The Tools Every IBM Lotus Domino Administrator Should Know - and How to Configure Them03/03/2008 10:20:07 PM
Location : Cleveland, OH
Another in a series of sessions attended by yours truly while at Lotusphere 2008, BP110 - The Tools Every IBM Lotus Domino Administrator Should Know - and How to Configure Them. This session was led by Gabriella Davis. If you have never had a chance to see her, you are missing out on an excellent speaker.
[Blog post intermission: Am I wrong in thinking that the non-IBM speakers are more relaxed, more fun than the IBM speakers? Could it be the topics that they present? The relationship that they have with the audience? Something else?]
I took quite a few notes during this session. The first thing I can read in my notes is the phrase "pity applause." I am still chuckling over that one, uttered by Gabriella when she was asking for a reaction from the audience. It was funny then and it is funny now.
This was a session that made you think about the way that you approach some Administration tasks or ignore others. After the session, I had a new appreciation for some of the things that I take for granted and a new found respect for tasks that I know about, but don't leverage.
Smart Upgrade. Did you know that you can use with any EXE? I think that this tool is much maligned but needs to be revisited as it is more powerful and is much better than in the past.
Certificate Authority (CA). This needs to be re-evaluated in every organization. With it, you can lock up your certifiers and passwords but distribute the responsibility for registration to other people. This will save you admin time. And don't forget about the Web Admin tool. Do your work using a web browser.
Release 8 Database Redirection. This is huge. The days of sending out new links are over. Move a DB to another server and a database redirect link will send the user to the new location. It also updates the replicator page, DB icons, bookmarks, and more. You can pick the users from the Domino Directory or the ACL of the database. I find myself thinking about this feature more, thanks to Gabriella, and I get "upset" when I am on an R7 (or less) server that I can't use this feature.
The Console. Gab showed how to copy lines on the console to paste into an e-mail, for example. She also explained how to filter certain items (console properties) and "set watch." This command allows the Admin to set a stop event which causes the console to pause and display only the event and the next 10 lines of console text. Busy server? This will solve that issue. I hope. :-) She also showed the sh monitors and the sh config commands.
Events, Statistics, and DDM. Events=reactive. Statistics=thresholds. DDM=preventative. Clear now?
Agents. Gab reviewed some of the Amgr Tell commands. Good stuff. Things like: Tell Amgr Debug * (for agent troubleshooting), Tell Amgr Cancel "DB" 'agent' and Tell Amgr Run.
DirLint. A new tool for the Administrator in R8. This new server task will detect issues with your Domino Directory and report inconsistencies, syntax issues, and group membership.
SMTP. The notes I have on this are "SMTP Restrict Group Mailings. This is HUGE." On the Group Documents, you can now determine who can see the group, thus restricting who can route mail to the group. My other note for SMTP is "reject ambiguous names." You can specify if you want to reject ambiguous names during directory lookups. Nice.
Gabriella touched on the new, Release 8 Inbox Maintenance and the OOO agent as a service. Also, there is a new Mail Notification, that occurs before the Delivery Failure Report gets to the user. I am conflicted on this one. On one hand, I like that you can tell the sender that there is an issue with the sending of the message. On the other . . . I can see the user calling and wanting to know about this message in their Inbox. But it could assist the Admin with preemptive SMTP troubleshooting. "There might be a problem, you should investigate."
Overall, this was a very worthwhile session no matter your experience with Administration.
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