Today is the first birthday of my blog! I pretty much averaged a little over one post per weekday. I did a little catching up at Lotusphere to help that number. Oddly, I wish that number had been lower as many of the posts were about issues I have encountered in the past year! But hopefully some of the posts have helped some of you out. I find tremendous value in reading many of your blogs!
Showing posts with label Lotusphere 2006. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lotusphere 2006. Show all posts
Sunday, February 26, 2006
Wednesday, February 15, 2006
Has This Been Haunting You Since Lotusphere?
She married a man who had nothing at all, nothing at all....
Seems we all knew JamFest was winding down when singers resorted to bar songs!
Now Playing: "Taking Notes Podcast #14"
Seems we all knew JamFest was winding down when singers resorted to bar songs!
Now Playing: "Taking Notes Podcast #14"
Friday, February 10, 2006
A "Micro"-"Soft"ware Company
So, what exactly is in a name? While I could probably spin some FUD their way bases solely on the meaning of "Microcomputer Software" Corporation (a.k.a. Microsoft), I will hold back some. As history shows, Microsoft acquired their foothold by developing Operating Systems for "IBM Compatible" microcomputers. On the other hand we have Microsoft's biggest threat in International Business Machines. To me the names alone say a lot about the companies...
That being said, I have been thinking of Ed Brill's post back in December requesting comments on the largest deployments of Domino on a single server. Many customers consistently had over 12,000 users. There were even some that had over 30,000 and one chimed in on running over 59,000 users in a 2 way cluster for failover. This is truly amazing! I know that with the size of my organization that we fall within the "Small to Medium Business" (SMB) category for IBM.
But how would Microsoft view my company?
Looking at a TechNet article on "Recommendations for Large Organizations", we read that "The recommendations for medium organizations are also applicable to large organizations that have more than 1,000 users". There is even a graphic depicting "A large Exchange 2003 organization that has three server locations". In the graphic there are a total of 5 Exchange 2003 Mailbox Servers with an additional 2 cluster servers and a "front-end server farm". The total number of users in this implementation is 12,000 users - which is a fairly big implementation. But you're still looking at software designed for the "micro" world - thus requiring more and more servers for scalable environments.
Reading Microsoft's "Exchange Server 2003 Product Overview", we read the answer as to the likely scalability limit for single Exchange 2003 servers: "With Exchange Server 2003, however, the number of supported users and mailboxes can easily be in the 3,000–5,000 range or more, depending upon the user profiles, message traffic patterns, and mailbox size limitations." I suppose we could debate what the "or more" means, but they're basically saying that you should not have more than 5,000 users per server. Compared to some of the Domino implementations, this scenario would require 10-20 servers to service over 50,000 users (depending on the clustering scenario).
So what does this say to me, you ask? I personally believe it speaks volumes about the role IBM plays in this game of collaboration software. Not only does IBM offer great value from Notes/Domino to small businesses, but they offer truly scalable software (and hardware) solutions. It tires me to continally read how great Microsoft is (though all comparisons show that IBM meets or exceeds what Microsoft offers in direct product comparisons). After going to Lotusphere 2006, the best one I've attended, there should be no doubt whatsoever in the minds of anyone that IBM is on the offensive. The Guardian article is completely ridiculous. Most of our users could probably care less about the e-mail client being used. We purchased Notes/Domino because of the benefits it provided beyond mail and PIM. E-mail was just a little bonus! And we have a ton of users who are deriving immense value from Lotus.
That being said, I have been thinking of Ed Brill's post back in December requesting comments on the largest deployments of Domino on a single server. Many customers consistently had over 12,000 users. There were even some that had over 30,000 and one chimed in on running over 59,000 users in a 2 way cluster for failover. This is truly amazing! I know that with the size of my organization that we fall within the "Small to Medium Business" (SMB) category for IBM.
But how would Microsoft view my company?
Looking at a TechNet article on "Recommendations for Large Organizations", we read that "The recommendations for medium organizations are also applicable to large organizations that have more than 1,000 users". There is even a graphic depicting "A large Exchange 2003 organization that has three server locations". In the graphic there are a total of 5 Exchange 2003 Mailbox Servers with an additional 2 cluster servers and a "front-end server farm". The total number of users in this implementation is 12,000 users - which is a fairly big implementation. But you're still looking at software designed for the "micro" world - thus requiring more and more servers for scalable environments.
