SnTT-Wow, you really do need the LocalDomainServers group in the Domino Directory!

Remember back in the old days when you were just learning all that there is to know about the wonders of Lotus Domino? Sitting in class wide eyed listening to the instructor tell you things all about ACL's and how they work. And then along that journey at some point I am sure you had heard about the importance of the LocalDomainServers group in the Domino Directory. How all of the servers in your domain should be listed in it so that they could all play together happily and do what Domino needs to do. Well, I remembered that too and have pretty much left that group alone. That is until today. I should of known when my day started off with my local profile in XP being corrupt that I was in for a long day.

As my day was winding to a close, I received a phone call from one of the remote plants. It seemed that they were unable to log into iNotes and were getting the following error in the web browser:

6/12/2008 03:08:08 PM: ERROR: Unable to write changes to the Person document - contact administrator [/names.nsf?Login&Username=&Password=....etc

Of course my first thought was that the Domino Directory was corrupt. So with that, I brought down the server and ran compact -c and did an updall -R and saw several errors. Seeing that, I went on to OS copy over another Domino Directory in hopes that it would fix the issue. Not two minutes after that copy starts my phone rings again. Another user on another server is having the same issue. So I connect into that server and see the same problems going on there. That's when it hit me something major was occurring. As I begin troubleshooting the problem, I try to open up the server document in the Domino Directory and I get the "You are not authorized" stop message. "What!?...But I am the freakin admin! I'm in the Full Access Administrators group!" Mind you, many other expletives were being strewn from my mouth, but that pretty much summed up what I was saying. That's when I started diving deeper into the Domino Directory on the Admin server to see if the Administrators group was in there. Nope, it was gone. Then I went to look for the LocalDomainServers and found that gone too along with the OtherDomainServers group. Needless to say, once I replaced those groups from a restored Domino Directory, things starting working properly again. But what caused it in the first place? Good question. I'm not too sure. But I have an idea. When I deleted the LocalDomainServers, OtherDominServers and Administrators group from a view in my local personal address book, the application that placed that view there had decided that I must have meant I wanted those to also be removed from the Domino Directory. Harrumph. I don't know why in the hell it did that and I plan on testing that out next week. For now, I'm on a long weekend.
So the moral of the story, regardless of where you see the LocalDomainServer group listed, just leave it alone.

SnTT - Issues with iNotes.....DWA

Had a rather difficult interesting issue cross my desk yesterday that I thought would make for a perfect SnTT post. It's long winded, but understanding the troubleshooting I went through may help others in the Google-for-help.

Here's the scenario:

• User has DWA access only on a company supplied laptop running IE6.
• Mail file exists on a Domino 7.0.3 server with the inotes6.ntf design.
• In IE6, all appears to be correct and functioning normally . Also, I opened it in my Notes client, everything functioned correctly.
• When the user logs into his mail with IE7, all of the Inbox documents "disappear".
• Items that are in user created folders, the Sent folder and Calendar items are there.
• In the All Documents view, if you sort descending on the Date column, things appear, otherwise nothing shows up there either.
• While troubleshooting this issue, opening the mail file in Firefox gave the same results that IE7 was seeing.
  

Thinking that it was simply a view issue, I followed the standard troubleshooting steps of running a compact -c -d -i followed by a updall -R and a fixup -J. Nope. Problem still exists. Then I decided to update the mail template to the dwa7.ntf design. Still didn't work. Looked at the (HikuTOC) hidden view and everything appeared correct there too. Frustrated, I then tried removing the iNotes6 Class and the Domino Web Access 7 controls from IE7. That yielded the same results as before. I even went as far as hitting the Reset button in the Internet Options-Advanced tab in IE7 to put everything back to the default state. Still nothing was showing in the Inbox view. So with all those steps complete, it was time to open a PMR.

