09-05-2016

IBM Domino 9.0.1 Fix Pack installler quits without error on Ubuntu Server 16.04

Tags: domino linux ubuntu 16.04 perl installer fix pack fixpack defined(@array
I recently had to reinstall my system because I  chose to ignore smartd's emails nagging me about unrecoverable errors a bit too long.
The system disk that inevitably died before I could grab an image provided me with an opportunity to install the latest & greates Ubuntu LTS release (16.04), and yes, I know, Ubuntu (server) is not a supported platform.

How hard can it be right? Install OS, install Domino, Traveler and fix packs, been there, done that etc.
Well... I got as far as installing Domino 9.0.1 and Traveler 9.0.1 and then things got interesting.

05-07-2015

How to create a Domino keyring for a SHA2+ certificates

Tags: keyring kyrtool x509 ssl certificate openssl domino sha2
When creating the CSR directly through the SSL Vendor's website you need to combine the key and certificate into the Domino keyring file, and when the private key is not in RSA format it needs to be converted.

This post is based on my experience with a certificate created through TransIP's website.

After creating the request I received a .zip file which contained the following:

Cabundle.crt
Certificate.crt
Certificate.key
Certificate.p7b

To create a new Domino keyring using kyrtool use the following command:

Kyrtool create –k c:\cert\keyfile.kyr -p password

Unfortunately the certificate.key file provided by TransIP is not in RSA format which is not supported by kyrtool.
In this case the format was easily determined by looking at the first line of the file, instead of starting with ------BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY----- the file started with  ------BEGIN ENCRYPTED PRIVATE KEY------

05-07-2015

Importing a new SHA2+ certificate into Domino keyring based on existing CSR

Tags: sha2 keyring kyr openssl certificates domino import howto
When you renew an existing server certificate using the existing CSR for example to upgrade from the weak SHA1 cypher, the following commands will allow you to import the new server certificate into the existing Domino keyring file.

Requirements:

IBM Domino server running 9.0.1FP3+
IBM Notes clinet running 9.0.1FP3+
The 'new'  keyring tool from www.ibm.com/support/fixcentral (901FP3IF_Keytool.zip)
The new certificate file from your certificate vendor and certificates for all signers in the certificate chain
Access to the keyring files (both .kyr and .sth)

08-03-2012

The fixup that didn't

Tags: Lotus Domino fixup corrupt database 8.5 8.5.x
After a problem at a customer with a corrupt database which could not be fixed by the fixup task, (the database kept reporting that a consistency check was in progress) one of my coworkers contacted IBM who eventually gave him the following bit of information

There is a known issue where fixup does not delete the bad document: SPR # TSOE8KCJCP - Fixup does not repair corrupt database

Setting the following ini variable should allow fixup to continue on the error.

DEBUG_FIXUP_DELETE_ERRORS_INCLUDE=2B8,227

The SPR is a regression that was introduced in 8.5.1 and the last known release where it worked is 8.5 . So if the workaround does not work, try to run fixup on a 8.5 server to see if the database is cleaned up.

09-02-2011

Errors while syncing Android devices after moving data directory.

Tags: Lotus Domino Traveler
One of the great things about Lotus Domino has been that it is so dead easy to move the data directory to another location by just updating the references in the server's notes.ini file.

However, when moving the data directory on a Lotus Notes Traveler server this is not enough.

Besides updating the notes.ini file you will also need to update the path reference that can be found near the end of the <dominodatadirectory>\traveler\cfg\NTSConfig.xml file

If you don't you might run into a number of errors on the server console (at least I did at a customer)

01-30-2010

Words of warning: Servers\Mail Users view in 8.5.1 Domino Directory has changed

Tags: 8.5.1 Lotus Domino 8.5 Directory
I recently ran into a nasty surprise in an agent I wrote ages ago that uses the Servers\Mail Users view in the Domino directory to find users per server, which performs some checks against the mail database.
The agent loops through the entries, using the NotesViewEntry.ColumnValues instead of accessing the underlying document, in the view which worked fine all the way up to Domino 8.5.0

After upgrading the Administration server to 8.5.1 the agent started reporting problems with the database owner, ACL etc.

