Lotusphere JAMFest 2006 Wiki

I just set up a PBWiki for posting of songs wanted for JAMFest 2006. If you have requests please post them.

If you wish to add songs or "sign up" to play on a song, login with your name and e-mail address. The password is: sphere

JamFest Wiki

Also, RSS2 and Atom are available.

Now Playing: "The Shaman" by Angra

Viktor

This falls under the "Where are they now?" category. Viktor is a new Christian Pop-Rock band. Some of you may remember their drummer - a guy named Louie Weaver that used to play with an old band that is sadly gone now! I'm glad to see Louie doing something.

Now Playing: "Freedom of Speech" by Liquid Tension Experiment

That's Customer Service!

Last night I placed an order at BestBuy.com for a few items - so I could use the gift card I received for Christmas. I chose to pay online with the gift card and pick up in the store. Since we have a Best Buy about 4 minutes from my office I decided to just pick it up at lunch today. When the cashier handed me the items and said thank you, my BlackBerry notified me of a new email. I looked at it and it said "Thanks for picking up your order" from Best Buy. That was cool.

I know some people would think that's really cool technically. And while it is, it's still something that I do for a living. My wife asks our 2 year old what Daddy does and she says "Makes the e-mail". Pretty good answer! I think it's cool that shops are now doing those things, though.

Well, here's what I picked up, in case you're wondering:

David Crowder Band: A Collision

Star Wars - Clone Wars: Volume 1

Star Wars - Clone Wars: Volume 2

Now Playing: "Just A Closer Walk With Thee" by Bart Millard

Don't Miss These!

Over on the menu, I have a new section at the top with some of what I feel is some "Don't Miss" information here at my site. I'll keep it updated as we go along.

Now Playing: "A Beautiful Collision" by David Crowder Band

Large Domino Server Implementations

Ed Brill has a thread today where he has asked for feedback on large Domino implementations. The winner gets a front row seat at the Opening General Session. With only 1,000 users, I'm nowhere near being considered!

However, it's interesting to note that the majority of the implementations are on iSeries! There are many in the 20-30,000 user range. That's fairly interesting. What type of implementations do you manage?

Now Playing: "I'll Die Tryin'" by Lonestar

Domino 7.0 Hotfix for HTTP

Lotus believes that the PTF I just loaded will fix our issues with HTTP crashing our mail server. It appears that there is an issue with Domino Web Access trying to get multiple handles on the same database from cache. As always, I will keep you all updated.

Also, I ran database maintenance on all the /DATA/*.nsf files that are locked when the server is active. This is something that I should do more often, but... It's also for a PMR I have open with Rooms and Resources failing. I'm hoping there's just some rogue corruption causing it. More on that later too!

Now Playing: "The Old Man's Back In Town" by Garth Brooks

Some Christmas Photos

Chris Moody has posted some Christmas photos at his blog. Chris, his parents, and his sister came to my parents' house Christmas Eve. Here are a couple of shots he took:


Me on guitar with my wife and daughter in the photo!


(L->R)Moody's Parents, My Mom, My In-Laws, Moody's Sister, My Dad

Thanks Moody!! We had a great time and were glad to have you and your family over!! We especially enjoyed Santa Moody!

Thanks Santa Moody!!

The CBS Special--- "The Mystery of Christmas"

The other day I wrote about a TV Special I watched about Christmas with Ben Witherington. Well, yesterday Ben Witherington put some notes on his blog about the special.

Now Playing: "All Creatures of Our God and King" by David Crowder Band

A Christmas Gift From Lotus?

I'm anxiously awaiting an actual fix for our HTTP crash issue. I received an email late yesterday that they hope to have a fix out to me today. Here's hoping!

iSeries Down!

Well, it's back up now. But yesterday at 4:53 (right when we're about to leave for Christmas holidays at work), our cluser Domino iSeries 270 was unreachable. So we drove across town (funny how Domino can have a remote cluster!). My first thought was that the system was completely hosed. We still have those drives in our cluster system.

We arrived and found the system on a Main Storage Dump screen with the failing code being SRC B6000103. The system came back up great and that was the only error in the Product and Service Activity Logs. We called iSeries support and were sent a list of PTFs that should prevent this. We proceeded to load them and then IPL to apply them.

The thing that scares me is that this seems to be pretty random and it's possible that we could see this on another system.

Now Playing: "The Calling" by Aztec Jade

Power Line Blog

This is a really good politically-oriented blog.

http://powerlineblog.com/

XML Feed

Now Playing: "Deep Blue" by Angra

The Christmas Story

The other night I watched a special (on NBC I believe) on the birth of Jesus. The first half included some non-orthodox scholars. The second half was with Ben Witherington, Professor of New Testament Interpretation at Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky (is also in my Bloglines feeds). I will have to get into that TV special at a later date. But for now I would just like to present to you a generally chronological synopsis of the Christmas Story from the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. Those passages from Matthew are in italics. All scripture taken from the English Standard Version.

In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin's name was Mary. And he came to her and said, "Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!" But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end." And Mary said to the angel, "How will this be, since I am a virgin?" And the angel answered her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy--the Son of God. And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For nothing will be impossible with God." And Mary said, "Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word." And the angel departed from her. In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a town in Judah, and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and she exclaimed with a loud cry, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord." And Mary said, "My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name. And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts; he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate; he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent empty away. He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever." And Mary remained with her about three months and returned to her home.

Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins." All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: "Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel" (which means, God with us). When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.

In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. And all went to be registered, each to his own town. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. And the angel said to them, "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger." And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!" When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us." And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them. And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb. And when the time came for their purification according to the Law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, "Every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord") and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the Law of the Lord, "a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons." Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. And he came in the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the Law, he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said, "Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel." And his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him. And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, "Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed." And there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years, having lived with her husband seven years from when she was a virgin, and then as a widow until she was eighty-four. She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day. And coming up at that very hour she began to give thanks to God and to speak of him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.

Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, "Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him." When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. They told him, "In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet: "'And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.'" Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, "Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may come and worship him." After listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. And going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way. Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, "Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him." And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, "Out of Egypt I called my son." Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah: "A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be comforted, because they are no more." But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, "Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child's life are dead." And he rose and took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there, and being warned in a dream he withdrew to the district of Galilee.

And he went and lived in a city called Nazareth, that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled: "He shall be called a Nazarene."

And when they had performed everything according to the Law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth.

i5/OS V5R4 Release Date?

Speculation is that it will be released before February 2006. To be quite honest, I am on Domino so much that I don't keep up as much with the OS releases. But, from some further research, it will "include user interface, clustering, and database enhancements." It also appears to be a huge release - it's compared to the V4R5 to V5R1 conversion!!

