I was looking for a way to speed up my Notes 8.5 Standard (Eclipse-based) client and, thankfully, I found out this site:
http://www.lotusdr.com/LotusDR/LotusDR.nsf/dx/speeding-up-the-notes-eclipse-version.htm?opendocument&comments

Here’s how to increase your Eclipse memory usage:

- Close your Notes client
- Go to your Notes client installation directory of C:\…\Notes\framework\rcp\deploy and edit the jvm.properties file by changing:
vmarg.Xmx=-Xmx256m
to
vmarg.Xmx=-Xmx512m or vmarg.Xmx=-Xmx1024m
-Save and close the file then start your Notes Client.

My Lotus notes client is fast like a rocket now.

I was confronted with two issues when installing Sametime Entry 8.5.1 after the BES Express server was installed on the Domino 8.5.2 FP2 server.

When I installed Sametime Entry 8.5.1 over Lotus Domino 8.5.2 FP2 today I got an error message stating: “Xsp Initialization error – Could not get JVM environment”.  After a little bit of searching I found out the following:

The problem turned out to be that the BES Express installation was effectively setting any JVM to be disabled in the Domino server’s notes.ini.   The setting that BES Express changed in the Notes.ini was:
HTTPDisableJVM =1
I changed the value to 0 and the error message went away.

However,  despite the change the STaddin task was still not loading when Domino started up.  I checked the domino log and I noticed the following error message.

05/25/2011 11:31:20 AM  HTTP JVM: JVMJ9GC027E Malformed option: ‘-Xmx64sM’
05/25/2011 11:31:20 AM  HTTP JVM: JVMJ9VM015W Initialization error for library j9gc24(2): Failed to
initialize; unable to parse command line0
5/25/2011 11:31:20 AM  JVM: The Java Virtual Machine creation returned an invalid JVM machine pointer.
05/25/2011 11:31:20 AM  JVM: Java Virtual Machine failed to start
05/25/2011 11:31:20 AM  HTTP Server: Error Loading Java Virtual Machine
05/25/2011 11:31:20 AM  HTTP Server: JVM: Missing entrypoint in JVM runtime library.05/25/2011 11:31:21 AM  HTTP Server: Shutdown

I did a “sh conf http*” on the Domino console and saw that my HTTPJVMMaxHeapSize was set to 64M.  I fixed this by increasing the HTTPJVMMaxHeapSize to 128M  and restarted the server.  Everything is working now.  What a happy day for me. : )

We were trying to get a customer configured to use his Lotus Notes Basic 8.5 client to connect to his newly installed Lotus Sametime Entry 8.5.1 server on Microsoft Windows 2008. When the customer tried to log in, he seemed to login successfully. However, even though the Lotus Notes Basic Client status bar would show “Logged on to Instant Messaging”, his Instant Messaging status showed as “Disconnected”. When opening up his Notes mail there was no awareness showing up at all. If he had logged on successfully he should show “I’m Active” as the Instant Messaging status.

When we attempted the same process with the Lotus Notes Standard client, he was able to login to Sametime Entry server without a problem and awareness was fine as well. So we knew the problem was the user’s account or the configuration of the Sametime Server.

We did a search on the Internet for a possible solution without much success at first. However, eventually we found the following post that was extremely helpful. Although the nature of the problem described in the post linked below is different from the problem we were experiencing, it turns out that the fix was the same.

http://www.zarazaga.net/mangelcalvo/blog/home.nsf/dx/sametime-8.5.1-doesnt-like-lotus-notes-basic

As the post above states, the fix is to simply lower the number in the Sametime Entry Server’s Sametime.ini for the parameter VP_SECURITY_LEVEL from the default of 7000 to a something like 25 and restart the Domino server.
So instead of:
VP_SECURITY_LEVEL=7000
You should have:
VP_SECURITY_LEVEL=25

The reason for the value change is also explained in the above post as follows: the Lotus Notes 8.5 Basic client comes with the Sametime 6.5 Client. The VP_SECURITY_LEVEL is set too high to allow such an old version of the Sametime client to login. By lowering the value you are, thereby, lowering the threshold for what clients can access the server allowing the Lotus Notes Basic 8.5 Client the ability to login.

