and often they hearing buzz about that "Sharepoint" competitor. Time to fight back! ;-)

Darren already outlined his favored new features, I will write my favorite new features too (we aware that I'm writing about code drop 8 only, and not sure to be final in GA):

web interface localized according to the browser language setting: (my ideajam)
Quickr hosted by Domino for Linux
recycle bin availability
ability to set ACL for folders (no need to create a Room to accomplish the same goal)
less server/clients round-trips to accomplish the publishing of documents (e.g. attachments, readers,authors just set in one window)
posting and comments on the same web page
ActiveX not needed anymore by the browser

I cannot wait to install the new Quickr 8.5 on our production server, when it will available for GA (maybe next month, officially supported on Domino 8.5.1 FP3, unless dojo 1.3.2 is still available...).

P.S.
Other beta testers really likes the Quickr integration with FileNet and the new List element.
A special thank to Rob Novak for his support.

Cavalli runnin free on green Google prairies?

2010-08-21T10:12:00.000+02:00

So, Roberto Cavalli Italian fashion company moved to Google apps.

"So what is the value of all of this? We estimate that by adopting the tools which simplify our work and allow us to cut down on the time we spend on non-critical tasks, such as searching for old e-mails or organizing meetings, we can save up to 40,000 Euros per year in overhead costs and through increased productivity. However, there is another extremely important point we should not forget, even though more difficult to measure: the satisfaction of our employees who appreciate the technology that helps them work better and more creatively."

more info...

Btw, Cavalli is the Italian word for "horses" ;-)

- Posted using BlogPress on iPhone

Running mail rules over previous mail messages?

2010-08-19T11:37:00.001+02:00

Some new Notes users, when they approach the client for the first time, are surprised that it's not possible to run a mail rule over previous,old messages.

You can write a new rule but it will be applied to new messages only...
In my opinion that feature should be standard in Notes, it would be handy.

Just yesterday I downloaded Mail Rule Utilities, a plugin from Bob Balfe, that will install a button on the Lotus Notes toolbar and allows the users to select and run Notes mail rules (defined in the users mailbox) over a folder (usually Inbox). Great tool!

Moreover you can read Bob's article about his developing of the mail plug-in.

By the way, I installed the plugin on my Notes 8.5.2 beta and it works.

POP3 Collect: just upgraded to version 0.9

2010-08-16T12:41:00.000+02:00

I've just upgraded to the latest version of POP3 Collect, the freeware add-in task for Lotus Domino to collect POP3 accounts mail messages.

This tool is getting better and better, thanks to Andy Brunner commitment and, of course, also thanks to users who give feedback about the application.

Some release notes for version 0.9:

Update: Set current date/time for POP3 messages without a valid date time. Thanks to Pumynt Chooboonraj for his help to debug this problem.
Update: Process remaining account documents for the same connection after POP3 errors (TCP/IP connect or POP3 login error).
Update: Quickstart help screen for POP3Collect startup options.
Update: The code should now be more resistent in special cases, such as invalid formatted MIME messages.
New: Send Non-Delivery-Notification to recipient if POP3 message delivery has failed.

More info from Andy Brunner's company web page.

Do you want to Jailbreak my iPhone?

2010-08-06T22:50:00.000+02:00

Anybody around me having an iPhone is simply jailbreak (eg. crack) it, somebody from day 1 others after some weeks.
I am simply stopping myslef to do it, I don't think it is a good idea in the long run, even though my geek side would like to do it... ;-)

I don't like some Apple decisions (eg about some interface matters not solved yet or solved too late), but I must admit Apple decisions are successful.

So, at the end of day, what I like most about the iPhone?

Some reasons:

the interface is cute and most of the time friendly (even some not-geek granny can use it!)
not many virus yet or security issues found (ok, forget about the PDF issue...)
the AppStore is filled with many apps
the iPhone is a standard, like it or not...

Some friends told me that with the crack you can download all apps, even the expensive ones....

You know what? That's the same old story that can be applied to music too, and I'm getting tired....

I just want to download and pay all the apps I think I like, I want to carefully evaluate and decide what I need for my phone, not just download thousand of apps I will never use or willing to fully understand.

So, for now I will keep my "virgin" iPhone 3GS as usual, upgrade iTunes and also upgrade the iPhone iOS to 4.0.1 .

Maybe one night my geek side will surrender, but not tonight! ;-)

DDive! Have fun and keep up-to-date

2010-07-26T14:53:00.000+02:00

DominoPoint, the Italian Lotus User Group, is organizing a really interesting week-end for all Lotus fans!

From 3rd to 5th September, friday to sunday, people can join together, have fun and learn all up-to-date news about our beloved Lotus and Websphere platforms.

The event is held in Folgaria village, northern Italy, nice village also interesting for geeks's families and partners: you can have several activities like Nordic Walking, Golf, Mountain Biking, Shiatzu and / or eat the tasty Italian food/drinks of the area.

Have fun!

More info here:

http://ddive.dominopoint.it/

Unfortunately I cannot join the event because I will not be in Italy that time. Shame on me ;-)

My vacation tour will continue with my wife, little Kevin and my parents in law, maybe eating some wurstel and drinking beer, or some Asian food as usual...

Later I will post about our previous tour in Paris, Amsterdam (and other Dutch towns) and Italy.

Old LS proposal on IdeaJam still willing promoting

2010-06-28T23:05:00.000+02:00

Currently I'm consuming a Web Service from a Domino Agent written in Java, takin advantage from the cute WSDL import wizard.

Before that I tried to use a LotusScript agent to consume that same web service, but soon I had to stop it because function/classes names inside the WSDL file were too long, over the allowed 40 chars....

For me it seemed like an old LS problem with some kind of web services, and actually I found the following old IdeaJam post: don't get me wrong, I like java, but I am still more confortable with LS ;-)

IBM Technote: Is Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy supported for Domino backups?

2010-06-24T21:41:00.000+02:00

A friend told me it was possible to use Shadow Copy for Domino backup when the server is runnning, but the answer is "no"...

Is Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy supported for Domino backups?

