Friday 10 April 2015

Migration to Cloud Strategies for IBM Connections Mail and IBM Verse Mail Customers

For existing Notes/Domino customer:

Customers need Cloud Hybrid deployment to use the IBM provided tools

  • OPT – Onboarding Planning Tool
  • OTT – Onboarding Transitioning Tool

These tools ensure that data is migrated from On-premise  to Cloud without issues.

 

For new Customer of IBM Verse or IBM Connections Mail (IBM SmartCloud Notes earlier)

  • Server to Server Migration

Use IMAP Sync Tools to migrate all the mailboxes Server to Server

Reference link: http://notessensei.com/blog/2014/01/gmail2notes-in-less-than-300-lines.html

 

For any query related to migration, please feel free to write to me.

Thursday 9 April 2015

Migrating from Outlook to Notes using nupgrade.exe

Installation of Migration Tool:

To use the nupgrade.exe tool, please ensure to select Migration Tools while installing Notes Client.

clip_image001

Once installed, the nupgrade.exe tool will be available in the Notes Installation directory i.e. where you have selected to install the Notes Client. (By default, it gets installed to C:\Program Files\IBM\Lotus\Notes directory)

clip_image002

 

Steps to use nUpgrade.exe:

·Ensure that both Notes Client and Outlook/Outlook Express are installed and configured on same machine.

·Open a command prompt window and change the directory to Notes Installation directory (eg. c:\Program Files\Lotus\Notes).

·Once there, in the command prompt:

·For Outlook, type: nupgrade 3, and press enter.

·For Outlook Express, type: nupgrade 4, and press enter.


clip_image003

 

·This will launch the “Lotus Notes Upgrade Services” splash screen. Click Next.
clip_image004

 

·Select the appropriate profile that you created for Outlook and click Next. Make sure that Outlook is set as default client on machine, otherwise, following error might occur:
clip_image005


Once Outlook is set as default Mail client, the Outlook profiles should be populated properly:
clip_image006

 

·Make sure Express is selected, and click Next.
clip_image007

·This will start the conversion process.

·Email will be saved to the a_PersonalFolders.nsf file and contacts will be inserted into the Personal Address book (names.nsf),

 

Setting up the Migrated Emails as Archive:

·Open the Notes Client and goto Actions -> Archive -> Settings Option in menu.
clip_image008

 

·Create a new Archive Profile.
clip_image009

·Specify Name of Archive Profile, Click the Enable button and specify the relative path of .NSF file saved from the Migration process (IMPORTANT!)

clip_image010

clip_image011

·Specify the Archive Selection Criteria and set it to "selected by user".

clip_image012

Once done, click OK button.

clip_image013

The Archive Mailbox should be available in Notes Client Left Menu now.

clip_image014

Click the link to open the Old Emails.

Also, use the Advanced Search functionality to search across Mailbox and All Archives in single click !!

clip_image015

The Search will show results from all different Archives and Mailfile:

clip_image016

Wednesday 11 March 2015

2015 - ISA ESS Enablement Plan in India

Location - India
Training Mode: Class-room training (Lecture, Show-Tell and Hands-on)
Registrations open for India Business Partners and Customers only.

NORTH - GURGAON
Training location: IBM Silokhera Office, Gurgaon

Topic
Duration
Mode
Audience
Dates
Register
IBM Domino Deployment - Basic
1 day
Hands-on
Admin
11-Mar
IBM Portal Deployment and Administration
2 days
Show-Tell
Admin
17-Mar
18-Mar
IBM  Xpages Development - Advanced
2 days
Hands-on
Dev
24-Mar
25-Mar
IBM xDx and Social Business Value Proposition
0.5 day
Show-Tell
Customers
31-Mar
IBM Connections - Business Value Proposition
0.5 day
Show-Tell
Customers
9-Apr
IBM Connections UI Customization and Application Development Workshop
1 day
Show-Tell
Admin
14-Apr
IBM Domino Deployment - Advanced
1 day
Hands-on
Admin
21-Apr
IBM Sametime Deployment
1 day
Show-Tell
Admin
12-May
IBM Connections Cloud (Social Mail) - Business Value Proposition
1 day
Show-Tell
Admin
14-May
IBM Portal Application Development Workshop
1 day
Hands-on
Admin
26-May