After changing the value and restarting the Sametime Entry Server, when our customer attempted to login again he got the “I’m Active” as his Instant Messaging status and all appeared to be working just fine.

I hope that this helps someone else experiencing the same issue.

This information may already be out there, but I really couldn’t easily find it. At least I couldn’t find one place that gave a step-by-step on how to update your Symphony from version 1.3 to version 3.0 with Fix Pack 1 embedded in Lotus Notes 8.5. So, after successfully installing it, I decided that this may help someone else who might be trying to do the the same thing:

Here are the steps:
1. First you need to download the IBM Lotus Symphony 3.0 Add on Pack from IBM Partnerworld or your IBM Passport Advantage account. The correct product name and part numbers are:
- IBM Lotus Symphony 3.0 Add on Pack for Windows Multilingual (CZT5PML)
- IBM Lotus Symphony 3.0 Add on Pack for Linux (RPM Install) Multilingual (CZT5RML)
- IBM Lotus Symphony 3.0 Add on Pack for Linux (Debian Install) Multilingual (CZT5TML)
- IBM Lotus Symphony 3.0 Add on Pack for Mac Multilingual (CZT5VML)

2. Once downloaded successfully, extract all the files and locate the instructions for installing the add-on from within the extracted files. Follow those instructions (each platform has different instructions). Make sure, of course, that you close Lotus Notes before installing. I installed the Windows package so I did the following:
- Inside the extracted files you should find a folder called “Lotus_Symphony_Add-on”. Run Setup.exe inside that folder and follow the directions to install the upgrade.

3. Once you complete Step 3, you will need to download the Fix Pack for your platform for Lotus Symphony 3.0. Here’s information from IBM about the prerequisites needed for your platform and how to install the update [IBM Lotus Symphony 3 Fix Pack 1 (embedded with Lotus Notes) Release Notes]: http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21459445

4. You can find the Fix Packs for your platform at the following URL in the LDD Fix Central. Please locate and download the Fix Pack:

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/search.wss?rs=475&navkey=1ByProduct&tc=SSKTWP&loc=en-us&dc=D400&dtm

Here are the names for the Fix Pack for your platform:
- IBM Lotus Symphony 3 Embedded in Lotus Notes fix pack 1 for Ubuntu Linux​
- IBM Lotus Symphony 3 Embedded in Lotus Notes fix pack 1 for Linux​
- IBM Lotus Symphony 3 Embedded in Lotus Notes fix pack 1 for Mac OSX​
- IBM Lotus Symphony 3 Embedded in Lotus Notes fix pack 1 for Windows​

5. Once downloaded, extract the files as you did for the 3.0 upgrade and follow the instructions in the URL provided in Step 3 above to install the Fix Pack. Of course, still make sure that Lotus Notes is not running when you install the Fix Pack.

7. You should be all set now

Computer Architechs created mobile agenda applications for IBM’s Lotusphere 2011 Online so that registered attendees would be able to, not only, put the whole Conference Agenda into their pockets, but also they can create their Conference Schedule right on their device and sync the schedule with the Lotusphere Online servers.

The session data is also synchronized with the servers, so, if any updates are made to the session data, the mobile application can automatically synchronize the changes. Furthermore, attendees can maintain their schedule on their devices and on the Lotusphere Online Session Scheduler application. Edits made to either side will automatically sync up.

The iPhone application is available on the iTunes Apps store ready for download as “Lotusphere 2011 Mobile Agenda”. It will also run on the iPad and iPod devices. The Android and Blackberyry apps can be downloaded directly from the Lotusphere Online site after the registered attendee logs in.

Attendees need a Lotusphere Online six digit User ID and Password to allow the application to synchronize with the servers and to ensure that they have access to their own unique calendars on the site.