Reading Microsoft's "Exchange Server 2003 Product Overview", we read the answer as to the likely scalability limit for single Exchange 2003 servers: "With Exchange Server 2003, however, the number of supported users and mailboxes can easily be in the 3,000–5,000 range or more, depending upon the user profiles, message traffic patterns, and mailbox size limitations." I suppose we could debate what the "or more" means, but they're basically saying that you should not have more than 5,000 users per server. Compared to some of the Domino implementations, this scenario would require 10-20 servers to service over 50,000 users (depending on the clustering scenario).
So what does this say to me, you ask? I personally believe it speaks volumes about the role IBM plays in this game of collaboration software. Not only does IBM offer great value from Notes/Domino to small businesses, but they offer truly scalable software (and hardware) solutions. It tires me to continally read how great Microsoft is (though all comparisons show that IBM meets or exceeds what Microsoft offers in direct product comparisons). After going to Lotusphere 2006, the best one I've attended, there should be no doubt whatsoever in the minds of anyone that IBM is on the offensive. The Guardian article is completely ridiculous. Most of our users could probably care less about the e-mail client being used. We purchased Notes/Domino because of the benefits it provided beyond mail and PIM. E-mail was just a little bonus! And we have a ton of users who are deriving immense value from Lotus.
Saturday, January 28, 2006
Commitment (LS06)
I'm still trying to recap the Lotusphere 2006 week in my mind. On Thursday morning, I was thinking to myself that if there is one thing that we should take away, it is IBM/Lotus' commitment to the Lotus software products. This word was re-iterated in the closing session. If it hasn't been the case in the past when we have said we're on the offensive, we should know without a doubt that IBM is in this for the longhaul!
Session Evaluations (LS06)
I was able to review the evaluations from our session. It was great to see all of the positive things that were said. It makes all of the preparation worthwhile to see that people find the information helpful and implementable.
Here are basically all of the written comments:
- More before and after
- links to Redbooks or tech center (There were some links at the end of the slides.)
- "excellent for even experienced iseries shop" (This was great to hear! We were hoping that newbies and experienced admins would be able to get something from this.)
- wanted more time for material (We wanted more time as well - that's why there was less before/after and no mention of disk.)
- "best session I have been to in years" and this was from one "considering iseries" (WOW - thanks!)
- should mention disk next time (We will definitely try to update this and hopefully present again together!)
- "can be taken back and put in place" (Great to hear that you can start using this!)
Here are basically all of the written comments:
- More before and after
- links to Redbooks or tech center (There were some links at the end of the slides.)
- "excellent for even experienced iseries shop" (This was great to hear! We were hoping that newbies and experienced admins would be able to get something from this.)
- wanted more time for material (We wanted more time as well - that's why there was less before/after and no mention of disk.)
- "best session I have been to in years" and this was from one "considering iseries" (WOW - thanks!)
- should mention disk next time (We will definitely try to update this and hopefully present again together!)
- "can be taken back and put in place" (Great to hear that you can start using this!)
Apology to Gab and All
This needs to be something public for all eyes, so I would like to offer my apologies to Gab for my post the other day. While I did not mean for it to be taken personally, it was. I'm sorry.
To those who have read the now defunct posts (mine and hers), I am also sorry for any stain on the community caused only by me. As we had mentioned at the Bloggers BOF, we are a family. And I was being the black sheep (a role I never take).
I would like to thank Gab for her graciousness in offering to strike-through this and start over. She and I had a great AIM session and this was easily worked through. I offered to delete the post which was something she agreed to let me do. I hope that we can all put this behind us and move forward with what we've learned at Lotusphere. Honestly, everytime I think about it now I feel physically sick! Gab is an amazing administrator and a wonderful speaker - that Cluster Jumpstart was awesome!! We all have a lot to learn from her!
Sadly, there was some confusion on the GURU stage and I was hearing something that was not intended to be heard that way. I followed through completely in the wrong way. I have blogged about this particular Sametime problem here starting in June, 2005 (and, ironically, I even had a crash in the closing session...). So it was something personal for me I have been dealing with for nearly 8 months and I felt my comments were being slighted (which they were not). This was no excuse. I have corresponded with 2 others who have contacted me about this. I probably deserved to be raked over the coals by them, but they both were overly kind and fatherly to me in their correction of my wrong - so thank you!
To those who have read the now defunct posts (mine and hers), I am also sorry for any stain on the community caused only by me. As we had mentioned at the Bloggers BOF, we are a family. And I was being the black sheep (a role I never take).
I would like to thank Gab for her graciousness in offering to strike-through this and start over. She and I had a great AIM session and this was easily worked through. I offered to delete the post which was something she agreed to let me do. I hope that we can all put this behind us and move forward with what we've learned at Lotusphere. Honestly, everytime I think about it now I feel physically sick! Gab is an amazing administrator and a wonderful speaker - that Cluster Jumpstart was awesome!! We all have a lot to learn from her!