Working with Noel, the tech on the other end of the phone, we tried replacing the design of the mail file with the log.ntf template from the server and then putting it back to the dwa7.ntf template. Sounds weird doesn't it? But it does make sense since replacing the database design with something other than a mail template removes all the mail design elements. After replacing the design back to dwa7.ntf and an Updall -R against the database, still the same results. The next step was to disable the item "Enable native XMLHTTP support" in the Internet Options-Advanced-Settings-Security section in the Internet Options of IE7. Once I had done that and refreshed the Inbox, everything appeared, but, it still didn't fix the issue. Opening the mail file in Firefox still didn't display the correct information. Now it was time for the "nuke from orbit approach".

In my Inbox, I created a new memo. In the memo addressed to the individual having the problem,I went up to Create-Hotspot and selected Button. This opened a programming window at the bottom of the memo which allowed me to create the button to execute the code. First, I set the code type from Formula to Lotuscript. I labled the button iNotes Nuke1 and pasted in the following script supplied by Noel:

Dim s as New NotesSession
Dim db as NotesDatabase
Dim doc as NotesDocument
Set db = s.currentdatabase
Set doc = db.GetProfileDocument("inotesprofile")
Call doc.Remove(True)

I then went on to create two more buttons following the same steps as above:
Label - iNotes Nuke 2

Dim s as New NotesSession
Dim db as NotesDatabase
Dim doc as NotesDocument
Set db = s.currentdatabase
Set doc = db.GetProfileDocument("dolsofflineconfiguration")
Call doc.Remove(True)

Label - iNotes Nuke 3

Dim s as New NotesSession
Dim db as NotesDatabase
Dim doc as NotesDocument
Set db = s.currentdatabase
Set doc = db.GetProfileDocument("inotesviewprofile" )
Call doc.Remove(True)

With the buttons created, I sent the memo to the user. On another machine, I had installed that users ID file for the Notes client. Opening the memo in the client, I clicked the first button, which of course will bring up the Execution Security Alert window. I had to click "Start trusting the signer to execute the action" to allow the script to run. After the first button ran, I clicked the other two buttons. Noel instructed after running the code to create and send a new memo from the mail file to allow new profile documents to be created. After closing out of Notes and re-enabling the "Enable native XMLHTTP support" in the Internet Options-Advanced-Settings-Security section in the Internet Options of IE7, I was able to log into the mail file and see everything in IE7. Firefox also worked as well!

Deleting profile documents can usually fix most of the really odd issues with a notes mail file, but be warned! You can also delete user configured settings like calendar access, signatures and message marking settings if you start getting into some of the other profiles that are in thel file so be aware and prepared!

Thanks for the help, Noel!

SnTT – More information on nupgrade.exe

Last week I wrote up a blog entry regarding the tool supplied by Lotus called nupgrade.exe. This really is a straight forward tool that you can use to migrate .pst information from Outlook to Lotus Notes. The one drawback that I found was that it wouldn't write the data up to the Domino server, instead it would only write the converted documents to c:\Program Files\Lotus\Notes\Data\mail\a_PersonalFolders.nsf on the local workstation.

Normally in an Exchange/Outlook migration to Notes/Domino scenario, you would ideally want to use a third party application from a vendor like Binary Tree or Wolcott and go server to server in the migration. But when you only have access to the .PST's and there are a small number of users, this can be a quick and easy alternative to use. But there's a few curve balls you will want to look out for.

Here's the steps that I came up with, (thanks to some pointers from Chris Whisonant, who is the man). Your mileage may vary and I highly recommend testing in your environment. For me, I had the following installed and configured:

* The users that you want to migrate created in Domino.
* The Lotus Notes client with the migration option selected on a custom install installed and configured for the user.
* Microsoft Outlook configured locally with the local PST open in Outlook.