Also, this is pretty interesting:

Herring said OS/400 admins have to wrestle with five different interfaces--including several green-screen interfaces, iSeries Navigator and OpsNav, and now the Hardware Management Console--to manage an iSeries box. "This seems a bit much for your average SMB customer." To that end, IBM will be redesigning the task-oriented OS/400 screens using AUIML and give it all a consistent look and feel. He also hinted that the Rochester team liked WebSphere Portal Express and that OS/400 functions would also start exploiting this technology to make OS/400 a little more user friendly.

Now Playing: "Mountain Song" by Joe Satriani

How do you do Lotus upgrades?

What is your process for upgrading Servers, Templates, and Clients to the latest release?

Last week I finished upgrading all of our mail files to the DWA 7.0 template. On clients that are below the 7.0 version, the Tools > Preferences is not available from the mail folders. Lotus Support said that you should have the clients upgraded to the latest release before migrating the mail files. Of course, this makes sense. However, they did make it difficult with 7.0 because the client Smart Upgrade process was broken. (That is supposedly corrected in 7.0.1 as SPR# HXXE68T7Y5).

So, the correct procedure is as follows:

1) Upgrade server to latest release
2) Upgrade clients to match the server release
3) Upgrade mail file templates to match the client release

Now Playing: "Baby It's Cold Outside" by Brian Setzer and Ann Margaret

New JibJab

Check out the new JibJab! It's hilarious... Thanks Simon



Now Playing: "Rush Limbaugh"

Domino 7.0 Updates

Well, this week we've averaged 2-3 HTTP crashes per day! Not what I was hoping for. From speaking with Lotus Support, it appears that we should be receiving the 3rd debugging PTF for our iSeries. They have pinpointed the problem to the database cache and this next debugging hotfix should allow them to get into the part of the code dealing with the cache to get a fix out soon (I hope!).

Also, we've been having some issues with the new 7.0 Rooms and Resources database. As part of my upgrade process, I did upgrade the databases to the 7.0 template. But after a month we are not able to book directly from the databases. We have several RnR databases for different locations or workgroups who had to be separate from the others... Anyway, this is happening for separate databases on the production and cluster replicas. The good news is that we are able to book via the C&S process by creating a meeting.

Merry Xmas!

It seems that about this time every year I will see someone write a letter to the editor of the local newspaper talking about the phrase "Merry Xmas." A few years ago I wrote this response.

The idea behind the statement was that Christ is removed from Christmas by using "Xmas." This is a common misconception. I am no Greek scholar, but according to Strong’s Greek Dictionary the Greek word for Christ is “Χριστός.” In English we would transliterate that as Christos (Xristos). As you can see in the Greek, the first letter of Christ is “X.”

Christmas simply means “the Christ mass.” It is a fact that 16th Century Europeans referred to the Christ mass as Xmas (and there are also uses of the words "Xian" and "Xianity"). It is possible that Xmas was used before this time, as it would be simple shorthand for Christmas, but my limited research has not proven this. Knowing these facts, it should be up to each individual as to how they will refer to Christmas. Originally, no disrespect was intended in substituting the first letter of Christ.

We must remember that Christmas is a long-standing tradition of the church and not a Biblical sacrament or ordinance. Perhaps we should concern ourselves more with what Christianity (and Christmas as well) should be all about: "Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world." (Jam 1:27 ESV) I believe this is something on which we all need to work.

On another note, don't miss Kevin Presseault's outline from a sermon he gave on December 4. He makes some great points about the true peace that Jesus brought to us. And don't miss his Christmas CSS!

"I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world." (Joh 16:33 ESV) Note that while we are in the world that things will go wrong (or be unpeaceful) but we should take care in the fact that the world has been overcome and that we can have inner peace that will flow from us into all of our relationships.

Beta testers for OpenNTF Mail Experience (dwa7 template)

Check out Bruce and Vince's sites for their call for testers. If you haven't used the OpenNTF mail template, it's really nice with some good "candy" features!! See my comments at Vince's site as well.

Now Playing: "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" by NewSong

My Lotusphere 2006 Session Schedule

Here is the full list of sessions.

Here is the list of sessions in the new BootCamp category.

Also, for the eServer folks, there is usually a room in the Dolphin on Tuesday or Wednesday evening where IBM will host an informal gathering (with refreshments and food) of IBMers and eServer customers. Stop by one of the IBM eServer booths and ask an IBMer about it. Tell them you're a customer and you would like to stop by. We could hang out for a bit there - I would probably be there shortly after it opens.

This list is definitely subject to change, but here is where I will be...

Sunday
10:30-12:30-->JMP201 - Java Jumpstart for the IBM Lotus Domino Developer
1:30-3:30 --> JMP102 - An Introduction To All Things IBM Lotus Domino Clustering
4:00-6:00 --> JMP202 - LEI, DECS, LSXLC: Understanding the "How and Why" of IBM Lotus Domino Integration with other Systems

Monday
11:00-12:00 --> ID407 - Single Sign-On Strategies
1:00-2:00 --> BP308 - IBM Lotus Domino Web Facelift Using Ajax and DXL
2:15-3:15 --> AD202 - Web Services and IBM Lotus Notes and Domino 7
3:45-4:45 - Speaking with Kim Greene --> BP406 - IBM Lotus Domino for IBM iSeries Administration and Performance Best Practices
4:45-? --> Meet The Speakers - Swan Hotel - Toucan 2

Tuesday
8:30-9:30 --> AD207 - IBM Lotus Domino Web Access Customization
10:00-11:00 --> ID112 - Using IBM Lotus Domino Domain Monitoring in the Real World
11:15-12:15 --> INV101 - IBM Lotus Notes and Domino: "Hannover" and Beyond
1:00-2:00 --> BOF307 - Upgrading IBM Lotus Notes and Domino
3:00-4:00 --> AD206 - IBM Lotus Domino 7.x (and 6.x) Application Performance Optimization
4:15-5:15 --> BP304 - Code for Speed, or Code for Easier Reading: You Make the Call!
5:45-6:45 --> BOF105 - The IBM Lotus Blogging Community

Wednesday
7:00-8:00 --> MTG603 - IBM Lotus Domino Web Access
8:30-9:30 --> ID122 - An Early Look at IBM Lotus Sametime 7.5
10:00-11:00 --> ID401 - The Boss Loves Microsoft: Where Does That Leave Lotus?
11:15-12:15 --> ID110 - Getting the Most Out of IBM Lotus Domino Domain Monitoring Probes
1:30-2:30 --> ID120 - How to "Sell" IBM Lotus Notes and Domino Inside Your Organization
3:00-4:00 --> BP312 - Object Orientated LotusScript Techniques and Tricks
4:15-5:15 --> BP303 - Big-Time Tips and Tricks for Your IBM Lotus Domino Web Applications: The Great Code Giveaway!