WEST - MUMBAI
Training location: IBM BKC Office, Mumbai

Topic
Duration
Mode
Audience
Dates
Register
IBM Connections - Business Value Proposition
0.5 day
Show-Tell
Customers
10-Mar
IBM Domino Deployment - Advanced
1 day
Hands-on
Admin
13-Mar
IBM Connections Cloud - Business Value Proposition
1 day
Show-Tell
Admin
27-Mar
IBM Portal Application Development Workshop
1 day
Hands-on
Admin
7-Apr
IBM  Xpages Development - Basic
1 day
Hands-on
Dev
30-Apr
IBM Connections Deployment and Administration
2 days
Show-Tell
Admin
5-May
6-May
IBM  Xpages Development - Advanced
2 days
Hands-on
Dev
19-May
20-May
IBM Connections UI Customization and Application Development Workshop
1 day
Show-Tell
Admin
9-Jun


Note*: Limited seats only.. Only confirmed participants will be able to attend the sessions.

Friday 14 November 2014

Add Disclaimer to Mail Signature in IBM SmartCloud Notes (Custom Implementation)

Requirement:

A company disclaimer is required to be added to all the Emails sent across the organization and outside using SmartCloud Notes Client and iNotes.

Challenge:

SmartCloud Notes doesn’t support functionality of Message Disclaimer.

 

Solution:

This solution is a work around and not really a Cloud based integration.

We’ll be using a LotusScript Agent to modify the Mail Signature for Notes Client, iNotes – Plain Text and iNotes – Rich Text and append the Disclaimer for all users.

Assumption:

The Administrator has access to all the MailFiles in SmartCloud Notes via Template Modification.

 

Code:

Option Public
Option Declare

Const DISCLAIMER = |
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Disclaimer :
This e-mail and any attachments thereto are intended for the sole use of the recipient(s) named above and may contain information that is confidential and/or proprietary to the ABC Pvt. Ltd. Any use of the information contained herein (including, but not limited to, total or partial reproduction, communication, or dissemination in any form) by persons other than the intended recipient(s) is prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender immediately and delete it.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - |
Sub Initialize
    Dim s As New NotesSession
    Dim docP As NotesDocument
    Dim db As NotesDatabase
    Dim dociNotes As NotesDocument
    Set db = s.CurrentDatabase
    Set docP = db.GetProfileDocument("CalendarProfile")
    Set dociNotes = db.Getprofiledocument("iNotesProfile")
    If docP.SignatureInserted Then 'Avoid repeated insert of signature
        'Plain Text Signature
        docP.Signature_1 = docP.Signature_1(0) & Chr(10) & DISCLAIMER
        'HTML iNotes Signature
        dociNotes.HTMLSignature = dociNotes.HTMLSignature(0) & Chr(10) & DISCLAIMER
        'Notes RichText Signature
        Dim rtItem As New NotesRichTextItem(docP, "Signature_Rich")
        Call rtItem.appendtext(DISCLAIMER)
        docP.SignatureInserted = True
        Call docP.Save(True,False)
        Call dociNotes.save(True, False)
    End If
End Sub

Friday 15 August 2014

Configure Offline Replica for Notes Client

Instructions for Notes Client Configuration

Configure Local Replica:

This step will ensure that all the emails are downloaded and synced on local machine. Thus providing faster and offline access to emails. Once downloaded, emails can be instantly opened without relying on server connectivity.

Open the Mailbox and select any mail:

clip_image001[6]

Goto View menu and ensure that “Advanced Menus” is enabled/checked as shown in image below.

clip_image002[4]

Now, goto File -> Application --> “Make Available Offline..” option. It’ll be enabled only if Offline copy is not already been created.

clip_image003[4]

In the next dialog, click OK.

clip_image004[4]

This will create Local replica of your mailbox on your Notes Client. The process will run in background and may take few minutes to complete based on your mailbox size and network speed. For eg. If mailbox size is 100 MB, then you can calculate the time required to download 100MB file from internet. Once downloaded, only delta will be synchronized with server going forward.

To check the progress, open the Replication and Sync tab:

clip_image005[4]

There should be an entry with user’s name and Mailbox Icon as shown below.

clip_image007[4]

Location Settings:

Open Location Settings from Bottom Right corner of Notes Client:

clip_image008[4]

Edit the Location document for user.

clip_image009[4]

In the Edit Location Dialog, Goto 4th Tab - “Mail”

clip_image001[8]

Change Mail File Location to “Local”

Set Transfer outgoing mail if value to 1

clip_image002

Now open the Mail Icon from top bar in Notes Client:

clip_image013[4]

The Mail file opened now should show “Local” in Server Name space in Top left section of Mailbox:

clip_image014[4]


Faster Sync:

Goto File menu --> Preferences

clip_image015[4]

Goto Mail --> Sending and Receiving --> Receiving --> “Check for new mail every -- minutes”

Set the value as 5 minutes or as desired.

clip_image017[4]

Enable Schedule Replication:

Open the Replication and Sync Tab:

clip_image019[4]

Select “Enable Scheduled Replication/Sync” option to enable Scheduled replication.

clip_image020[4]

Open the “Set Replication/Sync Schedule..” option.

