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Showing posts from 2009

Geeky Breakfast

Geeky Breakfast Originally uploaded by JustAnOttawaDad This geeky Christmas breakfast brought to you by Eggo, Tassimo and Star Trek.

Happy Birthday Marie

IMG_8143 Originally uploaded by JustAnOttawaDad Just because I can. Happy Birthday Marie!! (He's not happy because he just filled his diaper. A very extreme fill...)

Birds on the Jack Pine Trail

We decided to take a walk this morning, we had been thinking about visiting the Valleyview Little Animal Farm, but my daughter seemed rather indifferent to it, so instead, we took a walk. 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 se

The day a strange package arrives, then the phone rings.

So, yesterday a package arrived for me. Which is interesting, because I wasn't expecting anything. 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 centere

Charity: Doing Christmas a little different this year...

So a conversation was started in my family this autumn, about Christmas, and gifts and such... 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 c

1st Cross Country Lotus User Group

So, yesterday we had the 1st Cross Country Lotus User Group meeting in Ottawa, Markham, Calgary and Montreal. 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

Lotus Domino and Tivoli Directory Integrator

There is a great series of blog posts on Tivoli Directory Integrator (TDI) going on by Marie Scott and Thomas Duff . I actually have a project that I'm hoping TDI with solve for me, so I've been reading all their articles on the subject , and looking for some other sources as well. Here's a quick list of sources aside from the ones above that I've compliled. 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 Oh, and Ed Brill says that we get to use TDI v7 when Domino 8.5.1 ships...

Loading Yellowfin on Linux

Did you follow all the instructions but still can't get your Yellowfin to load on Linux?   See this link:   http://www.yellowfinteam.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=15&t;=161&p;=595&hilit;=linux#p595   (If this makes no sense to you, and there is a good chance it won't, just ignore it.   If you've installed Yellowfin on a Linux platform and can't get the freakin' login page, follow the link.)    

My guess is Oct 7th.

So, what's your guess? Mine is Wednesday October 7th.

Not a Cabbage Patch Kid...

Every once in a while, you come across something interesting in the garden. Today, I found a very large zuchinni. Here it is next to Isaac for reference.

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

Just a quick note really to pull a few resources into one place.   Installing DB2-Express C on to Ubuntu server, you need to do the following:   sudo apt-get install libstdc++5 sudo apt-get install libaio-dev sudo ./db2setup Thanks.   References here , here and here .

Canada is getting a LUG!!

Okay, so David blogged about it, so I suppose I can now!!   So, Canada is getting a Lotus User Group.   Country-wide it seems.  (Including the Caribbean.  I expect to see you there Francie!!!)   They're going to host a multi-city webcast/live event, all across the country.   It'll be October 1st, and run from 11:30am to 5:30pm EST, and you can see great people like me there...   Among the presenters will be Mary Beth Raven (IBM), David Julien (Ytria), Peter Janzen (IBM), Philippe Riand (IBM), Joseph Gerard (Customer Expressions), Kathy Collins (Sears), Laurie Desautels (Kryos Systems), Bill McNaughton (Kryos Systems), Frederic Dahm (IBM).   The locations are here: Montreal 1250 René Levesque Blvd West, 7 th 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.c

Domino and Web Admin Reader Access

So, here is the scenario. I'm stepping back a bit from the day-to-day server maintenance. I needed to setup an employee to be able to log into the Domino webadmin.nsf database to see if there were any users logged into the server. I gave the fellow 'View only' administrator permissions in the Server Document, and then gave him 'Reader' access to the webadmin.nsf database, and set him up with only the 'ServerStatus' role. When he went to log into the database, he got a pop-up with 'You are not authorized to perform that operation.'. In the server log, I found the following: So, it looks like an agent gets run on access to webadmin.nsf, that the 'Reader' level user doesn't have permissions to run. A quick test across all my servers shows that it's only an issue in the 6.x code stream. Domino 7.x and 8.x work fine. So, now the work around I found. Grant your user 'Author' access, have them

Domino Insufficient Memory - Server Executive Pool is Full

Found the following error in my Miscellaneous Events log after a crash the other night. It occured after a Notes Client could not access the server, but server access could still be made through HTTP and SMTP. ERROR MESSAGE: Notes error: Insufficient memory - server executive pool is full. Turns out it's a problem with Domino 8.5. There are 2 fixes, one short term, one long term. Short term, reboot the server. That'll give you around 2-3 days before the server process has memory issues. Long term, upgrade to Domino 8.5 FP 1. It solves the issue. There's also a Notes.ini variable you can add short term. enable_collection_clean_queue=0 I found it here , which lead here .

Isaac and I

I'm in luck. There is 'null' in my wallet.

Apparently, my email address is not valid...

Apparently, my email address is not valid. That really sucks because I've been using it for quite a while...

The Best Fruit Fly Trap

There was a conversation on Twitter a while ago about catching fruit flies. I'd like to add my method (learned from a friend) to the pool of ideas. Take a glass (jar, etc), put a piece of over ripe fruit in it. I used a banana, peaches work well too. Cover the top with plastic film (Saran Wrap, etc) and poke a few small holes in it with the tip of a knife. Small like 3/16". Let it sit on the counter and wait. Mine got so full you could hear them bouncing off the plastic wrap. You can even count them in the photo. Must have been 70 or so.