IBM Technote: Steps for configuring IBM Lotus Notes Traveler 8.0.1.x and Lotus Sametime 8 or Lotus Quickr 8.1 on the same system

2010-06-17T14:18:00.000+02:00

In case somebody wondered about coexistence of Lotus Sametime/Quickr and Traveler, I found the following technote:

Steps for configuring IBM Lotus Notes Traveler 8.0.1.x and Lotus Sametime 8 or Lotus Quickr 8.1 on the same system

Unified e-mail on iPhone OS 4 with Lotus Traveler

2010-06-08T15:37:00.000+02:00

Since we have a developer account on Apple.com, we downloaded OS 4 firmware for my iPhone 3GS:

I setup my private Gmail account and the Lotus Traveler account for my Lotus Notes mailbox.

Later I will test all new features (multi-tasking, folders, etc.)

Note: installing the new firmware requires to download the new iTunes 9.2 beta available ONLY for Mac.

The firmware itself is available in .dmg file format.

Downloading Notes/Domino 8.5.2 beta code drop 5

2010-06-05T13:50:00.000+02:00

Troubles installing Lotus Traveler on iPad...

2010-05-31T14:18:00.000+02:00

Although some friends succeed (e.g. David Leedy post), I could not install Traveler on the company iPad :-(

I tried some techniques:

the usual installation via Safari browser:
automatic profile generation did not work, so I manually generated a a file for Apple, but unfortunately the browser could not manage the profile file....
I also tried to add the mail account through a classic Exchange account
(see a post from Claudio Borsotti), but I did not succeed either.

I'm looking other ways to accomplish the installation: any ideas?

P.S.

Meanwhile I decided to use the web iNotes interface from Safari browser, but not the Full interface version (not handy at all...), but still the (iPhone) iNotes ultralite web interface...

Not bad my blog on iPad

2010-05-28T14:19:00.001+02:00

Today my company I work for received an iPad device: really a cool device, superb screen quality, cute interface, in small words just an iPhone on steroids ;-)

All colleagues just astonished about its beauty: "so gorgeous", "so cool!" .

We loaded some cools apps too, like DropBox, Wired Magazine, but unfortunately I could not install Lotus Traveler: something is not working... (any tips?).

I ran Safari web browser on the iPad and decided to load my blog homepage ;-)

From Zero to a Million Users - Dropbox and Xobni lessons learned

2010-05-17T23:14:00.001+02:00

This week-end my friend Gianluca suggested me to read this Slideshare presentation from Dropbox and Xobni guys.
Many people already know Dropbox, but Xobni was a nice surprise for me...

From Zero to a Million Users - Dropbox and Xobni lessons learned

View more presentations from Adam Smith.

Notes Designer 7 super faaaaast... into the past!

2010-05-12T23:20:00.000+02:00

I regularly used the Notes Designer R 8.5.2 managed beta client since the first beta, and I must admit I'm happy with it.

But just recently some of my recent jobs are about Lotus Notes R7 development, so for a while I had to close my beloved Notes Designer R 8.5.2 beta .

Amazing, I was really surprised by the speed of the old Designer client, light speed indeed.

But at the same time I also felt like a teenager watching his own simple baby toys, suddenly realizing how fast time is passing and questioning what the future will hold for us Notes programmers...

Getting old... ;-)

Traveler on Android?

2010-05-07T17:03:00.000+02:00

Some days ago I met a guy who proudly showed me an HTC-branded Android phone.

Well, I like my iPhone, but... Android seems also interesting (and cheaper, I guess).

The guy told me that he was using an Android app to read mail, contacts, etc through a Lotus Domino server with Traveler task: the application name is Touchdown from NitroDesk and is cheap, less than 20 Eur , and you can test the limited free edition.

Have a look to it if you have an Android phone, although I would susbsitute it with the official Android-compatible Lotus Traveler when available (do not know any date).

Kevin, six months old!

2010-05-04T22:01:00.000+02:00

Today my baby Kevin is six months old! Congrats my son.

You are a really wonderful baby, always smiley and cute, loved by your parents, our friends and even strangers who are impressed by you.

Domino console hint: Do it by yourself, pal.

2010-04-29T14:43:00.001+02:00

I really love the console log messages, it has become more chatty nowadays, giving some useful info about what's happening on the Domino server.

28/04/2010 01:34:18 AM Informational, database design compression is enabled in database mail\evivarel.nsf.
28/04/2010 01:34:18 AM Informational, LZ1 is enabled in database mail\evivarel.nsf.
28/04/2010 01:34:18 AM Compacting mail\evivarel.nsf (John Doe), -C mail\
28/04/2010 01:48:19 AM Compaction failed: Unable to bring D:\Lotus\Domino\data\mail\evivarel.nsf back online.: File does not exist
28/04/2010 01:48:19 AM Compaction failed: Unable to rename D:\Lotus\Domino\data\mail\evivare0.TMP back to D:\Lotus\Domino\data\mail\evivarel.nsf: File is in use by another program - You must rename it yourself.
28/04/2010 01:48:19 AM Error compacting mail\evivarel.nsf: File is in use by another program

Any language translator tool for Lotus Notes mail?

2010-04-23T10:21:00.001+02:00

I'm doing some simple coding to translate mail memo text using Google Translate... it works but I'm not happy with:

Google translation quality is not always the best
getting the translation by parsing a web page output is really cheap

I also found some scripts and projects on openNTF but the coding technique is the same as mine...

Is there's any commercial product for Lotus Notes to translate memos from/to several languages, using some real API, providing a good translation and possibly keeping the original memo formatting? (including tables..)

Downloading Lotus Notes / Domino Code Drop 4 beta ....

2010-04-12T23:38:00.000+02:00

... and thrilled to see what other improvements the Lotus Development groups have done so far.

Since several weeks ago I use the Lotus Designer 8.5.2 beta as my main development client and I'm happy with it.

iPhone SnappFiles vs Quickr connector

2010-04-07T23:19:00.000+02:00

I have a Quickr server, this version:

IBM LOTUS QUICKR VERSION: 820001.004 | Built On Domino: Build V85_12052008

IBM LOTUS QUICKR VERSION: 820001.004 | Release: 8,2,0,1 | Build: QRD8.2.0.1-004b

There's one Quickr Area where my user is the owner, hence I can enter it via browser.

