"Blowing up installations by not reading the instructions is far more educational than just reading about how to do it correctly."

For example, imagine your boss just handed you a DVD and wants you to install a Domino server before next weekend. Try Introduction to Domino 6 setup and administration for help with a Domino 6 installation. Much of this information can be applied to a Domino 7 install. You'll need an IBM ID to see this material, but it's worth it.

More tutorials can be found on the developerWorks tutorial page.

If the boss is willing to pay for you to attend a class, maybe Building the IBM Lotus Domino 7 Infrastructure is available near you.

If your employer isn't willing to send you off someplace exotic to study, maybe they're only willing to pay for Web-based classes, you could try Lotus Education Online and for about $100 US, you can learn how to administer a Domino 7 server. You could also try The Learning Continuum or CertFX for reasonably priced courses.

Trial software (hardware not included), so you can practice while you learn, can be downloaded from Lotus downloads. Blowing up installations by not reading the instructions is far more educational than just reading about how to do it correctly.

If you're interested in reading the latest blog -- IBM encourages its employees to blog -- check IBMers' blogs. People blogging on Notes/Domino include Susan Bulloch, Michael Brown, Ed Brill, Alan Lepofsky, Kathleen McGivney, Rocky Oliver, Martin Ortega Novella, and Ted Stanton.

I'm sure there are more. If you start at NotesGoddess you can use the links on Susan's page to hop over to Ed Brill's blog or the very simply named Domino blog and so on.

And finally, if you haven't seen an answer to your question anywhere else, you can look on the developerWorks forums -- also reachable via Notes.net -- to see if someone else has run into the same problem.

And, of course, don't forget to visit our own article directory or type a search query into the search box at the top of each DominoPower page. With more than 700 articles, you're bound to find the information you need.

Product availability and resources Visit Introduction to Domino 6 setup and administration (requires IBM ID). Visit the developerWorks tutorial page. Learn more about Building the IBM Lotus Domino 7 Infrastructure. Get some Lotus Education Online. Learn more about The Learning Continuum. Learn more about CertFX. Visit Lotus downloads. Read IBMers' blogs. Visit NotesGoddess. Visit Ed Brill's blog. Visit Domino blog. Visit developerWorks forums.

DominoPower Contributing Editor Nancy Hand is primary Notes admin at a remote site for a large corporation. She earned both Novell and Microsoft certifications in network engineering before being introduced to Lotus Notes. The 3,000 users she supports constantly challenge Nancy to keep up with their creative missteps. With a background in art, she brings a different perspective to working with computers and their users. In the past, Nancy has worked in the fields of accounting, criminal justice, and museum display. To balance the challenges of the job, she continues to draw and sculpt between stabs at writing novels and designing knitware.