Thursday
8:30-9:30 --> INV302 - Activity-Centric Collaboration: A New Approach to Productivity
10:00-11:00 --> BP105 - OpenNTF: Learn How OpenNTF Open Source Solutions Can Save You Time, Money and Your Hair
11:15-12:15 --> ID119 - IBM Lotus Notes and Domino @ IBM


Now Playing: "The Glass Prison" by Dream Theater

iSeries Sessions at Lotusphere 2006

BDD402 - IBM Workplace, IBM Webshere Portal and Lotus Collaboration Rocks with iSeries
Sunday: 4:45pm - 6:00pm
BP406 - IBM Lotus Domino for IBM iSeries Administration and Performance Best Practices
Monday: 3:45pm - 4:45pm
BOF513 - IBM Lotus, IBM Workplace and IBM WebSphere Portal Software Products on the IBM iSeries Server
Wednesday: 07:00am - 8:00am
SPN105 - Workplace and WebSphere Portal Deployments Made Easier on eServer iSeries
Wednesday: 1:30pm - 2:30pm
BOF514 - Deploying IBM Workplace Collaboration Services on the IBM eServer iSeries Server, the RedBook.
Wednesday: 5:45pm - 6:45pm


Now Playing: "Misunderstood" by Dream Theater

iSeries for Domino 7.0 Update and Funny Stories From Hamer

In a previous post, I stated that I thought the issues may have been stemming from a 3rd-Party HTTP failover system. We had over 10 days of uptime, but then yesterday we had a couple of crashes and some today as well. We're going to be loading another debug hotfix that Lotus is preparing (the 3rd one - if you're keeping count!). Also, Chris Miller has blogged about having this same issue.

If you want a laugh, check out this post, Tales from a Dillon History Teacher, from Chris Moody (best friend and co-worker). He posts some funny stuff that's generally from real life experiences. These are some stories from his dad's career as a teacher - you can't make up stuff like this!

Taking a Break From: "The Wizard of Oz"
My daughter loves this movie and The Polar Express ("Choo-Choo Train Movie") and it seems we watch one of the two every day!

My Realization

I'm getting old...

Not only is some gray hair coming in, but when we were on our vacation we were in a restaurant that was playing music from the 80s. So, my wife and I are singing along and I'm thinking how great (or tragic!!) it is for our daughter to be hearing it. Then I thought back to my childhood for a moment. I remembered going to the same beach with my parents and brother. But when we were children in the 80s, we had to suffer through our parents listening to that horrible "Oldies" music from the 60s.

This is about when it hit me - that Oldies music from my childhood was a mere 20 years old in the 80s. Now, music that is 20 years old is from my childhood and is basically considered "Oldies" music. Oh, and let's not forget to look below at the "Now Playing" section - I'm still stuck in the 80s!!

Now Playing: "Believe" by Journey

200th Post!

Woohoo!! (Well, sort of, there was a post that I deleted...)

Anyway, check out this thread at Richard Schwartz's blog regarding the debate over the public usage of the word "Christmas"

Now Playing: "Ra" by Jordan Rudess

Shhh... Don't Say It Too Loud

But our mail server hasn't crashed since last Friday morning...

We have been testing out a product to provide some HTTP traffic clustering and failover capabilities. That server had powered off over the weekend and I intentionally left the service disabled. Basically it acts as a proxy to a set of servers and it polls for HTTP availability every so often (5 seconds in my testing).

Well, so far this week we have not had any mail server crashes.

I'm wondering if this could be contributing to the problem. Though I am fairly certain that HTTP has crashed while this was server was previously inactive and we also had it testing with 6.5.4 FP2 with no issues.

I have informed Lotus about this possibly attributing to it. Will keep you informed...

Now Playing: "The Christmas Song" by Steve Lukather

The Samaritans (Of Biblical Times)

Back in June I was reading The Books and The Parchments by F.F. Bruce. Chapter 10 is about "The Samaritan Pentateuch." Basically, the Samaritan Jews only believe that the Pentateuch (First 5 books of the Bible - those penned by Moses) is Canonical and they have preserved their translation of the Pentateuch separate from the Hebrew scriptures. This is highly beneficial to the story of the transmission of our Biblical texts. But that's not really the most intriguing thing about this chapter, though.

For much of us, when we've come to the story of the Woman at the Well, in John 4, and hear about the Samaritans, the "milk" answer we hear at church is that the Samaritans are basically a mixed-race breed of Jews. This is only partially true. In this chapter, Bruce relates to us the full, "meat" answer to the question "Who are the Samaritans?" I will paraphrase and quote some from this 10th Chapter of Bruce's book (pages 125-132 in my edition).

Around 587 B.C., when Nebuchadnezzar brought Judah to an end, many Jews were deported to Mesopotamia. Upon returning, "the Samaritans and others who had not gone into exile offered to cooperate with them, but their offer was turned down." After not being allowed to partake of worship at the Jerusalem temple, around 400 B.C., the Samaritans built a temple near Shechem at Mount Gerizim. See John 4:20 (Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.). The Jews, of course, did not want anything to do with the Samaritans and made light of some of the foreigners in their midst (this was the racial tension).

Moving forward some centuries, around 108 B.C., John Hyrcanus (a Jewish revolutionary from the Maccabeean family) took over Samaria and destroyed the Gerizim temple. This only added fuel to the fire of the hatred between the two groups. The no longer had to worry about Jewish occupation after the Romans took power. They still remain in Palestine. "They have preserved their ancient traditions and worship at the place called Nablus, near the ancient Shechem, where some 250 of them still live; another fifty or so live at Tel-Aviv."

"They have preserved their traditional expectation of the Messiah, whom they call the Taheb, or 'Restorer'; they envisage him primarily as a second Moses - the one of whom Moses said: 'Jehovah thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken'(Deut. 18:15). They distinguish two main divisions of their history - the period of divine favour (rahutha) from Moses to Eli, and the period of divine displeasure (panutha) from Eli to the Taheb, through whom the divine favour will be restored. It was the Taheb that the woman at Jacob's well had in mind when she said, 'I know that Messiah is coming...when he comes, he will show us all things' (John 4:25); and it was with the Taheb that Jesus identified Himself when He replied to her, 'I who speak to you am he' (John 4:26)."

Now Playing: "We Were Born to Be Loved" by King's X

New Mail Template Rollout

We started rolling out the Domino Web Access 7.0 template to our users Monday evening. So far we've upgraded about 1/3 of the mail files. Some strange things we've seen on about 5% of the upgrades are that in Notes some of their folders show "Replication or Save Conflict" for all of the documents in the folder. Deleting the cache.ndk seems to correct this in most cases. Otherwise, FIXUP -F and/or UPDALL -r corrects it.