When I try to add that Area to my Quickr connector (version 8.2.0.189), using the right credentials (Quickr fqdn, username and password), I cannot add the Area, it does not even appear after my successful login (no errors messages...).

BUT if I use SnappFiles, the free iPhone app to browse Quickr servers, I can login to my Quickr Area and have access to all inside files (using both iPhone wi-fi and 3G connection)

Ok, time to turn on any Quickr debug settins :-(

Anyhow, Julian, well done.

Hungry for Lotus Domino debug settings?

2010-03-31T14:42:00.001+02:00

Amazing info you get sometime from unexpected sources ;-)

I found a list of useful debug settings for Domino from the the following IBM Redbooks:

Implementing IBM Lotus Domino 7 for i5/OS

http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/redbooks/pdfs/sg247311.pdf

Take a look: (8.4 Additional troubleshooting parameters)

Console_Log_Enabled=1

This is Domino’s dynamic debug outfile for trapping error messages to a log file (other

than the LOG.NSF). The console logging can be switched on and off with the start

consolelog and stop consolelog commands.

Console_Log_Max_kbytes=100000

This parameter sets a size limit to the CONSOLE.LOG file. Setting the

Console_Log_Max_kbytes to 100000 results in the CONSOLE.LOG file being limited to

100 MB in size. On hitting that limit, it will wrap.

Debug_Threadid=1

Enabling this debug parameter provides more information about each entry posted to the

Domino server console, including job number, process ID (PID), and thread number. This

is extremely useful when combined with other utilities to determine the last activity by a

thread prior to a crash, or what a particular thread was doing during a hang or slowdown

situation.

Log_View_Events=1

This records to the console whenever views are rebuilt.

Following is a list of the hang debug parameters:

Debug_Show_Timeout=1

This parameter, combined with the Debug_Capture_Timeout=10 parameter, allows for the

population of a file called SEMDEBUG.TXT, which exists in the

IBM_TECHNICAL_SUPPORT subdirectory, and is vital to determine the root cause for

server slowdowns or hangs.

Debug_Capture_Timeout=10

This parameter, combined with the Debug_Show_Timeout=1 parameter, allows for the

population of a file called SEMDEBUG.TXT, which exists in the

IBM_TECHNICAL_SUPPORT subdirectory, and is vital to determine the root cause for

server slowdowns or hangs.

Following is a list of the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) debug parameters:

SMTPDebug=4

Enabling this debug parameter logs all the inbound SMTP protocol conversations to

include commands and responses along with some of the text, but not the body of the

messages.

SMTPDebugIO=3

This debug parameter is used to log all the data received by the SMTP listener task.

Attention: The debug parameters provided here must only be used if you are already

familiar with them or if you have been advised to do so by Lotus Support. Also note that

some additional levels of setting might be available for a given parameter.Chapter 8. Problem determination 351

SMTPClientDebug=1

This debug parameter is used to log all the outgoing SMTP protocol conversations for all

the external messages transferred by the router task.

SMTPDebugControls=3

This assists in determining a variety of issues involving SMTP to include reverse DNS

queries and blacklists.

SMTPDebugDNSBL=1

This assists in determining issues when utilizing the blacklists function.

SMTPSaveImportErrors=3

This provides the SMTP listener task to save all the inbound messages during import, and

then delete all the messages that have successfully been received and written to mail.box.

This leaves only the messages that fail to be imported in the mail.box. These messages

are saved to a temp file for review.

MIME_Save_Convert_Failures=1

Enabling this setting results in the copying of messages that failed conversion, to a

separate database called CFDB.NSF.

Following is a list of the mail routing debug parameters:

Log_MailRouting=40

This posts to the Domino console, all the transfer messages, message queues, and full

document information involving mail.box.

DebugRouter=3

This debug parameter also increases the logging level for router activity.

Debug_TCP_Resolver=1

This debug parameter increases the logging of the TCP/IP name lookup function and

assists in determining DNS issues.

Debug_Directory_Assistance=1

This provides for high-level logging of directory assistance activities.

Debug_NameLookup=1

This enhances the logging of the name lookup function.

DebugRouterLookUp=3

This displays how the router task resolves a name lookup.

Following is a list of the agent manager debug parameters:

Debug_AMGR=*

This increases all aspects of logging for the Agent Manager task.

Log_AgentManager=1

This specifies that the execution of partially and completely successful events are logged.

Following is a list of the update debug parameters:

Log_Update=2

Setting this debug parameter posts to the Domino console when the Indexer starts and

stops and when the Indexer updates the views and full text indexes for specific databases.

It also records the names of the views being updated.352 Implementing IBM Lotus Domino 7 for i5/OS

Debug_NIF_Update=1

Enabling this debug parameter provides for a report when an the Update task is started

and stopped. This report includes the database name, the view name, and the user name

of the update. Most importantly, if an error is encountered it prints out the error message

during the rebuild or creation of the view involved.

Debug_NIF=1

This parameter prints out information concerning the opening, closing, and updating of

significant indexing events and must be used rarely because of the excessive output.

Following is a list of the POP3 debug parameters:

POP3Debug=4

This serves the same purpose as the SMTPDebug parameter, except that it does so for

the POP3 task.

POP3DebugIO=3

This serves the same purpose as the SMTPDebugIO parameter, except that it does so for

the POP3 task.

POP3ClientDebug=1

This serves the same purpose as the SMTPClientDebug parameter, except that it logs the

entire conversation for the POP3 task.

Following is a list of the LDAP debug parameters:

LDAPDebug=7

Increases whatever is reported by the LDAP task to assist in lookups, but will also have a

potential performance impact on the LDAP server depending on usage.

Following is a list of the ADMINP debug parameters:

Debug_ADMINP=1

This debug parameter provides for the administration process to save its schedule

information each time the schedule is updated.