Enable Normal-priority Sync Schedule options as shown below.

clip_image021[4]

Scheduled Replication is more resource intensive as compared “Check Mail every xx minutes” setting mentioned earlier under “Faster Sync” heading.

Therefore, my recommendations would be not to use value of less than 15 minutes for scheduled replication. For “Check Mail every xx minutes” setting even 5 minutes setting is fine.

This document can be shared with all the End-users to let them configure the Notes Client and let them achieve the best and optimized performance from a fantastic platform !

Sunday 6 July 2014

Customize Domino Login Form to allow only Email Address

Default Domino Login Form allows multiple variants of Username to login:

  • Notes Common Name
  • Notes Canonical Name
  • Notes Abbreviated Name
  • Email Address etc.

If administrator wants to restrict usage of email address only, then following customization can be used:

Assuming SSO is configured on Domino Server and Domcfg.nsf is deployed on server, we’ll create a custom login form:

  1. Open Domcfg.nsf in Domino Designer.
  2. Create a copy of “$$LoginUserForm” Form and rename it. For e.g. “DEMOLoginUserForm”.
  3. Open the newly created form and modify the “Username” field as shown below. Change the name of field to “User” in first and last tab of Field Properties.
    image
  4. Goto the “onChange” Event of “User” field and add following code:
    return onSelectEmail()
  5. Goto the “JSHeader” section of Form and add following code (Please update the domain name in code appropriately): function onSelectEmail(){
             if(document.getElementById('User').value=="") {
                 alert("Please enter username first");
                        document.getElementById('User').focus();
                        return false;
             }
                  document.getElementById('Username').value=document.getElementById('User').value+"@demo.com";
                  return true;
      }
  6. Add the Domain name in front of User field as shown in image above.
  7. Add following code as “Pass thru HTML” in the next line after User field:
    <input name="Username" id="Username" type="hidden">
  8. The form is ready now !
  9. Now open Domcfg.nsf in Domino Admin client and set the mapping for this new form:
    image
  10. That’s all !
    image

 

Let me know if you face any issues.. I’ll be happy to assist.

     

     

     

Monday 3 March 2014

Configuring iNotes in a multiple HomeMail Server scenario with a WebSphere Edge reverse proxy server

This is draft to remember the points.. I'll update the article in few days..

Most important part is to enable Cookies with JunctionRewrite:

JunctionRewrite On UseCookie

Configuration of iNotes Web Redirect Database: Use the MailServer option and configure the Domain name and Proxy Server URL.
The problem with MailServer option in "iNotes Redirect" db is that it only changes the first URL.. The other subsequent HTTP request still try to connect the Proxy server without appending homeserver name, and the error will coming up in normal scenario. Now, with use of Cookie, ReverseProxy server remembers which server was last used.

Therefore, now with this setup the first request will go to Server1.
After authentication, iwaredir.nsf database will redirect the first URL to "http://server.demo.com/server1" OR "http://server.demo.com/server2" based on Homemail server.
At this moment JunctionRewrite will store the server information in Cookie.
All subsequent requests to server without "/server1/" in URL will still be able to reach the correct server because of this cookie.

My server setup: 
Proxy: http://server.demo.com
Domino1: http://server1.demo.com:81
Domino2: http://server2.demo.com:82

Following are the rules that I have used:

map /server1.demo.com/* /server1/*
map /server2.demo.com/* /server2/*

JunctionReplaceURLPrefix http://server1.demo.com/* http://server.demo.com/server1/*
JunctionReplaceURLPrefix http://server2.demo.com/* http://server.demo.com/server2/*

proxy /server1/* http://server1.demo.com:81/*
proxy /server2/* http://server2.demo.com:82/*
proxy /* http://server1.demo.com:81/*

ReversePass http://server1.demo.com:81/* http://server.demo.com/server1/*
ReversePass http://server2.demo.com:82/* http://server.demo.com/server2/*

Please let me know if you want more details on how to setup the Websphere Cache Proxy Server.

Reference:
1. http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/lotus/library/ls-Configuring_IWA_Edge_ReverseProxy/index.html?ca=drs
2. http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/lotus/documentation/apacherproxy4inotes/