Now Playing: "Z.i.t.o." by Angra

Debugging for Domino (Update)

I have added two more debug parameters to the Debugging for Domino blog entry. The updated content reflects the new debugging parameters I have added, per Lotus Support, to my Notes.ini in order to troubleshoot our http issues. By they way, may I add some kudos to Lotus (again) for the great work they have done with the Domino Web Administration database with 7.0. I was able to quickly use it to make sure my syntax was correct for the SHOW STAT command. The 7.0 webadmin.nsf is very slick and fast!

9.) DEBUG_HTTP_DBCLOSE=1 Anytime there is an http close of an NSF file it dumps to the console.

10.) DEBUG_TRACK_FREEHANDLE=1 I could not find anything specific to Domino debugging. From this DB2 page it "frees resources associated with a specific environment, connection, statement, or descriptor handle." Information on the freehandles in your Domino environment can be seen through the SHOW STAT DATABASE.FREEHANDLE*:
> Database.FreeHandleStack.FreeHandleStackHits = 3352913
> Database.FreeHandleStack.HandleAllocations = 3356284
> Database.FreeHandleStack.MissRate = 0
> 3 statistics found

...

The following represents the debugging I have in my notes.ini currently to assist in troubleshooting my 7.0 errors - you can see that I have turned off several and enabled some others:

DEBUG_THREADID=1
DEBUG_DBSERVER=0
DEBUG_SHOW_TIMEOUT=1
DEBUG_CAPTURE_TIMEOUT=10
DEBUG_TRACK_FREEHANDLE=1
DEBUG_HTTP_DBCLOSE=1
DEBUG_NTI_DRVR=0
DEBUG_TCP_ALL=0
DEBUG_TCP_ERRORS=0
DEBUG_OUTFILE=DEBUG.TXT
CONSOLE_LOG_ENABLED=1

Now Playing: "Beyond This Life" by Dream Theater

Blog Comments Web Feed

On my menu there is now a button for an RSS Comments Web Feed (just thought I would start calling it a "web feed" since that's what it will be known as when MS gets done with it!). But if you're interested in keeping up with the few comments that exist, then check it out...

The XML for the feed is here.

Subscribe with Bloglines

Now Playing: "Road" by Resurrection Band

Blackberry Version 4.0 Service Pack 3 Hot Fix #1

There is a hotfix for BES 4.0.3 available:

Download the software.

View the release notes.

There are only a few fixes including one that I saw on my system:

Previously, in certain circumstances, if you restarted the computer on which the BlackBerry Enterprise Server resides, the BlackBerry Dispatcher, BlackBerry Synchronization Service, and BlackBerry Policy Service failed to start.

Now Playing: "Silence and Distance" by Angra

Lotusphere Session Time and Server Update

Mark your calendar! - It looks like our session will be one of the last sessions on Monday:

BP406: IBM Lotus Domino for iSeries Administration and Performance Best Practices
1/23/2006
3:45pm - 4:45pm
Swan 3-4

Also, remember that there is a "Meet The Speakers" room in each Hotel where speakers will go immediately following the sessions.

As far as our Domino 7.0 update, http didn't crash from Thursday-Monday (Thanksgiving weekend - little activity), but it's crashed 4 times since Monday. I'm uploading files to Lotus.

Now Playing: "Nova Era" by Angra

Back From Vacation...

I took advantage of having Thursday and Friday off and also took off yesterday through Wednesday. We spent some great family time with my parents, my brother, and his fiancee at Myrtle Beach (actually, Surfside Beach). My 2-year old remembered going back in the summer and wanted to "build sandcastles." Well, if it wasn't cold it was raining, so that was out of the question. We did have a great time, though, and it was refreshing.

Now, it's time to go back to work Thursday and catch back up. I caught up some today on the Lotus blogs I read. I will admit, though, that I kept up with some news blogs on my BlackBerry. I did ignore a lot of emails that will be waiting until Thursday, though!

Also, I converted my comments to HaloScan. It's more friendly to the administrator, and you shouldn't notice any differences. They also provide RSS feeds to the comments that I may put on here later.

Domino 7.0 - More Debugging

I'm still working with Lotus Support with debugging the HTTP task on our iSeries Domino 7.0 Mail server. I am actually just applying another PTF for more robust debugging. The servers are coming back online now.

Now Playing: "Buried in Blue" by Harry Connick, Jr.

Blog Feedback Requested

Go here and let me know how you like the comment engine from HaloScan. I'm thinking about switching my comments over to that system. It allows Gravatars (if I enable it) and it retains your information so you don't have to fill anything in.

The only thing is that I would have to disable the native Blogger comments and effectively lose the old comments on my blog. Not that there are a ton of comments out there that would be missed. I like the management interface and CSS capabilities of the HaloScan comments.

So, go comment on my test blog and let me know what you think...

Now Playing: "He Came, He Saw, He Conquered" by Petra

Petra: Farewell (Album Review)

Yesterday I came home to my pre-ordered copy of the final Petra CD, Farewell. Although I was thrilled to see it there, my feelings were mixed. It is the last album in Petra's 33-year ministry. I've been into Petra since I was about 13. I remember going to the local Christian bookstore and seeing this album cover of a big airplane hanger. The album was Beyond Belief. I got it home and I was hooked! To me, that is Petra...

I saw them perform later that year in Charlotte, NC with my church youth group on the Unseen Power tour (I believe). I also later saw them in Columbia, SC on the Wake Up Call tour as well as the No Doubt tour at Carowinds in Fort Mill, SC. They put on an awesome show.

The Good
Back to the Farewell cd, it was recorded live in Nashville in front of a small crowd of friends and family. There are 14 tracks on the disc. Two of them are medlies - a Rock Medly and an Acoustic Medly. The Acoustic Medly reunites the band with Greg X. Volz, their former lead singer. He also performs Grave Robber (very well, I might add). The rest of the vocals are performed by John Schlitt. Also back with the band is John Lawry on a few of the songs and his Jesus Loves You keyboard solo (remember that from the Captured In Time and Space live album?). Of course, we have Bob Hartman on guitars. He played the songs with ease! It was a really heavy album too - most of the songs are their heavier works. The Acoustic Medly is excellent also. I could probably go on with the good things for a while, but trust me, if you're a Petra fan you will love it!

The Bad
OK, I have to hit on a couple of things here. The biggest let-down was that Louie Weaver was not playing drums on this album. I'm not sure what happened between him and the band, but I wish they could have patched things up for this album. One of the other oddities was that the intro to Creed was played on the guitar. This song is known for starting with the keyboard! The other letdown, from a guitarist's perspective, was that the guitar solo wasn't "stellar". It was good, but it just wasn't the all-out, wailing, last hurrah I was expecting to hear from Bob Hartman!

Now, go grab a copy and listen to it for yourself!!

Now Playing: "Beyond Belief" by Petra

Lotusphere Frappr!

Go to the Lotusphere Frappr 2006 website and use the "Add Yourself" option on the right to help populate the map. So far I'm the lone star in the Southeast...

