"Cloud Cover" was the original "Air Cover"
Fri, Feb 3rd 2012 7:20a Keith Brooks Air Cover is a war expression, you know, helicopter or plane or sniper cover while soldiers tried to get a position. But maybe that was because I knew sales was a war sometimes. Yet why do we consider marketing and advertising as "Air Cover"? Perhaps it is really "Cloud Cover".
As it turns out, the reference from the Bible, in fact this week's Parsha, Beshalach, states in Exodus 13:21:
And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pi [read] Keywords: blogger
98
Hardened Hearts
Tue, Jan 31st 2012 9:50p Keith Brooks Edit: This did not get posted Friday and I just realized, sorry.
Funny thing how you get into a discussion about technology and suddenly someone's spine goes straighter and they become indignant and refuse to believe there is another perspective or technology that could be used instead of The One. Religious fanatics on all sides of the spectrum.
In this week's Parhsa, Bo, God hardens Pharoah's heart numerous times. 10:1, 10:20 in addition to many times in the prior week it's always the [read] Keywords: blogger
157
God's Marketing Plan
Fri, Jan 20th 2012 11:01a Keith Brooks So what business lesson can we learn from this week's Parsha or section which is read this week? Veira starts the process of Moshe (Moses) being told to take the children of Yaakov (Jacob) that had become a huge nation of slaves, estimated at over 2.5 million people, back to the land of Israel and freedom. And Moshe and Aaron his brother start a sales process that would last through next weeks reading as well.
Everyone knows about the 10 plagues but did you ever stop to think about what a gr [read] Keywords: administration
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blogger
159
Thoughts on the IBMConnect Conference
Fri, Jan 20th 2012 10:01a Keith Brooks I didn't see much posted aside from the obvious people in the social areas, probably because many were focused on client needs, as was I, but I did manage to get to some IBMConnect sessions.
I had looked forward to them and got to meet some great speakers and people. Unfortunately the rooms were not filled and in some cases rather sparse which leaves some questions as to its return next year.
Dr. Burns should come back next year and provide updates on what they have done in 2012. His stor [read] Keywords: ibm
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135
On Becoming and Training Troubleshooters
Wed, Jan 18th 2012 8:21a Keith Brooks To many of us at Lotusphere, solving problems is what we do.
Having always enjoyed taking things apart and putting them back together again or fixing them is part of an innate curiosity that many of us share. The ability to learn from each other and share the information we find so the next person can benefit is part of the Lotus way.
What about the next generation of techies or Business Partners? Do they have this ability? Has Google made it too easy for people? What about your kids? Do [read] Keywords: ibm
lotus
lotusphere
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google
microsoft
network
security
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213
Uploading Files to Quickr from a Mac Notes Client
Wed, Jan 18th 2012 6:00a Keith Brooks This post comes from a discussion I had with someone around a lack of MAC Quickr connectors.
Mac Guidera has responsibility for the Connectors and last year at Lotusphere the question was asked about MAC connectors among others. The answer is we don't have any as far as I know.
SNAPPS has a product called Panda Bear which helps this problem. But what if you wanted something inside your MAC Notes client?
After the excellent session today by Mat Newman the idea came to me and while it m [read] Keywords: connections
ibm
lotusphere
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notes client
quickr
application
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212
HUGE Thank You to the Developers Lab
Tue, Jan 17th 2012 7:31a Keith Brooks Rarely have I leveraged the Developers lab, mostly because I am not a developer.
This year, client issues in tow, I spent about 3 hours with the TDI/Connections team of Joseph and Jackie that gave a great Jump Start on Sunday around TDI.
While I still have an open PMR, possibly, we resolved, and I learned, quite a bit from these two people and this is my token form of thanks for all their help.
Collaboration comes in many forms, but you first have to be open to working with others and k [read] Keywords: collaboration
connections
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97
Rachel Happe's Session at IBM Connect
Tue, Jan 17th 2012 5:30a Keith Brooks Admittedly I have not got to too many sessions Monday, client needs take precedent.But one session which I wanted to be at, I missed, Guy Kawasaki's. The other which i made was Rachel Happe's.
In her session she discussed people as an asset. Communities as a benefit and in some way an ROI for those who seek it out for "getting social".
As an Accountant by degree, it was interesting to pose the question, why are employees a liability? They are not listed as an asset on the financial pa [read] Keywords: connections
domino
ibm
lotus
notes
blogger
email
instant messaging
twitter
88
I Will be Signing Quickr Books after the OGS
Mon, Jan 16th 2012 5:51a Keith Brooks Anyone who wants to pick up the Quikr Admin book I co-wrote and have it signed by at least 2 of the authors come down to the IBM Book Store.
Or if just want to say hi, chat about writing a book or whatever you want, I will be there after the OGS from 10-10:30 this morning.
See you there. [read] Keywords: admin
ibm
quickr
blogger
147
Oh The People you See at Lotusphere and the Help They Provide
Sun, Jan 15th 2012 1:50p Keith Brooks Sunday, Business Partner Day and also Jump Starts going on. Saw the usual cast of characters plus IBMers. The great thing about the show is walking around you run into people like Luis Suarez who get Social very well. Louis Richardson does too but he was busy at the time I passed him.
When you are trying to figure out a way to help clients, no better way to do so than to talk to others in the space and ask for help.
During BP day we, the partners, were asked to do more. Stop being IT shops [read] Keywords: connections
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140
And There Rose a New King
Fri, Jan 13th 2012 7:30a Keith Brooks It is said that the Torah or Bible could be interpreted in over 70 ways. More likely these days 100's of ways. In light of this idea, I want to start some posts that bring a business sense to what we can learn on a weekly basis.
So what business lesson can we learn from this week's Parsha or section which is read this week?
Chapter 1, verse 8 says "And there rose a New King (Pharoah) for Egypt that did not know Joseph".
Many times in business we face this situation, sometimes at a [read] Keywords: notes
blogger
122
TDI Troubleshooting Access Rights
Tue, Jan 10th 2012 7:10a Keith Brooks Been working on a TDI project for the last few weeks and it looked to be almost done, then everything stopped working.
So, what to do? Asked around but did not find any great answers, just vague ideas or theories but nothing to point at and go AHA! So I did what I advocate and called in a PMR to IBM when nothing or no one else could help efficiently. Seems everyone is busy trying to finish work before Lotusphere.
