As with AdminP, there are going to be some important and much needed improvements in the function of this database. To prepare for deploying this new catalog, verify that every server in your domain is running the same replica for its database catalog.

#3: Document any modifications to system databases
Here's another task that might take some time. Almost every system database in the Release 5 environment is going to change. If your organization has modified any of the system databases, you'll need to decide if you want to bring those modifications into the Release 5 environment or do without them. Before you can make those decisions though you'll have to document what changes were made, by whom and why they were made. Considering the number of design elements involved, this task could take quite a bit of time.

At a minimum, you'll need to check at the following databases:

• Public Address Book (NAMES.NSF)
• Personal Address Books (PERNAMES.NTF)
• Mail router mailbox (MAIL.BOX)
• Server log file (LOG.NSF)
• Database catalog (CATALOG.NSF)
• Administration Requests (ADMIN4.NSF)
• Statistics Reporting (STATREP.NSF)
• Mail file templates (MAIL*.NTF)
• Web Administration (WEBADMIN.NSF)
• Master Address Book(s) (MAB45.NTF)

The simplest way to verify these is to highlight each design element in the appropriate design folder (Forms, Views, Subforms, etc.) and select Design->Design Properties from the Notes menu. Switch to the Design tab and check the name under the Last modified by field. If the name is someone from Lotus or Iris, the design element hasn't been modified. If the name is someone from within your organization, you'll need to document what's been changed.

Although the method that I've mentioned above is the simplest, it certainly won't be the fastest. This phase of the migration has the potential to cause disruption to your Notes environment if not handled completely. You might want to check out third party utilities which can perform this testing in a more thorough fashion. TeamStudio Delta from Ives Development (see http://www.teamstudio.com) is an example of a utility which can do much of this task for you.

#4: Check your public address book for ServerProgram documents
An area which many Notes administrators forget when performing upgrades is the presence of ServerProgram documents. Most Domino environments have one or more of these to perform periodic tasks like running the server COMPACT task or any internally developed API programs. If your servers were to be migrated and these tasks allowed to execute, they might have unintended consequences. The COMPACT task in particular would convert applications from Release 4 to Release 5 format. This is something that you don't want to happen until after the application has been tested in the Release 5 environment. After each Domino server has been migrated from Release 4 to Release 5 you might want to edit the program document and disable the program using the appropriate field. Once the critical applications (see the next section) have been tested and approved, you can enable the program again.