Spread the word on your blogs too!

Now Playing: "If I Could Fly" by Joe Satriani

Ray Ozzie Taking Lotus to Microsoft?

Ray's blog entry yesterday has an interesting section in which he alludes to making use of the method behind Notes replication to achieve a new extension for feed syndication (as an end-game to allow more open calendar sharing). My first thought is that it's cool that Ray Ozzie is taking some Notes technology to Microsoft. But then, especially with the underlying premise of this RSS extension being Notes Replication, we should start to worry that more of the replication technology could seep into Microsoft and that one day they may have a functional, robust cluster technology like Lotus.

Here is the section in question:

This got me to thinking about simplicity. Notes had just about the simplest possible replication mechanism imaginable. After all, we built it at Iris in 1985 for use on a 6Mhz 286-based IBM PC/AT with incredibly slow-seeking 20MB drives. We were struggling with LIM EMS trying to make effective use of more than 1MB of memory. Everything about the design was about implementation simplicity and efficiency. So if simple is the goal, why not just adapt the Notes replication algorithm to this need? Notes "notefiles" could be analogous to RSS "feeds"; and Notes "notes" could be analogous to RSS "items"; and Notes "items" could be analogous to XML "elements".

I don't konw if that's a jab at Lotus or not. I can see the press - "Ray Ozzie says Notes is simple!"

Notefiles replicate by using a very simple mechanism based on GUID assignment, with clocks and tie-breakers to detect and deterministically propagate modifications. Something like this could easily be represented in XML. Notefiles replicate with one another in a decentralized, masterless manner; feeds could be "cross-subscribed" in a similar manner. There's no magic to it once you know specifically what you're trying to accomplish, but it certainly helped to have an existence proof.

Here he said that Notes is the existence proof of his concept. Basically, Notes has been capable of doing for years what Microsoft is now trying to implement via an RSS extension.

And so we created an RSS extension that we refer to as Simple Sharing Extensions or SSE. In just a few weeks time, several Microsoft product groups and my own 'concept development group' built prototypes and demos, and found that it works and interoperates quite nicely.

We’re pretty excited about the extension - well beyond the uses that catalyzed its creation. It’s designed in such a way that the minimum implementation is incredibly easy, and so that higher-level capabilities such as conflict handling can be implemented in those applications that want to do such things.

Get that? Higher-level capabilities such as conflict handling can be implemented. It seems that I know of another product that also handles replication conflicts.

Now Playing: "Crushing Day" by Joe Satriani

How To Beat The Gamecocks (101)

It's really easy - just run the ball on us!

Is Clemson a better team than South Carolina? I don't believe so, but you can't argue with getting beat by them. James Davis ran 145 yards on Carolina! Anyway, we really need to tighten up on the run for next year. We still get a bowl this year, that's definitely a shock with it being Spurrier's first year at SC. We have a lot of potential - especially if we can continue improving the Mitchell/Rice combo.

RnRMgr (Rooms and Resources) Task in ND7

With the issues we've been having, I haven't had time to dig too deep into the RnRMgr changes for ND7. However, yesterday, there were three Lotus Support feeds on the topic. The will be staying in Bloglines until I get to them - hopefully soon!

What is the purpose of the RnRMgr task in ND7?

Domino 7 has centralized the processing of room and resource reservations into a new Rooms and Resources Manager (RnRMgr) task. This task is designed to prevent overbooking of rooms or resources and is responsible for both processing and all workflow that is related to reserving a room or resource, as well as accurately updating the Busytime.NSF database. This task replaces functionality that was previously handled in multiple places such as the router, the template of the Rooms and Resources database, and the Schedule Manager.

Functional changes in Domino 7 for reservations directly booked in the Resource database

There is a new Domino 7 server task, the Rooms and Resources Manager (RnRMgr) that is responsible for processing all reservation requests and updating the busy time for rooms and resources. As a result, there have been some changes made to the previous Rooms & Resources (R&R) process.

Clustering the Domino 7 Resource Reservations Database

The Rooms and Resources Manager is designed to prevent overbooking of rooms or resources and is responsible for both the processing of all rooms and resources activities, such as meeting invitations, reschedules or cancellations, and updating the Busytime database accordingly.

Now Playing: "God Moves" by Sovereign Grace Music

Are You A Sicko?

Please visit The Sickos website and let me know if you are. I am...

Now Playing: "Chewbacca" by Liquid Tension Experiment

Domino 7.0 Upgrade - Part Three

Initial Performance Thoughts

Note that these numbers are on an iSeries 820 4-way server.

According to my statrep database, for my App server at 6.5.4 FP2, it's process CPU utilization running average was 27.3%. For 7.0 it has been averaging 25.3%. That doesn't sound like much, but it's a 7% reduction in CPU for that partition with no changes but loading D7!

But with my memory utilization, it's looking really good for my App server. My running average at 6.5.4 FP2 was 758 MB. This week on 7.0 my memory utilization has averaged 677 MB. This represents nearly an 11% reduction in memory utilization for my App partition.

I'm still dealing with HTTP crashes on my Mail server, so I'm hoping to get it straightened out to get some real numbers on it too after longer periods of uptime. My App server hasn't experienced any downtime. I expect to see my memory utilization climb more after longer periods of uptime, but at 6.5.4 FP2 my Mail server was averaging 1.1 GB usage and at 7.0 it's at 800.5 MB - a 27% reduction.

Now Playing: "Alone In Paradise" by Yngwie Malmsteen

Domino 7.0 Semaphore Issue?

In my previous post I mentioned that I was having a similar semaphore issue as I was having in 6.5.4 FP1. From initially talking with Lotus Support, it is not the same as the semaphore issue we previously were having. However, we did have a server hang with a lot of the semaphore issues and it appeared to be the router task that was hanging. That's only happened once, though, so I'll be patient with it.

Now Playing: "0000" by Steve Vai

Domino 7.0 for iSeries Debugging Already

I am actively working with Lotus Support on an HTTP issue that is crashing my
server. By the time I called in, they already had an SPR open with two
sites running debug code. I am loading that debug PTF tonight and there are now three other sites running it. Personally, it looks like they will have a hotfix coming out for this (PTF).

Also, if you check out IBM Technote 1202068, I was having a similar semaphore issue with the message "WAITING FOR FRWSEM 0x0244 database semaphore". After I upgraded to 6.5.4 FP2, as the Technote stated, I didn't receive that error any longer. Also, the Technote stated that it was fixed in 7.0. I have had one server hang already today with the same semaphore error. Basically since Monday I have had 6 crashes due to the HTTP issue and one hang due to the Semaphore issue. I may be opening a PMR for the semaphore issue, but I'm also working on that with the same analyst working with my HTTP issue.