Brian H. from support was helpful in pointing me in the right direction altho [read] Keywords: ibm
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lotus
lotusphere
blogger
properties
wiki
115
Null Users? But They Are Real People but not in TDI
Wed, Jan 4th 2012 6:50a Keith Brooks Happy New Year!
So what's wrong with TDI? (This affects 6.0 and 7.0 so far which is the versions running) It seems there is an ominous line that states:
"The population wizard populates only those entries where the value for surname is not null."And this can be found in 2.5 and 3.0 IBM Lotus Connections documentation and wikis here, here and here.
That's fine but what do you do for the Null family? Poor James, Sara, Amy, Fred, John Boy, Scarlett and whomever else with Null as a las [read] Keywords: connections
ibm
ldd
lotus
blogger
database
131
Sad Day for Girl Scout Cookie LS Fans
Tue, Jan 3rd 2012 3:20p Keith Brooks Sad to report that Girl Scout cookies will not be available at Lotusphere this year.
The sales dates for the State of Florida do not allow sales until after the conference.
Although I tried to get pre orders and allowances they will not be delivered in time to make the trek.
Should this change I will let you know. As a number of people have been asking, I had been waiting for an answer and sadly it is not to be.
Perhaps if Lotusphere 2013 or rather Connect 2013, as it may be called, [read] Keywords: lotusphere
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66
Teach Yourself New Tricks
Wed, Dec 21st 2011 7:20a Keith Brooks Evidently it is still possible, in this age of instant knowledge, to teach yourself something new.
Remember when you first got into IT or MIS or whatever programming language you started on and the power you felt when you got some OS to run or "hello world" showed up on screen or you got a line of text to blink? What happened to you? Do you still get that excited?
Encouraging the next generation to follow us means we need to remember the good old days and the excitement we felt. Personal [read] Keywords: blogger
websphere
92
The Admins XPages
Tue, Dec 20th 2011 7:10a Keith Brooks Tim wondered on Greg's blog post why we, that is Admins, do not extol the virtues of XPages in order to promote the long term viability of Domino infrastructures.
It is an interesting question. One which I do not have a good answer. Maybe because in many cases infrastructures get tweaked based on what we find in the wild. We don't build an infrastructure and then ask the developers to build an app for it, we build the infrastructure usually for or after an app is in place or required and tw [read] Keywords: admin
domino
lotus
notes
notes client
notesdomino
ods
traveler
xpages blogger
mobile
server
SnTT- One way to troubleshoot SSO problems in WAS
Tue, Dec 6th 2011 10:10a Keith Brooks This was a Mashup Center server and a Connections SSO integration on Websphere.
Prior to upgrading Connections from 2.5 to 3.0 it worked fine. But some place in the upgrade this, and some other internal items, broke. I was asked to lend a hand at troubleshooting it.
I first asked the Wizard of WAS, Dave Hay if there was anything I should know about Mashup Center as I have never used it. His help in discussing ways to troubleshoot this is greatly appreciated.
For the newbie and even someon [read] Keywords: admin
connections
ibm
mashup
sntt
blogger
integration
security
server
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30
Morale DashBoards? Scary or Necessary?
Tue, Nov 29th 2011 2:20p Keith Brooks This caught my attention today on Twitter. Mike Rhodin, past Lotus GM was discussing progression and social business. And it was pointed out that maybe HR needs a morale dashboard. Presumably fed from Blogs, Comments,Twitter, Facebook, Sametime, Yammer, FourSquare and the other personal apps everyone uses on corporate time.
One company, Cubevibe, URL, Twitter, does this already. there are many sites that will track references about you or your company across the Interverse but a Dashboard? In [read] Keywords: lotus
sametime
bes
blogger
facebook
rim
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39
How Do You Maintain That Family Feeling When You Are 500 People?
Tue, Nov 29th 2011 7:00a Keith Brooks As your organization has grown, are you more like the UN than a family? Alliances being created and alternative budgets for country specific items or regional events?
When you were smaller, everyone could gather once maybe twice a year and spend some quality time together. Maybe it was technical, maybe it was fun, maybe it was brain storming, but you did it and everyone liked being one big family.
Now you are too big. The tipping point could have been at 100 people or 1,000 but there is th [read] Keywords: sametime
blogger
integration
skype
32
Updates Gotchas
Thu, Nov 24th 2011 8:00p Keith Brooks Holiday weekends are always great times to do server upgrades and mail migrations.
Funny thing is all types of things can go wrong. Well here are some pieces for you all, just in case.
Most of this was found when doing a Domino upgrade from 8.5.2 to 8.5.3. Also a Sametime upgrade from 8.0.1 to 8.5.2IF1 and Traveler from 8.5.2.X to 8.5.3.1.
Always backup everything first.
First thing to remember is to stop Domino from restarting automatically on reboot. Installing 8.5.3 will force yo [read] Keywords: domino
ibm
lotus
ntf
ods
sametime
sntt
traveler
blogger
community
desktop
properties
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26
When the Admin becomes the User
Wed, Nov 16th 2011 1:10p Keith Brooks Many of us are in management of IT or admins of some system. It's a great thing, to be lord over your manor so to speak. Just be benevolent. But what are you like when you become one of the users and not the manager?
While sub contracting some work I find myself with these amusing ideas:
Why am I unable to even edit my phone details in my NAB/Directory?
Why MUST (policy set) I use single sign-on to my Windows Domain? What if I never set foot in the home office of the Client? (I got aroun [read] Keywords: admin
policies
traveler
archiving
blogger
office
password
security
smtp
29
DomDoc Manager Compared to Quickr
Tue, Nov 15th 2011 11:50a Keith Brooks Good wiki article from IBM comparing Domino Document Manager (domdoc, dom.doc, domino.doc) with Quickr.
Tao YT Yan, the author, is a Software Engineer based at IBM's China Development Lab in Beijing, where he works on the Lotus Quickr for Domino product and is responsible for DDM customer support.
Really good for those still wondering what to do as support ends in 2012 for the Doc product.
We are still helping customers move their data if you need help.
Article is here: Comparing the [read] Keywords: document manager
domino
domino.doc
ibm
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lotus
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blogger
development
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35
Are You Smarter Than Your Phone? Or your Kids?