1. On the users workstation,open Lotus Notes and sign on as the user.
2. Create a new local replica of the users server based mail file to C:\Program Files\Lotus\Notes\Data\mail and call it a_PersonalFolders.nsf. Also, make sure on the replication page that the database is set up for scheduled replication.
3. Now comes the fun part. Open a command prompt window and change the directory to c:\Program Files\Lotus\Notes. Once there, type in nupgrade 3, and press enter. This will launch the “Lotus Notes Upgrade Services” splash screen. Click Next.
4. Select the appropriate profile that you created for Outlook and click Next.
5. Make sure Express is selected, and click Next.
6. This will start the conversion process. Email will be saved to the a_PersonalFolders.nsf file and contacts will be inserted into the Personal Address book , (names.nsf),
7. Tada! You're done.

Now after the conversion process is complete, you simply replicate the mail messages up to the server copy and you should be good to go!

Again, I caution that you should test this thoroughly in your environment before using the tool to migrate users. I have one question remaining though. If the Outlook client has access to the live Exchange server, can it convert from that rather then just using the local .PST. I though I read somewhere that it could, but I'm not sure about it and wasn't able to attempt it. If I've missed anything, also let me know. We'll add it to the steps!

SnTT - Need to hide a group?

Recently, I was asked by management if there was a way to make certain groups not available to all mail users in the company. The task might sound like it could be a hard one to accomplish, but by following the steps listed in the help documentation, it's actually pretty straight forward. The users can't see the group in the directory and if for some reason they were to reply to the mail message that was sent to that group, (like on a reply to all), they get a Delivery Failure:Not authorized to send mail to this user or group. Neat feature!

(From the help file)
Restricting users from sending mail to groups listed in the Domino Directory
By default, all users can send mail to groups defined in the IBM® Lotus® Domino™ Directory. To reduce unnecessary mail traffic, you can edit the reader fields for a Group document to restrict access to the group, specifying the users who are allowed to send mail to the group. Only users to whom you grant reader access can send mail addressed to the group. Users who do not have reader access to the group will not be able see the group name listed in the Domino Directory.

The restrictions apply to messages sent to either a group's IBM® Lotus® Notes® address or its Internet address and to messages originating from a Notes client as well as messages sent and received over SMTP (as from an IMAP or Notes client). From a Notes client, a user who does not have permission to use the group receives an error when attempting to send mail to the restricted group. If the same user attempts to mail from a POP3 or IMAP client, the Router generates a Nondelivery report indicating that the sender is not authorized to send mail to the specified recipient.

To restrict users from sending mail to a group

1. From the Domino Administrator, click the People & Groups tab, expand the Domino Directory that contains the group you want to restrict access to, and select the Groups view.

2. Right-click the Group document to manage and choose Document Properties.

3. Select the Security tab (the Key).

4. Deselect the All readers and above checkbox to enable editing of the readers list.

5. To enable a user to send mail to the group, select the user's name in the list.

6. To provide access to users not listed, click the Person icon to the right, add the name in the Select Names dialog box, and click OK. The user's name appears at the bottom of the list with a check next to it.

7. Deselect the names of users you want to prevent from sending mail to the group, including the Anonymous entry.

8. Close the Document Properties dialog box.

SnTT - BlackBerry Manager won't install

I've had an issue for a while where I could not install the BlackBerry Manager software onto my workstation and the workstations of those on the Help Desk. If you're not familiar with BlackBerry Manager, it's the remote administration piece of software, (provided by RIM), that can connect to your BES and allow you to administer user accounts without having to go to the server and do all the work.
So without that software installed, it's been a real headache at times for the Help Desk folks to get accounts created. Here's a breakdown of what happened when I would try to install the software:

• Downloaded server install software from RIM.
• Extracted zip file and ran setup.exe.
• After filling out the user information and accepting the license information, I click next.
• On the install options, BlackBerry Manager is not one of the available options to install, yet other server options were there.
  

So I finally had a few minutes this morning and called up RIM support. I explained what was occurring and had them stumped too. That is until I told them that I was trying to install this on machines that had either the Lotus Notes 7 or Lotus Notes 8 client. That's when I was told to do the following:

(WARNING - YOU ARE DOING SOMETHING TO YOUR REGISTRY IN THESE STEPS, SO MAKE A BACKUP OF IT BEFORE YOU BEGIN!)