How to upgrade from Domino 8.5 HF460?

If you're looking for answers, don't look here. I'll post a solution when I find it. 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?

Two Divas and That Guy

Just had to point out that two of the Divas (and that Brill fella) have their blogs in the Hot Blogs list on PlanetLotus.org. 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

My initial trials with OVF to convert my existing virtual systems didn't go well.   Namely it didn't like my CDRom drive.   So, I opted to create a new one.   Login into VMX interface.  Check.   Create new virtual machine.  Windows XP.  Check.   Place install CD in local drive.  Check.   Boot up virtual machine.  Check.   Connect CD drive.  Check.   Watch Windows XP being it's install.  Check.   No hard drive found.  Huh?   But I created one.  I know I did.   Hmm...   Review logs.  Find where it says that Windows XP doesn't support the BusLogic SCSI driver.  Okay.   Delete Windows XP virtual machine.  Check.   Create Windows XP virtual machine.  Check.   Select LSI Logic SCSI driver.  Check.   Place install CD in local drive.  Check.   Boot up virtual machine.  Check.   Connect CD drive.  Check.   Watch Windows XP being it's install.  Check.   No hard drive found.  Huh?  Oh well.   Guess I'll go off and resear

Domino 8.5 Server not starting as a Service on Windows 2008 Server

I came in this morning to find that overnight, my newest server decided to restart itself. At 3:00AM. That was the first clue as to why. Turns out that Windows Update was never disabled. So, nicely, it decided to install its updates and reboot. Funny thing is, after the reboot, Domino never started up. Rather, it started up, but then shutdown about 9 seconds later. Long enough to send me a Fault Recovery Notification, but not long enough to trigger NSD. So, I end up with an e-mail saying that the server was restarted after a fault, but not why. Very useful. First thing, I uninstall the 4 updates from last night. (This has worked for me in the past.) One at a time, with a reboot after each one. Each time I get the same e-mail, but nothing further. Next step, run Domino as a Windows application, to see if I can see anything on screen. Low and behold, I can. It starts perfectly. Next, shut Domino down and restart the service. No dice. Same

Linux and Domino on a x440 - Part 2: Installing VMWare

So, at first glance it looked easy enough to install VMWare on the x440. Download the ESX server, burn to CD, and install. 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...

Linux and Domino on a xSeries 440

So, I arrived at work this morning to a bit of a surprise. (Not a complete one, I did get a phone call yesterday afternoon asking me if I could use some (yes, some) xSeries 440 boxes as sandbox servers. 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?)

Everyone Needs a New Toy...

Got a new toy that arrived at work today. See... I bet you wish you had one of those... It's my new Domino server... (Oh, and I get a second one next week...) Whatever shall I call them? I'm leaning towards 'Aleph' and 'Bet'...

New on PlanetLotus: How to leave Lotus Notes

I saw this today as part of my morning review. I don't have a problem with it per say, free speech is free speech, but advertising an event on leaving Lotus Notes being posted on a very Pro-Lotus site. That I find rather amusing.

New Lotus Trading Cards

Okay, what crazy week last week was. Here's today's installment.

Lotus Trading Cards - Set 2

Set #2 of Lotus Trading Cards has been released.

What's Hot on PlanetLotus? Looks like I am (was)...

More for the memories... I hit the top hot spot, for a little bit anyways, on PlanetLotus.org.

Lotus Trading Cards

I was painting the house last night, and my mind got to wandering... Bruce Elgort mentioned on Twitter last night that he was thinking of a VC fund for Lotus projects. So my mind wandered about that, and turned to how we present ourselves. I got to thinking that business cards are so ... old school. I think we need Trading Cards. So, here are the first few I've come up with.

Human Cost

Sitting at work this evening, I find myself wondering about the human cost of working long hours.   We're approaching a deadline for a client project, and I can understand the need to put in the extra hours, but being hump day today, I find myself wishing I was at home.   For the 2nd day, I've been denied the chance to play with my daughter.  (Everyone else is single or has grown up kids.)   In fact, other than crawling into bed beside my wife, I haven't seen or talked to her much in the past two days.   Right now, I'm sitting waiting for the testing team to 'find me something to fix'.   Could take two minutes, could take an hour.  May not even happen.   I want to go home.   And sleep.  But I still need to water the garden if it's going to survive tomorrow.   And my neighbours garden while he's on holiday.   Sigh.

News Clippings

Ottawa 5k Run Photos

Two New Torch Photos

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 communi

Olympic Torch Runner

As I have mentioned to a few individuals, I've been selected as the first Olympic Torchbearer in Ottawa for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics torch run across Canada. 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!

My New Favorite Error Message

My new favorite error message. ... But you have the memory to create a dialog box to tell me you didn't have any memory...

Interim Fix 5 for Domino 8.5

On the off chance you haven't heard, IBM had released 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/

One Design Decision: Why I can't migrate to Designer 8.5

I have a team of developers who work for our company, we work daily with probably 8-10 databases. 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?

My Daughter's Favorite Book on Google

Really simple, just had post it.

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 comm

We didn't

Harry Truman, Doris Day, Red China, Johnnie Ray 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, Kero

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!      

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:

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?

This may be considered a bit of a rant, but I'm due. 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