Fri, Nov 11th 2011 7:01a Keith Brooks Your smartphone is probably infinitely smarter than you.
Not to worry, you got it on the longevity scale, but still, do you feel insignificant or like you are in remedial life?
There are sites to show you how to do so many things, do you ever use them? Do you even look for them?
Do you understand in any way shape or form how email works? SMS(texting for you non-techies)? Web Sites? Your Phone Apps? For that matter, your phone?
Do you care? Should you care? Does it matter?
What if [read] Keywords: ibm
blogger
desktop
email
laptop
server
26
Eat Your Own Dog Food
Thu, Nov 10th 2011 9:20a Keith Brooks What do these mean to you?
Loyalty, Branding, Community, Advertising, Self-Promotion?
If you spend so much time getting your name, or your companies, out in the world, online or in print or wherever, don't you think you should also use your own tools to do that job?
Sure an auto company does not sell financial software packages but they do employ many designers and graphic artists....yet do these same people create their advertisements? They could and maybe should. Leave the wording to m [read] Keywords: connections
blogger
community
13
Shalom Rav Benny
Fri, Nov 4th 2011 1:10p Keith Brooks Very sad to hear that one of my Rabbi's from Israel passed away.
Rav Benny Eisner ז"ל, who lived on campus at BMT, well in my year of 85-86, was like the campus father. I never took his classes, but he would give classes on specific subjects and would sit and learn with us while we used to sit on the roof top doing what teenagers do when they are hanging out.
He would always have students over and his family was ours. His kids were everywhere and if you had something on your mind he wa [read] Keywords: blogger
8
Stop Using the F, S and C words to Explain Connections
Tue, Oct 18th 2011 8:10a Keith Brooks It's another one of those things which came up a few times in conversation and while you may disagree with me on this it seemed to strike a chord with people.
C is for Cookie Collaboration and be really sure you know what you are doing before you use this word. Why? Because when an IBM or Lotus shop hears this word, they think about Lotus Notes and Domino first. Microsoft shops think about Sharepoint but that's another story. Talk about sharing and security, files and finding, profiles(not [read] Keywords: collaboration
connections
domino
ibm
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notes
blogger
facebook
linkedin
microsoft
security
sharepoint
25
The Parallel Life of Notes/Domino and Connections
Tue, Oct 18th 2011 7:10a Keith Brooks In response to a few people today, this theme kept coming up.
I expect others to add to this list and some to detract from it, but it's a basic view of a situation which if you have been on the fence lately, still, this may help you.
If one views IBM Connections in parallel to IBM Lotus Notes and Domino you see these parallels:
Both:
have picked up some steam with the advent of release 3.x
are a platform to run your business, or some aspects of it
provide for messaging integration in [read] Keywords: collaboration
connections
domino
ibm
lotus
notes
R4
blogger
email
integration
twitter
widgets
34
0199 Error Resolved for Thinkpads
Wed, Oct 12th 2011 10:31a Keith Brooks This is a hardware post. We don't sell much hardware, in fact we are only Lenovo dealers because of laptops and a rare server.
But I have been working on thinkpad's since 1993/1994 when i used to manage upper memory blocks so we coudl get other apps to run. In any event, the older people know what I reference and why it was important then.
Anyway so over the course of about 2 weeks we had 3 laptops and obne desktop all go bad. In 2 cases a hard drive replacement was needed, one a blown p [read] Keywords: administration
notes
blogger
desktop
laptop
password
security
server
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SnTT - Flags or Follow-ups now highlighted in Notes Client
Tue, Oct 11th 2011 7:10a Keith Brooks Flags as I call them. But for my fellow Admins out there that don't do development here is a simple nice thing to do for clients. Mat's post last night reminded me of this.
Some people want to see the flagged items in a more obvious way, say color code the memo in the inbox view so you can see what is due when and by priority.
Thanks you to my friend Natallya of RPR Wyatt(a partner of ours) for helping me solve the problems i had with it. Any other developers out there who wish to point [read] Keywords: agent
domino
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notes client
sntt
application
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development
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30
Windows7 Icon Quirks for 8.5.3
Mon, Oct 10th 2011 7:20a Keith Brooks I asked this on Twitter last week, no one had an answer for this odd event.
When I run Notes, full client meaning Standard and Designer and Admin are installed as well, on a Windows7 machine I see the Designer icon in the task bar below. One time it showed the Admin icon.
Is this some odd reference in code? Makes no difference to me or functionality just funny to see it there. [read] Keywords: admin
notes
blogger
twitter
24
8.5.3 Machine Specific Policy...Not in the Docs
Thu, Oct 6th 2011 9:50a Keith Brooks This has been asked for by many and kudos to IBM for getting it done.
What is Machine-specific policy settings and what does it mean?
This IBM Technote #1501673 explains it and is THE ONLY place for the information right now.
In prior versions of the Notes Client, and policy control, an administrator could target an individual, but not a specific machine configuration for that individual. For certain settings and customers, this made the enforcement of specific settings problematic, ei [read] Keywords: ibm
lotus
notes
notes client
blogger
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laptop
server
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16
CIO.com article about Nationwide and Connections
Wed, Oct 5th 2011 10:20a Keith Brooks This article appears in the October 1, 2011 issue. You may need to register to read the full article on line.
What should be of interest is this quote from the CIO of Nationwide:
IBM’s integration “was ahead of most other companies’ in terms of vision,” says Mark Gaetano, CIO for enterprise applications at Nationwide. This for years was Lotus strength, being ahead of the world, IBM also has many initiatives that are ahead of the curve and nice to see it recognized.
Mark Gaetano c [read] Keywords: admin
connections
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policies
applications
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integration
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14
SnTW - $Inbox, Don't mess with it
Wed, Oct 5th 2011 8:10a Keith Brooks This is NOT a problem with 8.5.3, just about one mistake I made while upgrading, but it is about the $inbox folder itself.
While trying to edit my mail template, I ended up piecing wrong versions of code into it from an older version. In other words, I copied the $inbox to the new 8.5.3 template. Well, there's just one thing you see, I thought it was the template I pasted it to. It was my actual mail file. But I deleted teh original ($inbox) so the "new" one could go there.