• Open Regedit
  
• Drill down to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Lotus\Notes\7.0 or 8.0
• Rename 7.0 or 8.0 so that the line reads HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Lotus\Notes\6.0
• Save and close your registry
• Launch the BlackBerry Setup
• Type in appropriate user information and accept your regional license information, click Next.
• Hazzah! You should now see an option for BlackBerry Manager. Select that and continue your installation.
• Reboot your computer at the end of the installation steps
• Log back in and finish the last couple of things for the installation.
  
• Now go back into Regedit and put the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Lotus\Notes\6.0 line back to what it should be.
• Save and Close
• You're done!

The lovely RIM support person had also told me that the BlackBerry Manager software was not supported on a machine with Lotus Notes 8. Well, it works for me, but your experience may differ.

SnTT - Using InstallShield Tuner Ver2 with SuSetRunasWizard.exe

**If you are looking for information on IST with 8.0.1, click here**

(Okay, I know it's not officially Thursday here in Ohio, but just over the International Date line, it is, so this counts)

In the past, I have had several posts regarding the use of InstallShield Tuner for Lotus Notes and how well that product works with creating and implementing custom Notes installs for your organization. The only problem however is when you have a situation where your company has an IT policy in place that does not allow end users to install new software as themselves. In that case, you've had to rely upon something like Microsoft's SMS product to push the upgrade out and run it as a local or domain administrator. Well, not any more! With the release of Notes\Domino 7.0.2, IBM has released the SuSetRunAsWizard that will allow you to take your installation files, package them, and run it on a machine with whatever domain admin account you tell it to. So now, you can use the Smart Upgrade feature that is in Domino and leave SMS behind! WooHoo!
There is one thing that I want to point out that is also included in my documentation. InstallShield Tuner for Lotus Notes is available on both the R6 and R7 CD's. They are however two different versions. The version that shipped with Notes 6 CD is version 2 and on the R7 CD is version 6. For these steps, you need to use Version 2. The Version 6 IST, will create and run the installation without packaging it with the SuSetRunAsWizard.exe, but as soon as I package it, it will not run. I, along with my open PMR at support, are still trying to figure that out.
For now, you can download the .PDF I created here.

On a side note, OpenOffice rocks! You can use your OpenOffice Writer to open your Word documents, update them, and save them out as a .PDF without having to install the converter. Nice! An all running from the same USB drive that I'm using for Nomad!

Technorati tag: Show-n-Tell Thursday

SnTT - Links and MS Office

My boss pointed out a "problem" to me the other day. It's not really a Notes issue, but it involves us. Lets say someone sends you a link to a file on the network in a memo. When you create the link, you create the hotspot as a URL. Example would be K:\NetworkShare\WordFile.doc or K:\NetworkShare\ExcelFile.xls. When you click on the link in the memo, does it open Word or Excel, or, does it open IE with the embedded Office app? In our case, it was opening IE with the embedded app. While you can still edit and save the document, it still isn't the full client. That is where the problem came in. I ended up calling support, and they shared the following links with me to Microsoft's support site:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/254918/en-us
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/162059/en-us
One way of fixing it is to apply changes to the registry. An easy way to fix it however is to do the following:

1.Double-click My Computer.
2.On the Tools menu, click Folder Options.
3.On the File Types tab, in the Registered file types box, click to select the file type that you want to change. For example, click to select Microsoft Word Document.
4.Click Advanced.
5.In the Edit File Type dialog box, click to clear the Browse in same window check box, and then click OK.
6.Click Close to close the Folder Options dialog box.

Repeat the steps for Excel, but choose XLS instead of DOC in step 3. One problem though, this doesn't work for PowerPoint files. I mean it will open the PPT's, it will only open them in slide show mode. Haven't found a way around that yet, but I'm still looking.

