Make sure you get the most out of your Notes 9 client upgrade from the start (part 2)

In our previous post on the subject we highlighted the fragmentation introduced during our client upgrade and how Defrag.NSF for Notes removed that fragmentation automatically when we started the Notes Client.
http://ab1osborne.blogspot.com.au/2013/04/make-sure-you-get-most-out-of-your.html

As a result of that post we received some questions, here are some topics/questions that people were interested in knowing more about.

Q. So what does "Defrag.NSF for Notes" do?
A. Defrag.NSF for Notes defrags only the files related to the Notes client (Program and Data files) in order to (automatically) remove fragmentation as a limiting factor in the Notes Client performance and it seamlessly maintains the Notes related files back to this defragged state each time the user starts up Notes.

Q. Does it do a better job than Windows defragger?   
A. The job our tool performs is to Defrag and maintain the Notes related files each time Notes is started up, does it do this better than the Windows Utility?  Yes! the Windows Defrag Utility does not perform this function, it is limited to defragging an entire volume or disk, this may take hours, it is not useful for targeting specific files associated with an application to defrag them.

Q. Why would I want to use Defrag.NSF for Notes?
A. Well, there's the following:

• You don't have to defrag an entire volume, usually this takes hours and will affect users ability to perform their work. Defrag.NSF for Notes targets the Notes related files.

• You can maximise the Notes client performance by removing fragmentation so that it never becomes an issue for Notes performance. This happens automatically and seamlessly each time the Notes client is started, without having to defrag the entire drive, or affecting the user's ability to perform work. Every new Notes session starts with nicely defragged files.

• Who wants to be scheduling and running the Windows defrag utility (or any other one) on user's workstations as regularly as you would need to to compete with Defrag.NSF for Notes? Nobody.

• All workstation Notes users benefit from the speed, intelligence and efficiency of the "Built for Domino" defrag engine we use in Defrag.NSF for Notes, it's the same as used in our Defrag.NSF server product. Why is that useful? Read the next point.

• Laptop users with large local replicas of their Notes mail file leverage the speed and efficiency of our "built for Domino" defrag engine as large local replicas are defragged in lightning quick time. It is not unusual on a Domino server to encounter highly fragmented, constantly changing, multi Gig files (30+GB), as a rule files of that size are quite uncommon outside of Domino, but Defrag.NSF is designed to handle these and Defrag.NSF for Notes leverages this technology for the client. In comparison, the Windows defrag program, is extremely slow and inefficient at dealing with these files.

• Large local replicas often have large Full Text Indexes associated with them, these indexes live in your Notes Data directory and when updated they create a lot of fragmentation. When a contiguous index file is updated it becomes scattered into fragments within the Data directory, this of course also creates new opportunities for fragmentation of your nsf files and other files that happen share the Data directory. Defrag.NSF for Notes reigns in this fragmentation at the start of each Notes session, preventing it from getting further out of control.

• You want the best from Notes but you don't want to know about this fragmentation stuff! - Perfect! The Notes user does not need to do anything, or know anything about defragging, it just happens, clean, fast and invisible to the user and convenient for the admins.

Additional web links:

How to Install Defrag.NSF for Notes

More Info about Defrag.NSF for Notes

Defrag.NSF

Warning - There is no basic Widget support in iNotes 9

This one caught us by surprise - the bottom line is the 8.X technique for adding a Widget to the iNotes Mail outline no longer works.

It is summed up by this line in Technote 1627817 "In iNotes 9.0, the Widgets folder in the Mail outline is no longer supported. The documentation surrounding this feature remains in the iNotes 9.0 documentation but does not apply to iNotes 9.0."  Go ahead, read it again ...

Instead of using the old technique of a single XML file, you need to follow the procedure outlined in Technote 1627817, but be warned the procedure is a rambling mess. It appears to be a cut and paste hack job that lacks flow or sufficient detail.

Good Luck.

Make sure you get the most out of your Notes 9 client upgrade right from the start

If you're installing or just installed Notes 9 you might want to consider defragmenting the Notes program and data directories after install.

Below is an example of what happened on one of our clients when we recently upgraded from Notes 8.5.3 to Notes 9.

Prior to installation the Notes Program and Data directories were completely defrag via the Defrag.NSF for Notes Client which is fully automated to maintain the client's files.