Following is a list of the Network and connectivity debug parameters:

Debug_TCP_All=1

This provides low-level TCP/IP session information and must be used rarely because of

the amount of logging and possible impact to Domino server performance.

Debug_TCP_Errors=1

This is similar to the Debug_TCP_All=1 parameter, in that, it provides low-level

information about TCP-related errors that are encountered.

Log_Connections=1

When this debug parameter is set, the Domino server console displays the Notes network

port, the network address of the requesting system, and the network address of the

destination server.

Log_Sessions=1

Enabling this parameter posts each individual session to the Domino server console, and

includes the user and the version of the Notes client being used.Chapter 8. Problem determination 353

Debug_TCP_Session=1

This enables debug information about when sessions are opened and closed to the

Domino server console.

Following is a list of the full text index debug parameters:

Debug_FTV_Search=1

This displays information about full-text searches and statistics.

Debug_FT_Stream=1

This records every document that is full-text indexed by the Domino server.

Debug_FTV_Index=1

This displays debug information about the indexer when updating full-text indexes.

Following is a list of the replication debug parameters:

Log_Replication=4

This debug parameter specifies whether the start and the end of replication sessions are

posted to the Domino server console. If using the value of 4, it reports replication all the

way down to field-level replication. If set to 3, it records down to the note level, and if set to

2, it reports activity at the database level.

Debug_REPL_Time=1

This parameter posts to the Domino server console the time a replication action took.

Debug_REPL_All=2

This parameter provides additional information about each document that is not

replicating.

Following is a list of the HTTP debug parameters:

HTTPAgentDebug=4

This is used to help debug Java agents within HTTP.

AgentThreadDebug=1

This assists in determining which HTTP agent is being processed at the time of a server

failure.

HTTPEnableThreadDebug=1

This generates htthr files detailing all the HTTP thread activity.

HTTPLogFormatAscii=1

This allows the HTTP log files to be written in ASCII instead of Extended Binary Coded

Decimal Interchange Code (EBCDIC).

DebugShowJavaAgentTID=1

This allows for determining which worker or control thread spawns which Java thread

when executing a Java agent. It also prints out the agent name.

Following is a transaction logging debug parameter:

Debug_RM_Debug=1

This debug parameter reports high-level information about the actions that the recovery

manager is taking against each database.354 Implementing IBM Lotus Domino 7 for i5/OS

Following is a memory overwrite debug parameter:

Debug_Checkmarkers=1

This debug parameter is used to help diagnose memory overwrites.

Following is a compact debug parameter:

Debug_DBCompact=1

This debug parameter provides additional high-level details about the compact task

activity.

Following is a reports debug parameter:

Debug_Reports=1

This allows for additional logging of reports that are run from reports.nsf.

Following is a list of the memory-related debug parameters:

Debug_Showleaks=2

This enables memory usage tracking in conjunction with memory dump to help determine

if a leak exists.

Debug_TrapLeaks_ShowStack=1

This assists in debugging potential memory leaks.

NSD_RUN_MemCheck=1

This provides for memory-related debug, and is described in 8.4.1, “MEMCHECK”.

Technote of the day: Where messages are downloaded from when a POP3 user selects send/receive

2010-03-31T14:20:00.000+02:00

IBM technote: Where messages are downloaded from when a POP3 user selects send/receive
http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21215882

Also consider using two notes.ini settings to monitor/debug POP3 protocol communication between Domino Pop3 task and any POP3 client:

POP3Debug=0 or 1 or 2 or 3 or 4
POP3DebugIO=0 or 1 or 2 or 3 or 4

(0=no debug, 4= verbose)

Restart the POP3 task to read the new POP3 settings ( e.g. restart task pop3)

Technote of the Day: "POP3 user cannot download new messages from Domino POP3 server"

2010-03-19T23:55:00.000+01:00

In case some of your customers are struggling with Lotus Domino POP3 task implementation, especially when it is queried by a Blackberry device (BIS contract), take a look to the following technote to have some answers:

POP3 user cannot download new messages from Domino POP3 server

Lotus Sametime 8.5 over Domino 8.5.1 fp1 32 or 64 bit version ?

2010-03-03T19:16:00.000+01:00

I wanted to install Lotus Sametime 8.5 Entry Community edition over Lotus Domino 8.5.1 fp 1...

Ok, is not officially supported by IBM , but I read the following document and I decided to give a try.

I found out that Sametime setup will stop itself if you try to install it over a Domino 8.5.1 fp1 64 bit :
an error message states that Domino is not even installed...

I tried to install Sametime over Domino 8.5.1 fp 1 32 bit because some people wrote that it was successful even though not offiicially supported by IBM.

I ran the Sametime setup that succeed without any error message.
BUT when I run the Domino server I found out on the console that one Sametime servlet did not succeed when init ! And Sametime was not responding....

Luckily I found the following amazing IBM Technote that solved that problem....

Servlet error launching Sametime, 'Unable to get configuration object: Malformed \uxxxx encoding'

I was almost giving up... Now all works!

P.S.
Is the Domino notes.ini read by a Sametime servlet using an XSLT transformation from plain text to XML?
Now I'm worried about the \u characters... ;-)

Multitasking people...

2010-02-24T23:36:00.000+01:00

I know people that write memos and at the same time they are pretending to have a chat with you: "But I'm multitasking!".

Yeah, right. Bye ;-)

Work Smart: Stop Multitasking and Start Doing One Thing Really Well | Fast Company

When Outlook to Notes mail migration is loosing mail attachments

2010-02-22T22:51:00.000+01:00

First off, I did not want to buy any third-party product to do a mail migration from Outlook (local .pst) into a shiny Lotus Notes 8.5.1 .

When doing some test to migrate Outlook 2007 messages (local .pst), I luckly realize that all messages were migrated BUT they LOST their attachments...

I opened a ticket with IBM Support and after some days a polite guy gave me the hint:
add a special notes.ini setting inside the Notes I was migrating all message.

The "abracadabra sentence" is: ExchMig_ConAllAtt=1

After I got the solution I did a search on the Web for the special notes.ini setting (worth mentioning Andy's post and comments) and it seems that the problem is not new at all, it's coming up every now and then since version 7 and later.