Sadly, there was some confusion on the GURU stage and I was hearing something that was not intended to be heard that way. I followed through completely in the wrong way. I have blogged about this particular Sametime problem here starting in June, 2005 (and, ironically, I even had a crash in the closing session...). So it was something personal for me I have been dealing with for nearly 8 months and I felt my comments were being slighted (which they were not). This was no excuse. I have corresponded with 2 others who have contacted me about this. I probably deserved to be raked over the coals by them, but they both were overly kind and fatherly to me in their correction of my wrong - so thank you!
Thursday, January 26, 2006
SeaWorld Was Great! (LS06)
I had a great time last night. I rode over with Christopher Byrne and Deborah Latter. They are the compliance and change control gurus! We had a blast hanging out. Other than Christopher running from the impending soak from Shamu, it was awesome. We actually didn't get soaked.
Well, I'm in an Activity Centric Collaboration session that's just starting. This is something revolutionary that IBM is working on for users to "organize the work around activities." Think of being able to have an activity in Notes and easily organize and share (via RSS) the activity and dropping files, emails, IMs, etc... Awesome stuff!
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
Bloggers' BOF (LS06)
I believe I may be the first post about it - sorry I didn't make the JamFest tonight. I don't want to get sweaty before dinner tonight! I was going to email my Blogspot account to post directly from the BOF, but decided not to. There was no wi-fi there, so the rest of the bloggers couldn't post. It was a really good BOF - especially being able to meet some new people. Ed Brill was the moderator and there were some great comments and questions.
The main thing that I would echo is that if you're not currently blogging, go ahead and start. You should also not hesitate to comment at other blogs. This at least gets your name out there and helps to make friends (or enemies...). I can really attest to something that Ed said.
He mentioned that blogging is a very good way to not only get your name out in the community, but also that it can help you get noticed by those who approve sessions (he pointed out that many of the people in the room were also speakers) and provides a means for them to see how well you communicate. While I generally will post techy items, you don't need to have a tech blog to "get noticed." Like Jess said at the BOF, you just have to post about things that others will find interesting. Even if it's just that you saw some strange shape made by your Cheerios. I would definitely say that being active in this community aided in the approval of the session I co-presented.
I look forward to staying active and hopefully being able to add feeds for some new bloggers who may have been inspired at the BOF!
The main thing that I would echo is that if you're not currently blogging, go ahead and start. You should also not hesitate to comment at other blogs. This at least gets your name out there and helps to make friends (or enemies...). I can really attest to something that Ed said.
He mentioned that blogging is a very good way to not only get your name out in the community, but also that it can help you get noticed by those who approve sessions (he pointed out that many of the people in the room were also speakers) and provides a means for them to see how well you communicate. While I generally will post techy items, you don't need to have a tech blog to "get noticed." Like Jess said at the BOF, you just have to post about things that others will find interesting. Even if it's just that you saw some strange shape made by your Cheerios. I would definitely say that being active in this community aided in the approval of the session I co-presented.
I look forward to staying active and hopefully being able to add feeds for some new bloggers who may have been inspired at the BOF!
Who's going to JamFest Tuesday Night? (LS06)
Just wondering who's planning on coming? I'm up in the air on it... Comment if so.
Day One (LS06)
Okay, so this is a little late as I'm waiting for the 2nd class on Day 2 to start. It's on DDM - which as you know is something I'm really liking about Domino 7.
Anyway, Day 1 went great. As I've previously posted, Kim Greene and my session went very well. I also checked out Lance and Dwight's session on AJAX and DXL. I'm looking forward to getting their application. I spent some time on the showcase floor too. Got my LotusUserGroup.org shirt (can't remember her name, but the LUG lady knew me as "The iSeries Guy"). I also got my "I'm a L.U.G. NUT!" pin. It's fitting because my nickname is Nut (short for Whisonant) and I didn't want the "Sametime Stud" or "Domino Diva" pins!
I also went to a session on Web Services but it wasn't what I was hoping for.
Last night was the JamFest also. It was cool but I didn't even get up to play. There were many more "eager" players... But it was great to meet and hang out with people. After the JamFest was karaoke at Kimono's. It was the first time I had been. I didn't sing, but many did and some were good. I left way earlier than the ones who stayed to close it down...