After the install we see the following in Defrag.NSF for Notes log file:

[2013-04-02 12:40:10] Defrag.NSF for Lotus Notes - Copyright Preemptive Consulting
[2013-04-02 12:40:10] Only to be used by licensed Defrag.NSF customers
[2013-04-02 12:40:10] received program path 'C:\Notes'
[2013-04-02 12:40:10] received data path 'c:\Notes\Data'
[2013-04-02 12:40:15] defrag dll loaded
[2013-04-02 12:40:15] inspecting level of fragmentation
[2013-04-02 12:40:23] directory 'c:\Notes\Data' contains 13376 files, excess fragments = 1282
[2013-04-02 12:40:23] starting defrag of 'c:\Notes\Data'

....snip....

[2013-04-02 12:41:01] defrag of 'c:\Notes\Data' finished
[2013-04-02 12:41:04] defrag dll loaded
[2013-04-02 12:41:04] inspecting level of fragmentation
[2013-04-02 12:41:13] directory 'C:\Notes' contains 36662 files, excess fragments = 4435
[2013-04-02 12:41:13] starting defrag of 'C:\Notes'

...snip....

[2013-04-02 12:42:34] defrag of 'C:\Notes' finished

At the end of the day,  over 5,700+ fragments were removed in a little over a minute in the background after Notes loaded.

This is what the log file looked like the next time Notes started:

[2013-04-02 13:16:35] Defrag.NSF for Lotus Notes - Copyright Preemptive Consulting
[2013-04-02 13:16:35] Only to be used by licensed Defrag.NSF customers
[2013-04-02 13:16:35] received program path 'C:\Notes'
[2013-04-02 13:16:35] received data path 'c:\Notes\Data'
[2013-04-02 13:16:38] defrag dll loaded
[2013-04-02 13:16:38] inspecting level of fragmentation
[2013-04-02 13:16:42] directory 'c:\Notes\Data' contains 13430 files, excess fragments = 298
[2013-04-02 13:16:42] starting defrag of 'c:\Notes\Data'
[2013-04-02 13:16:42] defrag started

----snip ----
[2013-04-02 13:16:50] defrag of 'c:\Notes\Data' finished
[2013-04-02 13:16:52] defrag dll loaded
[2013-04-02 13:16:52] inspecting level of fragmentation
[2013-04-02 13:17:01] directory 'C:\Notes' contains 36714 files, excess fragments = 0
[2013-04-02 13:17:01] starting defrag of 'C:\Notes'
[2013-04-02 13:17:01] defrag started
[2013-04-02 13:17:13] defrag of 'C:\Notes' finished

Want to know more about Defrag.NSF and its FREE companion product, Defrag.NSF for Notes ? If so, check out our products details here, or review some of the older postings on this Blog, eg.

    How to install Defrag.NSF for Notes
    More information on Defrag.NSF for Notes

Here is my AusLUG Lotus Protector Presentation

Delivered with Gary Wickham of IBM Australia.

Let me know if there are any questions.

Cheers

Aus lug lotus protector from aosborne

Adding a World clock to iNotes for your traveling users

Here's how to configure a handy World Clock widget for inotes. You can allow users to create their own widgets but here we are just setting a widget that will be available to all inotes users on a particular server and cannot be removed by the users.

First if you haven't already done so, you would need to enable widgets in inotes by checking the following mail policy setting on the Lotus iNotes -> Configuration tab of a Mail policy settings document:

Now the "Widgets" folder will be available in iNotes.

On the server, navigate to the Domino\data\domino\html folder and locate the inotes_config.xml.template and make a copy of this file and paste it on the server desktop.

Open the copy with a text editor and delete the sample widgets (highlighted here)

Copy the following code to the file and save the file.

Rename the file to inotes_config.xml and place it back into the Domino\data\domino\html folder.

At the server console restart the http task using the command restart task http

Now when users log into iNotes they have a very handy World Clock widget.

Ed's book "Opting in" is a great read

I've had a number of delayed flights over the last two days and that has allowed me to finish Ed's book Opting in. It is a great read.

You can get it from here http://www.amazon.com/Opting-In-Lessons-Business-Fortune/dp/0133258939

Enjoy.

The ND9 Beta Forum looks fantastic

The forum is located here --> http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/ndsebetaforum.nsf/allDocuments.xsp and it looks great. This is what a modern UI should look like.

I wonder if we can get our hands on this sort of template ?