Friday, 25 December 2009
Saturday, 19 December 2009
Happy Birthday Marie
Happy Birthday Marie!!
(He's not happy because he just filled his diaper. A very extreme fill...)
Sunday, 25 October 2009
Birds on the Jack Pine Trail
We headed to the Jack Pine Trail, part of the Stoney Swamp greenspace in Ottawa (off Moodie between Hunt Club and Fallowfield). My wife had been here a time or two when we were dating, and I think we might have brought my daughter when she was much younger.
The parking lot was packed, but we were still able to find space.
I didn't realize that if you come here, you need to bring bird seed. (So, if you're going, now you know.) We came across the first of many bird feeders on the 2.5km loop, and I grabbed a small handful of what was left in the feeder and managed to get these pics.
The path that meandered along was very level, although there were a few rocks and roots that would have made a stroller difficult to navigate.
There are a number of raised wooden boardwalks to get you over muddy sections, and even a few that cross the middle of the swamp and allow interaction with any ducks that happen to be in the area.
Oh, and the birds, they really are tame, people don't faze them a bit.
How to get there
Take the Hunt Club exit from highway 416, turn west onto Hunt Club and then Left onto Moodie Drive. Parking lot is on your left.
View Larger Map
Wednesday, 21 October 2009
The day a strange package arrives, then the phone rings.
It came to me from Cisco, a company I have absolutely no ties to.
So, with the VP of Sales and Marketing looking over my shoulder (he happened to deliver it to me), I opened it up.

And found this. A map of the world, with some major roads on it. Oh, and a sticky note with my name, and a customized url for me to visit.

When I visited it, I found this.

And about an 1/2 hour later, my phone rang.
No, I don't work for an international company with multiple office locations.
No, I'm not in the market to purchase a phone switch.
No, I don't need web conferencing software.
No, I'm not looking for unified telephony.
I like the campaign, it worked really well in getting me to visit the site, but the targeting was poor. I have no idea where they got my name, phone number and company info, but a quick bit of research would show that my company is pretty small, and centered in one geographic locale.
Sunday, 18 October 2009
Charity: Doing Christmas a little different this year...
It basically went this way.
My Dad didn't want to have to ask us what we wanted for Christmas, any found it to be getting more and more expensive as we were gaining in significant others and children. So, he brought up the idea of making donations to charity in each others names instead of going out and buying each other gifts.
Very quickly, my siblings and I all bought into it, as well as our significant others...
We're still buying gifts for the children, after all there are only 2 at the moment, and the day will be more magical for them, but for the adults, only an exchange of a piece of paper, "A donation has been made on your behalf...".
So, where does that leave us? Oh, yeah. Where to give? And how to pick the charity to give to?
Some ideas have been tossed about, with all of them, once a charity has 'won' it is no longer eligable:
- each person picks one charity and they all get added to a hat. One gets picked randomly to receive all funds, you can change your charity next year providing it didn't win
- cycle charity selection by age, youngest person picks this year, next youngest next year, etc.
- put all charities on a wheel and spin for elimination, the last charity left get all funds
- each person selects their charity and their 'gift' goes to that charity
- pool the money and dole it out to random charities in lots of $100
- invest it through the Community Association of Ottawa and dole out the interest every year
Friday, 2 October 2009
1st Cross Country Lotus User Group
For my part of the inital CCLUG, we met with David Clarke (Technical Manager - Canada & Caribean) in one of the IBM offices in Ottawa Ontario for our part of the 4 city and webcast CCLUG.
Starting the 1st CCLUG is a presentation by Kevin Lynch presenting "Life of the Notes ID" on lowering the TCO of Notes/Domino wth ID Vault and the PKI infrastructure.
New in 8.5.1 is the Windows single sign-on for Web Clients. Using the windows desktop password for your iNotes or web application login.
Future feature will move the person documents and IDs out of Domino Directory and into LDAP or ActiveDirectory.
ID Vault will simplify the provisioning of ID credentials. Uploads existing ID files to the vault. Streamlines the process for resetting lost passwords. Manages changes across multiple copies of Notes IDs. Provides 'Auditor' function to extract ID files for legal access to encrypted data.
Notes Shared Login elimiates the need to use Lotus Notes ID passwords. Password changes are controlled by the operating system password policies. No need to sync passwords between systems. No longer need policies to control the history, length, complexity of Notes passwords.
If made available, the presentation contains everything needed to configure the items listed above.
I'm wondering how Windows SSO for Web Clients would work in a SaaS Domino environment. Would be cool to allow a client logged into their Windows network to seemlessly connect to their SaaS Domino applications. Might be a new SSO type authentication to look into.
All documents used will be available on greenhouse.lotus.com in the CCLUG community. (Or somewhere else, that may be determined.)
The next presenter is David Julien from Ytria in Montreal. David is presenting on Ytria's set of 7 Notes/Domino tools to find and change any and all settings of Notes Databases. Allows easy solving of replication or document field changes.
I just realized that my daughter has swimming lessons tonight and I have a feeling I'm going to miss Mary Beth Raven's session on what's coming in Notes 8.5.1.
David Clarke set out a number of initiatives for his team, one of which was establishing a LUG to help create a feedback chain around the Lotus product line.
Newsflash, the Lotus Knows bus will be in Toronto on November 2nd, and Ottawa on November 4th.
The last Ottawa LUG was active about 10 years ago, and regularily filled auditoriums. It consisted of business partners, end users, developers and admins and promoted an open technical exchange.
Apparently there is an Ontario LUG somewhere too...
The more I look at my notes, the more disconnected they seem. More updates to come.
Thursday, 24 September 2009
Lotus Domino and Tivoli Directory Integrator
- Lotus Domino integration with Tivoli Directory Integrator (IBM, registration required)
- TDI Google Group
- TDI User Group
- TDI Domino Integration
- RedBook - Robust Data Synchronization with Tivoli Directory Integrator
- Series of Youtube Videos
- RedBook - Synchronizing Data with IBM Tivoli Directory Integrator 6.1
Wednesday, 23 September 2009
Loading Yellowfin on Linux
Tuesday, 22 September 2009
Friday, 18 September 2009
Not a Cabbage Patch Kid...
Tuesday, 15 September 2009
Shocking Lotusphere News!