Domino 7.0 Upgrade - Part Two

Issue Resolution? - Some of the issues I noted yesterday are database/index corruption issues. The Design task (and Replace/Refresh Design) was failing with the following error: "Design Refresh Failed, Index Corrupted - will be rebuilt automatically when database is closed or server is restarted". I worked with Lotus Support on this some. They were leaning toward Full Text Index corruption because of the error, but this wasn also happening on mail files that were not indexed. As it turns out, this problem was happening with my cluster box as well. I was able to try running Updall with that server down. This did not work. I ended up trying Fixup -F. After this, I was able to successfully run the design task. You may want to set up a program document to run Fixup -F on your mail files. I will be doing that at 4 tomorrow morning and shortly on my cluster box. Check out Susan Bulloch's posting about Indirect Files and also note my comments on how I use them with program documents.

NSD - Our mail server crashed on the HTTP task once yesterday. Lotus Support has emailed me back stating that the call stack matches an SPR that doesn't appear to be public. I will most likely be loading some debugging code on my server that two other companies are running.

Performance - Generally, it appears to not be much of a change, be we are still running the 6.5.4 mail templates. It does appear that we are seeing a lower running average of page faults - which is a very good thing.

Now Playing: "The March of The Kings/Hark the Herald Angel" by Trans-Siberian Orchestra

Domino 7.0 Upgrade - Part One

Initial Thoughts

The upgrade went very smooth on Friday. The main item of concern for me was the DWA and IM integration. That worked without me having to do anything. Speaking of DWA, I really like the new template. It is now supported for Firefox. However, IM does not work in Firefox. One of the big let-downs for me in DWA 7.0 was the absence of folder-level unread items. I remember at the last few Lotuspheres that we were told to expect that in 7.0. It's OK that it's still not there, but it's just something that would be nice to have.

After the upgrade I was opening some application databases and was impressed that large views displayed instantly. This morning I'm monitoring CPU some more. Performance there is relatively the same as last week. However, I've noticed that the Directory Indexer task has been a little more active than usual.

However, we've been getting some really odd Client issues. We've had to delete cache.ndk on several computers (because users could not see any reservations in the Resource Reservation database...) and also have had to run some updall/fixups. It's really odd. We have seen a "CALENDARVIEWBROKER" error that Lotus had issues with back in R5! So, I'll get back to waiting on tech support to call me back.

Now Playing: That cool jazz song on Lotus Tech Support phone line!

South Carolina: 2, Orange: 0

For many, many years now, Carolina has had a block of "Orange" games at the end of the year (Tennessee, Florida, and Clemson). We have always struggled with TN and FL (i.e. - never won!) and we could squeak by Clemson sometimes. This year, though, we have somehow beaten TN and FL and we play Clemson this week. Let's hope for 3-0 against Orange! (OK, some may argue that Auburn wears orange too, but it's not much orange...)

Complete steps to configure Sametime Integration with DWA 7.x

As I was prepping my Domino 7.0 upgrade procedure yesterday, I came to the section that has been pretty rough with each upgrade. It seems that everytime we upgrade there are issues with Sametime integration in DWA. In my Lotus Support Feeds this morning, there was a link to a new Technote (#1221591) titled "Complete steps to configure Sametime Integration with DWA 7.x".

It appears basically the same as before, but I knew that there are now configuration options in the Configuration Document under the Domino Web Access tab. I will run through the Technote today to make sure things look cool for the upgrade tonight.

Now Playing: "I Need Thee Every Hour" by Jars of Clay

Leaked MS Memo? Ray Ozzie quote?

BlackBerry Cool reports of an alleged leaked Microsoft Memo in which Ray Ozzie, formerly of Lotus fame, Microsoft CTO states:

We should’ve been leaders with all our web properties in harnessing the potential of AJAX, following our pioneering work in OWA. We knew search would be important, but through Google’s focus they’ve gained a tremendously strong position. RSS is the internet’s answer to the notification scenarios we’ve discussed and worked on for some time, and is filling a role as ‘the UNIX pipe of the internet’ as people use it to connect data and systems in unanticipated ways. For all its tremendous innovation and its embracing of HTML and XML, Office is not yet the source of key web data formats – surely not to the level of PDF. While we’ve led with great capabilities in Messenger & Communicator, it was Skype, not us, who made VoIP broadly popular and created a new category. We have long understood the importance of mobile messaging scenarios and have made significant investment in device software, yet only now are we surpassing the Blackberry.

I don't know if it's truly a statement from Ozzie, but ZDNet also mentions the memo. It's interesting that many of the current IBM technologies in the Lotus family are mentioned as vital and "important" to Microsoft. AJAX has been huge this year. Lotus searching is extremely robust and now is teaming with Google. RSS and XML have not only revolutionized the way we get our news, but are also easily implemented via Lotus products.

Now Playing:Alias!

Lotusphere Sessions Rolling In

Don't know if this list is finalized, but here are some Lotusphere 2006 sessions.

Now Playing: "Violent Machine" by Tony MacAlpine

Ready for 7.0 Upgrade

I believe I have now finalized my procedure. We're planning on upgrading to Domino 7.0 on my production box tomorrow evening. I am upgrading my mail and app partitions (leaving my IM partition alone until we resolve issues with IBM). Over the past month I've been gathering some CPU usage data. I will continue gathering that data next week after the upgrade. However, I will be keeping our users on the 6.5.4 mail template. Then I plan on upgrading them to DWA7.ntf the following week. I will be anxious to see if there is is a CPU improvement in a live environment such as this and also to see if the templates have any effect on that.

Now Playing: "Out of Exile" by Audioslave

Server Update

Sametime 6.5.1 FP1 for iSeries - I'm still having my STMUX crashes. Development is seeing that an exponentially growing large number of connections is causing the STMUX task to go over the bounds of an array. This is what's causing the STMUX task to crash (thus causing the server to hang).

Domino 7.0 for iSeries - I have scheduled to upgrade our production iSeries this Friday evening to Domino 7.0 from 6.5.4 FP2. My cluster iSeries has been at 7.0 since September 29 without a problem. I have 3 DPARs and will be upgrading 2 of them to 7.0. The third is my IM server which will stay at 6.5.4 FP2 until we resolve our STMUX issue.

Snappshot - I got an email today from Rob Novak stating that Snappshot 7 is available. Snappshot is an application that collects IM logs. We tested this last year and it worked well. But we decided not to persue the Big Brother route. It was a great product that works on the iSeries. If you need a chat logging application, I highly recommend this!

Gas Windfall Tax

One thing that is becoming popular of late is wanting to force an earnings cap on private companies. It's under the guise of helping Americans because the "official" target is "Big Oil." Yesterday, I heard Rush Limbaugh give a statistic that "Big Oil" earns 10 cents on every gallon of gas sold and that "Big Government" earns 45 cents. I thought this was really strange and that Big Oil had to make more than this, but I didn't feel like researching it. Well, this morning I noticed The real windfall in my Bloglines from the Mises Institute (an economics website).

