Over the years, we’ve continuously enhanced the Domino Optimizer to automate server maintenance and bridge the gaps in standard HCL functionality. Our goal has been to automate every possible process we could identify to ensure seamless operations.
In this blog post, we’ve decided to provide a comprehensive list of these features; it’s only when you see them all together that you truly realize the depth and power of the product.
There is a vast amount of functionality included, and you can explore it all with our 30 day trial.
Core features:
1 - NSF Database Defragmentation: Defragments Domino NSF database files using custom-built, Domino-aware defrag engines, reducing file fragmentation and disk I/O to deliver faster database access, improved server responsiveness, better DBMT performance and faster backup operations.
2 - Multi-Stage Optimisation: Seamlessly toggles between file-level and volume-level defrag methods on-the-fly when dealing with difficult files or insufficient contiguous free space, ensuring even the largest databases are successfully defragmented without manual intervention.
3 -Volume Freespace Consolidation: Consolidates fragmented free space on disk volumes into large contiguous blocks using Smart File Defragmentation, resolving the common problem where ample total free space exists but is unusable because it is scattered across many small fragments.
4 -Transaction Log Optimisation: Defragments Domino transaction log files (.txn) as part of scheduled maintenance, reducing I/O overhead associated with fragmented logs and improving server restart times when transaction log recovery or consistency checking is required.
Scheduling & Automation
5 - Integrated Maintenance Scheduler: Provides a simple, per-day-of-the-week scheduling UI to configure start times, durations and processing options, eliminating the need for multiple Domino Program Documents and allowing “set and forget”maintenance routines.
6 - Automatic Database Selection Criteria: Offers four configurable rule-based selection methods (Top N by Health Index, fragment threshold, Health Index threshold, Top N by fragment count) to automatically identify which databases need maintenance, ensuring the most critical files are always prioritised.
7 - Stop Processing Schedule: Configures a defined daily stop time so that maintenance processing gracefully shuts down before peak business hours, preventing optimisation tasks from competing with user workloads during high-load periods.
8 - Auto-Tune Mode: Provides an automated, carefully sequenced approach to DBMT Compact and subsequent defragmentation of the entire server for environments that have not run regular maintenance, delivering a deep-level tune-up over a few scheduled off-hours runs without manual configuration.
DBMT Integration
9 - Integrated DBMT (Database Maintenance Tool): Seamlessly integrates HCL’s DBMT compact, Updall view-rebuild and full-text index operations into a single scheduled workflow with configurable thread counts, replacing clumsy Program Documents and delivering one-stop best-practice database maintenance.
10 - Smart Compact Eligibility Controls: Allows administrators to set freespace-percentage and days-since-last-compact thresholds per day of the week, avoiding unnecessary compaction of databases with little recoverable space and thereby reducing DBIID changes, backup churn and I/O.
11 - Exclude Compacting by Recoverable Freespace: Skips DBMT compaction for databases where recoverable freespace falls below a configured threshold (in MB), preventing the fragmentation, DBIID changes and wasted processing time caused by compacting databases that yield negligible space recovery.
Backup Integration
12 -Integrated Domino Backup (Domino 12+): Automatically triggers Domino 12’s native backup feature after database optimisation completes (DBMT →Defrag →Backup), reducing backup times, lowering I/O and eliminating the need to separately schedule backups via Program Documents.
13 - Configurable Backup Timeout: Allows the per-database backup timeout to be extended (default 15 min, recommended 60 min), accommodating large databases or slow backup architectures without failed backup operations.
Health Reporting & Monitoring
14 - Health Check Reports: Generates on-demand reports with an overall health score, key metrics (files analysed, fragment counts, worst Health Index) and per-volume freespace analysis, giving administrators a single-glance view of their server’s optimisation status.
15 - Best-Practice Configuration Audit: Evaluates server settings against HCL-documented best practices (full-text index location, ODS level, FTG_USE_SYS_MEMORY, FT_FLY_INDEX_OFF, UPDATE_FULLTEXT_THREAD, transaction logging, network compression, etc.) and provides one-click “Implement Setting”buttons to remediate gaps.
16 - Freespace Report: Displays per-volume freespace health including largest contiguous fragment, total fragment count and a status flag indicating whether the largest database can fit into available contiguous space, enabling proactive freespace defragmentation scheduling.
17 - Security Updates Report: Compares the server’s current Domino version against the latest available release and lists security patches and updates, helping administrators assess upgrade urgency and security risk.
18 - Processing Log: Provides an integrated activity log of all defrag operations with timestamps, eliminating the need to search through log.nsf to find maintenance-related events.