Our iSeries Session At Lotusphere 2006 (LS06)
The IBM Lotus Domino for IBM iSeries Administration and Performance Best Practices session that Kim Greene and I did went really well. Kim was great to work with, and maybe we can try this again next year with some updated information. If you attended the session, THANK YOU. If you didn't attend (B.E.) just remember that I can now heckle you at your sessions. We were in a fairly small room, but we probably filled around 85% of the seats. Kim and I also enjoyed hanging out with a few of the attendees afterwards answering some questions. This was a really great experience and I would like to thank IBM (especially Rocky's Best Practices team) and Kim for the opportunity to present.
Here is a link to the Color PDF of the presentation. I will also be placing a link on the menu over on the left.
Here is a link to the Color PDF of the presentation. I will also be placing a link on the menu over on the left.
Monday, January 23, 2006
Prepped for Session and Sametime News Story (LS06)
I just finished reviewing my part of the BP406 session. I'm really pumped about it!
Also, I've already had one power user from back home send me a Yahoo! news story about IBM integrating AOL, Y!, and Google IM platforms into Sametime 7.5. The word is getting around!
On that note, IBM really was pressing the point that they are the innovators in this arena during the Opening General Session.
Also, I've already had one power user from back home send me a Yahoo! news story about IBM integrating AOL, Y!, and Google IM platforms into Sametime 7.5. The word is getting around!
On that note, IBM really was pressing the point that they are the innovators in this arena during the Opening General Session.
Opening General Session (LS06)
This thing is packed!! Word is that the entire front section is just for the press. Some major announcements - just see these highlights:
* Jason Alexander speaks! He's hilarious...
* DWA and Notes with Sametime for Mac - live demo!
* Over 1500 Notes wins over Exchange!
* GoodLink for Lotus
* Wanda - Portable Notes on USB stick
* Notes/SAP integration next quarter - prior to MS/SAP integration
* This was the feature Rocky was talking about
* IM on BlackBerry - in Message window not separate chat app
* Web Services on BB
* Connectivity with AIM, Y!, and Google Talk!! WOW! With no additional purchase.
* Sametime 7.5 - emoticons too! Voice Chat, built on Eclipse! Screen capture to put in chat
* Better UI for Web Conferencing too
* 15 Million users of Sametime
* IBM Workplace Forms - very nice!
* Domino builder for Eclipse?
* Shipping WCS and WMC today!
* IBM Productivity Tools
* Activity Explorer for WMC 2.6
* Domino "Next" - Websphere Portal integrated to Domino (Lotus Domino 8?)
* Hannover - The richest Implementation of activity centric computing, improved mail threads, ctrl-click to select multiples
* Hannover Demo was awesome! Way to go Lotus!!
* Oh yeah - NO CRASHES from these major demos (remember the infamous MS BSoD with major announcements?)
Sunday, January 22, 2006
The Shirts! (LS06)
While you're at Lotusphere, don't forget to get these shirts from the showcase floor!!
Get this from Workflow Studios (see Lance Spellman)
Get this from OpenNTF.org
Get this from Workflow Studios (see Lance Spellman)
Get this from OpenNTF.org
Jumpstart Day (LS06)
Today has gone well. As others have said, the numbers have increased this year about 15% (almost along the lines of Lotus' growth too!) I went to two sessions today and met with Kim Greene to go over our presentation. I also saw on Chris Miller's blog that iCollaborate for iSeries was announced. I'm anxious to see what this is. Hopefully it will be among the announcements tomorrow. It was also really great to start putting faces with people!!
The first session I went to was the Java Jumpstart for the Domino Developer from Tom Duff and Julian Robichaux. This was a great session!! As Julian posted last week, he had a demo of a Pie Chart and Bar Graph all from within Notes. It was a great session, but I didn't win a prize. This session was packed out in a fairly large room. The highlights were Julian squirting Tom with a watergun (as part of a coding example) and also Julian's laser pionter (a.k.a. Red Light Saber!!)
Speaking of prizes, though, I did get two t-shirts. Bruce Elgort gave me an OpenNTF.org shirt and Lance Spellman gave me the coveted "Take Your Exchange Server and SHOVE It!" shirt. Also, John Roling gave me an "I'm A Sicko!" button. Awesome - thanks guys...
The second session I went to was An Introduction to All Things IBM Lotus Domino Clustering by Gabriella Davis. To be a strictly admin session, there was a packed room here too. It was a good session and I have some notes on some clustering things I would like to implement. However, I disagree with her statement that clustered unread marks are fixed as of 6.5. I know I've seen these still get out of sync. It is true that there is now a setting to control this, but with server and/or client crashes this number can be skewed across replicas.