Technorati tag: Show-n-Tell Thursday

SnTT: My dog ate my STCore.jar

My boss thinks I'm on crack. Seriously. Sametime was being a pain in the butt again today, so like always I went to restart it. After trying to restart Sametime, I was getting error messages in my log file like:
06/29/2006 02:17:39 PM Servlet engine initialization was successful
06/29/2006 02:17:40 PM HTTP JVM: Error occurred while loading Servlet (bootstrap)
06/29/2006 02:17:40 PM HTTP JVM: Class com.lotus.sametime.configuration.DominoBootstrapServlet could not be located
06/29/2006 02:17:40 PM HTTP JVM: -----Servlet Information----- Servlet name: bootstrap Servlet class: com.lotus.sametime.configuration.DominoBootstrapServlet Servlet state: Configuration parameters:
06/29/2006 02:17:40 PM HTTP JVM: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: com.lotus.sametime.configuration.DominoBootstrapServlet: com.lotus.sametime.configuration.DominoBootstrapServlet
06/29/2006 02:17:40 PM HTTP JVM: Error occurred while loading Servlet (scs)
06/29/2006 02:17:40 PM HTTP JVM: Class com.lotus.sametime.configuration.DominoConfigurationServlet could not be located
06/29/2006 02:17:40 PM HTTP JVM: -----Servlet Information----- Servlet name: scs Servlet class: com.lotus.sametime.configuration.DominoConfigurationServlet Servlet state: Configuration parameters: ServletURL=scs
06/29/2006 02:17:40 PM HTTP JVM: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: com.lotus.sametime.configuration.DominoConfigurationServlet: com.lotus.sametime.configuration.DominoConfigurationServlet
06/29/2006 02:17:40 PM HTTP JVM: Error occurred while loading Servlet (auth)


Well, with not much time before having to get out of here to get to my daughters game, I called Lotus support. After looking at my notes.ini, sametime.ini, and my log, he asked if I had the STCore.jar file on my system in the program folder. I looked, and it wasn't there. He sent me a new one, I installed it, restarted Sametime, and it worked! But where did the original STCore.jar go? He informed me that they have had a few instances where this has happened to others, but there is no reason why it happens to anyone.
I shared this with my boss, who now wants me to go to HR and pee in a cup to have it tested.
And I didn't think I was going to have anything interesting to blog about today.

Technorati tag: Show-n-Tell Thursday

SnTT - Sametime on a BlackBerry

Yesterday, I "accidentally" upgraded my BES server to 4.1 from 4.0. In the end, everything worked correctly, so I decided that I would try to install and run the Enterprise Messenger for Lotus Sametime on my 8700g. The installation went okay, but when I tried to connect to the Sametime server, I kept getting "Error 302" on the device. I know the username and password is correct, so why wouldn't it work? Well, after a few Googles, I found that the following steps are needed.

1. On the server where Sametime is installed, open the stconfig.nsf.
2. In the left hand column, select All - By Form and Date.
3. Locate CommunityConnectivity, and edit the document there.
4. In the field for Community Trusted IPS, enter the IP address of your BlackBerry server.
5. Save and close.
6. Restart your Sametime server.
EDIT - I tried it after a couple of hours, starting working without a reboot!
I these steps from this thread on Notes.Net, and also on RIM's site.

PS - Don't ask me what "accidentally" means. I was being a moron ;-)

Technorati tag: Show-n-Tell Thursday

SnTT - InstallShield Tuner for Lotus Notes 7.0.1

**If you are looking for information on IST with 8.0.1, click here**

As I had found out this week, the version of InstallShield Tuner (IST) for Lotus Notes that is included on the 7.0.1 media is a different version than the one that is on the 6.5.x media. I had also found out that the LotusNotes.itw file on the 7.0 and 7.0.1 media , does not allow you to create a response file with the new IST. So, I made a call to Lotus Support, and they gave me a new LotusNotes.itw that allows for the respose to be active with the new IST. In 7.0.2, this will be fixed, but for now you will have to either use the old IST, or call Lotus. I have created a new document on using the new IST for Lotus Notes with the new LotusNotes.itw, and you can access it here in PDF format. (Saves trying to format the dang thing on Blogger).

