Category Archives: Uncategorized
SmartCloud Tip #8: When Person Docs don’t synch
I have encountered occasions in a hybrid environment where some person documents don’t appear in SmartCloud so they are not available for addressing mail and are not available for provisioning, as in the case of creating a new user. The issue turned out to be that the entry in the Manager field on the Home/Work tab of the person document contained a long string of characters (about 40). This prevented the document from getting synchronized with the directory in SmartCloud. SmartCloud is designed so to avoid other problems, if there are any fields that can’t be synchronized, the whole document doesn’t.
So if names in your Domino Directory don’t appear in SmartCloud, review the fields for any unusual content that may be preventing it from synchronizing properly.
SmartCloud Tip #05: Problems for mail and calendar delegates. You’ll get tons of helpdesk calls if you don’t do this.
One of the points IBM stresses during your migration to SmartCloud is to migrate delegates of mail files, calendars, and contacts either ahead of or at the same time as the people who delegated them (delegators). This is necessary because a user cannot access databases on the SmartCloud servers until their own account has been added to the service. This is part of the security model. In other words, mail files in the service can only be viewed by users that are in the service. No problem. As you build your batches for migrating, the migration process alerts you who the delegates are for the people in a given batch and those delegates can be added to the same batch with one click.
But what is missed is that the delegates have bookmarks and calendar overlays pointing to the delegators mail or calendar. Those bookmarks point to the servers on-site, not in SmartCloud. So as delegators are migrated to SmartCloud, the old links that other people have to their mail don’t get updated. The end result is that delegates will continue to view the old data in the database on the server on-site even after the delegator has moved. The delegate gets no warning that the delegator has moved. The only clue is that they no longer see any changes that are made in the delegators’ mail or calendar. What makes this more insidious is that the problem begins when the DELEGATOR is moved, not when the delegate is moved. So an administrative assistant that manages many executives’ mail files has to constantly monitor when those executives are moved and then update their bookmarks.
That is why it is a best practice to be sure to promptly delete mail files from the on-site servers after their owners are successfully migrated. Life for delegates can also be simplified if all of the mail files that a delegate has access to are moved in the same batch. Then the delegate can update all the bookmarks at the same time. You could go a step further by creating database redirects as the databases are deleted from the servers on-site. If you do this, you don’t have to alert the delegates every time a delegator’s mail file is moved to SmartCloud. However, this can’t be done if you just approve the database deletions posted in adminP as part of the migration process. You need to create these some other way. One method is to delete the databases manually in the admin client where you can also add the redirect when it is deleted. You could also do this programmatically with an agent. I invite any developers to post a comment on the details for doing that.
I have posted an idea in IdeaJam requesting an enhancement.
as well as in Greenhouse.
Webcast on Latest progress on IBM Mail Next
Don’t miss the upcoming webcast showing the latest news on IBM Mail Next. Register here: https://ibm.biz/BdFES3
Personally I’m interested in the Notes web plugin and how this may make its way into SmartCloud.
SmartCloud Tip #04: Special considerations for Soft Deletions with MMR
The SmartCloud administration panel has a setting for how long deleted messages are in the trash. From the administration screen, in the left navigation click on IBM SmartCloud Notes, Click Account Settings…
Click Email Management.
This setting overrides the setting in the database properties – advanced tab – soft deletions.
However…
If your users are using Managed Mail Replicas (MMR), then they have a local replica and the Notes client will still process soft deletions on that local replica according to the database setting. So if the database setting is set shorter than what you have in the SmartCloud admin settings, the trash will be emptied locally and then replicated to the server and it will appear as though the server setting isn’t working.
Normally the administrator could change this database setting, but not for mail files in SmartCloud because no one has manager access to the database, not even to the local replica.
To avoid this problem, simply make sure to set the value of the soft deletions database property to something longer than the time you have set in SmartCloud up to 2160 hours (90 days) before you migrate the mail file to SmartCloud. Don’t exceed that as excessively high values create other problems. Also do this to the mail template you are using for new users.
The beauty of cloud-based software is the speed that updates are deployed and I expect this will change soon. IBM is working on refinements to managing the soft deletions with MMRs, but it is still best to deal with this pro-actively before migrating.
Read these articles for more tips on preparing mail files for migration to SmartCloud Notes:
SmartCloud Tip #02: Best Practices to get mail files ready to move to SmartCloud
SmartCloud Tip #03: Important Details to Setting the ACL on your Mail Files
2014 Winter Olympics Numbers Games
When looking at the medal count from the 2014 winter Olympics, at a glance it appears the United States did really well finishing with the second-highest medal count of any country.