Big mistake. [read] Keywords: ibm
notes
blogger
desktop
server
41
Some Notes and Domino 8.5.3 Benefits You May Not Know
Tue, Oct 4th 2011 3:50p Keith Brooks In no specific order of importance here are some things I found on 8.5.3 Notes, Domino and Traveler.
Traveler must be searched separately from Notes and Domino if you are downloading it from IBM's websites. Wish they had it all together.
The Admin Client, at least for me, is REALLY fast now. (Just my view, your mileage may vary)
Designer client, is now really slow, it is always waiting for something to close. Must know I'm an Admin. (Just my view, your mileage may vary)
Notes client gets [read] Keywords: admin
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notes client
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30
FUD Buster Friday #70: Time To Go
Fri, Sep 30th 2011 7:40a Keith Brooks Have decided after last week's event that I want to suspend these again. This is the problem with inspiration, it comes and goes. When I renewed writing these posts, I had a bunch of ideas to get out and I did. But when I reach a point that my mind is short on ideas I don't want to force a post.
There may be more down the road and maybe not just on Friday as posts and articles come up at different times. My passion still is competitive situations and helping promote better awareness from w [read] Keywords: blogger
15
Happy New Year
Wed, Sep 28th 2011 8:10a Keith Brooks The Jewish calendar says it's that time again. The start of another year, the 5782nd year starts tonight at sundown and runs till Friday night which would end at that point but because Friday night starts Shabbat, we get 3 days of holiday time. No e-readers or internet, just paper and print.
We then get 2 more 3 day holidays this year in 2 weeks when the holiday of Sukkot starts and ends 8 days later.
Those of our clients who have problems during this time know I am unavailable but our h [read] Keywords: blogger
FUD Buster Friday #69: Is Confusion, Anxiety and Denial (CAD) the same as FUD
Fri, Sep 23rd 2011 7:20a Keith Brooks At the Entrepreneur Magazine conference, titled Winning Strategies, this week in Miami Beach it was obvious no one wanted to use the term FUD. It must be because tech people use it way too often I guess.
But maybe it's because FUD by itself is an acronym and although it's hard to live in IT without acronyms, similar to the medical field, the average marketer and entrepreneur just doesn't speak that way.
They have their own TLAs (Three Letter Acronyms) but really they don't deal with I [read] Keywords: ibm
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notes
blogger
google
microsoft
web 2.0
21
Should you be Gaming your Learning?
Wed, Sep 21st 2011 8:50a Keith Brooks I am at Entrepreneur magazine's Winning Strategies conference on Miami Beach today. The morning keynote was Gabe Zichermann and he discussed Gamification for those that have not heard of him.
While I personally do not "get" Farmville or the Angry Birds desires, I do like better business ideas and theories.
Taking Gabe's session to real life, how can you gamify the training systems your company uses today?
Usually companies ask employees to watch a video, use online courses, use e-le [read] Keywords: blogger
45
Fud Buster Friday #68: That "Product" is Dead
Fri, Sep 16th 2011 7:30a Keith Brooks Stick any name you want, any product, any solution, to that title above, it makes no difference to me and should not to you either if you are in sales of any sort or responsible for a product of any sort.
Why doesn't it matter? Because how you reply to this question is the key.
Many answers exist how to counter this, but here are some basics to remember.
1) Discuss with the naysayer the future road map or plans/designs or just about anything available. It is hard to continue to claim t [read] Keywords: blogger
podcast
45
Hilton and Hampton Inn Get Social
Tue, Sep 13th 2011 7:50a Keith Brooks While I have been on site at a client the last few weeks, I previously wrote about the comparison of the 2 hotels I have stayed at. This week, I am finishing at the client and had a Social Business interaction.
While watching the Dolphins watch the Brady show, I tweeted that the Air Conditioner is so loud I can't hear the TV, even at full sound. A slight exaggeration, but I seriously have to crank the volume WAY up when the A?C kicked in.
Within a few minutes HamtopFYI had responded, aske [read] Keywords: blogger
twitter
26
Fud Buster Friday #67: Social Media Should be Outsourced
Fri, Sep 9th 2011 7:50a Keith Brooks In conversation with friends last night we discussed the idea that using or creating something within the social media era is not for everyone.
Many companies hire out their social media efforts...why?
Is it really so difficult to type 140 characters? Sculpt a blog post? Send a missive to Facebook? No, of course not. But, what if your employees are not good at it? What if they don't use these things? Or what if they say the wrong thing the wrong way?
In steps the Social Media guru peop [read] Keywords: connections
ibm
quickr
blogger
blogging
facebook
office
Choices Made
Wed, Sep 7th 2011 7:40a Keith Brooks While spending my 2nd week on site at a client interesting parallels have emerged between my last two hotels and how IT works.
Let me explain.
I have to abide by certain guidelines of the clients to book my travel. Not a problem, they don't want one to be in a dump but they do want their value. In both cases the hotels offer a free continental breakfast. Mostly equal which is fine. One thing which is interesting is the juice and coffee available. In both cases, coffee is available 24x7. H [read] Keywords: blogger
19
Fud Buster Friday #66: Telemarketing works?
Fri, Sep 2nd 2011 7:50a Keith Brooks I should save this for Friday but too annoyed to let it sit.
If you do webinars, write white papers, provide some type of positioning document or think you have something important that I must read/watch/listen, think again.
If your emailing about it, fine, it either gets blocked by spam filters (I hope), auto tagged using a mail rule for the word webinar to Trash(not a good idea but I know some people that do this), or maybe gets to my inbox. Here's a hint, if I see the word webinar in t [read] Keywords: ibm
blogger
database
email
facebook
google
linkedin
twitter
29
Less IBM Moments?!
Wed, Aug 31st 2011 11:50a Keith Brooks There was a posting that came out titled We need more Apple/Google/Amazon moments, less IBM moments from Vinnie Mirchandani.
The post is interesting in his view of HP and IBM among others. He starts well:
HP’s many announcements in the past weeks led observers to say this was its “IBM” inflexion point – deemphasize consumer tech, get more into enterprise tech.And you think it will be a nice post for IBM. But it soon turns into "The funny thing is I see in different ways IBM longing [read] Keywords: collaboration
connections
domino
ibm
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lotusphere
notes
apple
applications
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enterprise
google
iphone
ipod
microsoft
24
Fud Buster Friday #65: Name Changing Works
Fri, Aug 26th 2011 8:00a Keith Brooks So many companies tout their collaboration and social business solutions as though they are unique. Naturally they never bring up the path that led them to be this way.