As I stated above, I was able to get the response file created with the old version of IST, and it worked. If you would like a PDF of the steps from last weeks post, you can click here to get it.

One other thing. I asked support about the availability of SuRunAs. They said the beta of 7.0.2 should be out in a couple of weeks, and we can get it then.

That's it for now. Off to break more stuff!

Technorati tag: Show-n-Tell Thursday

InstallShield Tuner for 7.0.1 - Clarification

Okay gang, I just heard back from the good folks at Lotus Support. In releases 7.0 and 7.0.1, the "Create a response file" option for InstallShield Tuner was turned off in the LotusNotes.itw file by development. Why? Don't know. But, there is a work around. You can call the client team at Lotus Support, and they can get you, which they did for me, a new LotusNotes.itw file that has the option available. Or, you can use the InstallShield Tuner on the 6.5.5 media. I just did a quick test with the new .itw from support and it allowed me to do the response. I'll document it, and post the steps tomorrow for SnTT.

Last weeks SnTT post

Just got a message from someone that the steps I had posted last week for InstallShield Tuner are not correct. At the time I wrote it, I had installed the IST for 6.5. I just installed the one located on the 7.0.1 disc, and it appears that the product has changed. Now, there is no "Create a response file" option. I'll dig into to it and see if there is a work-around. If you have the 6.5 disc, these steps should work with that IST. It should also work with the 7.0.1 install of Notes. I'll let you know what I find.

SnTT - InstallShield Tuner for Lotus Notes

**If you are looking for information on IST with 8.0.1, click here**

InstallShield Tuner for Lotus Notes was always a source of great confusion for me. But over time, I have found it to be easy to use and an awesome tool in my Lotus Notes toolbelt. Below is the steps that I use to create a silent client installation for workstations in my company. One thing that is important to remember for the installation to work correctly, you have to run the installation as a local administrator if the desktops are locked down via policies. Once the SURunAs is released, that will get us beyond that! Installation of the program is simple. It is located on the Lotus Notes client install CD under the Apps folder. Enjoy!

- Create two folders on your computer. One folder will store the uncompressed files from Lotus used for the Lotus Notes client installation(C:\Folder1). The second folder will be used for the new package you are creating with InstallShield(C:\Folder2).
- Extract all files from the install package to C:\Folder1.
- Click Start-All Programs-Lotus Applications-InstallshieldTuner for Lotus Notes.

- When InstallShield launches, you will be stopped by this prompt:
You need to select the file LotusNotes.itw, and click Open.

- When the application opens, click "“Create a new transform file…"” from the middle pane.
- In the “Select MSI file” box, click Browse, and browse to C:\Folder1\ and select the file LotusNotes 7.0.1.msi. Click Open.
- In the section "“Provide a new project name and location…."”, type in C:\Folder1\R7.mst. You can give it any name or location you want. I just like to keep my stuff all in one place.
- The easiest thing to do at this point is select “Create Response File”. This will launch the Lotus Notes client installation. All you have to do is select what options you want to have available for installation. I won'’t go through this part step-by-step.
- Once you have completed this step, you should see this prompt:

Click OK.
- You will now be able to tweak your installation as you see fit. For this example, I am going to remove the icon for Notes Minder, and then add some configurations so that the following will be added to the users Notes.ini:

$STActiveToAwayEnabled=1
$STAwayToActiveEnabled=1
$STActiveToAwayTimeout=5
**If you are setting up 7.0 or less, do not include the three lines above, just the one below if you don't want the Sametime setup to launch on first run of the new client install**
IM_NO_SETUP=1

- From the left-hand column. Click on Table Editor.
- In the middle column, find the entry call Icon, and click once on it.
- In the right-hand column, locate the entry for Nminder_1.exe. Right click on it, and select “Drop Row(s) Del”. Left click on that option.