Last week, after Exxon Mobil (XOM) published record quarterly profits of $9.9 billion, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist called for hearings to see whether a windfall profits tax should be imposed. Checking the SEC 10-Q filing reveals the following:



Now, let's break this down.

Exxon Mobil paid $25.8 BILLION in taxes the 3rd Quarter. They were in a 41.8% tax bracket. This means that they took in about $61.7 Billion and were left with around $35.9 Billion. After their expenditures, they profited less than 17% of their total earnings.

Finally, the citizens and government officials seem to be really upset that Exxon Mobil made nearly $10 Billion in the quarter. Putting this chart to practical use, please note that the Government profited $4 Billion more in 3Q 2005 than in 3Q 2004. We have to have some accountability here. The government took in nearly three times more money ($25 Billion) than Exxon's net profits ($9.9 Billion) and they are wanting more.

Now Playing: "Hollow Years" by Dream Theater

Blackberry Version 4.0 Service Pack 3

This is now available for Domino. Looks like a basic bug fix release. The main new feature is the ability to view PowerPoint shows on the BlackBerry via the BES Attachment Service.

Now Playing: "Alone" by James LaBrie

Lotusphere JAMFest 2006

I plan on bringing my Jackson electric guitar!

This is the announcement direct from Rocky's Site:

Are you ready? You've been waiting for this for some time - you've been patient (kinda), and you've had some fun guessing. Well, it is finally here - IT IS TIME FOR THE ANNOUNCEMENT!!

(Drumroll please...)

The Lotusphere team is proud to announce the details for Lotusphere JAMFest 2006! The description that will be posted on the Lotusphere site is below:

New for Lotusphere 2006! The world only sees one aspect of you - the "uber-geek code-warrior" that wields an IDE like a katana, cutting a swath through the IT problems you face every day. However, they never see the other side of you - the frustrated headbanger, blues rocker, or pop star who was only one American Idol-type break away from superstardom.

Well, here's your chance! We're proud to announce the first annual Lotusphere JAMFest 2006! Beginning Monday and Tuesday nights we will be providing you - all you Ziggy Stardust wannabes, Eric Clapton protégés, or Neil Peart idols - the opportunity to jump on a stage, pick up an axe, pair of sticks, or mic, and rock the house with your awesome riffs or stunning vocals. Of course, "encouragement" will be available for the needy, but for many of you that isn't necessary - all you need is a stage, an amp, and an audience to shred.

So, tear yourself away from Quake 4, leave the geek backpack in the room, and don your best concert T-shirt for Lotusphere JAMFest 2006!

Will I see you on the stage?

Now Playing: "Crucify" by James LaBrie

My How They Change!!

Emma Grace - 1st Birthday Party


Emma Grace - 2nd Birthday Party

Now Playing: "Make Believe" by Angra

Follow-Up to Notes 7.0 Multi-User Install Upgrades

I spoke with Lotus Support about this again today. If you have been keeping up with this, you can see my other posts here and here.

I am told that this should be fixed in the 7.0.1 Client. However, support (along with myself) believe this could be a major hinderance for those companies wishing to upgrade to 7.0. We would like to see a client hotfix for this in 7.0.

Now Playing: "Truth" by John Petrucci and Jordan Rudess

BP406...

BP406 Domino for iSeries Administration and Performance Best Practices
Chris Whisonant
Kim Greene

It's official - I received the final confirmation this morning. I will be co-presenting a Domino for iSeries session with Kim Greene at Lotusphere 2006!

Here was our abstract submission that should be in stone:

Title: Domino for iSeries Administration and Performance Best Practices

Abstract: Domino is a complex application environment, are you taking advantage of the iSeries implementation to its fullest extent? This session will show you how to exploit the iSeries architecture to get the most out of your Domino servers. You will learn about indispensable commands that are not well documented and get tips on debugging Domino servers, including Sametime. Additionally, you will learn insights into using BRMS for on-line backups. Performance tuning tips will also be provided. In particular, we will look at mail file performance best practices , how and when to adjust runtime priorities, and how to optimize memory management by adjusting Domino buffer pools and tricks to ensure you are not wasting memory. You will also learn about differences you can expect to see with Domino 7 on the iSeries.

Chris's Clues (Sorry Rocky...)

Clue #1 - BP406

Search Engine Hits for October

troubleshooting regular domino server 6.5.4 crashes - I don't know if any crashes are "regular"
0x0244 database semaphore - I believe Lotus has corrected this in 6.5.4 FP2 and 7.0
654 fp1 - Good fixes, but FP2 is out now
7100g screen - Plastic scratches somewhat like the Nano
acual video of janet jackson - I had to search that too - she had a "hit" from my graduation year
alias season 5 - It's been a GREAT season
always bridesmaid bride - That would be Moody
amount given to hurricane relief by southern baptists - Thanks to SBC - a good amount was donated!
b6000901 - Same answer as before - SLIP the LIC. Sorry…
b6000901' 'src' -
blackberry 7100g - It's been a good phone. Check out the 8700c!
blackberry 7280' 'speakerphone option' - N/A on 7280
blackberry version 4.1' - Looking forward to it
chris blog 'domino web access warning' - Wow, they're putting my name in the searches now. I feel special!
chris 'domino web access warning' -
chris whisonant -
cwhisonant.blogspot.com - Type that in the address bar and not the search window
cwhisonant.blogspot.com\2005_09_01_cwhisonant_archive.html - The specific page you're probably searching for on that link has been taken offline
dancing girls - It was a Lotus release thing - stop searching for that stuff here!
debug_tcp_all -
differences between updall and fixup - How much time do we have?
dltdomsem - You can call Lotus Support to get this command
domino 6.5.4 linux jvm problems - Ouch!
domino 6.5.4 system requirements' -
domino 7' 'administrator client' linux - You can use Webadmin with Firefox on 7.0 Servers - it's great
domino 7.0 comments - Personally, I think it's great! DDM and Fault Analysis…
domino fixpack 6.5.4 iseries apyptf - Remember to LOD first
domino web access warning refresh dismiss 6.5.4 - DWA errors are not fun. Hopefully my FAQ is helping
domino web access warning unable to process 7.0 -
domino web access warning' 'unable to process your request' 7 -
domino web access warning. Sorry we were unable' -
how domino transaction logging works - It's a complicated concept
illegal immigrants sued' won - Yep, they won somehow
im_show_status - Use this to disable Presence Awareness
install sametime on linux box - I haven't done this, but it's possible
installation lotus 'domino 7.0' windows hangs - Haven't tried upgrading Windows Domino server yet.
iseries 270 dst -
iseries and logs - Logging is a good thing
journal of the whills -
lost books of the bible - Again, there are none
lotus notes 6.5 easter egg - I'm still trying to figure out the webadmin egg for 7.0!
lotus notes 6.5.4 - 79% of my clients are at 6.5.4 or 7.0
lotus notes error message - Can you be more specific?
lsxodbc v5r3 - Make sure you have the latest CUME, Hiper, and DB PTFs
mozilla hostinfo.js -
nlnotes cpu time -
notes 6.5' easteregg -
notes 6.5 updates -
notes nsd - Set up Fault Analysis - blogged about it on 10/31/05
nsd error blackberry -
nsd.lotus' -
oil after katrina - It was ridiculous, huh?
originalmodtime lotus - This field has to be updated with current date via save on Policy and Settings documents
page cannot be displayed inotes lotus notes faq -
pub. l. 108-187, s877 - CAN-SPAM act, what a waste!
rock hill sc high school football - Rock Hill is good but Northwestern is not this year
sametime.ini -
scott wenzell - Whitecross! Awesome!!
script 'im_show_status' -
set config debug_capture_timeout' -
shortage of oil -
src code b6000901 - See above - SLIP the LIC
storyofnotes.wmv - Nice video, huh?
suretype t9 predictive - I like the BB 7100g SureType, but T9 is good too
upgrade to bes 4.1 - I believe you have to buy the upgrade
upgrade to lotus 6.5.4 - Go for it - FP2 is out, so get that loaded
use60htmlcode=1 -
v5r2 b6000901 -
waiting for frwsem - Should be fixed with 6.5.4 FP2 and 7.0
waiting for frwsem 0x0244 database semaphore' -
what does 'foot-in-mouth' mean? - Check wikipedia
whats your star wars name - Chrwh Prroc
workstation hardware services' - Yeah, these people kept spamming me…