I EXPECT that IBM / Lotus migration tools will work perfectly, especially when the previous mail system is the main competing mail system, MS Outlook.

I really wish nupgrade.exe tool will be soon updated to smooth the mail migration.

How a Web Design Goes Straight to Hell - The Oatmeal

2010-02-20T20:13:00.000+01:00

Sadly true... ;-)

How a Web Design Goes Straight to Hell - The Oatmeal

Lotus Symphony LotusScript API : an interesting project from openNTF

2010-02-14T20:25:00.000+01:00

Having some fun after downloading project Sample Purchasing Order from openNTF.org.

I'm reading the LS code that exploit "Lotus Symphony LotusScript API" to find and replace some Symphony Fields from a Symphony template document, and later save it to a .doc document (or other formats).

I'm gonna use it to create customer receipts in PDF format and send them via e-mail:
right, no rocket science, but it comes free with Symphony and I don't need to install any PDF virtual printers or use iText library or some commercial solutions.

Also read this from IBM: Integrating IBM Lotus Notes with IBM Lotus Symphony using LotusScript and the Lotus Symphony Toolkit

Eventhough NSFDB2 is virtually dead...

2010-02-06T12:41:00.000+01:00

... someone still keep downloading my presentation from DominoPoint Day 2 . Amazing!

P.S.
And Elvis and MJ are still alive too ;-)

Steve Jobs effective style

2010-01-30T09:02:00.000+01:00

Updates on consuming Web Services over HTTPS

2010-01-25T21:15:00.000+01:00

Following the post I made some time ago, Alessandro sent me an update about his own tests: Alessandro, thanks for sharing it with us .

*****
Hi, after a lot of testing, a lot of reading IBM documentation and a lot of sleepless nights on the matter described in my post above, I come to do some tests on the Portlet Factory (it retrieved the WSDL without problems after putting the certificate in the /lib/securitycacert file) and I got a hunch: "Does the domino client have a cacert file in his JVM?"

This morning I looked into the JVM directory and I found it in \CLIENTDIR\jvm\lib\security, so, using the ikeyman.exe program in \CLIENTDIR\jvm\bin I added the certificate (in binary format) to the repository and I tried to import the WSDL in my database: I was required to accept the cross certification and after that it was imported: a piece of cake!

Please not that I'was trying to import a WSDL to obtain Lotus Script Code (NOT JAVA)!

Well, I think that this is a little bug in the client architecture because this it happens only with certificate that are issued by a NOT TRUSTED authority (with a trusted authority it works as documented (with the cross-certification only)). I think that when the certificate is not trusted something goes wrong in the code and it looks for it in the cacerts too and, obviously, it cannot find the certificate... so it raises an error!

I hope that this can be useful!

Alessandro Bignami
Domino developer at ZEL S.r.L.

Consuming Web Services over a self-certified HTTPS web server

2010-01-15T01:15:00.003+01:00

Every now and then I take a look to Web Service implementation in Domino Designer, especially since Designer allows us to develop Web Service Providers using LotusScript or Java.

I don't know if Web Services are or will be successfully, but for sure I like the big picture surrounding them.

Some times ago I tried to consume a Web Service from Jajah voip company: first I tried using LS, but later I had to use Java to overcome LS limitations about name length limits.

Unfortunately even with Java I found problems because the Web Service had to be consumed over a SSL channel (HTTPS) but the remote web server certificate was a self-certified one, so my script simply crashed because the certificate was not trustable... I could not find an easy way to trust/import the that web server certificate.

I gave up with it and decided to use MS Soap client via COM object in a LS agent, successfully. Shame... ;-)

Today I tried for the first time to have a look back to the subject, so on VMware box I installed a brand-new Domino 8.5.1 server with a running self-certified web server certificate.
After that, I published a "calculator" Web Service with just a SUM() function available, just using a LS class.

On the "client" side, I used Designer 8.5.1 to consume that "remote" web service:

I created a Web Service consumer choosing Java as programming language and specifying the remote WSDL file via a HTTPS url
I also created a Java agent and imported the previous Java classes generated by the Web Service Consumer procedure, just to run a remote SUM function

When I tried step 1 to retrieve the WSDL file of the remote web server, I was surprised to see a pop-up window asking me to cross-certify the Internet certificate!

Of course I accepted to cross-certify it and run the client Java agent to consume the remote Web Service via https. I worked!

Ok, I decided to have a look inside the local names.nsf, inside the Certificates view and I could find the following entry:

Well, I decided to remove the certificate and run my Web Service consumer again: as expected, I got the following error on my Designer Java console:

WebServiceEngineFault
faultCode: {http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/}Server.generalException
faultSubcode:
faultString: Error connecting to 'ced75temp.ciemme.loc' on port '443', SSL invalid certificate, may need to cross-certify.
faultActor:
faultNode:
faultDetail:

Error connecting to 'ced75temp.ciemme.loc' on port '443', SSL invalid certificate, may need to cross-certify.
at lotus.domino.axis.InternalFault.makeFault(Unknown Source)
at lotus.domino.axis.transport.http.HTTPSender.invoke(Unknown Source) .......

Well, I decided to make another test:

I removed the certificate from the local names.nsf
I run the wizard to import the Web Service WSDL file and try to force the Designer to show (once again) the Internet cross-certificate pop-up window

No way, the pop-up window did not show again and the Java agent did not run successfully!

So, how to "manually" cross-certifiy an Internet certificate?

After some googling I find out the IBM following page and followed instructions from paragraph "From an Internet server": finally I could successfully run my client Java agent consuming the remote Web Service.

Follow what I did in the following screen shots
:

Have fun and let me know if it's working for you too.

Free music from IBM

2010-01-07T14:04:00.000+01:00

I answered a IBM questionnaire and I received a free song from iTunes for my iPhone.
That's nice.

When a Lotus Administrator ID expires....

2010-01-04T12:01:00.001+01:00

...Gregg saves your day!
SnTT - Administrator ID Has Expired

Thanks Gregg.