This is a huge leap forward from previous years, when only static applications were made available to attendees. For past Lotuspheres only static mobile apps for the Blackberry and Windows Mobiles were available.

On January 11, 2011, IBM welcomed Computer Architechs International Corporation into the Software Value Incentive (SVI) business partner reseller authorization group (RAG) for Lotus Messaging & Collaboration.

As part of IBM’s plan to ensure that its software and hardware resellers have adequate knowledge to sell its products, IBM has toughened its requirements for resellers by making specific technical and sales certifications in its products mandatory for proper authorization. One of those groups is the aforementioned Lotus Messaging and Collab which authorizes a reseller, once accepted, to resell Lotus Notes and Domino software.

We find that IBM Lotus Foundations Start Server (LFS) is a great solution for the SMB.  It is especially useful for those companies that need to either upgrade an old server or do not have a server installed yet.  With the all-in-one-server solution, we truly can provide our customers with a solution that requires very little IT oversight and maintenance.   It is a win-win for both us and the SMB customer, because, with today’s tight IT budgets, there is not a lot of room in the budget for constant maintenance and support of the customer’s IT environment.  The customers have better control of their budgets and we have happy customers.

However, we often get asked: “What about the Cloud?”

This is a very good question and one that needs to be addressed.  Why would a company want to invest in an on-premise solution such as LFS when investing in similar solutions for the Cloud can be much less expensive, initially, and the costs can be spread out over time?  Furthermore, isn’t the Cloud the ultimate way to virtually eliminate the need for on-site IT services since everything is already taken care of off-site by the cloud service company?

In my opinion, the answer is both, “Yes and No”.

Although Internet service is getting faster and cheaper, many parts of U.S. big cities, such as Los Angeles, still have very few options for reliable and fast Internet service.  This is slowly improving, but it will take time before everyone gets a fair shake at speedy Internet at affordable prices.  Why is this relevant?  Well, without reliable, fast and affordable Internet connections,  it becomes difficult to host all of your IT services in the Cloud, especially if you are a smaller organization.  For example,  if you want to share and print large files in the Cloud, if your connection is too slow or it is down altogether, this can be a major inconvenience, drastically reducing employee productivity and, potentially, bringing your entire business to a screeching halt.

In addition, not all applications are available in the Cloud yet.  Sure, you can get mail and calendaring services with no problem.  You can also backup your entire network to an online backup service.  Also, don’t forget, that most everything stored in the Cloud is automatically backed up so you don’t have the constant worry about what would happen if you lost some or all of your files.  However, a common complaint is that spreadsheet, word processing, and presentation applications, such as what are available on Google Apps, still have very limited functionality.   You still need to have a full office suite of applications on your local computer to be productive.  This can be said about many other applications, as well.  These applications are constantly being improved, but it will be some time before you can get the exact same experience in the Cloud that you get on your local computer and network.

So, this all leads into the title of this blog entry “Marrying IBM Lotus Foundations Start Server with LotusLive”.

For those of you who have never heard of LotusLive, this is most simply put, IBM’s answer to Google Apps and Microsoft Live Cloud solutions.  If you go to http://www.lotuslive.com you can see that IBM provides a whole slew of offerings geared to customers large and small.  They have matched Google’s 25Gb total mail size limit and provide a fully featured mail and calendaring solution based on Lotus Notes and iNotes.  IBM has also added other features such as Meetings, Activities, Files, etc… to enhance the user’s Cloud experience.  Go ahead and check it out!

In an ideal world it would be great if we could take the on-premise LFS server solution to provide all of the local IT functions that businesses need and marry those with IBM’s LotusLive functions.  So, users could store, print and securely share files on their local network.  However, for mail and calendaring they could be given a few options:

1. Use IBM LotusLive’s iNotes solution for a web browser only solution; or

2. Install the latest Lotus Notes client through LFS and use LotusLive’s Notes solution; or

3. Use LFS’s own Domino and Notes integrated solution as it now; or

4. Take option 3 above, but also give the option to store each user’s mail file using LotusLive’s Notes solution so that mail would also be available in the Cloud

With options 1 and 2 above, we could reduce the LFS user and server license fees by removing locally available Domino and Notes completely from the picture and point everyone to LotusLive at a separate cost.   This would make the LFS solution more affordable and IBM could still receive additional fees from LotusLive.

