Family, Lotus, Portal, Collaboration and more....

2012-01-27T11:55:00.003-06:00

PSC is Hiring - Lotus, Salesforce.com, Sharepoint, .Net, Java and Open Source Developers

We are hiring Full Time Developers for the following positions/practices. Contact me: lguirigay at psclistens dot com if interested.

Microsoft

SharePoint Developers

.Net Developers

Collaboration

Lotus Notes/XPages Developer

Lotus Notes Administrators

Salesforce.com Developers

Enterprise Architecture

Java Architects

Ruby on Rails Developers

Internal

Business Development Professionals (Mid-Senior Level)

PSC is Hiring - Lotus, Salesforce.com, Sharepoint, .Net, Ruby on Rails developers

2011-09-02T12:43:00.000-06:00

We are hiring Full Time Developers for the following positions/practices. Contact me: lguirigay at psclistens dot com if interested.

Microsoft

SharePoint Developers

.Net Developers

Collaboration

Lotus Notes/XPages Developer

Lotus Notes Administrators

Salesforce.com Developers

Enterprise Architecture

Java Architects

Ruby on Rails Developers

Internal

Business Development Professionals (Mid-Senior Level)

IamLUG Conference 2011 - Got Problems? Let's Do a Health Check

2011-08-02T15:34:00.001-06:00

Got Problems? Let's Do a Health Check

View more presentations from Luis Guirigay

PSC is Hiring - Lotus, Salesforce.com, Sharepoint, .Net, Python, Ruby on Rails developers

2011-07-29T14:10:00.000-06:00

Please contact me at LGuirigay at PSClistens dot com with an updated resume and I will point you into the right direction.

Microsoft

Senior SharePoint Developer

.Net Developer

VB.Net Developer

Collaboration

Lotus Notes Developer

Lotus Notes Developer with SharePoint

Salesforce.com Developers

Enterprise Architecture

Python Developer

Ruby on Rails Developers

Internal

Business Development Professionals (Mid-Senior Level)

Please Welcome Wil How to the Lotus Bloggers Community

2011-02-22T15:03:00.000-06:00

Wil joined PSC last year and has been head down working on XPages projects basically the next day he joined. He is a great guy to work with and I am sure you guys will find some good information on his blog (or maybe not)

http://blog.intrellise.com/

IdoSphere

2011-02-11T15:48:00.000-06:00

Can’t make it to the big Lotus conferences? Want to see great sessions, but can’t get the boss to send you to Orlando? Going to the big conference, but want to see some different sessions not found there?

Join us February 15-16, 2011 for IdoSphere. Two days of sessions, all from the comfort of your chair via live webcasting!

Take a look to the amazing list of sessions !

http://consultantinyourpocket.com/ciyp/ciyp.nsf/dx/IdoSphere%20Session%20Schedule%202011%20v2.pdf/$file/IdoSphere%20Session%20Schedule%202011%20v2.pdf

Lotusphere Slides for "Got Problems? Let's Do a Health Check"

2011-02-03T10:32:00.000-06:00

BP103 - Got Problems? Let's Do a Health Check

View more presentations from Luis Guirigay.

IBM Certified System Administrator - WebSphere Portal 7.0 and Lotus Quickr 8.5 for Domino

2011-01-27T11:27:00.000-06:00

I am happy to announce I am officially certified as a WebSphere Portal 7 and Quickr 8.5 for Domino Administrator

Tough exams :)

Que viva San Cristobal, que viva mi ciudad !!! (Gochilandia Park)

2011-01-22T14:45:00.000-06:00

Please note this entry is in Spanish...

En el mes de Enero San Cristobal celebra la Feria Internacional de San Sebastian y para 2011 se ha creado este video promocional para invitar a todos los Venezolanos y extranjeros a que visiten San Cristobal. Debo empezar con decir que yo no he nacido en San Cristobal, de hecho, de mis 30 años de vida solo he vivido 9 años en San Cristobal (1 en Austin, TX, 3 en Chicago y el resto en Maracaibo).

Cada año que viajo a San Cristobal de vacaciones siento una cantidad de emociones impresionantes, por una parte siento que de verdad es mi ciudad y si algun dia regreso a Vzla seria a San Cristobal.

Este video resume lo que muchos pensamos de esta gran ciudad, mi ciudad... espero que lo disfruten !

Article: IBM Lotus Notes and Domino 8.x local mail replicas: Advantages, considerations, and best practices

2010-12-23T12:32:00.000-06:00

I worked on this article a couple of months ago and after some editing and a few modifications, the article is finally published.

This article came as a request from a couple of customers looking for some feedback regarding Local Replicas, when to use them, how to use them, etc... I hope this helps to a few more organizations looking to deploy them.

IBM Lotus Notes and Domino 8.x local mail replicas: Advantages, considerations, and best practices

Got Problems? Let's Do a Health Check

2010-12-07T21:23:00.000-06:00

Got Problems? Let's Do a Health Check
https://www-950.ibm.com/events/wwe/lotus/lsph2011.nsf/sessionabstract?openform&sessionid=BP103

I will be speaking at Lotusphere 2011

2010-12-03T12:13:00.000-06:00

I am very happy to announce I was accepted to co-present a session with a very good friend Kim Green. Kim and I met a couple years ago in Rochester, MN while writing Redbooks for IBM. She is also a great consultant and share my passion about the iSeries/i5/AS400/whatever the name you like the most.

Our session will be tittled: Got Problems ! Let's do a Health Check

I spent a lot of my time working this type of projects and you will be surprised how much you can find. Things you have no idea were happening and even how much room you have for improvement. If you are going to Lotusphere and you think you have problems come and see us sharing our experience on the field. Also, if you think your servers are just fine - still come !!! you will find some nice tips that will show you what you can improve.

Alex and John will also speak at Lotusphere 2011, as Alex said, PSC will be well represented.

Lotus Notes 8.5.2 Preloader Technote

2010-09-22T19:38:00.000-06:00

Good Stuff !

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=899&uid=swg21424193

Renaming a Domino Server running Blackberry Enterprise Server (BES) in less than 10 minutes

2010-09-22T12:22:00.001-06:00

Last week, one of our clients changed names and we had to rename all the Domino Environment.

Their naming convention for users and servers were:

Users -> John Doe/ABC@DOMAIN
Servers -> ABCxxxxx/ABC

Now, they are:

John Doe/ACME@ACME
ACMExxxxx/ACME

If you are a consultant I am pretty sure you have done this a few times, and even when this is not a crazy complicated task, it still requires a lot of planning specially if you have custom applications with Reader, Author fields, complex ACL and 3rd party applications.

BES is probably the most common 3rd Party App in a Domino environment. Also, I am sure at some point, even if you are not a Consultant you had to move BES to a new Server, Rename it or basically do something with it more than register users.

So, in case you are planning to rename a Domino server running BES this is what you can do and be back online and no-time.

1.- Register the new Domino Server

2.- Shut down Domino and all the BES Services (Windows Services)

3.- If you are using the MS SQL Express version, download and install SQL Server Management Studio 1.-Express and connect to the DB server. If you use the paid MS SQL Version you can use the paid version of the SQL Management Studio. Also, you can use plain SQL Statemetns for this - but unless you are SQL Guru and hate Graphical Interface, I'd keep it simple.

I highly recommend installing the SQL Studio tool, It has helped me many many times when doing crazy stuff with BES servers.

4.- Open the ServerConfig Table and enter the new Domino Server name (in canonical format).

5.- Open the Windows Registry (Yes, the Windows Registry !!) and do a search for any entry or key with the old Domino Server name (It must be Canonical format).

Important: Backup your Windows Registry !!!

Important: They will all be found under Local_Machine, but make sure you are logged with the BES Service Account and also check under Current_User.

6.- Replace All Findings with the new name.

CN=OLDSERVER/O=ORG -> CN=NEWSERVER/O=ORG

7.- Open the server's notes.ini and delete everything after the 4th line

Important: Backup your Notes.ini

8.- Restart Domino. The Wizard will let you to use the new server.id. I don't think I really have to explain this one.

9.- Using the Admin Client, rename the Server name in all Databases' ACL.

Important: Since there is no AdminP task that processes Server Rename (plus this is not a domino-controlled rename).

10.- Look at the Domino console and after confirming everything is running OK, type:

Load BES

Important: Remember to add the BES task to the server notes.ini - Since the notes.ini was re-created BES won't be there.

That's it , Done , Listo !!!

At this point your Domino and BES servers should running like nothing happened and your users will not notice the server rename.

Enjoy!

Welcome to LuisGuirigay.net

2010-09-21T09:46:00.001-06:00

After 4+ years with my blog I think it was about time to have my own domain.

http://www.LuisGuirigay.net

I will keep hosting it on Gloogle's Blogspot for a while since I still need to decide if I want to move to something else like WordPress or to a Domino Blog. Any recommendations ?

Please update your Links :)

Lotus Notes 8.5.2 Warm Start - Up and running in 5 seconds

2010-08-24T21:22:00.001-06:00

After upgrading to Lotus Notes 8.5.2 and changing the following values in C:\Lotus\Notes\framework\rcp\deploy\jvm.properties

vmarg.Xmx=-Xmx1024m
vmarg.Xms=-Xms512m

I get the following times:

1 Second to see the Password Prompt
5 Seconds to see my Workspace !!!

My machine is a Dell Latitude D820 running

Windows 7 32 Bits
4 GB RAM Installed (3.25 usable).
HDD 80 GB 5400 RPM

Sorry about the resolution.. I don't have a fancy Mac or a nice recording tool. :)

Managed Replicas and Lotus Notes 8.5.2

2010-08-24T12:42:00.000-06:00

Lotus Notes 8.5.2 was released earlier today and as the good techies we are, I am sure most of us are already running 8.5.2 on our machines (I has been running beta versions of 8.5.2 for last few months).