Hmm... A subtle message delivered in the middle of the night. Almost makes you wonder if they are hiding something... I smell conspiracy...
(If nothing else this will ust get you all fired up about Lotussphere 2010, featuring the inaugural Lotussphere 5K, which is supported by this person, this person and this person.
Ubuntu and DB2
sudo apt-get install libstdc++5 sudo apt-get install libaio-dev sudo ./db2setup
Monday, 14 September 2009
Canada is getting a LUG!!
Montreal
1250 René Levesque Blvd West, 7th floor, room 777
Local Host: Angela Caruso, acaruso@ca.ibm.com
Ottawa
2220 Walkley Road, e-Learning Room 1
Local Host: Connie Triassi, ctriassi@ca.ibm.com
Markham
3600 Steeles Ave. East, Room D103
Local Host: Anoop Sidhu, anoops@ca.ibm.com
Calgary
227 - 11th Avenue SW
Local Host: Don Gillis, dgillis@ca.ibm.com
Domino and Web Admin Reader Access

Domino Insufficient Memory - Server Executive Pool is Full
ERROR MESSAGE: Notes error: Insufficient memory - server executive pool is full.
enable_collection_clean_queue=0
Thursday, 27 August 2009
Tuesday, 25 August 2009
Friday, 21 August 2009
Apparently, my email address is not valid...
Thursday, 13 August 2009
The Best Fruit Fly Trap
How to upgrade from Domino 8.5 HF460?

How did I get here?
First, I popped on over to the wee Irish fellow's site because I remembered seeing a link there. Downloaded the file (lotus_domino85FP1_w32_CZ344EN.exe), downed the server. Got the message above.
So I thought I'd jump over to Fix Central. Noticed that the file there had a different name (DominoServer_85FP1_W32.exe), however, same problem.
Anyone got a solution?