And why not? Do you discuss every teacher, class, game or boss that shaped you? Yet, do you go around saying you are better than your teachers or mentors?
But that is not how business works. Business works on bludgeoning the competition or ignoring it entirely. Stay focused on your product, your goals, the competition? Who [read] Keywords: collaboration
ibm
apple
blogger
integration
web 2.0
24
2,670 Attempts in 11 minutes
Thu, Aug 25th 2011 9:10a Keith Brooks Hackers still trying to break in using LDAP on one of our web facing Domino Servers.
If you do not use DDM on your public side servers, you may be missing hackers attempts.
This was from 2:30 am EST to 2:41am EST an average of 243 attempts per minute or 4 a second.
My phone was not happy for a little while as DDM sends me alarms for security failed login attempts.
Maybe there should be a LDAP attempt block lockout, like user logins get blocked if they fail to login properlyh after x [read] Keywords: domino
blogger
ideajam
ideajam.net
profile
security
11
Quickr 8.5 for Websphere Portal Cluster Install doc
Fri, Aug 19th 2011 10:34a Keith Brooks I have been on site all week at a client that was a little out of my depth. Sure Quickr is one thing, clustered Websphere Network Deployment (WAS ND for those in the know) with Network Deployment Manager on top of it is another story.
Most of our clients run Quickr Domino or J2EE usually in a stand alone situation.
How hard could it be to cluster it and get it all together? Right?
Let me just say building servers or clusters in a group is not easy, especially when I have no access to th [read] Keywords: collaboration
domino
ibm
lotus
quickr
blogger
network
server
websphere
websphere portal
Fud Buster Friday #63: Diet Coke is good for you
Fri, Aug 12th 2011 7:23a Keith Brooks I love this one. It just amuses me to no end.
There are people out there who really believe drinking Diet Coke is better for them, in some way, than drinking regular coke.
Got news for you all, drink water, and no matter how much you pay for it, tap water, in most civilized countries is perfectly fine for you.
Do you really think drinking a 2 liter bottle of this stuff a day or 3-4 cans is good for you? Drinking it instead of regular Coke will save your waist line?
Now what is this r [read] Keywords: blogger
21
Fud Buster Friday #62: What if They are Right?
Fri, Aug 5th 2011 7:26a Keith Brooks The ever popular, They, do everything. They go on vacation, They went out last night, They are on Twitter or Google+.
But when it comes down to knowing what is good for your company, what do They really know?
Do They understand the multinational language issues? Or do They really support every mobile device as they claim...even the ones not available in the US?
What about when the sales people come in to let you know all about how Others(a euphemism for They) have taken up with the ne [read] Keywords: blogger
google
mobile
twitter
wiki
19
Mac Quirk in Notes Clients?
Wed, Aug 3rd 2011 11:33a Keith Brooks At a client site that has not been updated to 852fp3 yet from fp2, one person using a Mac started having problems sending emails to everyone. Almost everyone is on 852fp2 clients, some home users may not be although SmartUpgrade is running.
We started seeing Word docs attached with the odd extension of .doc.hqx.
When I asked around got some funny answers but yes this is an up to date Mac user and Notes clients and server. We still have no idea what changed, or when, but here are some thi [read] Keywords: domino
ibm
ldd
lotus
notes
smartupgrade
blogger
mac
macintosh
office
server
15
A Tale of 2 Companies Social Media
Mon, Aug 1st 2011 11:46a Keith Brooks Both companies are large multinational entities, one is larger than the other but after a few 100 million what's a the difference right?
Corp A recognizes they have a left hand doesn't talk to the right hand mentality and is doing something about it.
Corp B may recognize it but does little about it.
So when Corp A has sales people or support people drop the ball and someone posts about it on Facebook or Twitter or their blog or in Google + or as a comment on someone else's postings, t [read] Keywords: notes
blogger
facebook
google
twitter
Helping a client get into Computerworld
Fri, Jul 29th 2011 7:33a Keith Brooks It was a great surprise to see and read about Flexcon in Computerworld.
Saw the post from Ed this morning.
This is an example of how social media, client relationships, marketing and time can help anyone get their message out.
It is not always about IBM or Lotus but we work with various press people to get the word out either about our company and offerrings or about our clients and in some cases like this, get our client some great press as well.
At least 3 others in the Yellow Bubb [read] Keywords: ibm
lotus
blogger
planetlotus
planetlotus.org
20
Fud Buster Friday #61: Cheap, Cheap, Fail
Fri, Jul 29th 2011 7:24a Keith Brooks There are times when you can get by on the cheap, but there are many more times where doing so will cost you much, much more in the end.
Let's say you need to get some new laptops or desktops. Naturally you have a myriad of choices and not just Dell, HP, Apple or Lenovo. Operating systems, sizes, processors, disk space and so much more. But you decided that the most you can spend per employee is $500.
What will you get? Can you get something useful? Maybe if they already have a laptop wit [read] Keywords: apple
blogger
laptop
network
wireless
21
My Comments on Bills Post
Fri, Jul 29th 2011 12:23a Keith Brooks Bill, Well written and thought out.
As pointed out, Domino is not the leader of the pack and no amount of marketing will change that now, although an abrupt closing of Microsoft would help.
I get slammed by Exchange and Sharepoint ads daily, in every magazine, newspaper and online and in emails. I also see a lot of Smarter Planet ads.
But will IBM keep with this campaign?
If history is correct, it takes at least 3-5 years before people realize what IBM and Lotus try to do. Look at KM a [read] Keywords: collaboration
connections
domino
ibm
lotus
blogger
exchange
exchange
ipod
microsoft
sharepoint
websphere
22
A Tale of 2 Mail Servers Threading
Wed, Jul 27th 2011 8:14a Keith Brooks This little server is an old Dell rack server, about 4 years old maybe and runs Windows Server 2003 and is up to date on all patches and fixes for the NOS and the Mail application.
The other is brand new (under a year) and runs Windows Server 2010, because it had to, and is supposed to be up to date as well.
The Old server is a happy go lucky type of server, runs mail, instant messaging and push email/mobile solutions in addition to a handful of applications for 6 domains.