So, one of the new features being included in this new release is "Managed Replicas", which means the Notes client will take care of the replication process, schedule, creation, deletion (if needed or corrupt), fixup (question to IBM... what about compact) and more.

I personally think this a great feature that will make more organizations to use replicas, however, I haven't seen to much buzz about it. For many years, Local replicas has been available to the Lotus Notes client, and most of my customers are now using it. However, they didn't use them before because:

Didn't really understand the benefits
Afraid of extra work
Additional troubleshooting
PC Resources needed

IBM has published this Technote which explain Managed Replicas and its behavior, but, let's still make sure we explain why Managed or Standard replicas are good for you and why and how you should use/deploy them properly.

Configuring managed replicas using the Desktop Settings document
http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=899&uid=swg21437957

Another document I'd like to see in the near future is the difference between "Standard Replica" vs "Managed Replica". With Policies and Code (if required) you can fully customized how Standard Replicas are created and how the communicate with the servers without user intervention, so, with "Managed Replicas" you will be able to do the same but also allow the Notes client to control if a Managed Replica should be re-created or Fixed because of corruptions.

For example, my current client wanted to deploy Local Replicas to the entire organization (5,000 users) via Policies, but, a lot of these users are also Citrix users and they didn't want to have Local Replicas created when using Citrix. I was able to customize the whole process and now it works as the customer wants and they are happy with it. Based on this scenario, I have the following questions:

Will we be able to control how Managed Replicas works via LotusScript ?
Will Managed Replica replication be faster than Standard Replica replication (if not using selective replication)?

I will be able to answer my own questions in the next few days as I upgrade more and more servers, but in the meantime feel free to share your opinions.

Happy Upgrade !

Sharepoint is

2010-08-19T18:11:00.000-06:00

Just wanted to follow the game... :)

@Vowe and @Balfe

IBM Whitepaper: The value of IT Certification

2010-08-11T10:18:00.000-06:00

Great White Paper about IT Certifications and their importance in the Business World

http://public.dhe.ibm.com/partnerworld/pub/certify/valuecert2010.pdf

Sametime 8.5.1 System requirements are out

2010-08-03T20:56:00.001-06:00

If you are considering Sametime 8.5.1 make sure you review this...

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg27018591

We are hiring !!! .Net/Sharepoint and Java

2010-07-26T23:06:00.000-06:00

We have immediate needs for the following positions:

Sharepoint / .Net – Needs to have 3+ years experience in ASP.Net/C#. Should be strong in mid tier and back end with some experience in JavaScript/front end or the ability to learn front end. Would be a huge plus if this person also knew EXTJS. An ideal candidate would be considered a utility infielder, someone that can help out across all three tiers.

Java – Needs to be a solid Java Developer (J2EE) with experience in middle tier and back end. Should have some web experience as well.

Please contact me at - lguirigay at psclistens.com if you are interested.

The OpenNTF IdeaJam has begun

2010-07-15T07:50:00.000-06:00

Via Bruce Elgort.

Over the next two days OpenNTF is encouraging developers, end-users and other site patrons to contribute their ideas on how to improve the overall OpenNTF experience. There are already two pages of ideas and lots of comments. Please take a few minutes from your busy day to vote, comment and post your ideas. Also, if you haven't visited OpenNTF lately please poke around the site to see many of the new and revamped features.

On behalf of OpenNTF I want to personally thank you for your participation.

Go and vote - http://openntf.org/Internal/home.nsf/dx/IdeaJam_July_2010

Domino 8.5.1 64 Bits and ODBC - How to make it work

2010-07-06T13:35:00.000-06:00

This is the scenario:

One of our customers was running Domino 7.0.4 on Windows 2003 (all 32 bits) - and decided to upgrade to Domino 8.5.1 but also migrate Domino to a better hardware. So we got a new machine and installed Windows 2008 64 Bits, Domino 8.5.1 FP3 IF1 64bits, migrated all the data and then switch servers. Everything was working great until we got an email from one user the the next day saying .. "Domino is not updating our AS400".

This customer was relying on ODBC to connect to AS400 (aka System i) and update thousands of records via LotusScript and ODBC.

We opened a PMR and found that Domino 8.5.1 64 Bits does not support ODBC.. but it will be supported on Domino 8.5.2. (like we could ask the customer to wait)

Going back to Domino 7.0.4 was one option (since old machine was still available), the other was to change to Domino 8.5.1 32 Bits - but wait - we had nice/powerful/new machine running 12 GB RAM - so I didn't want to loose that. Well, this is what I did - and what you need to do if facing the same issue:

Install Domino 8.5.2 64bits (beta) on a different hardware (let's call it temp machine).
On the temp machine, go to the "x:\Lotus\Domino\" and copy odbc.dcx files and/or odbc2.dcx (Lotus Connector files).
Optional - You can also copy ndctest.exe if you want to test the connectors.
On the Domino 8.5.1, rename or backup the original DCX files
Copy the DCX files from the Domino 8.5.2 (beta) machine
Restart Domino 8.5.1

That's it !

At this point you should be ready to go, but in our customer's scenario, there was one last step to perform.

They installed the same iSeries Client Access they were installing on all machines in order to get the ODBC driver to the AS400. The issue here was related to the version of the ODBC drive itself. Usually (always??) you can get the version of iSeries Client Access from the IFS (\ProdData\Access\Windows\Install\Image). After installing the right version of the iSeries Client Access we got the right version of the ODBC Driver.

Everything is back to normal and customer is enjoying their new performance benefits and features.

Now... question to IBM.. can you guys just create a hotfix that replace the DCX files ?

We are hiring !!! EXTJS, .Net and Java

2010-06-29T11:10:00.000-06:00

We have immediate needs for the following positions:

EXTJS – A strong front end developer with EXTJS experience. Can also can consider strong JavaScript candidates with a background in JQuery though EXTJS is the preferred skill.

.Net – Needs to have 3+ years experience in ASP.Net/C#. Should be strong in mid tier and back end with some experience in JavaScript/front end or the ability to learn front end. Would be a huge plus if this person also knew EXTJS. An ideal candidate would be considered a utility infielder, someone that can help out across all three tiers.

Java – Needs to be a solid Java Developer (J2EE) with experience in middle tier and back end. Should have some web experience as well.

Please contact me at - lguirigay at psclistens dot com if you are interested.

Nice new feature/interface for the Replicator/Sync page

2010-06-04T08:20:00.001-06:00

While this is not guaranteed to make to Gold release, Lotus Notes 8.5.2 (still in beta) has this new progress bar which make local replication to look nicer.

I like it!

Follow me on twitter @lguiriga

SMTP: Exchange vs Domino

2010-05-27T12:04:00.002-06:00

While working at one of my clients (which is migrating to Exchange) I got asked for some help regarding their SMTP (Internet inbound and outbound servers).

They have 2 Domino servers handling all SMTP messaging for about 10K users. About 40% have been converted to Exchange. The idea was to have all messages coming from the Internet to these Domino Servers and if the messages go to an Exchange user it would deliver the message to Exchange, if the recipient is a Domino user it goes to Domino. Simple !

The 2 Domino servers are running each:

2 GB RAM
Domino 7.0.4
Single CPU
Windows 2003 32Bits

The 2 Exchange server they implemented are running (each):

32 GB RAM
Exchange 2007
8 CPU (dual quad-core)
Windows 2008 64Bits

Here is when the fun starts. One day the Exchange Administrator calls me and says: "Hey Luis, what can we make Domino to deliver messages faster, it is falling behind and the queue is getting larger and larger, Domino is slow"

I asked him to enable SMTPClientDebug=1.

Surprise ! The receiving SMTP servers (Exchange) were not capable to handle all messages coming from Domino. They called Microsoft and two different support groups gave 2 different solutions: Add more power, add faster disks.

The solution ? Add 2 more Exchange servers.

Now... 4 Exchange servers, each one with 32 GB RAM, 8 CPU and 64bits OS are doing what 2 Domino servers, each with only 2 GB and 1 single CPU were capable to handle with no problems.

Do you think migrating from Domino to Exchange is still technically reasonable ?

Follow me on Twitter @lguiriga

IBM Certified System Administrator - IBM Lotus Sametime 8.5 - Exam is now available

2010-05-19T08:54:00.000-06:00

Certification exam for Sametime 8.5 has been released.

http://www-03.ibm.com/certify/certs/14011703.shtml

30th Birthday cake for a Lotus geek

2010-05-15T15:10:00.002-06:00

2 months ago was my 30th birthday and my wife ordered this cake for me.

Here is the link to Magaly's Page on facebook where you can see other creations http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Naperville-IL/Magaly-Moreira-Cake-Designer/315791061678 - she has great ideas when designing cakes, or everything you want.

Using Lotus Domino...Want to Migrate to Exchange/Sharepoint ? Wait and Look at XPages, Vulcan and let PSC help you

2010-05-13T11:00:00.012-06:00

During the past couple of months I have been involved in conversations with 2 companies migrating from Domino to Exchange, I understand sometimes is a political or a business decision and sometimes it is because users complain Lotus Notes is slow or because the applications look ugly.