19 - Live Status Display: Shows a real-time progress bar with percentage completion and the name of the database or drive currently being processed, giving administrators immediate visibility into ongoing maintenance operations.
Full-Text Index Management
20 - Full-Text Index Monitoring View: Presents a dedicated view listing every database with a full-text index —including whether attachments are indexed, creation date, initial size, current size, growth percentage and configured growth limit —enabling administrators to spot bloated indexes at a glance.
21 - FTI Growth Alerts: Monitors full-text index growth against a user-configured percentage threshold and sends email notifications when exceeded, allowing administrators to proactively rebuild indexes before they degrade search performance or consume excessive disk space.
22 - Scheduled FTI Rebuilds: Allows individual full-text indexes to be scheduled for rebuild at a specified date and time with selectable options, ensuring index maintenance occurs during off-hours without manual intervention.
DAOS Management
23 - Automated DAOS Enablement: Automatically enables DAOS (Domino Attachment and Object Service) participation for databases matching specified templates, moving attachments into the DAOS store and applying LZ1/data compression —ensuring no database “slips through the cracks”and attachment storage is always optimised.
24 - DAOS Synchronisation Monitoring: Automatically monitors the DAOS catalog synchronisation state and triggers a resync operation at 12:15 AM when needed, maintaining catalog integrity and ensuring DAOS prune operations run on schedule without administrator involvement.
25 -DAOS Attachment Search (Drag & Drop): Enables instant search for all databases and documents containing a specific attachment by simply dragging and dropping the file onto a search form —invaluable for virus isolation, data-leak detection, content monitoring, compliance auditing and general investigation.
Database Properties Automation
26 - Automatic Database Property Adjustment: Automatically checks and enables HCL-recommended performance properties (Document Compression, LZ1 Attachment Compression, Design Compression, Don’t Overwrite Free Space) on databases matching specified templates, ensuring best-practice I/O and space savings are applied consistently, including to newly created databases.
View Optimisation (NIFNSF)
27 - Automated View Index Separation (NIFNSF): Moves view indexes out of NSF databases into separate .NDX files with fine-grained template, path and exclusion controls, resulting in smaller database files, faster backups, better concurrent access performance and reduced fragmentation.
28 -Offline System Database Maintenance: Automates the compaction and maintenance of typically neglected Domino system databases (log.nsf, names.nsf, admin4.nsf, etc.) on a configurable schedule with an integrated server restart, reclaiming wasted disk space and restoring performance to bloated system databases without requiring a manual server shutdown.
Freespace Management
29 - Scheduled Volume Freespace Defragmentation: Provides per-day scheduling for defragmentation of free space on any nominated drive with Fast (Smart File relocation) and Thorough (exhaustive relocation) modes, ensuring large databases always have sufficient contiguous space for effective file-level defragmentation.
30 - Pre-Allocate Free Space in Databases: Allows a configurable percentage of free space (with a ceiling cap in MB) to be pre-allocated within individual databases, preventing future fragmentation by ensuring space is available for data writes without extending the file on disk.
31 - Recycle Bin Cleanup: Automatically empties the Recycle Bin on the Domino Data drive during scheduled maintenance, reclaiming disk space that would otherwise be wasted by deleted files lingering in the Recycle Bin.
Individual Database Controls
32 - Per-Database Exclusion & Manual Selection: Allows individual databases to be excluded from automatic defrag maintenance or manually flagged for DBMT+Defrag processing, giving administrators granular control over which databases are maintained and when.
33 - Database Cataloguing: Scans and catalogues every database on the server, recording fragment count, size, DAOS state, Health Index and other metadata into the DO.NSF interface, providing a comprehensive inventory and the data foundation for all automatic selection and reporting features.
User Interface & Administration
34 - Domino Admin Client Integration: Operates entirely within the familiar HCL Domino Administrator client with an intuitive menu-driven UI, eliminating the need for separate tools or consoles and reducing the learning curve for Domino administrators.
35 - Integrated Domino Console Access: Includes a built-in Domino Console menu item allowing administrators to connect to any server’s live console and issue commands directly from within DO.NSF, streamlining troubleshooting and ad-hoc operations.
36 - One-Click Support Request: Sends DO.NSF configuration details and a problem description to Preemptive Consulting via email with a single button click, accelerating support engagement and ensuring the vendor receives the diagnostic context they need.
37 -Extended Logging: Provides an optional detailed logging mode for deeper diagnostic insight during maintenance runs, aiding in troubleshooting without requiring external logging tools.
We think there is something in there for everyone. Until next time...
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