Option 3 would be it as it is today, but option 4 would provide both scenarios in a tightly knit package.

It is entirely possible that IBM is already working on something in this regards.  If so, that would be great!  Being able to provide multiple options to our customers would make it easier to make a sale while also giving the customer freedom of choice.  Another win-win.

It is really difficult to pinpoint one particular feature of the IBM Lotus Foundations Start server as the “killer app”.  Lotus Foundations comes with so many handy, crucial SMB tools and each and every one of them is important.  However, if I was forced to choose one feature I would probably have to choose backups.

You’re only as safe as your most recent, reliable backup.  Without a proper backup, you could find yourself spending hours re-inputting data, recreating a spreadsheet, updating your address book, etc…  We all know how important backups are, but it is often the last thing on our laundry list of business to dos.  And, even if you did regularly take backups, what is the probability that the backup was a reliable one?  How often do you really do test restores to make sure that what you backed up is actually intact?

What about disaster recovery?  Have you planned for the worst case scenario?  Sure, you’re performing backups, but are you making sure that recent backups are also being taken off-site to another location for disaster recovery purposes?  If you are, how recent are those off-site backups?

Sure, you could use an online backup service for disaster recovery.  However, that can become expensive as you amass more files and data.  If you wanted to restore from an online backup, it will take as long as the download speed of your Internet connection.  For gigabytes of data, a full restore could take hours or days.

The Lotus Foundations Start server appliance has integrated IBM’s Intelligent Disk Backup (IDB) technology into its backup toolbox.  IDB allows you to perform incremental backups as often as 15 minutes.   You can backup daily, weekly, or as often as you need to.  If you are backing up frequently, IDB also makes “incremental” copies of recently modified files.  So, if you modified a file an hour ago and the same file two hours ago, you are able to restore either file to your system with the click of a button.  This is very useful if you realize that the file you saved an hour ago was somehow corrupted or you erased important information from it right before saving it.

In addition, the backups are encrypted.  So, even if the backup drive were to fall into the wrong hands, the data is secure.

Finally, what happens if your main hard drive fails?  Well, you just push a button and all of the server configuration and software is restored in minutes.  No need to reinstall the operating system, re-configure your software, or re-assign rights to folders and printers.  The IDB  backs everything up, not just your data files.

What about disaster recovery?  If you buy additional IDB drive cartridges with the server, you merely need to pull out one cartridge at the end of the day on Friday, plug in your other cartridge and take the first cartridge home with you so the data is off-site.  The act of plugging in a new cartridge tells Lotus Foundations to start backing up the whole system from scratch automatically.  No need to let the IDB know about the new cartridge.  It is all taken care of automatically.

If the unthinkable happens, and your server at the office were to be lost in a calamity, you would only need to buy a new IBM server, plug in the cartridge that you took home with you, push a button and you’re right back where you started, since your last backup.

So, yes, IBM’s Intelligent Disk Backup technology that comes with the IBM Lotus Foundations Start server appliance is the bomb.  Finally, no more tapes, no more carrying around an external USB drive from PC to PC, and no more worrying about disaster recovery.  And best of all, no more shelling out monthly fees to continue making online backups.  Let the IDB take care of the backups for you so you can just sit back, relax and focus on work.

We’ve begun selling and explaining the IBM Lotus Foundations Start (LFS) server software appliance to existing and potential customers.  I show them a side-by-side comparison chart with a competing small business solution so that they can compare apples-to-apples.  After a short explanation, I’ve gotten comments such as:

- “This sounds too good to be true”

- “Why would I not choose Lotus Foundations?”