Also, you must think ahead and plan for the future - Yes, Exchange is nice but did you know (for example) Exchange is only supported on Windows servers, in order to be clustered you must have an OS cluster which means both machines must have same exact configuration, etc.. while Domino allows you to cluster at the application level - think about a 3 members cluster:

Member 1 - Domino 8.5.1 running on System i (AS400)

Member 2 - Domino 8.0.2 running on AIX

Member 3 - Domino 7.0.4 running on Windows

Try that Exchange !

Also, IBM is already working on Project Vulcan and., let me tell you, it looks amazing! - so while you are considering to migrate, think about this:

Health Check your Domino platform - I have been doing these projects for years and we have changed customer's opinions about Notes. Sometimes, when you upgrade, you are only putting the newest code on the server but not implementing the newest features, upgrade ODS, enable compression, etc. We can help you to identify all those issues/items that are preventing you from using the most out of your platform.

Lotus iNotes - If you don't want to use the Notes Client anymore that doesn't mean you have to migrate. Let's use iNotes - it is the web based version of your Mail. It comes in 3 flavors: Full, Lite and Ultralite. You can decide - as an end user - which one to use with just one click based on your machine or bandwidth performance. It supports almost everything that's supported on the full client but is web. No client installed, easier to support (less clients to upgrade/maintain).

Ugly/Old Notes Apps - let's XPage it !!! - we (PSC) can help you with this. Have you seen xPages ? It is the future of Notes Client and Web development. We have being working with xPages for a long time now and can guarantee you will surprised with what you can do. Another cool fact - when you develop your application using xPages it will looks just same on the client and on the web.

Looking at Sharepoint - let's XPage it !!! - again, PSC can help you. We have developed an interface that looks just like Sharepoint. If you are considering to migrate your Notes Apps to Sharepoint just because Sharepoint's interface is nice, let us XPage your Notes Applications and make it look like Sharepoint - your users won't know what's behind and they will amazed of how cool it is. Best of all - you won't have to spend hundreds of thousands in migrating everything - or trying to recreate the Notes Application model in Sharepoint. Remember Notes and Domino has features that cannot be reproduced by any of the products out there (Replication, Offline Web access, Security, Encryption, ACL, Messaging Integration, LDAP, etc ) all in one!

Project Vulcan will rock the world - Project Vulcan will be the next collaboration platform to be released by IBM in the next months or next year, it will use the Lotus Notes Client or a Web Browser (based on your preferences) I am not going to describe what it is all about but I am going to ask you to check the following link - it is a demo of what's coming: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SkYTetx-9Q

Enjoy.!

Remember, if you are looking at Web Enabling your old Notes Apps, having Architecture/Administration/Performance issues just let us know. You can contact me at lguirigay at psclistens dot com

Follow me on Twitter @lguiriga

Adrian

2010-03-26T08:45:00.005-06:00

Our son was born last year in January - 5 weeks earlier - and had to stay at the hospital for a couple of weeks because of his lungs and low weight. Now, 14 months later he is a little man. Healthy, happy, active and loved.

Switched to Google Chrome

2010-03-10T11:47:00.002-06:00

I have switched to Google Chrome as my main browser and I am linking it. I had some memory consumption issues with Firefox and it was crashing a couple of times a day (I use Windows 7 Enterprise - so maybe is not 100% compatible). I have used when required IE and you know.. it's IE... so not an option.

Back to Chrome -

Pros:

It is light and fast.

I can google search directly from the URL (huge benefit to me)

There is a FireBug lite I can use (always can go back to Firefox if needed for tests).

Doesn't crash as often as Firefox

It is not IE

Interface is light and clean

iNotes works fin even when it says is not supported.

Cons:

There is not IBM Support Toolbar yet.

Some websites act weird when I use Chrome (2 or 3 so far)

Not the best Browser for Web Dev/Debugging

Give it a try.

Configuration Tuner asking to add Debugging Variables-- a good idea ?

2010-03-10T10:57:00.005-06:00

While working on a Health Check for one of my customers I ran the Domino Configuration Tuner and one of its findings - under Critical - was to add DEBUG_THREADID=1 to the notes.ini.

Confirmed by IBM. These variables will not impact performance, however, any additional debugging variable may do it. IBM Support Engineers have been instructed to recommend these variables on production environments so they can capture the first occurrence.

1. SET CONFIG CONSOLE_LOG_ENABLED=1 (Captures Server Console Data and logs to Console.log File)

2. SET CONFIG DEBUG_THREADID=1 (Stamps Server Threads and logs to Console.log File)

3. SET CONFIG CONSOLE_LOG_MAX_KBYTES=204800 (Restricts the Console Log size to 200MB and then overwrites oldest entries)

4. SET CONFIG DEBUG_CAPTURE_TIMEOUT=1 (Captures Semaphore Time Stamp and logs to the semdebug,txt)

5. SET CONFIG DEBUG_SHOW_TIMEOUT=1 (Captures Semaphore information and logs to the semdebug,txt)

Have questions ? contact me: lguirigay at psclistens dot com

Installing Lotus Traveler on Android - Step by Step

2009-11-17T22:51:00.020-06:00

Yes, you read it right !! You can get your Notes Mail, Calendar, Contacts, ToDo on the Android. It is not a native solution and you will need to pay 10US$ (at the time of this post).. but it is really nice and it works just perfect.

Since I am BB user I had to install Google Android's SDK (really cool) in order to share this tutorial. Also, it looks like Android is getting some press & nice reviews and I'd expect IBM will work on a native Traveler client for 8.5.2 or later.

Here at PSC we run a IBM/Lotus and a Microsoft practice (plus Oracle, OpenSource and more) so we have both Domino and Exchange servers... when one of our VPs asked me he wanted to move to Exchange because he couldn't see his Notes mail on his new Phone I had to do something. Well, after some research I found this really cool app (also referenced on jens.bruntt's blog) called NitroDesk TouchDown.

So, this is what you need to do to get your Notes Mail on the Android:

1.- Download NitroDesk TouchDown from the Android Marketplace. Please keep in mind this is a paid app. Trial will last 5 days.

2.- Click Install

3.- Wait....

4.- Click Open

5.- Accept

6.- Confirm

7.- This is TouchDown's interface.. get used to it... it is pretty simple. Click the Configuration Icon (Bottom left)

8.- Click Yes.

9.- Enter your email address, password and Traveler server's address. Click Next.

10.- Select if you are using SSL or not. Or select Don't Know (wizard will check all options). Click Next.

11.- Click Next.

I had to keep all selected. Please note I am using a trial version of TouchDown plus an Android emulator. You should be fine with selecting ActiveSync only

12.- Click Next.

13.- Wait a little bit here, the wizard is trying all available/selected options to connect to Lotus Traveler.

14.- Click Close.

15.- You are now back to the Main screen. Wait until your PIM is sync'd

16.- You can now see your unread messages. Click the envelope icon to see your inbox.

17.- Look at all your meesages here.

And finally, let me show you some additional Screen shots from my Calendar and Contacts.

From The Sametime Blog..."Check out the Sametime 8.5 Meetings Beta on Greenhouse"

2009-11-10T09:11:00.003-06:00

Sametime 8.5 Meetings are an entirely new way to collaborate with others online. They are incredibly easy to use. Fully integrated into the Connect client you already use for chat, they make it simple to join a meeting with a single click; invite others by dragging their names from the contact list; upload materials via drag and drop; even share your screen from the Macintosh operating system. Of course, not everyone can participate via a Sametime Connect client, so 8.5 includes a zero-download, firewall friendly browser client as well.

Sametime Meetings are different. Meeting rooms are reservationless and don't need to be scheduled. They can be instantly created and linked to calendar invitations from Lotus Notes and Microsoft Outlook. Sametime Meeting Rooms can also be persistent. You can use the same room over and over for regular meetings and keep frequently used materials on hand during the course of the project....

I have been working with Sametime 8.5 since Beta 2 and even when it is not yet released I know this new version will be the best.

Now the IBM Sametime team has made Sametime 8.5 available so you can test it and play with it - This is the direct link to Sametime 8.5 - http://st85meetings.lotus.com/stmeetings/ - but don't forget to check Lotus Greenhouse for some other cool live demos.

Netflix Coming Soon to PlayStation 3

2009-10-28T09:27:00.002-06:00

This is so cool !!!

If you are a PS3 owner and a NetFlix user you will be able to watch Instant Movies on your TV using your PS3.

Read the news --> here <-- from the Playstation.Blog

"Applying computer Settings" error after upgrading Domino server

2009-10-13T22:24:00.004-06:00

How many of you have been working on a Domino Upgrade Project and suddenly one of the machines doesn't want to finish loading. The issue has been documented in the IBM Technote #1279743.

The technote says to start Windows in Safe Mode and then make the Lotus Domino service to run Manual.. but... what happen when you are working remotely (RDP, VNC) and it is 11 PM and you can't get to the physical box !!

Well.. that's simple. Download Desktop Central and access the processes running on the "hung" Domino server. Kill the Notes processes and then using Computer Management access the remote machine and disable the Lotus service. Now you can access the Windows OS again and restart the server if you want to.

Desktop Central also allows you to run a Command Prompt on the remote machine. If you prefer this option you can always use: nsd.exe -kill

Now, one little thing this Technote is not mentioning (according to what I have seen) is that if the server upgrade requires a Design Update to your Domino Directory the issue will keep happening until you enter "y" or "n" (yes or no) in the Domino console when it asks to upgrade the Domino Directory. There is also an option to disable this question when the Server loads but don't remember the variable right now - you can google it if you need it.