Happy Birthday and Halloween!!

OK, so the 2nd Birthday picture is a little late...


2nd Birthday Party - 10/22/2005


Halloween - 10/31/2005

More Chris Moody

As if the first image wasn't bad enough, here is some more Chris Moody:

Domino 7 Fault Analyzer Task

Chris Miller prompted me to finish setting this up today.

First, you should look up "Fault Analyzer" in the Domino 7 Administrator Help for documentation on how to configure this.

I was not aware that there was a specific Fault Reports database until I saw Susan Bulloch's blog about it. After reading that, I configured that database along with all of my Desktop Settings documents. I am housing this database on my 7.0 Cluster server. Before starting the Fault Analyzer task (via a configuration document), the database was pretty useful for storing all of those pesky NSD files.

But this morning I configured the Fault Analysis task. It automatically started shortly after enabling it in the configuration document. The task name is FAULTANALY (which, by the way, does NOT appear anywhere in the Admin Help file...). From one of the comments at Susan's site, you should check out the "Fault Analyzed" , "By Callstack", and "By Occurrences" views. As you can see from the images below, the Fault Analysis does a good job at keeping the data organized.


Fault Reports by Call Stack

Below, note the "Similar fault for.... 43%". In the image there is not one visible, but it also includes "Exact fault for...".

Fault Reports by Occurrence

Below, note the portion of the call stack at the top followed by an Administrative Section. In here, you can add an SPR or PMR numbers to keep track of calls to Lotus Support about these faults. Also, the twistie will show the unique number of clients affected and each of those will have a detail number of how many times each client has had the crash.

Detailed Fault Report

Happy Reformation Day!

On this day in 1517, Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenburg. While Luther had hoped for an academic discourse and debate regarding the problems of indulgences, the debate never occurred. Instead, the Protestant Reformation, as we know it, had begun.

Go Gamecocks!!

We finally managed to beat Tennessee!! It was the first time we have ever won in Knoxville and the first win in our past 12 meetings - way to go! We were so close many times during the Holtz era.

You may ask why I'm posting this so late. Well, I had to make sure that my Domino servers didn't get messed up by the time change. While I had my production server down I also loaded 6.5.4 FP2. Will follow-up on that later. Time for bed - again...

Domino 6.5.4 Semaphore Issue (Follow-Up)

I just checked back on the IBM Technote that I blogged about last week. At that time, IBM was not planning on addressing the issue in 6.x codestream. However, it seems that they have now corrected it in 6.5.4 FP2. I may load this Sunday morning when I'm bouncing the server for the time change.

Remember, I was getting the following error:

WAITING FOR FRWSEM 0x0244 database semaphore

This issue was reported to Quality Engineering as SPR# MALR6948NQ, and was fixed in Domino 6.5.4 Fix Pack 2. The issue was also addressed in Domino 7.

Excerpt from the Lotus Domino Release 6.5.4 Fix Pack 2 fix list (available at http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/lotus):

SPR# MALR6948NQ - Fixed a problem which causes a deadlock to occur in the buffer management component. There is a timing window when an unused temporary buffer is being evicted, where it gets reused. Once it is reused, the eviction code will wait forever, causing a deadlock. The fix is to close the timing window so that this no longer occurs.

Refer to the following document on the Upgrade Central site for details about Lotus Domino 6.5.4 Fix Pack 2 (FP2), and how to obtain it:

Upgrade Central: Planning your upgrade to Lotus Notes/Domino 6.0.5 and 6.5.4, Including Domino 6.5.4 Fix Pack 1 and Fix Pack 2 (# 1201845)

The issue occurs because the "NSF buffer pool container" semaphore is being locked while waiting on the call OSAutoFDGDestory.

Domino Web Admin Logo (Update)

I posted a while back with a graphic depicting the Domino Web Admin logo to the Star Trek logo. In 7.0 Beta 4, it was looking more and more trekkish. It has been modified slightly for 7.0 Gold. It is the same form as 6.5.4 but with the red background.

New York City Odor - My Theory

They have WAY too many Starbucks....

Strong, Sweet Smell Reported in Manhattan

New York City has many odors, but when the city began to smell a little too good, New Yorkers became alarmed.

Residents from the southern tip of Manhattan to the Upper West Side nearly 10 miles north called a city hot line to report a strong odor Thursday night that most compared to maple syrup, The New York Times reported Friday.

There were so many calls that the city's Office of Emergency Management coordinated efforts with the Police and Fire Departments, the Coast Guard and the City Department of Environmental Protection to find the source of the mysterious smell.

Air tests haven't turned up anything harmful, but the source was still a mystery.

"We are continuing to sample the air throughout the affected area to make sure there's nothing hazardous," said Jarrod Bernstein, an emergency management spokesman. "What the actual cause of the smell is, we really don't know."

Although many compared the smell to maple syrup, others said it reminded them of vanilla coffee or freshly-baked cake. All seemed to agree that it was a welcome change from the usual city smells.

"It's like maple syrup. With Eggos (waffles). Or pancakes," Arturo Padilla told The Times as he walked in Lower Manhattan. "It's pleasant."