That will remove the Notes Minder icon when the application is install.

- Now under option 3, Target System Configuration, click on IniFiles.
- In the middle column, right click on Destination Computer, mouse-over Show Folder, and select ProgramFilesFolder.
- Expand the folder tree until you reach Lotus-Notes-Data. In the list under Data, click on VDIR_INI.
- Right click on VDIR_INI, and select New IniFile.
- By default, the new entry will appear as IniFile1.ini, but since its in edit mode, you need to rename it to notes.ini.
- Click on the + sign next to notes.ini, and right click to rename the NewSection to Notes.
- On the right-hand column, double-click on NewKey to remove that name, and replace it with $STActiveToAwayEnabled. In the Value field, replace “NewValue” with 1.
- Hit Insert on your keyboard to add a new “NewKey” line in the list. Repeat the steps above for your next value, and any other that you desire.
- When complete, it should resemble this:

- Now, click on the Package Wizard icon
- Change the Network Location field to C:\Folder2, and click Next.
- Check “Create Installation launcher (Setup.exe)”, and also check the two options for Windows 95/98 and NT, and click Next.
- If required, check both options for SMS, and click Next.
- Click Finish. This will copy all of the installation files and your customizations to Folder2.
- To make it so that we can push this new installation out without user intervention, I create a file called upgrade.bat. In the batch file, I have only one line that says:
msiexec /i "Lotus Notes 7.0.1.msi" TRANSFORMS="R7.mst" /qn /qb
- To install the application on a workstation, run the upgrade.bat.
- If the workstation is locked down administratively, this installation will not work. You need to have local administration rights to install Notes.

Technorati tag: Show-n-Tell Thursday

SnTT - Sametime Awareness In Notes Clients

Okay, one of the biggest complaints I have gotten about Sametime awareness in the Lotus Notes client is that it does not automatically change your status to "I Am Away" after X amount of minutes of inactivity. The old Sametime Connect client had that as an option, but in Notes, it was never there. That's all changed in 7.0.1. I tripped across this tech note yesterday when I was looking up something else. Pretty straight forward notes.ini addition. Basically, if you have the 7.0.1 client, add the following lines to your Notes.ini:

$STActiveToAwayEnabled=1 to enable "Active to Away" on idle
$STAwayToActiveEnabled=1 to enable "Away to Active" on return from idle
$STActiveToAwayTimeout=time to set idle time threshold (in minutes). I use 5.

It works great, and now my boss is happy. Also added it in Installshield Tuner to add include it in 7.0.1 upgrades/installs. Give it a shot!

Hmm...Installshield Tuner. That sounds like a good SnTT entry next week.

Show-n-tell thursday

SnTT - One last Sametime nugget

Okay, I was able to get Sametime working on my Domino server. The only thing that was not working was the ability to see other people on other servers.
Important points about my installation:
- I am installing Sametime on a Domino server that is in a Domino cluster. I am not trying to cluster Sametime, just use the Domino "failover" server as a Sametime server in addition to its other tasks. (Just wanted to make that clear in case someone Googles this.)
- I have only installed Sametime on Domino servers that are by themselves. Meaning, the server is not a part of a Domino server cluster, just a server in the same DNN.
- I have never had to configure the fields " (if empty, service will bind to all host names on server)" in the "Configuration - Connectivity" page.
So after some digging around this morning, I opened my CommunityConfig.txt file and saw that the Sametime server IP address kept getting bound was the Domino server cluster IP. I then went into the Sametime servers connectivity configuration page and any place that had the "(if empty, service will bind to all host names on server)" fields, and put in the servers name. With a quick stop/start of the HTTP task and the STADDIN task, I am now working correctly!

05/25/2007 - I had this happen to me again recently. The quick fix to look for is to manually edit the sametime.ini on the server and make sure that the ConfigurationHost= line is equal to the IP address of your server on the network. After doing that and a reboot, thing were working as they were suppose to.

I guess this counts as a Show-N-Tell Thursday entry.