Enjoy.

Free Domino Designer with Notes and Domino 8.5.1 !!!!

2009-10-06T11:02:00.002-06:00

From EdBrill.com...

Full link here

Notes/Domino 8.5.1 is more than a maintenance release. For sure, a ton of quality work went into this release -- four times the number of fixes of a "normal" maintenance release. There are also a number of new features in this release -- which I've covered in recent presentations such as at IAmLUG, and Mary Beth and team have been covering on the Notes Design Blog. But the part of today's announcement that I want to focus on first are changes to the way Notes and Domino are marketed and licensed. The biggest part of the news is that as of Notes/Domino 8.5.1 eGA -- coming in just a few days -- Lotus Domino Designer will now be available at no charge. That's right! Free! My friends at IBM developerWorks Lotus will have some new web pages up later today featuring how to get, learn, and use Domino Designer 8.5.1.

Webcast for Tomorrow: Lotus Notes & Domino is "App" It Again. Find Out What 8.5.1 Delivers for Your Business!

2009-10-05T07:09:00.001-06:00

Date: Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2009; 12:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time (GMT -5)
http://www.lotususergroup.org/vug

Presenters:

Kevin Cavanaugh, Vice-President of Messaging and Collaboration at IBM
Ed Brill, Director, Product Management, End-User Messaging and Collaboration
Pete Janzen, Sr. Product Manager, Lotus Application Development, Domino Designer, XPages, Lotus Enterprise Integrator & Lotus Workflow
Michael Masterson, Product Manager; Lotus Application Development
Shawne Robinson, Senior Product Manager; Lotus Notes and Mobile & Wireless solutions at IBM

Follow-up Online Discussion Forum: October 5 - 9, 2009

Delivering business value and innovation are table stakes for Lotus, and the 8.5.1 release is poised to turbocharge the Domino developer community! IBM is delivering much more than fixes in this release so come hear the Lotus Notes & Domino product management team dive into the specifics and announce some major changes that are sure to open your eyes. From innovative new features in Lotus Domino Designer, to new initiatives that will expand the Domino developer community, 8.5.1 is the release application developers have been wanting! You'll also hear about great new features for Lotus Notes, Lotus Notes Traveler and Lotus Domino that will have you clamoring for an 8.5.1 upgrade.

ILMerge and .Net

2009-09-21T10:35:00.002-06:00

While working on a .Net development project I had to use an utility called ILMerge that allows you to merge multiple assemblies into one. Since there is little to none documentation on this great tool and every single information I found on the internet talked about how to use it using Command Prompt I decided to post this example of ILMerge using VB.

Imports ILMerging
------

Dim myMerge As New ILMerge()
Dim myCollection(3) As String

myCollection(0) = "Assem1.exe"
myCollection(1) = "Assem2.dll"
myCollection(2) = "Assem3.dll"
myCollection(3) = "Interop.AcroPDFLib.dll"

myMerge.TargetKind = ILMerge.Kind.WinExe

myMerge.SetInputAssemblies(myCollection)
myMerge.OutputFile = DestinationPath.Text
myMerge.AllowZeroPeKind = False
myMerge.Log = False

myMerge.Merge()

Please note you should add some Try/Catch (error handling), and in my case, my assemblies' name were going to be the same all the time so that's why that piece of code is not generated dynamically.

Deploying DAOS and ID Vault

2009-08-29T20:17:00.002-06:00

Deploying DAOS and ID Vault

View more presentations from Luis Guirigay.

IBM Lotus Quikr 8.2, GZIP and Custom code

2009-07-17T11:12:00.007-06:00

Since Quickr 8.2 is now using GZIP for compression via HTTP, performance has improved nicely, ( read Rob Novak's cool entry - The nine reasons Quickr 8.2 performance rocks the house) but there are some considerations if you are planning to customize Quickr. Let me tell you what you need to do to get your custom changes into the new GZIP model.

Let's say you modified qp_wiki.js (Javascript library used in Quickr Wiki) and then you noticed performance is not the same as it used to be by default. In Quickr 8.2 a good number of Javascript libraries has been compressed using GZIP and every time you make changes to the JS file you need to compress it (as long as there is a JS.GZ file for the library - do not try to compress everything !).

The trick here is how to compress the JS file, you can't use WinRar for example. You should use GZIP from http://www.gzip.org. Also, when compressing the JS files make sure you use -9 -f parameters (-9 for highest compression -f to force compression).

See the difference between both versions of the same JavaScript library. Those kilobytes can make a huge difference.

But this show doesn't end here.... if for any reason the non-compressed version of the JavaScript library is newer than the compressed version, Domino will use the non-compressed version. If you are doing copy/paste from dev to production for example, copy the JS files first and then copy the JS.GZ files.

Enjoy !

Speaking @ Midwest Lotus User Group Conference 2009

2009-07-16T14:44:00.003-06:00

I will be speaking at the Midwest Lotus User Group Conference 2009 (August 27-28). This is one of the great Lotus conferences scheduled in August and I my session will be about DAOS, ID Vault and and some Best Practices.

The other conference is IamLUG which is scheduled for August 4-5. I also wanted to be there but I will be busy doing something else that exact week.

If you haven't registered for any of these conferences.. hurry !!

Chicago Skyline

2009-05-11T12:06:00.005-06:00

I will be working in Downtown Chicago this week doing a Domino Domain change. The most difficult part of the project will be trying to focus with this amazing view from the office the customer assigned me to.

Blackberry Enterprise Server V5 has been released

2009-05-04T08:10:00.004-06:00

This new version has great new features, but I know one of the most expected is the built-in support for high availability.

Check the information here:

http://na.blackberry.com/eng/services/server/5/

Chicago Lotus User Group - My Presentation about Sametime Deployments and Best Practices

2009-04-20T11:46:00.002-06:00

Enjoy !

Granite PSC Sametime Best Practices

I will be presenting at GRANITE Lotus User Group

2009-04-03T09:52:00.004-06:00

If you are in the Greater Chicago Area, don't forget to attend the next GRANITE meeting on April 20th. I will be presenting the session:

"IBM Lotus Sametime - Deployment and Best Practices"

During my session, I will cover all products in the Sametime family (ST Entry, ST Advanced, ST Gateway, ST Standard and ST Enterprise Meeting Server) - my focus will be technical, however I will include a few tips that may help to sell Sametime in your organization.

The Agenda has not been posted yet, but this is the link to the site - http://granite-ug.org/

Differences between Lotus iNotes Full, Lite and UltraLite

2009-03-19T09:08:00.002-06:00

While looking for some informartion I found this technote which I think is very helpful and will help some customers to decide which option they should use as the default one.

Features in iNotes 8.5 full mode, lite mode and ultralite mode

Enjoy !

IBM Technote # 1358548 - DAOS Backup and Restore

2009-03-11T08:43:00.001-06:00

Great Technote about Backup and Restore when using DAOS

DAOS Backup and Restore

What happened to me after Lotusphere 2009

2009-01-31T21:59:00.004-06:00

I was planning to write some nice articles about what I saw at Lotusphere 09 and how amazing I think Sametime 8.5 will be (I know Websphere is now required for Meetings but is still freaking cool !), but instead here I am, sitting outside of NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) waiting for my newborn to be discharged in the next week or so.

I don't know why I decided to come home from Orlando on Thursday night instead of Friday or during the weekend, but I am so glad I did. My wife had her bi-weekly doctor appointment for Wednesday afternoon to check the pregancy and the baby (suppose to be born on February 26th) but she missed it, so when she was calling to go on Thursday I told her to wait and change it to Friday since I was coming back from Lotusphere.

So, on Friday at 4 PM, we went to the doctor and she found that the baby's heartbeat was a little bit slow and she decided to send us to the hospital for some monitoring, but before that she wanted to check one more thing... well... that was a good idea because she found out that my wife was in labor !!!.... 5 weeks earlier !!!

We were sent to Edward Hospital in Naperville, IL and we were admitted at 5:30 PM and by 9:30 we welcomed our first child - Adrian Alejandro Guirigay . Labor and delivery took just a few hours and we were all very impressed that my wife had no pain at all, even the nurse asked to be carefull with the next baby because she could deliver our next baby at home without any warning.

But our history does not end right there... Adrian was taken to NICU for some tests and they found his lungs were not mature enough to breath on his own. It was a tough moment for me to see him with all those wires (IV, Oxygen, Airflow, Monitors, etc..) but we knew he was going to get better... and he did !! After 1 week... he can breath normally, he is not taking any medications except for some vitamins and the only tube left is a small one which goes directly to his tommy and is being used to feed him. He started eating by mouth 2 days ago and he has been so good at it that he is going to Intermediate Care tomorrow just to be observed until he goes home ahd that tube may be removed pretty soon.

So... here is a picture of Adrian (taken just a couple of hours ago).. he is awake, happy and following the red light of my camera... I have been sending some updates to Facebook (mostly in Spanish) but thanks to all of you who has been checking on him and his progress.

Lotusphere 2009 - Day 1

2009-01-18T21:41:00.004-06:00

Today was Day 1 here at Lotusphere 2009 and as always is good to see old friends and put faces on the Blogs and Twitters I follow.

