Search DominoPower's 10,675 Lotus-related article archive 
Home
EasyPrint
News details Click here for the RSS feed's XML code. This is not a browser URL.
Articles-only Click here for the RSS feed's XML code. This is not a browser URL.
Twitter Feed Click here for the Twitter feed.
DOMINOPOWER EXCLUSIVE
Automating migrations to multi-user Notes clients
By Sam Rifaey

About this DominoPower exclusive
Here at DominoPower, we love to score exclusives. This month is no different. Sam Rifaey is the founder and CEO of one of Connecticut's fastest growing companies, SoftQuest Corporation. SoftQuest makes the very popular Notes installer-helper, InstallPump. We asked Sam to help us understand how to get the most out of InstallPump so that your Notes upgrades can go faster.

Lotus Notes now contains native support for multi-user client installations in version 6. But there is no (as yet) clear direction on how to convert existing Notes clients to this configuration. Many organizations simply uninstall their existing Notes clients and install the new multi-user option. This would typically require an administrator to visit each machine to ensure that valuable data files are not lost. In organizations of any size, the associated cost issues can be staggering.

For more information on the benefits of Lotus Notes new roaming user and multi-user configurations, check the Lotus Domino Administrator help file for the topic "Sharing a computer with other users".

Automating multi-user upgrades
So how can automated upgrades to the multi-user installation be performed on these users' machines? There are a two paths that an administrator can follow: performing the process manually, or utilizing third party tools.

Since the default Lotus Notes installer does not contain any option to upgrade a standard Notes client to a multi-user client, the preferred method for manually performing this upgrade is to:

  1. Create a backup of the user's local data directory and Notes.INI file.
  2. Completely uninstall the current Notes installation.
  3. Install the target version of Notes with the multi-user option selected.
  4. Launch the Notes client as the current user and complete the configuration.
  5. Close the Notes client.
  6. Copy the data directory to the user's new data directory (off of the "Documents and Settings" path).
  7. If you are replacing the new Notes.INI with the user's existing Notes.INI document, copy the old INI to the data directory and update any path references which point to the old data directory, and add the "SharedDataDirectory" setting (points to the "All Users" Notes data directory).

As you can see, this process can be quite time consuming, and since there are so many steps the possibility of introducing an error is great. Third party tools offer the option of automating this process, though many of these can be difficult to configure.


1  ·  2  ·  3  ·  Next »
Other articles you might like
Home > Strategies > Migration (18 articles)
   Understanding Domino.doc end-of-life options
   Fun rolling out a Notes upgrade
   Installing Notes 8 the hard way
Home > Lotus Technologies > Notes (78 articles)
   When the debugger won't debug hidden code that isn't hidden
   What to do if the LotusScript debugger won't single-step over code
   Troubleshooting an OpenSuse Notes install
Get Weekly Email Updates
Subscribe to our regular weekly email newsletter. It's packed with tips, reviews, deep analysis, and the latest news.
 
Recent DominoPower Articles
What to look for in a Domino-based document management solution
Understanding Domino.doc end-of-life options
When the debugger won't debug hidden code that isn't hidden
What to do if the LotusScript debugger won't single-step over code
Top 10 ways to launch and build a Lotus consulting practice (with a little help from the Beatles)
Troubleshooting an OpenSuse Notes install
Incident report: denial of service attack against ConnectedPhotographer.com
Latest Lotus Headlines
SnTT - Enabling ALL the bells and whistles!
Tivoli Data protection causes Domino to crash
Fun when running DB2 CLP scripts
Introducing Flippr, the easy way to admin Quickr
DXL and fake security
Using search forms in IBM Workplace Collaborative Learning 2.7
Schmidt, Freed, and Gering on the OVF Toolkit
>> Read all the news
More from the ZATZ journals
Computing Unplugged: Eight steps to successful and reliable home backups
David Gewirtz Online: CNN commentary and analysis
OutlookPower: Can Outlook run when it's not running (and other mysteries)?
-- Advertisement --

AUTOMATE LOTUS NOTES USER ID MANAGEMENT
ID Manager 4.5 from HELP Software provides a new level of automaton for managing Lotus Notes IDs. ID Manager lets Lotus Notes administrators get out of the business of creating and managing user IDs. Use our ROI calculator to see how quickly ID Manager will pay for itself.

Learn more about HELP Software products
-- Advertisement --

Want The Top Lotus Experts By Your Side Without Paying Hefty Consulting Fees? Look No Further.
Like having a team of consultants by your side -- ones who have all the answers and never make mistakes -- THE VIEW gives you immediate access to field-tested instruction, guidance, and best practices from the brightest Lotus professionals around.

Join your peers who realize their Lotus technology is too important to let people from blogs and forums tell them how they should implement it, run it, and use it. THE VIEW is where only the world's top Lotus experts provide validated support to you on a weekly basis to ensure you work more efficiently, get more out of your Lotus technology, and stay clear of costly mistakes.

Check out the new instruction, tips, and best practices added to THE VIEW this week.

ZATZ Home  ·  News  ·  Back Issues  ·  Credits/Trademarks ·  Link To Us
Copyright © 1998-2009, ZATZ Publishing. All rights reserved worldwide.
Editor's Login