The New serve [read] Keywords: domino
application
applications
blogger
email
exchange
exchange
instant messaging
mobile
security
server
smtp
29
Let Me Count the Ways in Lotus 1-2-3
Wed, Jul 27th 2011 7:23a Keith Brooks Those of you who follow me on Twitter know I have been frustrated about my working on a Lotus 1-2-3 SmartSuite Millenium Edition Version 9.0 Fix Pack 6.1 spreadsheet with 3.5 MILLION cells..
This is Windows 7 compatible.
SmartSuite is my backup suite, IBM Lotus Symphony has been my primary for almost 3 years.
Evidently it does not like it went I run Google+, causes problems. But other than that is fine.
One thing you may want to get when working on 1-2-3 is a program to enable mouse scroll [read] Keywords: ibm
lotus
symphony
blogger
google
properties
twitter
18
BackupExec Logs Using Too Much Space? Poor Domino
Fri, Jul 22nd 2011 10:04a Keith Brooks This is for a friend but an excellent reminder to everyone else.
If you happen to notice your C drive rapidly losing disk space even though nothing is there, no temp files, no swap files, etc.., this may be your problem.
When you installed Symantec's BackupExec, did you install it to the C drive?
And if this was an older server, did C not have too many Gigabytes, like say 25?
Well slowly over time you may experience disk space evaporation. Not as nice as the Angel's Share of Scotch W [read] Keywords: domino
blogger
database
server
wiki
25
Fud Buster Friday #60: Sharepoint is the Future
Fri, Jul 22nd 2011 8:53a Keith Brooks I love this graphic, no idea if it really was used but thanks to Sharepoint magazine for sharing it.
In a blog post, A Guide to Leaving Lotus Notes and Moving to Microsoft SharePoint, by Andrew Vevers which was a finalist entry for the Aspiring Authors Competition 2011 according to the post, we see a classic case of ignoring the obvious.
What is the focus really about here? Is it to gain Mr. Vevers new clients? Is it to be used as a sales tool to persuade companies to move off Lotus Domino [read] Keywords: domino
ibm
lotus
notes
R5
R6
R7
xpages application
applications
blogger
microsoft
mobile
server
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17
Updating Symphony to 3.0 FP3 , Look for This
Thu, Jul 21st 2011 11:03a Keith Brooks I already updated my Notes client to 852 FP3 and maybe that is what this is letting me know.
Except I purposely install Symphony separate from Notes.
So imagine my surprise when I go to update it and get this warning:
And as usual, Symphony will not install for me anyway. Just been one of those days. [read] Keywords: lotus
notes
notes client
symphony
blogger
Symantec BackupExec for Domino Fix for Hang
Tue, Jul 19th 2011 10:30a Keith Brooks I was not very happy with Symantec for dropping my ticket because we took too long to resolve it. See earlier post.
Some people at Symantec did care enough to get in touch with me and help resolve a problem that as it turns out plagued both Darren and I.
Thanks to Russ and Ron for their help.
The issue was after installation you want to set up your backup for Domino.
But when we would go to click on the list of Domino databases, well you clikc on the drive letter first, it would never co [read] Keywords: agent
domino
ibm
lotus
blogger
server
31
Domino Server Execution prevention on WNSD
Mon, Jul 18th 2011 7:30a Keith Brooks One of our clients over the weekend had a server failure from a backup. Which if all goes well I will rpeort on that later.
On rebooting the box, we saw the message above.
Something caused NSD to break.
Click Change Settings and let it run without issue. After all can't have it shutting down Domino because of NSD now can we.
Not sure what caused the NSD to go crazy either. We think a power surge caused a problem. The UPS units are do for checks and replacement of batteries it seems. [read] Keywords: admin
domino
nsd
blogger
server
20
Fud Buster Friday #59: Theory is Cheap
Fri, Jul 15th 2011 7:20a Keith Brooks Reality is Expensive.
Anyone can provide theories, opinions or blog posts but are they worth anything?
What happens when the theory goes horribly wrong?
Ever get into a discussion about a project with a client only to find out that someone told them it should be easier, simpler, faster or cheaper than you just stated?
What do you do? How do you defend yourself? Should you even bother to defend yourself?
Usually this is a sign that you have not done your part properly and gathered e [read] Keywords: blogger
email
network
password
security
server
19
Happy Birthday Blog
Wed, Jul 13th 2011 8:50a Keith Brooks 4 years is a long time. On the 5th was the anniversary of this blog. Others have been started and dropped through the years, but this one keeps going.
This year saw the rebirth of the Fud Buster Friday posts. While the world has changed quite a bit over the year and I am not going to drag that up again, the animosity against IBM now comes in different ways. Google+ comes out swinging for the fences, Novell's Vibe has some of the Google+ going for it, but the comparisons of these against Face [read] Keywords: connections
ibm
inotes
sntt
blogger
blogging
facebook
firefox
google
linux
planetlotus
server
sharepoint
13
Google+, Cure for What Ails FB?
Wed, Jul 13th 2011 7:00a Keith Brooks Now that I have spent a whole 2 days on Google+ I am still learning about it. But what is interesting to me is the sense of hive.
Google gets the hive mentality. Call it social, collaboration, whatever, but Google gets it, and can do it, because Facebook is really one uni dimensional. Sure everything inside Facebook may feed it, but that is never how (I feel when I use it. I feel like it was cobbled together.
Google+, or G+ as some call it, still does not have somethings needed, like RSS f [read] Keywords: collaboration
blogger
email
facebook
google
linkedin
twitter
22
Edits, They Never Quite Look Right Do They?
Tue, Jul 12th 2011 7:20a Keith Brooks You may have noticed I have changed some UI on the blog to clean it up a bit.
One thing which I am working on is bringing back the logo I love but in a smaller size, with the tag lines so it fits in less space than before. I fought with the html and lost in round 1, but gained a bunch of other benefits. So will try again in a day or 2.
The problem I am seeing is the UI looks different on my various devices, monitors. I can safely state that the nuance of which yellow or orange hex code is ve [read] Keywords: domino
blogger
23
Do Software Companies Suck?
Mon, Jul 11th 2011 7:40a Keith Brooks There was an article published on TechCrunch over the weekend which I got into some discussions in a few places about.