So far I had the chance to meet Luis Benitez (His blog is Socialize Me) he writes a lot about Lotus Connections and since that's one of the many Lotus product I support and deploy, it was to talk to him. He was very excited about tomorrow's Opening Session and the coold stuff they will show for the next release of Lotus Connections (2.5 or 3.. let's see tomorrow) He will posting live from the Opening Session so go and check his website.

Regarding sessions and meetings, I attended this morning the Lotus Certification Focus Group where we worked with the IBM Lotus Certification Manager on different topics regarding all the exams we take. Working with the IBM Certification team requires a NDA so no much details can be given but I can assure IBM/Lotus is working hard on making the Certifications as best as possible. Also, we talked a little bit about a particular case of a exam for release 7 (I guess) that became public somewhere in Russia and people was passing it because all the questions where available for a while. Since I have been certified since release 5 at advanced level for both Admin and AppDev plus Portal 6 and 6.1, Sametime, Lotus Workflow, etc... and I had to study very hard in order to pass I would like you guys to know that situations like this one make us less valuable since anyone can pass. So, if you are aware of sites publishing the questions please let us know.. otherwise more people will pass with no knowledge and that will make companies to not trust if you are certified.

In the afternoon I attended 2 jumpstart sessions: Lotus Connections and xPages, both of them were great but I must say xPages had more people and was probably more dynamic. The speaker did some real-time demos and everything went pretty cool.

Reception Party was great but it was a little cold, not like those 2 days in Chicago with -20F but it was still not warm enough for Orlando.

If you didn't have the chance to attend Lotusphere, check Twitter (look for #ls09 tag) and PlanetLotus.org so you can follow all the great news that will be announced during the event.

Marketwire: Global Businesses Choosing Lotus Software; More Than Half of Fortune Global 100 Now Using Lotus Notes / Domino

2009-01-15T09:46:00.003-06:00

Great news for us in the Lotus Industry !

ARMONK, NY--(Marketwire - January 15, 2009) - In advance of its annual Lotusphere conference in Orlando, Florida next week, IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced that the number of global Lotus Notes licenses has reached 145 million, up five million, including purchases by many industry leaders exchanging Microsoft licenses for Lotus collaboration software.

Click here to read the article.

PSC's ClearVision Leadership Award

2008-12-08T11:36:00.005-06:00

Last Saturday was our company meeting, and as usual we had a good time, good food, good news and in general.. a great time. However, this year was a bit different for me... I won the PSC's ClearVision Leadership Award.

This price is not given every year and it only happens when there are exceptional events regarding an employee and his/her performance, when PSC feels the employee reflects and share the same goals regarding the company, when they feel the employee has contributed to the sucecss of the company, and much much more. Well, this year, PSC gave it to me !!!!!

During this year I has been involved in multiple projects and multiple customers and according to all my performance reviews, those customers are very happy with the work I did. I have also been working with the Lotus Certification team in IBM by helping them to produce some of the Certifications Exams you guys take worldwide. I have been involved with some major internal deployments and upgrades, so, it has been a busy - but great - year for me.

The only professional thing I wanted to accomplish this year and I couldn't was being selected as speaker for Lotusphere 2009, which with more luck and maybe a little more spicy to the abstract I will make it next year.

Also, John won the PSC 2008 Rainmaking Award and Sri won one of the Star Performance of the year. As John said, the Collaboration Team at PSC did a great job during this year. Congratulations John and Sri.

Thanks Alex K, John Q, Jim V, Andrew L, Bruce B for considering me a good employee.

I have been robbed !! 8-(

2008-11-19T14:02:00.004-06:00

Yesterday afternoon, for the first time in my life.. I was robbed. Thanks God I wasn't near the car.

The thief smashed the passenger front door's window and took my GPS. I was in my office and when I was leaving I saw a police officer in front of my car and I just thought abut the officer writing me a ticket or something.. but in fact, the officer was waiting for the owner of the car (me) to complete the report. The officer was very gentle and told me they are receiving about 30 calls a day because of cars vandalism , basically GPS units.

This is not a good picture, but see all the glass on the floor... now imagine how it was inside !

His advise to me, and now my advise to all of you... Don't leave your GPS unit inside your car, don't even leave the suction mount since according to Police reports, as soon as they can see the suction mount, they know there is a GPS and most of the people (including me) we don't take the GPS with us. I used to take the GPS unit and just put it in the glove compartment.

I also had a nice leather jacket and a bluetooth inside the car, but these guys didn't care, they just wanted the GPS. By the way, it didn't happen in Downtown Chicago, it happened in a business area of a good suburb, so.. no matter where you are.. just don't leave anything with some value n your car.

Then I had to drive all the way home at 6:00 PM without that window and it was like 25 F or something... it was just cold.

IBM Lotus Symphony and PSC

2008-11-04T10:07:00.003-06:00

Lotus Symphony 1.2 is out already and I know a high number of companies are looking into this solution. If you don't know how to start or you want to start right please check our IBM Lotus Symphony offerings...

PSC and IBM Lotus Symphony

Also, check the IBM Lotus Symphony Business Partners site. We are featured as the first Symphony partner.

Vote !

2008-10-29T14:44:00.003-06:00

Nice commercial !

Sametime Gateway and LDAP - Not really a requirement

2008-10-29T11:31:00.002-06:00

While doing a couple of Sametime Gateway implementation out there we found out that you can decide not to use LDAP for your Sametime Gateway deployment.

The goal of LDAP in your STGW is just to control who has access to use the External IM communities, so, if your company is planning to allow all the ST Users to access all IM communities (Yahoo, AOL , Clearinghouse, Google Talk!) you don't need to integrate LDAP and STGW.

After a few weeks running under this model, I have no seen any issues and it works just like it works with LDAP.

Incremental 8.0.1 to 8.0.2

2008-10-20T08:53:00.004-06:00

So... which one do you think is the 64Bits incremental installer ?

I guess IBM could be more specific.

Happy Birthday Mom - Feliz Cumpleaños !!

2008-10-09T14:57:00.002-06:00

Update - Yes, that's my mom, no, it wasn't teen pregnancy

My workplace

2008-10-08T14:49:00.002-06:00

IMG_0376, originally uploaded by Luis Alejandro.

Some other bloggers have been describing their workplaces (home or employer's offices), since I am a consultant and I go to customers, work from home or work from PSC's office - the only place I can really call my office is my home office. I have a really fast internet connection (up to 20 MBs sometimes) and all I need to be succesful in my projects - books, servers, google, food, etc...

PSC is looking for a Lotus Domino administrator

2008-10-05T11:32:00.001-06:00

If you didn't catch my last entry about PSC looking for a Lotus consultant, this is your chance. We are looking for a Lotus Admin with skills in Domino, Sametime, Quickr, Connections, etc..

Alex has all the details here

Good Luck !

Installing LEI 8.0.2 on i5/OS

2008-09-30T13:37:00.003-06:00

While doing some upgrades last weekend for an iSeries customer (i5/OS), we ran into some issues when I tried to upgrade the current LEI 7.0.2 to LEI 8.0.2.

There are 2 IBM Technotes that will describe the same problems we were experiencing:

LEI does not install on V5R4 using 5799PTL V5R4M0

VNC sign-on screen disappears when installing LEI on a i5/OS system

Well, in our case, those didn't help. After spending some time on the phone with LEI support we were able to identify our problem.

There is a file named systemdefault.properties in /QIBM/ProdData/Java400. This file was pointing to the wrong set of java libraries, so, at the time the LEI wizard was going to run in the VNC session on the iSeries, that file was causing java errors and then killing the VNC session.

To fix that problem, you only need to rename that file during the install. After LEI is up and running again you MUST rename the file to its original name.

My LS09 on IdeaJam.net

2008-09-29T20:06:00.004-06:00

I have posted my session on IdeaJam.net, if you are interested in Sametime, High Availability, other IBM products working along with Sametime, or you just know me or my blog go and vote.

My LS09 Abstract about High Availability for all Sametime products

If you demote it, please let me know with comments why and what should I change.

My Lotusphere 2009 abstract has been submitted

2008-09-26T01:06:00.002-06:00

I finally got my proposed LS 09 session submitted and hopefully will be an interesting one for the reviewers. It is now 2:00 AM but I am happy I made it and now I can go to sleep with no worries.

I don't want to provide to many details right now, but I am planning to talk about Websphere, DB2, Lotus and Tivoli... yes... I will talk about almost all IBM brands and how you can have them all together in the same project. I like Rational but that one didn't fit that much in what I am proposing.

I will keep my fingers crossed.

Good night all.... (well.. good morning :-P)

Looking for a Job - PSC is hiring

2008-09-22T21:08:00.004-06:00

Here at PSC we are looking for a new Lotus Consultant, read the what we are looking for on these blogs: Alex Kassabov and John Head.

Being part of PSC has been great for my career and it has given me the opportunity to do what I enjoy. Go ahead and send your CV to Alex, we will be happy to talk to you.

Sametime, Sametime Gateway and additional Privacy options

2008-09-22T14:12:00.003-06:00

While working on a Sametime Gateway project that was giving us some headaches because of inconsistent awareness across users we added this variable to the Sametime.ini

AWARENESS_EXTERNAL_NEED_PERMISSION=1

This variable is giving an extra layer of security to the Sametime users since now they can control who can see them online in the outside world. Well, it looks like it also fixed our problem.

This variable is barely mentioned in the Infocenter and it is not a requirement for a STGW deployment but it sure is a valuable variable all company looking forward to have the Sametime Gateway must have.