Speeding up Firefox browser

2009-12-29T17:10:00.001+01:00

It was useful for me (so far), take a look to this add-on:
Vacuum Places Improved

I also took a look to the add-on comment stating to enable "compact databases" option for Firefox inside the CCleaner utility.

Having fun with a cheap OldBooth+ iPhone app

2009-12-12T14:25:00.001+01:00

And some pictures of my wife Elly:

Blogging between milk and baby cry

2009-12-08T21:09:00.006+01:00

Finally I found the time and the mood to blog...

After November 4th, when Kevin my first son was born, our lives changed quickly and we are still in the process of adaptation. Some friends told me that the adaptation will last for months, even years. :-(

First off, our sleeping time is not the same, it's a kind of never-ending process for every night, for me and especially my wife Elly:

the baby cries
comfort the baby
give him some breast milk
prepare some formula milk
waiting baby's burp
cradle the baby and pray that the baby will sleep soon
sleep some minutes / hour
start from the beginning of this list, but with a dizzy & sleepy feeling...

Ok ok, I know that's not big news for many people, but believe me, it's different when you live that experience ;-)

Wow, I've to stop blogging, the baby is crying...See you soon, maybe...

Happy "Man Yue" Kevin

2009-12-04T10:51:00.005+01:00

Today, 4th December, Kevin is one month old. Congratulations!

In Chinese culture, baby being month old is very important, it's called "Man Yue":

the family will prepare "red eggs" (basically eggs cooked in red dye so that the shell is red) and give out these eggs to friends and family. Family will also cook a big pot of "ginger vinegar" and give some them to friends and family.
Then depending on the family traditions, some families will have a banquet when the baby's 1 month old (some have it on the 100th day). This is the day when the family officially introduces the baby to friends and family. Before that, the baby and new mom is not supposed to be going out visiting people.

awstats web reporting and Domino extended common log format

2009-11-23T13:50:00.007+01:00

Recently I took a look to awstats tool for web access reporting because I needed it for Domino 8.5 on a Linux Suse box .

I read the great post from Julian, but I also had to study the text log files generated from Domino because the log formats available in awstats seems not to match the format from Domino.
I tried awstats LogFormat=1 , and 6 and also an old custom format, but no way... too many dropped records reported by awstats

1) First I read the Domino Administrator 8.5 Infocenter to decode the meaning of a log text line generated from Domino: (extended common format, in my case...)

Depending on the file format you choose, the Access log file records the following Web server request information in the order shown:
Extended Common

Client DNS name or IP address if DNS name is not available
Host header from request, or server IP address if Host header is not available
Remote user if available
Request time stamp
Http request line
Http response status code
Request content length if available, otherwise shows "-"
Referring URL if available, otherwise shows "-"
User agent if available, otherwise shows "-"
Amount of time, in milliseconds, to process the request
Value of the cookie header
Translated URL, (the full path of the actual server resource, if available)

2) Later I arranged my own LogFormat format inside the .conf awstats configuration file:
LogFormat="%host %other %lognamequot %time1 %methodurl %code %bytesd %refererquot %uaquot %other %otherquot %otherquot"

Hope it helps somebody.

Google don't care about keywords in web pages

2009-11-22T21:59:00.001+01:00

http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2009/09/google-does-not-use-keywords-meta-tag.html

sntt: saving some seconds during a Lotus Notes setup

2009-11-19T17:01:00.010+01:00

During the installation of a Lotus Notes client, when specifying the Domino server name to connect to, after a while, you will be prompted to choose the network protocol (tcp/ip) and the IP / hostname of the server (unless you edited the \WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc\HOSTS file or the Domino common name is reachable by you network...).

I always wondered if there was a way to specify, at the same time, both the server IP address AND the Domino server name, without waiting for the timeout of the Notes client...

I find out the way!
It seems a not documented way, I guess.

Just write the server Domino name as:
@server_address->Domino server name

as showed in the following screen capture image I took:

I tested it on Lotus Notes 8.x and it works...

Missing Lotus Domino 8.5.1 ITALIAN language pack from PartnerWorld...

2009-11-13T13:35:00.004+01:00

Kaspersky anti-virus vs Firebug !

2009-11-12T15:53:00.003+01:00

Amazing!
I decided to upgrade Fifefox browser to version 3.5.5 and also update all my add-ons.

Unfortunately I found out that FireBug add-on could not be installed correctly, it was asking me to restart the browser, no matter that I did it for several times!
I also uninstalled Firebug and also re-installed it, but no way...

On the web I found out that it was my anti-virus (in my case Kaspersky...), that did not allowed Firebug to be installed properly.

I suspended the antivirus for a few minutes and, voilà, Firebug add-on is back.

Welcome Kevin!

2009-11-09T21:22:00.004+01:00

On November 4th, 2 A.M. Central European Time, in Bologna, our first son was born:

Welcome Kevin D'Aloisio!

Google Maps Navigation (Beta)

2009-10-31T10:45:00.001+01:00

cool!

Columnvaluesindex : is that an undocumented NotesViewColumn property?

2009-10-27T00:49:00.009+01:00

I was doing some simple LotusScript developing with my shiny band-new 8.5.1 Lotus Designer:
exporting data from a Notes view to an Excel document, using COM objects (sorry, no Symphony exporting yet...).

All was fine on my pc, until I made a test on a different client Notes running version 8:
that client did not exported any data because of just one error in a script line... But what was the error?!

Turns out that I used a NotesViewColumn property that was not evailable on R8: Columnvaluesindex

Taking a look into R8.5 release Designer help I could not find any info about it...
No info googling the web...

So it turns out that I used a property that is not yet documented but is available through the Designer editor Content Assist ;-) , i.e. what you see when you push the dot key after the object name ( e.g. NotesViewColumn.) and you get all properties and methods of that object.

As far as I know, NotesViewColumn.Columnvaluesindex property is similar to NotesViewColumn.position property: "position" returns an integer number starting from 1 , whilst "Columnvaluesindex" return a long number starting from 0.