Medal Counts
But then I saw Norway was in third place, and it made me wonder…
So I drafted a quick spreadsheet (using IBM SmartCloud Docs) and came up with this graphic, of medals per million people in each country. Suddenly the U.S. didn’t do so hot while Norway totally owns the winter games, all 5 million people:
Medals per capita
Norway even earned 8 times more medals than Canada!
Update: In the first 10 minutes of posting this article, Norway had by far the highest number of visits per capita!
IBM Connect 2014 Session Selection: First round posted, setting the tone
If you submitted an abstract for IBM Connect 2014, Look here to see if yours has already been chosen.
If you are attending IBM Connect 2014, this will give you a taste of what to expect at the conference.
Some of the selections are no surprise. Mat Newman, with his new role at IBM; Gabriella Davis and Chris Miller will be talking about SAML, a big deal for integrating any cloud services with single sign-on; Wes Morgan has two sessions already on the list; Ed Brill will be there to talk about his new baby that is growing up fast: MobileFirst; Kathy Brown will be talking XPages; Chris Whisonant and Mitch Cohen will share a real world example of a smarter workforce. Yes, many excellent speakers are already on the schedule. These are the speakers that people just look for their name when choosing the session because they know it will be good, regardless of the topic. If your abstract hasn’t been selected yet, don’t fret. They have 4 days of sessions that need to be filled and they’re just getting started. Check back at http://ibm.com/blogs/socialbusiness each Monday to see the next round of selected abstracts.
One thing missing so far are sessions that might serve the Kenexa crowd. Last year it was great to see all the new faces that came with the Kenexa enthusiasts, but I am still unclear how the two separate interests will be blended. In either case, The sessions are looking to be great topics.
See you there!
Grand Canyon is Temporarily Open for 7 Days
Permits issued to people to navigate the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon are once again being honored, at least for the next 7 days. Thank you to everyone who helped right this injustice. The Governor of Arizona offered to have her state pick up the tab to keep Grand Canyon National Park open for the next 7 days and the park service finally accepted the offer. This is great news. Please join me in taking a moment to thank the following people:
Arizona Governor Jan Brewer Twitter: @GovBrewer
Utah Governor. Gary R. Herbert Twitter: @governorherbert
Bill Parks (http://billhparks.nrsweb.com/ ) and Gator Crump of NRS (Northwest River Supply http://nrs.com) for a $30,000 pledge to the State of AZ Twitter: @NRSWEB email: service@nrs.com and gator@nrs.com
Grand Canyon National Park Superintendent Dave Uberuaga email: Dave_Uberuaga@nps.gov
Interior Secretary Sally Jewell Twitter: @SecretaryJewell
Any other representatives you may have contacted on this matter. I contacted WA Senators Patty Murray @PattyMurray and Maria Cantwell @CantwellPress and WA House Representative Suzan DelBene twitter: @RepDelBene
Tom Martin, Friend of The River.
There are two more things we need to accomplish:
1. We need to make sure these parks stay open beyond these temporary accommodations.
2. We need to take the appropriate legislative actions to ensure this never happens again.
Read more on the park openings from Washington Post
The following National Parks are currently open and operating on state funds:
Arches National Park (Utah, open October 11-20)
Bryce Canyon National Park (Utah, open October 11-20)
Canyonlands National Park (Utah, open October 11-20)
Capitol Reef National Park (Utah, open October 11-20)
Cedar Breaks National Monument (Utah, open October 11-20)
Glen Canyon National Recreation Area (Utah, open October 11-20)
Natural Bridges National Monument (Utah, open October 11-20)
Zion National Park (Utah, open October 11-20)
Rocky Mountain National Park (Colorado, open October 11-20)
Statue of Liberty National Monument (New York, open October 12-17)
Mount Rushmore National Memorial (South Dakota, open October 14-23)
Grand Canyon National Park (Arizona, open October 12-18)
NOTE: These openings are TEMPORARY. The leaders mentioned above have stated they acted in response to our messages to them. If this issue matters to you, make sure you let them know.
Here is the publicly available document defining the deal between Utah and NPS. Whereas it is a legal document and whereas no one associated with law or politics can be brief, it is.. Well read for yourself. No wonder the government is shut down.
Breaking News: The Passport Advantage website has been updated!