Some Blackberry tips if switching machines

2008-09-09T20:17:00.002-06:00

If you guys are looking to move your Blackberry server to a new machine, you can basically perform the following steps:

Stop the Domino server (Make sure you disable the Domino server and BES services. 2 BES Server shouldn't use the same SPR ID and License Keys at the same time)
Backup your database
Backup the notes databases related to BES
Reinstall your Database server
Restore the database
Install BES (enter the server license information that was used in the old BES server)
Connect BES to the previously restored database
Start BES
Test

These steps are really easy and if you want more details go to Paul Mooney's blog
and read his guide. It applies if you are using the local DB server but even if you use DB2 or a remote MS SQL server is still very helpful.

Now, if for some reason, you need to install a BES server that is about to be shipped to another country (in another continent) but you can't afford to have your users without BES and you don't need to migrate data (you will add the users as new users - don't ask why.. it is a long history), go ahead and:

Order a trial license from RIM
Install BES and use the trial keys
Test and make sure everything works
Pack and ship the servers
Start the servers again in the new location
Test it is still working with the trial licenses
Bring the production server down (make sure noboy will start it again - disable Domino and BES services for example)
Stop the new Domino server
Get the Licenses and Keys
Open the Blackberry Manager and add the the old CAL, Keys and ID. (Replace the trial ones)
Start the Server
Wipe the devices and run Enterprise Activation. You could go manually and delete the service books and desktop from the device but it is just easier to wipe it (at least for me)
Test and if everything is ok.. you are ready to go.

By the way, if you want to have a test environment to play with BES. Make sure the user to be activated can receive mail from the internet since RIM will send some registration information and the BES server will go to the Inbox to get it.

Enjoy !

Port 1352 and Security - Is it secure ? An additional complain..

2008-09-04T10:30:00.005-06:00

Did I mention how painful is the process of replicating your Notes data (email included) if you have to VPN ?

Original Post --> Port 1352 and Security - Is it secure ?

Port 1352 and Security - Is it secure ?

2008-09-03T21:06:00.005-06:00

In my opinion.. YES IT IS.

If you already have ports like SMTP, HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, etc..... You need to make sure the systems (not the ports) using them have been configured properly from the security perspective...well.. with Domino and 1352 is the same.

Let me explain....

Port 1352 over TCP is just like any other port, but according to The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) this port has been registered to be used with Lotus Notes. However, if you are a Developer (a Java developer for example), and you create your own application and it uses port 1352 over TCP to handle packets, that's OK, but be aware you can not register the port with the IANA and it may give you conflicts if your organization already uses Notes and Domino.

Imagine a hihgway with thousands of lanes.... well.. the highway is the TCP Protocol and each lane is a different port. Now, all ports can handle the same packets, but the Software companies have agreed to use particular ports for their applications and that's why the use IANA as the main controller. Just like in the Highway example, each lane could allow traffic of any kind of vehicle, but if you want to have control and order, you would assign each lane for a particular kind of vehicle: Lane 1 = Cars, Lane 2=Trucks, Lane 3 = Motorcycles , etc.... Imagine every single company company out there wanting to use its own selection of ports for SMTP and HTTP.. that would be a mess!

Back to 1352...

There are different ways to achieve a higher level of security (regarding Domino and NRPC) if your organization is too worried about users accessing the Domino servers over the Internet and/or data being accessed without authorization. My recommendations to increase your security would be any combination of the following:

Use a Passthru server outside the firewall. (In order to allow incoming requests over 1352 from just one external IP Address)
Use a Passthru server outside the firewall with a Configuration Only Address Book. (Minimum data will be in the Passthru server's names.nsf)
On the firewall, control how requests over 1352 should be handled (redirection rules)
Encrypt the communication between the Notes clients and the Domino servers and/or between Domino servers.
Compare public keys during authentication
Not allow anonymous connections (enabled by default)
Check Password on Notes IDs
Security Policies
Well defined Access Control Lists (ACL)
Extended ACL
Built-in data encryption inside the Notes Database
Good development and data architecture.
any other ?

So...Next time you hear somebody saying Port 1352 is not secure.. explain that the port itself is like any other port, but... the way you have Domino configured will define how secure the communication will be. Also, don't blame Domino for port security issues, We/You as IT Professionals (specially those focused on Security) need to monitor the network, ports, firewalls, etc..

I did some additional research and this is the only IBM Technote I found regarding a known issue with port 1352 and: 1- It has been fixed already .... 2- As a best practice you shouldn't keep the Id files in your Address Book.

IBM Lotus Notes information leakage on port 1352

I already booked my Hotel for Lotusphere 2009.. and you ?

2008-09-03T14:04:00.003-06:00

Now, I am just waiting for my new Citi Advantage Credit Card to arrive and register for the conference itself so I will get the bonus miles from AA.

See you everybody in Orlando.

Internet from Comcast vs AT&T U-verse - Any recomendation ?

2008-09-01T21:35:00.003-06:00

We will be moving to our new home in the next couple of weeks and I have a few mixed reviews about which Internet service I should go with. So, if you guys and girls have any recommendation I'd appreciate it.

It looks like I can get up to 10 MB with AT&T and up to 16 with Comcast. I don't think we really need that much, even when I work from home. Where I live right now, the internet never goes higher than 2 MB and I am still able to RDP to servers, VPN, etc....

I am evaluating both "up to 6 MB" offers from each company. If you have any comment feel free to post a comment here or sent me an email to - lguiriga at gmail dot com -

Domino 8.0.2 and Sametime Standard 8.0.1 - Just perfect !

2008-08-28T19:30:00.003-06:00

I just finished upgrading a Domino server for one of my clients and we also upgraded Sametime to 8.0.1. After the normal upgrade steps everything is running fine. We enabled Sametime to be accessible from the Blackberry and from DWA and we found no issues.

We tested Web Meetings, Conversion Services, Policies, etc... all fine.

I am surprised I haven't seen any Technote out there confirming it is supported.

Sametime Gateway Cluster not supported in a WAN

2008-08-27T15:24:00.002-06:00

I think IBM Lotus Support will publish a technote about this in the next couple of days, but I just found out today that a Sametime Gateway Cluster across a WAN will not be supported, at least not with the current release.

One of my current projects is a High Available Sametime Gateway deployment (with data centers located acrross the US) that invloves clustering Sametime, DB2, WebSphere and the ST Gateway. Since the failover wasn't working properly, we opened a PMR with IBM Lotus Support. After a few weeks doing some tests and research, IBM Lotus came back to us saying that Sametime Gateway Cluster will work only if deployed in a LAN.

It looks like tha data being sent by Websphere Network Deployment is not properly delivered if both nodes are not in the same LAN because of packets, headers or data can be transformed from one network to the other. Also, all nodes in the cluster must be in the same subnets to gurantee communication is A to B with no C in the middle.

Lotus Support has done a great job helping and researching for us and hopefully they will invest time and resources in order to get this kind of deployments working. I guess the Lotus Sametime Development Team will be busy for a while.

Projects I have been working on in the last months

2008-08-27T01:20:00.002-06:00

Being part of a great company like PSC has been a major benefit to my career. In the last couple of months I have been working with great customers and projects

I have had the opportunity of working on complex implementation and projects including:

Domino Upgrades, Health checks, Development, General Administration
Lotus Connections
Quickr
Sametime Gateway (stand-alone and clustered implementations)
Sametime Community Clusters
Sametime Upgrades, deployments
Blackberry Servers - migrations, upgrades
Sametime Enterprise Meeting Server
Websphere and DB2 (specially for those Lotus products that need them)

I am also part of the IBM Design Partner Team and part of the Lotus Certification Team. Both groups required me to be under NDA, so I can't say to much about it, but basically we are working closely with other Partners and Customers to get the new releases of Domino working properly. We help IBM to test, add, remove, suggest, etc.. all features you see now in Domino. I am new to this group but other folks from PSC have been part of this team for years and they (inluding IBm and the other partners) are doing a great job.

Regarding the IBM Lotus Certification Team, I am helping them to prepare some certifications exam for Lotus Products. Yes, I know the questions and no, I can not share them. Sorry =8-)

Running 8.0.2 Gold now...

2008-08-26T11:19:00.001-06:00

Running Notes 8.0.2 and already enjoying the benefits. Go ahead and start upgrading your clients at least. User will be happy.

Don't forget SmartUpgrade to make it easier.

Looking to know which version of Notes and Domino you should deploy ?

2008-08-21T21:32:00.002-06:00

Go ahead and read this post from The Domino Blog

I already showed this link to some friends and they really enjoyed it.

Asking Domino to use a different drive and/or folder when indexing Views

2008-08-20T10:49:00.003-06:00

This one may be old for some of you, but if you have a SAN or just don't want Domino to use the default path (Windows Temp folder) when indexing views, add the following line to the notes.ini:

View_Rebuild_Dir=X:\ServerName\FolderName\

ServerName is optional, it may be useful if you want to separate the folders by server.

Back to life !

2008-08-19T12:11:00.002-06:00

I have been really quite here for the last months... just to give you an update I have been working with some nice projects involving Lotus Connections, Sametime, Sametime EMS, Sametime Gateway, Quickr, Domino Upgrades, Health Checks, etc...

I am trying to blog again on a regular basis, so, hopefully in the next weeks I will start adding entries about what I have been doing lately.

On the personal side, we are very excited because in Feb or March 2009 we will be adding a new member to our family, we are expecting our first child. During the first weeks I had to double my tasks at home since Mariu was feeling really bad.. but all is fine again and she is on her 11th week.