Wednesday, 12 August 2009
Two Divas and That Guy

To follow-up on all the women in IT postings. We have a great female programmer on our team, I'd probably even trade 2 of the guys on the team for another one like her. (Nothing against you other guys and all, but she's really good...)
Linux and Domino on a x440 - Part 3: First Virtual Machine
End of Support for Domino 7.0.x
(Nah, who am I kidding...)
Domino 8.5 Server not starting as a Service on Windows 2008 Server
TCPIP_ControllerTcpIpAddress=8.55.128.173:2050
Tuesday, 11 August 2009
Linux and Domino on a x440 - Part 2: Installing VMWare
Okay, as it turns out, only certain versions of ESX will run on a 440. The latest and greatest is not one of them. Turn out that you need ESXi 3.5 Update 2. I learned that here. With VMWare now installed. (Note to self, you need more than 10GB of free drive space to make an effective virtual server solution.)
For some reason creating a new virtual machine didn't get very far, as the CD drive refused to recognize that a CD was loaded. (Remember, we loaded VMWare using the same CD drive.)
Attempting to migrate an existing virtual image onto the box didn't get us any further. I'm now looking into OVF file and how to make one...
Monday, 10 August 2009
Linux and Domino on a xSeries 440
Of course, I said yes. I now have 3 of them. One 8-way CPU, 2 4-way CPU. All with 4 to 8 GB of RAM.
So, I'm going to take the 8-Way and turn it into a Domino on Linux platform, and take one of the 4-Ways and see if I can get VMWare ESXi on to it.
I'll post my love/hate affair with the process here for other who may come by equipment like this.
Oh, and expect a series of posts on getting Domino up and running on a P-Series. (or two... You should have an extra for spare parts, right?)
Friday, 7 August 2009
Everyone Needs a New Toy...
Wednesday, 22 July 2009
New on PlanetLotus: How to leave Lotus Notes
Monday, 20 July 2009
Monday, 13 July 2009
No implementation defined for org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory
LeoTech » Blog Archive » No implementation defined for org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory
Friday, 10 July 2009
Thursday, 9 July 2009
Lotus Trading Cards
I think we need Trading Cards.
So, here are the first few I've come up with.



Friday, 3 July 2009
Wednesday, 1 July 2009
Wednesday, 24 June 2009
Human Cost
Thursday, 11 June 2009
Wednesday, 3 June 2009
Tuesday, 2 June 2009
More from the Media
Yahoo! Canada
The Algoma News
The Ottawa Sun
The Ottawa Citizen
The Montreal Gazette
Wellington Area AC Blog
Monday, 1 June 2009
I made it on the CBC.

Alright, this is just more of my 15 minutes of fame, I'm well aware of that, but here's an article from the CBC, Canada's National Broadcaster.
They even used my quote, not one that the Media types make up, but one I actually wrote.
"I'm not like one of the athletes," he said. "I don't get up at 4 o'clock in the morning to put in two hours of training before I go to work."http://www.cbc.ca/canada/ottawa/story/2009/06/01/ottawa-olympic-torch-bearer.html
Full Disclosure: The photo is copyright of the CBC.
2010 Olympics: RBC Press Release
RBC recognizes Scouts Canada volunteer as its first Ottawa Torchbearer
OTTAWA, June 1 /CNW/ - John James, RBC's first Ottawa Torchbearer, has pledged to create a stronger community through continuing his volunteer efforts with Scouts Canada by helping young adults grow and become leaders."I think that all athletes are amazing. It is inspiring to see how athletes push themselves to be the best they can be. The Olympic Games embodies this spirit and I'd like to thank RBC for giving me the chance to be a part of the 2010 Olympic Torch Relay," said John James. "Helping youth is critical - they need support as they go through major life changes. I am happy that being selected as a torchbearer will allow me to get this important message out to the country."
James is entering his tenth year of volunteering with Scouts Canada and works with youth aged 18 to 26. As the father of a three-year-old daughter, he is committed to helping youth and working with his community to provide support and guidance to the adults of tomorrow.
"We are pleased to announce John James as our first Ottawa Torchbearer and recognize the contribution his pledge will make to creating an even better Canada," said Rod Schaaf, regional president, Ontario North and East, RBC. "Anyone can be part of the 2010 Olympic Torch Relay. We encourage Ottawa to share in this thrill of a lifetime by entering our contest at rbc.com/carrythetorch to be a torchbearer and win the ultimate Olympic experience."
RBC will award over 2,300 Olympic Torchbearer spots through this contest which closes July 15, 2009. To enter, pledge to create a better Canada at rbc.com/carrythetorch.
Approximately 12,000 Canadians will carry the flame across the country at their own pace with millions more cheering and supporting them. Applicants will be asked to select where in Canada they want to carry the Olympic Flame. Torchbearer applicants must be a resident of Canada, aged 13 or older. Full contest rules and regulations are available on the website at rbc.com/carrythetorch.
For further information
Lauren Raley, Communications Advisor, Ontario North and East Region, (416) 313-6496, lauren.raley@rbc.com
Elsewhere on the web:
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/RBC-recognizes-Scouts-Canada-cnw-15401529.html?.v=1
http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/Stock%20News/2354149/
Olympic Torch Runner
Still no news as to when I'll actually be doing the run through Ottawa, but I'll post it when I know.
There is still time to sign up by the way: rbc.com/carrythetorch
Cheers!
Friday, 29 May 2009
Big News Coming Monday!!!
Thursday, 28 May 2009
My New Favorite Error Message
Friday, 22 May 2009
Interim Fix 5 for Domino 8.5
Details available here: http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=899&uid;=swg21385261
You can download it from Fix Central: http://www-933.ibm.com/support/fixcentral/
Tuesday, 21 April 2009
One Design Decision: Why I can't migrate to Designer 8.5
I installed the 8.5 Client and Designer on my system at work, and the first time I went to remove a database from the Navigator, I saw this:

I can't find a way to remove it from this pop-up window, and I can only imagine how many databases will get deleted accidentally. As the fellow who manages the backup system as well, I can picture the lost productivity.
Does anyone have a solution?
Friday, 20 March 2009
Monday, 2 March 2009
Renaming a Domino Database with the Server Up
Looking to solve an issue where 3 different versions of the same database (dev, beta and production) had different names, I went looking for a way to fix it without shutting the server down (and losing sleep).
Enter IBM Technote #1257799.
Clipped from the technote, available here.
“If the server cannot be shut down, it is possible to rename the OS file name with the server up if there are no external third-party software factors to consider. Keep in mind that a server task acting on the database can create a database handle and not allow you to rename the file. To prevent this from occurring:
1. Let the user know you are going to rename their database and instruct them to exit their Lotus Notes® client. (Also, ensure that the database is not open by anyone else.)
2. Shut down the Domino Router by issuing tell router quit at the server console.
3. Issue the command drop database mailfilename.nsf
4. Make sure replication/cluster replication is not occurring.
5. Issue the command dbcache flush
6. Rename the database on the file system.
7. Update the Person document "Mail File" field to the new file name of the mail file.
8. Restart the Router task by issuing "load router" at the server console.
9. Make sure the end user's Location document is also updated with the new file name. (Location document -> Mail Tab -> "Mail file" field).”
Saturday, 14 February 2009
We didn't
South Pacific, Walter Winchell, Joe DiMaggio
Joe McCarthy, Richard Nixon, Studebaker, television
North Korea, South Korea, Marilyn Monroe
Rosenbergs, H-bomb, Sugar Ray, Panmunjom
Brando, "The King and I" and "The Catcher in the Rye"
Eisenhower, vaccine, England's got a new queen
Marciano, Liberace, Santayana goodbye
CHORUS
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it
Joseph Stalin, Malenkov, Nasser aand Prokofiev
Rockefeller, Campanella, Communist Bloc
Roy hn, Juan Peron, Toscanini, dacron
Dien Bien Phu falls, "Rock Around the Clock"
Einstein, James Dean, Brooklyn's got a winning team
Davy Crockett, Peter Pan, Elvis Presley, Disneyland
Bardot, Budapest, Alabama, Krushchev
Princess Grace, "Peyton Place", trouble in the Suez
CHORUS
Little Rock, Pasternak, Mickey Mantle, Kerouac
Sputnik, Chou En-Lai, "Bridge on the River Kwai"
Lebanon, Charlse de Gaulle, California baseball
Starkweather, homicide, children of thalidomide
Buddy Holly, "Ben Hur", space monkey, Mafia
Hula hoops, Castro, Edsel is a no-go
U-2, Syngman Rhee, payola and Kennedy
Chubby Checker, "Psycho", Belgians in the Congo
CHORUS
Hemingway, Eichmann, "Stranger in a Strange Land"
Dylan, Berlin, Bay of Pigs invasion
"Lawrence of Arabia", British Beatlemania
Ole Miss, John Glenn, Liston beats Patterson
Pope Paul, Malcolm X, British politician sex
JFK, blown away, what else do I have to say
CHORUS
Birth control, Ho Chi Minh, Richard Nixon back again
Moonshot, Woodsto/ck/, Watergate, punk rock
Begin, Reagan, Palestine, terror on the airline
Ayatollah's in Iran, Russians in Afghanistan
"Wheel of Fortune", Sally Ride, heavy metal, suicide
Foreign debts, homeless vets, AIDS, crack, Bernie Goetz
Hypodermics on the shores, China's under martial law
Rock and roller cola wars, I can't take it anymore
CHORUS
We didn't start the fire
But when we are gone
Will it still burn on, and on, and on, and on...
Wednesday, 4 February 2009
xkcd