However, customers still show hesitation because the underlying operating system is Linux and there is concern regarding interoperability with Windows.  Of course, we know that we can load a virtual environment with Windows on it, but that is not the same as having the whole appliance running Windows.  This is not a show stopper by any means.  Customers are wowed (as I stated above) by all that LFS can do and they are pleased that they are now afforded a choice in the SMB market.  At the same time, LFS is a significant upfront investment for smaller businesses, so they want to vet this new opportunity before taking the leap.

I’m confident that LFS can hold its own as it really is not “too good to be true”.  It is truly a great solution that, not only offer SMBs a stable and reliable alternative,  but, also, I believe will allow SMBs to streamline their IT infrastructure while also allowing them to spend more time focusing on their core business.

Lotus Protector for Mail Security is an appliance suitable for businesses who are looking to proactively protect their email systems from spam and viruses. This appliance comes in two flavors (deployment flexibility), as a hardware software combo appliance (Rack Unit : 2U) and as a virtual appliance using vmware.  Designed specifically for the Lotus Domino environment the appliance is very easy to setup on an existing Domino platform.

For evaluation purpose we chose to use the virtual appliance using VMWare server as it is easy to install on our existing vmware infrastructure. The vmware image is based on a linux OS and has the Lotus Protector software pre-installed. Once you have the Lotus Protector vmware image turned on, you will be guided through a series of configuration questions that took us about 20 minutes to configure. Nothing is better than a simple yet security rich management interface, and this appliance comes with it.

As soon as we opened the management interface we updated the licenses and made sure that the components (Content Filter Database, Appliance Firmware, Intrusion Prevention Signatures and AntiVirus Signatures) are up-to-date. We updated the time to sync with an external time server, made sure that the networking and firewall part is configured correctly and checked the Events for abnormalities.

The next step is to setup the appliance for LDAP access. In the Policy Objects under Directories, we added an entry to access our domino ldap server so that incoming mails can be verified against the mail field in the ldap directory. The trickiest part was to enter a username who has access to the ldap directory.  The correct format should be in LDIF format such as entering the DN into the Username field, in this case we entered “cn=FirstName LastName/o=OrganizationName”. We at first entered our Domino Short Name which didn’t work. We left everything by default except in the last tab “SMTP Domains” we added our domain. Next step is to setup a Who Objects in the Policy Objects section under the Who tab. Make sure that the type is “Directory” and choose the directory that we have previously setup. Once the changes have been saved, we can verify if the ldap directory is working by going to Verify Who Objects and choose All Who Objects. Click Submit. You should see an OK in the result column.

To verify an email address, simply select SMTP Address in the selection box and type in an exisiting email address.

The next step is to configure the Receiving SMTP setting so that the appliance can verify that a recipient actually exist in the Domino directory and what to do if the recipient is not found. There is also an option to silently drop the email if it is being addressed to an unknown recipient, however for our testing purpose we left it as Rejected with Error. This is nice to have when troubleshooting and testing a spam email from the Internet.

Once that is in place we can procede with the testing and here is the result when an exisiting user doesn’t exist

What about spam? To test this out I sent myself an email containing a simple text email that offers a viagra product. Here is the email sample so that you can use it for testing purpose too : Email. Immediatly Lotus Protector caught the email spam and quarantined it.

Another feature in Lotus Protector is the automatic updates of the following components required for the appliance to effectively filter spam which I believe are being updated often by IBM :

• Content Filter Database
• Bayes Filter Database
• Spam Heuristics
• AntiVirus Signatures
• Intrusion Prevention Signatures

Not to forget the reporting tools are awesome too,  Lotus Protector can create an executive summary report from a time period of your choosing. To name a few, reports can be categorized according to top 10 Viruses or top 10 senders to traffic monitoring to matched rules. This report also includes a very nice graph to help us to assess patterns and trends.

Wednesday appliance test

As I am only touching the surface, for more information regarding this appliance, please visit IBM’s website directly :

http://www-01.ibm.com/software/lotus/products/protector/mailsecurity/

Then if you like to see if this product suits you, there is a 90-day trial for this appliance. Follow the link : http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/downloads/ls/lotusprotector/learn.html