I fixed my code simply using the "position" property and subtracting 1 to its return value ;-)

Lotus Traveler 8.5.1 and iPhone: meetings limitation...

2009-10-20T10:24:00.004+02:00

I'm currently testing my shiny new iPhone 3GS and Lotus Traveler 8.5.1 push mail: I'm really impressed by the Apple device, really great!

Lotus Traveler was easy to setup and all was fine... so far.

I just got disappointed by some Traveler current version limitations: I can't accepted any invitation sent by my colleagues, or arrange meetings inviting other people!

I took a look to the Traveler 8.5.1 Infocenter, getting the confirmation to my fears:

For this release, Lotus Notes Traveler does not support the processing of meeting notices by an attendee on an Apple device.

If a user receives a meeting notice such as a calendar invitation in their Inbox on the Apple device, the mail message shows who the invitation is from and the meeting subject, but no action such as accepting or declining the invitation is available.
The body of the meeting notice contains this message: "This document is a meeting notice and requires the use of a Lotus Notes or iNotes® client to view the content."

This restriction will be removed in a future update of the Lotus Notes Traveler server.

That is frankly disappointing....

Take a look to Infocenter page:

Symphony Automation via LotusScript

2009-10-14T05:24:00.004+02:00

After reading this post from Daniele I found the following interesting article on DeveloperWorks on the same subject:

Integrating IBM Lotus Notes with IBM Lotus Symphony using LotusScript and the Lotus Symphony Toolkit

Nice birth video

2009-10-13T07:53:00.007+02:00

Yesterday me and Elly attended a pre birth course: this time the subject was labor and all phases.
Later, on YouTube I found the following nice video:

Starting the 8.5.1 download....

2009-10-12T09:08:00.004+02:00

Domino Designer new idea worth promoting

2009-10-11T14:50:00.003+02:00

Searching... I found an upset Notes user

2009-09-21T23:47:00.010+02:00

We all agree that Notes is really a power collaboration platform, too powerful sometimes ;-)

Just recently I was stopped by a guy shoutings who was complaining about Notes, while using his poweful laptop:
"Notes sucks! It's so big and slow, it can't even make a simple search!".

First off, that guy is not stupid, it's kind of a pc geek (Linux area) moving to the Notes mail client, so I was amazed about those rough words:
"What's up? any problems? ;-) "

He replied:
"I was trying to find a message inside my mailbox, but I could not! Just a simple word and I could not find a message. Look, I decided to install Thunderbird mail client and attach it to Domino via IMAP: I found that import message in a few seconds....".

Actually Thunderbird was quick to show the relevant search results: Notes did not show any results, just apparently the same document view...

I decided to take a look inside the client Preferences to find some weird setting, but nothing....

Than I decided to take a closer look inside the "More" option of the view search bar:
after a while, I realized that the user changed a search option I NEVER used in 12 years experience:
the "Sort results by" option.

For some unknow reason, the user changed the "relevance" option to the "show all documents (sortable)" option.

The lesson re-learned today:
dont's show too many options to the user, he will not understand all options, he will play with them, he will complain about the all product. Keep it simple.

Domino Designer on Eclipse: something ELSE

2009-09-21T23:02:00.009+02:00

Luckily I decided to apply for 8.5.1 beta!

Most of all, I like the new LotusScript editor, finally an up-to-date editor:

code assistant (control-space): suggesting class methods, library inclusion, etc.
comment / code templates
classes supports
go to definition (F3) feature:
eg. you over db.title, presses F3 and you are moved db declaration (dim db as NotesDatabase)
editing a LS library when editing a LS agent using that library
code indenting
error reporting
help tips when hovering on code
more...

Ok, that's not rocket science, other editors do the same job:
it's still a beta, but I really appreciate the job done so far the IBM team. Congrats.

Trivia
What I really don't like is the name: DDE = Domino Designer on Eclipse.
For me DDE name is related to the really old technology by Microsoft (before OLE).

I like the name suggested by Peter Presnell: ELSE (Eclipse LotusScript Editor), in my own small way I will use it as a tag for my next posts. Do the same! ;-)

P.S.
if you are a 8.5.1 managed beta user and you are also a LS developer, don't forget to install the patch published here by David Taieb (requires username/password) to fix some bugs found on code drop 8 LS editor.

P.S. Update: please, move the old .jar file to a different dir, before copying the new .jar patch!

From David:

"One important thing you shouldn't do: do not rename the old jar and leave it in the same directory.
That's a common mistake that some people do, even though the old plugin doesn't have the jar extension anymore, Eclipse will still find it and load it. Please move the old jar in an entire new directory"

BM Lotus Notes/Domino and Lotus Notes Traveler 8.5.1 is prerelease software and there are no guarantees from IBM that the functionality presented will be in the final shipping product.

Interesting Quickr-like service

2009-09-17T20:25:00.006+02:00

Its name is onehub and it's technically interesting: cute interface, QuickHubs, widgets, FTP interface, etc.

(via StumbleUpon)

Amarcord packing week-end

2009-09-06T20:49:00.005+02:00

I spend all my week-end just packing... and not yet finished... Why?

The house were we live is really small, it was perfect for a single, but not anymore for my wife and also the incoming son (my son is due around 9th November).

Me and Elly decided not to move to another house yet (handy location, right rent, nice neighborhood) , so we are finding some extra room for our growing family.

We started to pack things that we will not use for some time:

books (I saved some computer science ones...)
DVD: over 300 ones!

I don't feel big regrets for my books, but watching my beloved DVD packed inside anonymous boxes... it was pure suffering!

Gosh, many cartoons, drama, action, TV series, historical movies, NG documentaries... all my last height years stuffed in some anonymous boxes in my warehouse.

Maybe some of you had my same experience when your partner decided to move in your flat and you had to move your beloved stuff (LP records, comics, books...) to a different place ;-)

Going from single mode to family mode...

Friday worst case ever!

2009-08-16T18:54:00.000+02:00

Friday afternoon I received a very worried phone call by a friend.

Domino was working fine, the problem was about a 3rd party Domino task: this commercial product (competitor of IBM LEI) takes care about syncing data between Domino and a remote relational database server, mapping data tables to Notes documents.