The article, titled "Building An Enterprise Software Company That Doesn’t Suck by: Aaron Levie who is the founder and CEO of Box.net.
Aaron is correct about the future, but the current world is not quite there. For every Salesforce, there is an equal amount of unknowns. Companies that need to roll something out around the world don't like to hear/see a small company is [read] Keywords: ibm
lotus
apple
applications
blogger
desktop
enterprise
google
iphone
linux
mobile
twitter
Fud Buster Friday #58: You want Open CRM?
Fri, Jul 8th 2011 7:20a Keith Brooks Which one is your data in?
Ever wonder when a client says they want a CRM application what they really mean?
When you push them, do they really understand what they are after?
Is it really yet another server to store repetitive data or a Cloud based solution to duplicate everything?
Or do they want to replace their existing solution...if they had one?
Some have had IBM Lotus Domino based solutions that were built in-house or from a now defunct consultant or company and want to get awa [read] Keywords: domino
ibm
lotus
notes
application
applications
blogger
development
integration
microsoft
mobile
server
20
Slides Posted for The View 2011+
Thu, Jul 7th 2011 12:20p Keith Brooks I have been changing some UI on my blog since Luis Benitezshowed me that Pages can be added.
The Page for FudBusters is not ready for prime time.
The Page or Tab above that says Slides houses various slides, presentations and other supporting material links.
Including The View Admin 2011 slides, other 2010 items and 2009 Speedgeeking that are on this server. More to come as I dig them out. [read] Keywords: admin
blogger
server
17
QSnTT - Quickr Connectors Export/Import Option
Thu, Jul 7th 2011 11:00a Keith Brooks At The View Admin 2011 when I was presenting my Quickr session, (will post slides shortly) and asked how many people new about this subject and only 1 hand int he room went up. And he was from Europe so I figured I should remind everyone about this.
This is really important for a number of reasons:
1) Backup your own sites or any user that needs to get a new laptop. Ever try to manually add dozens or hundreds of sites? Enough said.
2) Does your company supply prebuilt laptop images? And you [read] Keywords: admin
ibm
ldd
lotus
quickr
sntt
blogger
laptop
32
IBM Customers, Want to Speak at Lotusphere 2012?
Thu, Jul 7th 2011 9:50a Keith Brooks I don't guarantee you a slot, I have zero say in the matter as a non-IBMer, unless you are a client of mine then I try my best, but this may help you in case you want the chance and are not my client. It isn't perfect or straight from anyone just my thoughts on how to populate Lotusphere with customers.
At The View Admin 2011 show I discussed in my sessions how customers have chances to speak at Lotusphere. The View shows are really about customers, not so many Business Partners attend sess [read] Keywords: admin
domino
ibm
lotus
lotusphere
quickr
application
blogger
email
google
microsoft
twitter
26
Quickr Administrator Book now on Kindle
Wed, Jul 6th 2011 12:50p Keith Brooks Packt let me know that our book is now available for Kindle's at Amazon.
The link is to the right of this post.
Like to know what people think about the price on this.
I question higher prices on electronic devices for books, and I am an author. [read] Keywords: quickr
blogger
Symantec Customer Service Fails
Fri, Jul 1st 2011 9:01a Keith Brooks Due to the length of time to resolve a problem? Which is still unsolved.
Backup Exec will not work on one of the Domino servers at a client site.
We have been working this issue now for 3 months and have done various updates, system changes, debugs, and still no luck.
The backup fails when one tries to select Domino databases in a directory, it just hangs and never comes back. No other servers have this issue. The server has even been rebuilt and moved off VM, increased the RAM and other [read] Keywords: domino
blogger
server
vm
30
Recap of The View Admin 2011
Fri, Jul 1st 2011 8:51a Keith Brooks View from my hotel room of the Planet Hollywood hotel and The Bellagio with the mountains in the background
Sorry this is a week late but I took a few days off with the family after my week in Vegas.
If you have never been to one of The View Admin or Developer conferences, you don't know what you are missing. Sessions are given by IBMers, ISSL staff, Vendors, Sponsors, (announced at the event)IBM Champions, Bloggers, Regular speakers from other Lotus IBM Collaboration Solutions events. In ot [read] Keywords: admin
collaboration
domino
ibm
lotus
lotusphere
quickr
blogger
database
google
server
twitter
22
Fud Buster Friday #57: Management Knows What They Are Doing
Fri, Jul 1st 2011 7:00a Keith Brooks Every company, school, university, non-profit organization goes through this at one time or another. When management says trust me, you know you are in for it. Like an interview with a questionable job/company, if anyone says trust me or us, just run away. Or worse, acts like they know what they are doing, doesn't say trust me and proceeds to act like nothing is wrong.
Hubris! Wikipedia says it means extreme haughtiness, pride or arrogance.
If management knows what they are doing....how di [read] Keywords: apple
blogger
facebook
google
twitter
16
Updated Attachments for Quickr Post
Tue, Jun 28th 2011 6:50a Keith Brooks My apologies but in my previous post I had not updated the qpconfig file in simple english.
My flight back I realized my mistake and so now you can get the qpconfig in simple english, not messed up reading spaced properly, spelling mistakes corrected, etc.
Links here as well as other post.
Get the version in .doc or .odt [read] Keywords: admin
quickr
blogger
xml
18
Fud Buster Friday #56 - Social Media helps Customer Service
Fri, Jun 24th 2011 6:40a Keith Brooks Your pig with lipstick is still a pig.
Just because you have 356 different social media, web 2.0 accounts and services where you post for advertising your brand, doesn't mean your company stands behind you.
In an era of instant on, we also have instant feedback expectations.
So what are you going to do about it?
As an example, I discuss business uses of social media but when I ask about the execution of the services side, usually you hear, of course we expect the best from our peopl [read] Keywords: admin
blogger
twitter
web 2.0
17
My Quickr Session at The View Admin 2011 Conference
Thu, Jun 23rd 2011 6:00p Keith Brooks I showed a qpconfig.xml file that was broken up by sub topics in a word document and it was nearly 60 pages!
The interest in having a doc like this was pretty high so I am making this available for everyone.
I may have some posts in the future discussing each sub section but no promises.
Everyone that came to the session were great Quickr people, one lucky person got a copy of my Packt book too.