In case you hadn’t noticed, the Passport Advantage website has a new look. (if the link doesn’t work, it’s because of the redirect to www-XX that IBM loves to do. No one there seems to have figured out that messes with bookmarks.. Try http://www-3.ibm.com/software/passportadvantage/ ) I have not yet had a chance to explore it in detail. It looks like some (but not all) of the old issues have been cleaned up and it sports the new IBM website skin. I will post a more detailed review later. Meanwhile, take a moment to have a look. For comparison, see my article reviewing it almost 2 years ago. I’m anxious to see what was done that took 2 years of business justification and web development to accomplish. Go take a look for yourself and post your first impressions here.
IBM announces MobileFirst and partnership with AT&T
News sources are reporting the new announcement of IBM MobileFirst solutions portfolio. This is big because, unlike other players in this market, IBM is the leader in remaining device agnostic in the BYOD (bring your own device) business world. Mobile technology is blurring the lines between consumer and business tools. There is no doubt in my mind as I watch my 13-year-old daughter do 90% of her computer-related activities on her smartphone that this is the destiny of technology. It is promising to see IBM extending their mobile architecture further. They are already experts at cloud services, analytics, social business, and application development. It only makes sense they would be expanding their mobile initiative to meet the needs of business.
As they are partnered with AT&T, this news is very relevant to the Seattle area which is home to much of the AT&T Wireless services (Redmond and Bothell).
For more news on this, visit:
NY Times
Get more news about it at the blog of the person leading this initiative, Ed Brill.
Bothell, WA Mayor Mark Lamb in Sex Scandal Mirrors General Petraeus in Washington DC
What does Bothell, Washington and Washington DC have in common? How about a sex scandal involving leaders that finally revealed their true lack of integrity and demonstrated why they can’t be trusted that they will serve the best interests of the people. Within a week of General Petraeus resigning after his extramarital affair was exposed, the improprieties of our mayor Mark Lamb here in Bothell, WA have been similarly revealed.
In the past, there have been questions about Lamb’s motives in how he influenced city activity from which he or certain developers may have benefitted. But when he demonstrated that he would discard the sanctity and oath of his marriage for the sake of his own personal gratification, Mayor Mark Lamb threw his moral integrity right under the bus. So why would our community have any reason to believe that Mr. Lamb would be any more faithful in upholding his oath to protect the best interests of the City of Bothell over his own personal gain when he wouldn’t even uphold his oath to his own wife?
I expect this latest incident will eliminate any chance of his re-election. I hope Mr. Lamb will accept the fact that the public has lost all confidence in his ability to serve as mayor of Bothell and will resign his post promptly. You can read more about this story at http://www.bothell-reporter.com/news/179152821.html
Overview of Windows 8 Unleashed Event held in Seattle
If you do development in Visual Studio or even JavaScript, you should check out what is coming for developing in Windows 8. I was impressed with what I saw at the Windows 8 Unleashed event held at Microsoft in Seattle. They highlighted a few key new features available for developing apps to run in Windows 8. The things that jumped out were the ubiquitous nature of apps now. Content and states of applications can follow you as you go from machine to machine. So if you play a game on your phone and then go to your laptop, you score will follow you. I’m not talking about a website, I’m talking about a local app. This data sharing occurs via your Windows Live account or Skydrive.
They showed how to manage the dynamic icons on the new desktop and how apps can receive updated information even when not running.
If you plan to monetize your apps, the store model has changed dramatically. Microsoft is predicting 400 million new computers will be purchased in the next year and 65% will use windows OS. That equates to 260 million computers. This will create a huge market for apps. Microsoft intends to take advantage of this opportunity by working hard to promote the apps and to extend the advertising done via apps. A handy little promotional feature is that you can share an app with your friends. That works similar to sharing apps on facebook.
Microsoft wants your apps to sell because they are going to take 30% of your revenue up to the first $25,000 in sales, then 20% of all sales above that.
Those are just a few highlights. They presented much more information than I covered and had labs to test it out, but rather than repeat it all here, I will guide you to visit their website where you can find all of the resources that they used in the workshop.
One of the best things I got from the resources were the links to setup a VM and a demo version of Windows 8 to play with.
There will be a few more events held around the country
that you might have a chance to attend. Most likely you won’t be able to attend one live, but much of the information is available online.
Ditch the technology and experience the real thing
Reporting from Flagstaff, this is my last post before heading into the Grand Canyon tomorrow where I will be leading a trip down the river and I will be rowing a 2000 pound, 18′ raft for the next 21 days and traveling 220 miles down the Colorado River. There is no connectivity there, so don’t expect any blog posts for awhile. If you follow me on Facebook or Twitter (@davehabz) then you have already been following me on my journey.
Cheers,
-Commodore Dave
The Notes Guy in Seattle 