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 research this one now...   Or maybe just make the jump to Linux.   Ubuntu here I come...

End of Support for Domino 7.0.x

Via Stuart McIntyre, I got the link to the Software withdrawal of Lotus Notes, Lotus Domino and LEI 7.0.x..

Looks like it may be time to get those nasty Domino 6.5.x servers out of my environment.

(Nah, who am I kidding...)

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 story as before.

Quick search of the IBM support site reveals nothing. (Nothing useful to this at least.)

I found this thread on the Domino 8.5 forum on Notes.net. The solution there lead to this technote.

The premise behind it is to statically tie the IP address of the server to the TCPIP port, and to do the same for the server controller. I edited my notes.ini directly as I didn't want anyone to remove it from the server configuration document by accident someday.

TCPIP_TcpIpAddress=0,8.55.128.173:1352
TCPIP_ControllerTcpIpAddress=8.55.128.173:2050

My server is back up and running and I've done a few reboots to make sure it stays that way.

Another lesson learned.

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'...