Turned out that the Name column of the view has been changed from displaying the user name in Abbreviated format to 'Lastname, Firstname'.

So if you've ever used this view in any of your code, check to see if this change has consequences, and while you're at it also check for changes to any of the other views in the Domino directory that might have changed. I know I will

Oh and what did I learn from this? - When writing code that relies on information from a system database, add an additional view (with the prohibit design refresh ... property set of course)

01-06-2010

My experience sofar with Ubuntu Karmic 64 bit (Desktop & Server)

Tags: Lotus Domino Notes 8.5.1 VMWare Server 2.0.2 64 bit Linux Ubuntu Karmic
Sofar my ride with Karmic hasn't been all smooth.

I've upgraded my server from Ubuntu Server 8.04 (Hardy Heron) to 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex) and recently to 9.10 Server (Karmic) on 64 bit and encountered a few issues, and not just with Domino 8.5.1 - and yes I know this is not an IBM supported configuration

After the upgrade my Domino server came up without a problem but I noticed an error message from the full text indexer about not being able to find libstdc++.so.5
This library was replaced by the upgrade by libstdc++.so.6 - so I ended up pulling a copy from a previous release and adding that to /usr/lib32

Other than that sofar I haven't found any problems with Domino.

Daniel Nashed's SpamGeek also just continues to do it's job

I also have 64 bit VMWare Server 2.0.2 running on this server and after the upgrade the vmware modules refused to build, fortunately I found a fix here:

http://www.ubuntugeek.com/how-to-install-vmware-server-2-0-x-in-ubuntu-9-10-karmic.html

I have a Windows 2003 Server VMWare guest that started life as a physical box that I converted to a VM sometime last year that never had any problems but ever since the upgrade (and subsequent patch) has a tendency to die under high I/O loads. VMWare kills it (Worker#18| Caught signal 6).

After that, it was time for my laptop ...

01-05-2010

CA Process does not like admins with local mailfiles

Tags: Lotus Domino 8.5.1 CA Process
Ran into this one the other day while making a small change to my CA based certifiers:

Cannot locate user certificate. Make sure server contains your certificate for encryption


Turs out that when your location document is configured with your mail file location as Local, you will not be able to make any changes to notes and/or internet certifiers inside the CA Process.

See also KB #1168945

Why it requires the location of the mailfile to be 'On Server' instead of just checking the home server as configured in the location document (or the server you're actually administrating) is beyond me though.

10-12-2009

Lotus Domino 8.5.1 Gold available for download at PWSW

Tags: Lotus Domino 8.5.1 partnerworld pwsw

Just noticed the gold version is available on PWSW, so I started downloading rightaway and atm I'm actually getting a decent download speed (I'm maxing out my ADSL )

08-03-2009

IBM Lotus Domino support forums not available for browser access

Tags: IBM Lotus Domino Support Notes.Net

I tried accessing the domino forums from the web using the all too familiar www.notes.net url - which returned an error.

ok, perhaps they're phasing out this domain, let's try www.ibm.com/support

I select Lotus and Lotus Domino, click on the Forums and Communities link which takes me to this page:

A picture named M2

Clicking any of the the Notes/Domino x discussion forum links returns this:

A picture named M3

Guys, I know it's holiday season but some people still have work to do, how hard is it to keep servers up and running?
You guys are aware of the cluster capabilities in your software? Why not use it

Same goes for sites like PWSW.

The track record for availability is not great advertisements for the product's high availability features.

Update 06-08-2009:
It's borked yet again.
Haven't been able to access PWSW's software access catalog all day either and that's a resource business partners pay good money for.
Coworker just send me this link (http://www.lotus.com/ldd/r5fixlist.nsf ) that also takes me to the apology page.