I had family coming for vacations in March (and for my birthday) and I have family again here now (not the same family members)... It looks like they prefer Chicago to Austin, I didn't have some many visits while living in Texas. So.. all is good on this end...

Back to blogging now...

Thanks Google !

2008-07-05T09:38:00.001-06:00

http://www.google.co.ve

Removing Sametime servers from a EMS cluster using the hard way

2008-05-05T14:47:00.006-06:00

How many of you has been in the dilemma of trying to remove a Sametime server from Sametime Enterprise Meeting Server (EMS) cluster but it just doesn't work.

I came to this customer trying to make one of the Servers to work in the cluster, but since the EMS never saw the Sametime server as "Running" and it also never allowed us to remove it using the Sametime EMS administration interface (web browser only).

What I had to do in order to remove and add it back to the cluster was:

Stop STServer, STAdmin and STCenter
Stop WebSphere Application Server (or just server1)
Stop all Sametime servers running in the EMS cluster
Backup the DB2 database (Sametime)
Open each table in the STConfig schema where the Sametime server to be removed is listed. Remember, it is just the STConfig schema in the Sametime DB2 database.
Delete the rows containing the Sametime server and delete the row(s). Remember to commit the transaction. Some tables will have multiple rows with the server name since each row represents a different Sametime service available in the server.
Start WebSphere Application Server (or server1)
Start STServer, STAdmin and STCenter
Start your Sametime Servers (except for the one that was removed)
Reinstall Sametime in the server (in the removed server)
Using the Standard Admin Interface for EMS, add the server back to the cluster

There is another procedure to add the server back to the cluster without reinstalling Sametime, but I guess I will leave that one for a future post.

Please remember this procedure is not document in the IBM site and probably is not even supported by IBM. Now, it worked and it has been working for some time now with no issues.

Now Sametime 8.0.1 is out, I recommend to remove the server from EMS (using the documented procedure) before trying to upgrade, after the server is up and running 8.0.1 you can add it back to EMS and continue with the next one. Also, there is no documentation explaining if you have to (or how to) upgrade the STAdmin, STServer and STCenter components in WebSphere, but so far it looks you don't have too. I will post it if I find the procedure.

Social Networks War

2008-05-01T09:12:00.002-06:00

Thanks to Mac Guidera I found this hilarious short video about what's happening out there.

Link
URL: http://current.com/items/88913552_social_networking_wars

I use Facebook. I never liked the concept and style of MySpace, too many crazy looking pages. I also logged in in SecondLife few months ago but, I have a real life and a real wife, a real family and a real dog and a real job, so I don't think I have the time to play with it, it's really cool though.

Moving Sametime EMS 8 to new machines

2008-04-16T15:30:00.003-06:00

Now I have finished my Sametime Enterprise Meeting Server 8 (ST EMS 8) deployment I would like to share some tips with the Lotus community out there.

First of all, Sametime EMS is actually 3 Java applications (STAdmin, STCenter, STServer) running on top of WebSphere Application Server and connecting to Sametime servers in the background (data is stores in a DB2). ST EMS 8 will store the Meeting information in DB2, so don't try to go to stconf.nsf for old meetings information.

I won't go over the details of installing and deploying EMS, but I will cover what you need to do in order to move the old DB2 data to the new environment.

In case you are looking to move the entire DB2 database, you will need to backup and restore the DB in the new DB2 server. Also, if you are moving from ST 7.5 to ST 8, you will need to ask Lotus Support for a script which is suppose to upgrade the DB Schema.

I will suggest to remove the Sametime servers from the cluster before you backup the DB, then, after WebSphere is installed, running and talking to DB2, you can go ahead and restore the DB, deploy the EMS Java applications and add the Sametime Servers back to the cluster.

---------------------------------

Since my customer was actually moving from ST EMS 7.5 (Using ST 7.5 servers and Domino 7.0.2 server) to ST EMS 8, ST 8 and Domino 8.0.1, I decided to install everything from scratch and then just move (migrate) the meeting information (finished and scheduled) from the DB2 database

After I installed the new servers, deploy EMS, connect to DB2, add Sametime servers to the cluster I needed to move the Finished and Scheduled meetings information.

First, this is the list of tables you need from the SAMETIME Database:

SAMETIME.MEETING
SAMETIME.MEETING_ACCESS
SAMETIME.SCHEDULE
SAMETIME.TOOLS
SAMETIME.PARTICIPANT_ROLES
SAMETIME.MATERIAL_INFO
SAMETIME.MATERIAL
SAMETIME.RECORDED_MEETING

SAMETIME.LOG *
SAMETIME.LOG_MEETING_END *

Second, bring all the servers down (except for DB2) and using standard SQL, delete the records from those tables in the new DB2 database (* don't clean the Log databases).

Export and Import the tables from the old DB to the new one (including the log databases) and that's it. There are some special considerations when importing the DB2 data into the tables (identity columns, location, recorded meetings path, etc) I can share with you, but it is just to much information to post in one single blog entry.

Contact me at lguiriga at gmail dot com if you need it.

I don't have any image to post with this entry, but I will if I find something cool.

Firefox 3 Beta 5 is available

2008-04-08T13:47:00.002-06:00

I am a Firefox supporter and I rarely use IE at home or work unless I have to. Go get your copy and help Firefox team to improve it.

http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/all-beta.html

Errors in WebSphere Application Server 6.1.0.9 when enabling SSL

2008-04-04T11:21:00.006-06:00

I was working on a SSL configuration in one of my WAS servers and after I changed the default SSL setting I couldn't start the server (server1) anymore.

These are the errors I was getting (SystemOut.log for server1):
-----------------------------------
0000000a WSKeyStore E CWPKI0033E: The keystore located at "...../emsNode01Cell/nodes/emsNode01/trust.p12" failed to load due to the following error: Unable to verify MAC..

0000000a ORBRas E com.ibm.ws.orbimpl.transport.WSTransport createServerSocket P=173499:O=0:CT ORBX0390E: Cannot create listener thread. Exception=[ org.omg.CORBA.INTERNAL: CAUGHT_EXCEPTION_WHILE_CONFIGURING_SSL_SERVER_SOCKET, Exception=com.ibm.websphere.ssl.SSLException: java.io.IOException: Unable to verify MAC. vmcid: 0x49421000 minor code: 77 completed: No ].
----------------------

I went online and the only thing I found was asking me to go to the WAS Console and change the SSL configuration back to default. But, How I can do it if my server doesn't start ?

Well, the answer is easy (after you know how to do it):

Open your Security.xml file and fix it. My error was related to a wrong password in the trust.p12 file.... the password I didn't change. When I created a new SSL configuration with new Trust and Key stores, the password for trust.p12 got changed.

Open the Security.xml and check for any inconsistence

The password for trust.p12 had been changed to the password being used my SametimeTrustStore. Finally, default key and trust stores created by WebSphere have the same password ({xor}CDo9Hgw=), so I changed it back to the original and everything started working again.

This problem has been fixed in 6.1.0.13.

A laptop I woud like to have - ThinkPad X300

2008-03-28T10:40:00.002-06:00

I was checking some laptop reviews and I found this great ThinkPad X300, it is not a laptop my father will buy for his daily access to internet, but me (us) as technical consultants, we need a powerful machine which should be nice enough to carry it in our backpacks without killing our backs.

Also, I have a Dell laptop (Latitude D820) which is really heavy and buggy. I have to say it is not this laptop, since I had another Latitude D820 that I replaced after a few days using it because the noise in the Hard Drive and other issues were killing me. In mas last employer I had a Latitude 630 with 3GB of RAM that was way better than this one, faster and lighter. I have used Thinkpad in the past and they performed way better than Dell. My father, my uncles, and few other relatives and friends are using HP laptops that are very nice, but are also heavy and not the kind of laptop needed for my work.

The price for a X300 is around 2,5K US$, so I guess you will still prefer a cheaper laptop, but I will still prefer a Thinkpad over a Dell.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention the Sony VAIO, I have heard they are great laptops and they perform excellent for any kind of work. My Aunt Ana is here for vacations and she is plannig to get one for her, I wil check by myself if they are an option or not; she is looking for a Laptop to access the internet, check her email and some other end user features, but still will be a Sony so let's see.

Are we missing any important instruction here ?

2008-03-24T10:11:00.001-06:00

Lotus... is there anything we need to worry about the missing content here ?

Sametime EMS 8

2008-03-13T10:03:00.002-06:00

I have been doing some nice deployments with EMS 8 in the last weeks. After some PMRs everything is going great.

I am actually going very deep with this deployment, I am talking about using DB2 commands to move/change data, SSL configurations, clusters, WAS clusters, etc...

Sametime is one of the best tool ever made by IBM, even if you have to add DB2 and WAS (I don't care if they aren't in the Lotus brand)

Xbox HD DVD Player - 50 US$

2008-03-06T13:09:00.002-06:00

If you don't have a HD DVD player (no reason to have one now) but you still want it and you have a Xbox 360, you may want to go to BestBuy and get it for 50 US$.

HD DVD for Xbox 360

I bought a HD DVD player about 6 months ago and I am now getting a PS3 in the next couple of weeks for Blue-Ray support. I will keep the HD DVD just to upconvert the DVD movies.

i5/OS V6R1 upgrade roadmap for Lotus Domino and related products

2008-03-06T10:39:00.003-06:00

For all the Domino on System i (iSeries, i5/OS, AS400) guys out there... IBM just published the support notes for Domino on i5/OS V6R1.

i5/OS V6R1 upgrade roadmap for Lotus Domino and related products

What you did during the weekend ? I just worked...