One person commented that he ONLY came to the show because of this session and I hope I d [read] Keywords: admin
quickr
blogger
xml
14
PACLUG and The View Admin 2011 Heading Out Tonight
Mon, Jun 20th 2011 8:10a Keith Brooks I am leaving later today for Las Vegas for both of these events and look forward to seeing everyone and listening to some great sessions.
Also giving away a few copies of my Quickr admin book to some lucky people.
Want a copy? 1 will be given away during my Quickr session.
Netbook has been upgraded slightly so the demos will have enough RAM this time.
Will blog what I can when I can.
Say hello in real life, but if you need to find me, try the usual ways from the links on the left side. [read] Keywords: admin
quickr
blogger
20
Fud Buster Friday #55: My Clients Trust Me
Fri, Jun 17th 2011 7:10a Keith Brooks This post has origins in my original FBF#17 post. But while that was a fun post, if you read it you may understand why, this is more serious.
All sales people will say their customers trust them, after all they did business together. But what they don't say is we haven't done business together since that time when...
What happened? Maybe the project turned out poorly. Over run, under managed, over promised, whatever the reason, but in some cases, you lost the clients trust.
The easies [read] Keywords: blogger
27
Replication Triangulation or Strangulation
Fri, Jun 17th 2011 6:30a Keith Brooks Domino administrators are known for excessive replication of everything. Names.nsf primarily, but also important files, like our own mail files. In some cases multiple copies of everything, and on USB or CD or DVD.
One caveat in doing all of these copies is that there is a clean environment and some logic to replication.
While this happens to many employees, it doesn't usually happen to an admin. In this case it was my mail file.
My primary desktop was fine, but my traveling netbook wa [read] Keywords: admin
domino
notes
ntf
ods
traveler
updall
blogger
desktop
properties
skype
29
Foundation Servers Have a New Home
Wed, Jun 15th 2011 7:13a Keith Brooks Recently I found out where everyone's favorite server to rarely get sold ended up.
That Nitix variation of Linux was impressive enough to IBM to acquire Nitix.
It just took a little while for it to find a good home.
Happy to say it is now the base for the IBM Virtual Desktop for Smart Business.
That's right Virtual Desktop Server it is.
This is the original Nitix, no Domino tacked on, just straight server. Run the software on any platform(IBM preferably but will run on HP too) and m [read] Keywords: domino
ibm
lotus
blogger
desktop
linux
server
12
Fud Buster Friday #54: I Am The Man
Fri, Jun 10th 2011 7:13a Keith Brooks A few years ago this was almost always the case. Man or woman, it didn't matter, but their title provided them the luxury of making a decision. Period.
While I used to believe this was indicative of a Microsoft leader, and in some cases it still is, it really is indicative of a leader that enjoys the silo, and the penthouse apartment or corner office and their bonus plan because it was guaranteed.
What happened along the way, among other things, was the economic failures, Twitter and Face [read] Keywords: ibm
blogger
facebook
laptop
microsoft
office
skype
twitter
20
Fud Buster Friday #53: Price Matters
Fri, Jun 3rd 2011 7:13a Keith Brooks Every sales person, at one time or another, will tell you this if you are their manager.
Bad sales managers accept it and allow for negotiations.
Average sales managers stress a give and get return. Lower the price, but lower the benefits.
Great sales managers provide benefits, ROI and don't argue about the physical item price.
Training and common sense is everything. But price is not.
Yes, if I want to buy a commodity, but software and it's ancillary services are not a commodity [read] Keywords: blogger
email
web 2.0
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I'm Back In The Saddle Again... FudBuster Friday's Return
Thu, Jun 2nd 2011 7:35p Keith Brooks For those to young to remember, in readership days that is, or missed them the 1st time, they were about the sometimes Microsoft FUD that existed, sometimes Google or sometimes just bad business choices and how to fight them or work against them or with them in some cases. Google Fudbuster Friday sometime you might like what you find.
When last I left off it was august 2009 and I had posted one every Friday for a year, holidays, vacations, sickness and health. But I got tired of writing a wee [read] Keywords: ibm
blogger
google
microsoft
21
Sametime Media Manager Needs a Dedicated NIC
Thu, Jun 2nd 2011 7:23a Keith Brooks This may seem obvious to many, but the truth is customers don't always think about this one.
Sametime 8.5.1 installation, 8.5.2 is out now, at a client site.
They used 3 VM partitions and separated everything accordingly.
One problem. Audio was horribly inconsistent. Recorded sessions were impossible to understand.
What was wrong? First guess was the best guess, hardware.
If everything works properly, and it seems to be the case, then what is the hardware story.
As it turns ou [read] Keywords: lotusphere
sametime
blogger
vm
16
Welcome to Troubleshooting Sametime Week
Mon, May 30th 2011 8:40a Keith Brooks This week is Sametime Troubleshooting week for us.
Tuesday we are on site all day to resolve ST 8.5.1 issues where business cards are not working and there is a delay by a few seconds between sound in online meetings.
This holiday weekend I was moving a client's ST 801 server off of VM to a new nonVM server. Ran into a problem afterward where we lost HTTP access for ST. While I am not sure exactly what was different, the server is known by various names for historical reasons and possibly [read] Keywords: ibm
sametime
traveler
blogger
password
server
vm
21
RDP Gray Screen of Volcanic Ash
Wed, May 25th 2011 8:50a Keith Brooks As you have read, we had a box get attacked last week. Still finding little things on it to fix. Like this gray box problem for RDP. Login and the screen would stay gray or the login box would just stay on top.
My friends online had some advice but the funny thing was no matter what we did, we could not manage to logon to the server at the console. Eventually I got RDP back up, after a LONG LONG delay.
How do you fix something that doesn't exist? HOTFIX! Maybe
Yes, you read that right, [read] Keywords: blogger
microsoft
password
server
virus
17
"What is your Favorite Color?"
Thu, May 19th 2011 7:00a Keith Brooks Blue, no Yellow...of course. Thank you Monty Python for being IBM lovers.
An interesting conversation from the other day about passion. In an interview they ask one about their passion.
While I thought this was an okay question, others believed it was intrinsic to defining someone and their space within the company. As a contrarian, naturally I disagreed.
It goes against my thinking that one would be hired solely for having a passion for IT, as an example. You can have all the passion i [read] Keywords: ibm
application
blogger
office
python
server