Looks like the Lotus product pages have all wondered off on vacation or something.

05-18-2009

DWAHF_v8.5_191.12CHF2's readme

Tags: Lotus Domino iNotes R8.5 HotFix
Did the person who wrote the readme for the hotfix actually look at it?

Here's the directory content of the hotfix:
A picture named M2

and the directory contents for w32 (basically the same applies for the other platforms):
A picture named M3

Now look at the readme:

If there are files mentioned below and are not found in the zip file, then there was no changes to the files and the files don't need to be replaced.

(PLEASE NOTE:  These files listed below and in this file are not identified using the correct CASE Sensativity, Please use the CASE of the file You are replacing as a guide for installation.)

Server       Location
Platform                                                                        Files

Win32         <Domino data directory>\domino\html                        dwa85.cab
                                                                                dwa85W.cab
                                                                                dwa85res_en.dll  

        <Domino program directory>                                         ninotes.dll
        (note:  all files in the w32 directory need to be        ninotes.sym
        installed)                                                                ndolextn.dll ***** (see note below)
                                                                                ndolextn.sym ***** (see note below)

        <Domino data directory>/jvm/lib/ext/                        dlt.jar

        <Domino data directory>\iNotes                                Forms85.nsf
                                                                       
        <Domino data directory>                                                us.dic
                                                                                uk.dic
                                                                                wpdic.dic


NOTE:  If files are mentioned above are not found in the zip file, this means no changes occurred in this file.

The files that are not included with the HotFix but are referenced in the readme file are marked in red.

To top this off, there are files in the hotfix that are not even mentioned in the readme:
        <Domino data directory>\domino\html\download\filesets\                n_DOLBASE.exe
                                                                                n_DOLBASE.inf
                                                                                n_SHIMMER8_5_en.exe
                                                                                n_SHIMMER8_5_en.inf

Update: I should've read further towards the end of the file, this particular bit actually did make it into the readme.

And why is it too much to ask to provide an installer instead of having to manually copy those files for every server in your environment, after all this IS the 21st century is it not?

Don't even get me started on this whole applet signature debacle. It all seems very sloppy to me. Perhaps IBM has done away with their Q&A department as a cost-saving measure?

05-14-2009

Strange scheduled task WksRep

Tags: Domino scheduled task Location

Today I noticed the following (marked bold & red)  when I entered the sh sched command on the domino console:


Scheduled                        Type                        Next schedule
Domain Indexer                Domain Indexer            14-05-2009 10:05:53
Event Monitor                 Event Monitor             14-05-2009 09:15:52
Office (Network)              WksRep                    14-05-2009 09:30:00

After digging around in the system (nothing in the notes.ini, knowledgebase, R5-8.5 forums, configuration, program & connection documents explained this particular entry) I found a number of Location documents in the Domino directory, one of which had replication enabled. Apparently somebody had once copied the location documents from the personal addressbook into the domino directory.

05-30-2008

Lotus Notes/Domino 8.5 Beta 1 is available

Tags: Lotus Notes Domino 8.5

Hop over to the Notes/Domino 8.5 Download site for the public beta.  -- http://www.ibm.com/services/forms/preLogin.do?lang=en_US&source=swg-lnd85  

Install, play around and then share your experiences with the rest of us through the Notes/Domino 8.5 Public Beta Feedback forum -- http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/nd85forum.nsf

02-20-2008

Lotus Notes / Domino 8.0.1 is available on PWSW/PA

Tags: Lotus Notes Domino

As if you didn't know that yet

In case you're looking for the administration client, do not despair it is part of the Designer client package

Last time I checked there was still no sign of Traveler though

10-22-2007

Notes performance tips

Tags: Lotus Notes Domino performance

http://nsftools.com/tips/PerfTips.htm

07-10-2007

FastNSF

Tags: Lotus Domino Tuning

Wombat in EFNet's #notes irc channel pointed me towards this site: http://www.fastnsf.com .

Has some info on Server.Load and some tips on performance tuning.