2008-03-03T10:00:00.003-06:00

This past weekend was a very good working weekend.

I upgraded and moved a few BES Servers to a new data center, new machines, new releases. I also moved and upgraded some Domino servers - same thing - new data center, new machine, new IPs, etc....

Just on Saturday night I could spend some quality time with Mariu warching movies, going out for dinner and that's it. Back to work again !

Oh, by the way, this sunday was the first time since the winter started here in Chicago that I could go out just using a Polo and jeans !

Happy week everyone.

FYI: Upgrading to IBM Lotus Domino 8 for better server performance

2008-02-26T11:14:00.002-06:00

Good document about Domino 8 Performance Improvements.

Upgrading to IBM Lotus Domino 8 for better server performance

Work at Home, Home Office, Remote Office - It is expanding

2008-02-21T13:19:00.005-06:00

I know some companies around the world aren't that happy with employees working from home, the problem with this concept is - to my opinion - the word "Home". If you change it to Remote Office, or anything like that, for sure it will sound better to some managers. I have seen some people having success when requesting working "remotely".

I work remotely when I get a chance, and, since I already did it for some time, when I compared the results, they are pretty much the same. However, when I work from home, I have my own "home office", which means, I get the privacy I need to perform as good as I do in the office or even better. When I say better is because my mind is focused on the work I have to do and not the the traffic on my way home, the weather, the colleague in the next door speaking on the phone, and all those distracting things in certain environments.

On the bad side, the only thing I can miss is the fact of interacting with people Face to Face. In this case, I know some people going to work from Starbucks, Barnes and Noble and others. In the extreme case you feel so lonely, get a dog ! My dog Mikey stays with me under my desk while I am working.

I talked this morning to a friend in Brazil and he mentioned he is now working from home 100% of his time which I think is great, specially because the remote work wasn't fully accepted in LATAM. When I moved to the US 2006, I only worked from home 3 or 4 times because I was on vacations and they needed me to do something, not because I could stay home and work.

The Work @ Home will grow up to a point where you will be able to work remotely not just locally, also geographically speaking. Indian companies are already doing it, IBM does it; but at some point - you, as a person, will work for a company in the US and you will live in your own country.

The work environment's world is not flat now but it will be....

The other fact is: If I work from home I am successful ?

My answer to this is YES.

Just one example: many successful IBM Employees (you all know who they are) work from home all the time and travel when requested or if requested.

I remember this guy who went to Venezuela a few years ago for a training, he works for IBM @ Austin and lives in front of the beach in Central America (Honduras I think). There is also this guy from IBM Germany who live 6 months in Europe and 6 months in Miami, FL.

They are all respected IT Architects o whatever their positions is, but the point is, if you are well organized, you like what you do and you're a good professional - it won't matter where you work from.

IBM Lotus Domino Tech Exchange webcast: NSD para Administradores (IBM Lotus Domino Tech Exchange webcast: NSD for Administrators)

2008-02-20T15:40:00.003-06:00

IBM Lotus Support for Latam will perform a webcast session in Spanish for the Lotus folks who don't speak English.

I must admit this is a great move, specially because in most of the South America's countries you don't need to speak English at all for your day to day work/life.

IBM Lotus Domino Tech Exchange webcast: NSD para Administradores (IBM Lotus Domino Tech Exchange webcast: NSD for Administrators)

I also saw a Lotusphere Comes to You going to Venezuela (no date yet). This is even better, I think the Lotus brand has been dropped down there since most of my friends doing Lotus consulting have moved to other positions or companies because Lotus is not strong enough or because IBM VE doesn't go there to help in the Lotus / Open Source / MS battle.

Just in Lotusphere I knew about this "big bank" looking to move from Domino 7.0.1 on iSeries to Novell Groupwise or SendMail. Did I mention they are running between 2k and 3k and have Sametime 7 deployed ?

Is somebody from IBM VE or an IBM Employee in charge for LATAM reading this entry ?

And they are not the only company doing it, so, thanks IBM to schedule a LCTY for Venezuela.

------------ In Spanish ------------------

IBM Lotus Support llevara a cabo una sesion en line sobre NSD.

Debo admitir que esta es una gran jugada, especialmente porque an la mayoria de los paises de America del Sur no necesitas ingles para nada para tu trabajo o vida.

Segun las estadisticas de mi blog, tengo visitantes de varios paises de habla hispana, asi que los invito a que remitan esta informacion a todos los que conozcan para que participen.

Notes and Domino 8.0.1 GA has been announced !

2008-02-19T08:46:00.002-06:00

I have been busy the las couple of weeks.... but this is an information I really wanted to share

IBM Lotus Notes and Domino 8.0.1 offer new features including Lotus Notes Widgets and Lotus Domino Web Access Lite mode

I will be running 8.0.1 Gold tomorrow morning for sure !

How Addicted to Blogging Are You?

2008-02-10T20:04:00.001-06:00

71%

Blocking external Forwarding Address in the Person Document

2008-02-07T12:59:00.000-06:00

I got an interesting question from a friend today..

She asked me if there is any way to control if a Forwarding Address in the person document s external or internal. They don't want external internet addresses as the Forwarding Address.

This is what I responded :

- Using the Forwarding address field in the Person Document: In this case there is no "default option" to control if the forwarding address is internal or external. However, if the company is open to customize the Domino Directory (maybe they are already doing it), we can add an input validation formula in the MailAddress field in the Person form to validate the forwarding address to be internal only.

Do you guys know any other way to do it ?

I'd like to see an option where admins can allow (or not) to use external addresses in the Domino Directory, so we don't have to change the Domino Directory.

Let's see what IdeaJam will think about it.

Check this out !

2008-02-07T11:08:00.001-06:00

Create your own travel map or travel blog

Visit TripAdvisor.com

Integra Personal Edition - Free

2008-02-05T09:03:00.000-06:00

Did you guys started to use Integra Personal Edition... it's free !

"...Integra Personal Edition ships with a number of ready made letters and label formats as well as reports while also allowing the user to create their own mail merge letters, labels and Excel reports. These reports also allow users to simply create Excel pivot tables, graphs etc. from their personal address book contacts. Integra Personal Edition contains the functionality of both the Integra for Notes product, used for predefined reporting, as well as the Integra Quick Reports product, used for ad-hoc reporting to both Microsoft Excel and Word..."

---> Link <---

So... what should I install ? Sametime EMS 7.5.1 or 8.0

2008-01-29T12:39:00.000-06:00

The Sametime 8 Infocenter is asking me to use the Sametime EMS 7.5.1 installer but there is actually a Sametime EMS 8 product... hmmm

I will go with the EMS 8.0

Did you replace the Domino Directory using the wrong template ? Here is how to fix it

2008-01-28T12:07:00.000-06:00

I few weeks ago I was working with one of my customers and suddenly some users couldn't access the servers. I opened the Domino Directory (names.nsf) and what I saw ? Yes, the Domino Directory was using the Mail template. Also, after a few seconds, at least 40 servers replicated the design, so, we had more than 40 servers around the world using the wrong template.

The administrators there wanted to shut down all the servers and start copying manually the names.nsf from the last backup (for some reason - 2 days ago), they called me and this is what I did. After everything was done, most of the users were not aware of what happened.

This is the procedure:

Stop the Replica in every server - The wrong design won't be replicated
Stop the Router in every server - Messages will be kept in the mail.box
At the console level, execute: load convert -d names.nsf * pubnames.ntf. It will replace the design using the right template, since Convert is actually a Mail Conversion Utility, the -d parameter will avoid the $Inbox folder creation.
Execute Step 3 in every server.
Start the router in every server
Start the replica in every server
Restart servers asap.

According to what I have seen, when a Domino Directory starts using the wrong template, this will happen:

Users can't access. There is no $Users view - Users can't be authenticated. Users already authenticated will work with no problems for some time unless they are accessing the Domino Directory either directly or some applications is doing @DBColumns or anything like that to the names.nsf.
Router can't deliver messages

Stop the servers and restore the last valid names.nsf is a valid process, however it takes some time and when you have more than 70 servers around the world you will need a faster solution.

As a final recommendation, review your Domino Directory replication settings. The Administration Server (or hub servers) shouldn't allow incoming design changes from any server.

Finally, I wanted to post this solution after one of Paul Mooney's session at Lotusphere 2008.

Lotusphere 2008 - Tuesday Morning

2008-01-22T08:27:00.000-06:00

Now sitting at the Dolphin's Lobby. I had a nice breakfast with some great people (bloggers) and I am just so tired from last night that I wanted to just relax for a while.

Showcase last night was good, as always, I got around 12 t-shirts and some other small gifts. I entered in a lottery to win an iPhone and guess what ? I didn't win..but.... I was the second winner - got a CA polo. I am saying to myself, I just won in the wrong order.

I passed my Domino 8 update exam last Sunday and I was probably the first peron being certified at Lotusphere since I took the exam just 5 minutes after they opened the Certification Lab. I like the new Certified for Lotus Logo - very "IBM"

The opening was amazing, now, the speaker was "ok". he was funny but very unfamiliar for many people. He was Bob Costas, if you live in the US and you like sports you may know him. As Paul Mooney said.. this just not the right audience for him.

Yous gotta see what's coming for Notes and Domino 8.5 - the Designer client will surprise you !

More later...... I need water !