Suddenly the 3rd party task was not working anymore, neither pulling data nor writing a log document! I made several tests and later I asked help to the product tech support.

After some unsuccesful tests, the tech support agreed to connect to the Domino server via TeamViewer (great product!): the problem was not found yet!

We decided to uninstall the 3rd party software and install it from scratch: finally it worked.

But we were not satisfied by that "solution": how come the software just stopped working?!
Was it because of Windows Update? Or about some kind of Domino issues?
I was scared that it would happen again.

After some further investigation (in the meantime data was starting to sync...) I found the the cause of the problem...

The antivirus file real-time scanner (eTrust) , running on the Domino server, simply thought that a small .dll file, inside the Domino program path, was just infected by virus, so it tried to cure it and later it moved it to the quarantine area.

That .dll was not part of Domino standard installation, it was part of 3rd party Domino task.

Some thoughts:

so stupid, I should first check the antivirus quarantine area :-(
is it really necessary to have an antivirus file real-time scanner on a Domino server?
why not just exclude the Domino program path from the scanning? ;-)
why the 3rd party task did not make any sw component inventory and write a decent log entry for any missing .dll ? At least, tech support was really great, willing to help...

Do you have any tips? What is your favourite antivirus? LEI or 3rd party solution for high speed relational db server-Domino data exchange ?

Reading private RSS feeds provided by Domino

2009-08-04T05:37:00.007+02:00

Some days ago I suggested a friend to provide an RSS feed for a Domino web application he wrote.

Unfortunately the web application was only available to authenticated users and, guess what, the Domino web authentication was set to session-based one ("form authentication"), NOT Basic HTTP authentication (ie pop-up window asking for credentials).

By the way, some RSS readers can deal with private RSS feeds, but AFAIK only Basic HTTP authentication is supported:

Thunderbird mail client (desktop)
Netvibes service (web-based)
Google Reader (my reader) does not support any authenticatication, although there's a an online proxy (http://freemyfeed.com/) to feed Google Reader with privates RSS data: do you trust it? Don't know, I guess I would run my own RSS proxy...

Anyhow, how can we deal with private / authenticated RSS feed provided by Lotus Domino application?

I found out two different ways (I'm open to any other tips):

switch to the built-in RSS reader provided inside Notes 8.x (right sidebar)
just for RSS feeds, configure Domino to use Basic HTTP authentication:
for everything else, Domino will still use session-based authentication

Method 1:
I seldomly use the built-in Notes reader, but I just found out that it can deal with private RSS feeds, both when Domino server is setup with Basic or session-based authentication.

I just created an "HTTP account" inside my local address book (names.nsf->Advanced) with hostname, username and password that later will be used by the Domino RSS reader.

When adding the private RSS feed to the built-in Reader, the credentials are automatically used.

Cool, that was new to me.

Method 2
Instruct Domino server to use BASIC HTTP authentication ONLY for the matter of RSS, and continue using session-based authentication for anythig else. (some) RSS readers can deal with Basic authentication, not Domino sessions...

How to do that? Simple, I read it on DominoBlog post ! ;-)
Here's an excerpt:
"Occasionally, it may be necessary to override single sign-on (SSO) for RSS feed readers, as the readers cannot use session authentication forms. Do this by creating a new Web site rule and, on the Basics tab:

Set the Type of Rule to “Override Session Authentication with basic authentication.” (new in 7.0.2 ).
Specify the incoming URL pattern for the RSS Generator database.
(Optional) On the Lotus Domino Web Engine tab of the current Web site document, select Yes or No for ‘When overriding session authentication, generate session cookie."

I did the ovverride just for my RSS feed URL (I had to switch my Domino web configuration to an "Internet Site"):
it works, now I can access my company feeds by any RSS readers that features Http authentication.

Happy Domino RSS ;-)

Notes 8.5 : bug about attachments from Internet

2009-07-28T13:15:00.002+02:00

A friend of mine told me that she could not save and delete attachments inside memos received from Internet, right-clicking on attachments icons, as she usually did before I installed Notes 8.5 .

Oh well, maybe because she uses Notes 8.5 for MAC? ;-)
Or because there's some Notes policy applied to her Notes account?

No, that's a problem for all Notes 8.5 clients, as stated by this technote...

Unfortunately the recent Fix Pack 1 doesn't solve the problem.

Sunday afternoon at Ferrari Gallery (museum at Maranello, Modena)

2009-07-26T18:48:00.003+02:00

That annoys me too...

2009-07-25T09:50:00.007+02:00

So true, I agree with all 10 things ;-)
see: Top 10 Things That Annoy Programmers

I like David's XPage screencasts

2009-07-22T00:04:00.004+02:00

David Leedy is doing a great job with his screencast series about XPages:

simple
effective
coincise (less than 10 minutes)
cute intro animation

Is he using some Mac software? ;-)

Take a look to his latest work:

Collaboration: let's learn from the monkeys

2009-07-18T11:16:00.002+02:00

Blackberry Mail(a): nomen omen?

2009-07-15T23:05:00.005+02:00

Recent news.

L'Aquila (Abruzzo region, Italy): many people still live in tents after the earthquake (remember the recent G8 Meeting?).

A 14 years old little girl, living in a tent with her family, received the Catholic corfirmation ("cresima") : her family collected money for a special gift, a pink Blackberry.

But someone stole her precious device, the only mean for her to connect to Internet! Many cries from the poor little girl.

Luckily a retired man from another town in Abruzzo, Sulmona (famous town for the production of sugar wedding candies) , decided to give to the little girl a brand-new Blackberry gift.

The name of the little girl is Maila: yes, Maila ... ;-)

I guess Blackberry company missed a chance to receive free advertisement just giving away a free Blackberry phone to the little Maila ;-)

Web article on Repubblica (Italian): "Little miracles" in tent city...

Google is migrating Notes mail

2009-07-15T07:50:00.003+02:00

Switching to Google Apps from Lotus Notes just got easier

So funny. Are we really so bad?

2009-07-14T22:29:00.004+02:00