The first session I went to was the Java Jumpstart for the Domino Developer from Tom Duff and Julian Robichaux. This was a great session!! As Julian posted last week, he had a demo of a Pie Chart and Bar Graph all from within Notes. It was a great session, but I didn't win a prize. This session was packed out in a fairly large room. The highlights were Julian squirting Tom with a watergun (as part of a coding example) and also Julian's laser pionter (a.k.a. Red Light Saber!!)
Speaking of prizes, though, I did get two t-shirts. Bruce Elgort gave me an OpenNTF.org shirt and Lance Spellman gave me the coveted "Take Your Exchange Server and SHOVE It!" shirt. Also, John Roling gave me an "I'm A Sicko!" button. Awesome - thanks guys...
The second session I went to was An Introduction to All Things IBM Lotus Domino Clustering by Gabriella Davis. To be a strictly admin session, there was a packed room here too. It was a good session and I have some notes on some clustering things I would like to implement. However, I disagree with her statement that clustered unread marks are fixed as of 6.5. I know I've seen these still get out of sync. It is true that there is now a setting to control this, but with server and/or client crashes this number can be skewed across replicas.
Saturday, January 21, 2006
IBM Announcements Monday (LS06)
I was reading Ed Brill's blog on the ride down to Orlando, and he mentioned that "IBM is indeed making a number of important, wide-ranging announcements on Monday."
Looking forward to what they may be - I'm guessing they will be made during the Opening General Session.
Finally On The Road (LS06)
Decided to meet my manager closer to the interstate. When my wife dropped me off we realized I didn't have my hang-up shirts and pants. Well we're now on the road after picking them up!
Sunday, January 15, 2006
Tips for Lotusphere Attendees
Check out Rocky's Annual Lotusphere post: tips for the Lotusphere n00bs - some great pointers!
About to run through something: =)
iSeries Architecture
Database Maintenance
BRMS
Performance Tuning
Sametime for iSeries
Troubleshooting
Upgrading to Domino 7
About to run through something: =)
iSeries Architecture
Database Maintenance
BRMS
Performance Tuning
Sametime for iSeries
Troubleshooting
Upgrading to Domino 7
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
Guru? News to me...
Apparently I get to be part of the GURUpalooza event by default since I am a speaker in the "Best Practices" track at Lotusphere:
We're BAAAACK! Last year Gurupalooza! was an instant hit - and due to overwhelming demand, we're bringing it back again this year. After spending four days drinking deep that collaboration kool-aid, you're ready to top it off with a second helping of knowledge from your Best Practices track speakers. They spent the week sharing their knowledge, tricks, and lessons learned with you and now you have one final opportunity to fill in any gaps left from the week by asking them your questions. So, top off your Lotusphere experience with another helping of collaborative knowledge - there's enough for everyone to share!
So, when you go to Gurupalooza - please don't ask me any questions... See you there!
Now Playing: "Octavarium" by Dream Theater
We're BAAAACK! Last year Gurupalooza! was an instant hit - and due to overwhelming demand, we're bringing it back again this year. After spending four days drinking deep that collaboration kool-aid, you're ready to top it off with a second helping of knowledge from your Best Practices track speakers. They spent the week sharing their knowledge, tricks, and lessons learned with you and now you have one final opportunity to fill in any gaps left from the week by asking them your questions. So, top off your Lotusphere experience with another helping of collaborative knowledge - there's enough for everyone to share!
So, when you go to Gurupalooza - please don't ask me any questions... See you there!
Now Playing: "Octavarium" by Dream Theater
Thursday, January 5, 2006
Some Brief Updates
Domino 7.0 for iSeries - We loaded the fix for our HTTP crashes last Tuesday. We have not had any issues since then!
Lotusphere Presentation - It's all wrapped up. We uploaded it to IBM's server on Friday. Now to practice... We both think it's going to be awesome!!
Woman who sought and is living her Porpoise Driven Life
Jamfest 2006 - The wiki is doing pretty good. There are a lot of cool songs there. Now to learn a lot of them... I think I will be taking my cheaper guitar, though. It's an OLP MM4. Mine is red and I have replaced the neck and bridge pickups with some great sounding DiMarzios. It's a great little guitar!
Lotusphere Presentation - It's all wrapped up. We uploaded it to IBM's server on Friday. Now to practice... We both think it's going to be awesome!!
Woman who sought and is living her Porpoise Driven Life
Jamfest 2006 - The wiki is doing pretty good. There are a lot of cool songs there. Now to learn a lot of them... I think I will be taking my cheaper guitar, though. It's an OLP MM4. Mine is red and I have replaced the neck and bridge pickups with some great sounding DiMarzios. It's a great little guitar!
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