This is probably my favorite xkcd strip to date. I think it’s really cute and totally see the romantic comedy in it.
My wife however, just rolls here eyes…
Cheers!
Thursday, 29 January 2009
All my Podcasts
I got to wondering how to go about finding out the cool podcasts that people listen to, in order to grow my own list of podcasts.
I guess the best way to discover what people listen to would be to get them talking, perhaps by sharing what I listen to. So, here they are, the Podcasts that I currently have loaded on my iPod. (In no particular order, even though they are numbered.
- Best Ads on TV – Video Podcast – Published weekly
I’ve always been a fan of advertising, never been involved in the industry, but love to see the unique ideas that people come up with to sell something.
- CBC Radio: Dispatches – Audio Podcast – Published weekly
CBC’s weekly radio show has short dispatches from correspondents from around the world. Always eye-opening.
- CBC Radio: Search Engine – Audio Podcast – Published weekly
Trendy show about the best of the web.
- CBC Radio: Spark – Audio Podcast – Published Weekly
A crossover radioshow/blog.
- CBC Radio: Vinyl Café – Audio Podcast – Published Weekly
Stories from CBC’s Vinyl Café – Humorous, funny and music.
- IDoNotes (and sleep) – Audio Podcast – Random
News from the Lotus world
- Taking Notes – Audio Podcast – Random
News from the Lotus world
- The 1352 Report
News from the Lotus world
Sunday, 11 January 2009
It's all about love.
My wife's been exhausted all weekend and has been in bed before 7:30 both Saturday and Sunday nights. My daughter's been under the weather too. The house is torn apart due to the renovation of 2 bathrooms and 1 bedroom. Can't always find what you're looking for because everything is everywhere. But, as I was cleaning a paint roller, I glanced into the other sink. It's all about love.
Where are the Lotus Domino/Notes books?
I'm excited about the features coming in Domino 8.5. I've especially excited about DAOS, and X-pages.
For those who don't know me, I'm a Domino admin for an ASP who hosts our own Domino based web applications. I don't have a lot of time at work to play with any new software, and my wife, daughter and house keep my personal life quite busy. Oh, and often work as well. Part of the function of my job is that of a one-stop IT shop. I manage about 70 devices ranging from Domino to Windows servers and desktops, firewalls and IPS devices.
I went to my local bookstore this afternoon and wandered through their computer book selection, but despite the fact I could buy 12 different books about how to use my iPhone (none of them mentioned Traveller), there was not even a single Lotus book. Was I surprised? No, not really.
So I wandered over to the computerized index/kiosk and did a search for 'Lotus Domino'. I received 126 results, but not a single one of them covered Domino 8, and only one of those covered Domino 7. The same search for 'Lotus Notes' found 153 books, again with no Domino 8 books, and the same Domino 7 one.
Perhaps, just perhaps that if we are trying to get people to accept Note and Domino 8.x, and especially Xpages, we should get to writing books and articles that will allow us to help and gather in those users, developers and admins who need to learn more about Domino/Notes, but don't have the ability to attend Lotusphere or the View or other direct training events.
I never complain about something without offering a solution. I'm going to use this space to point fingers at good, solid Domino 8.5 resources. Not a 'Notes 8.5 has been released sort of thing, but to good solid code examples, how-to articles and the like. If you have something to add, leave a comment, and I'll add you to the list.
Cheers!