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Today IBM released Domino 9.0.1 Feature Pack 10 Interim Fix 3 on IBM Fix Central. Below the Fix List and the Download Link.

Fix List Domino 9.0.1 Feature Pack 10 Interim Fix 3

Download Link Fix Central : Domino 9.0.1 Feature Pack 10 Interim Fix 1

More info: Interim Fixes & JVM patches for 9.0.1.x versions of IBM Notes/Domino & add-ons.
This technote contains download links and fix lists for Interim Fixes for 9.0.1.x versions of Notes, Domino, and iNotes. Also included are Interim Fixes for ICAA and Verse On-Premises. Interim Fixes are cumulative and contain all of the fixes from previous versions.

Today IBM released Notes 9.0.1 Feature Pack 10 Interim Fix 4 on IBM Fix Central. Below the Fix List and the Download Link.

Fix List Notes 9.0.1 Feature Pack 10 Interim Fix 4

Download Link Fix Central : Notes 9.0.1 Feature Pack 10 Interim Fix 4

More info : Interim Fixes & JVM patches for 9.0.1.x versions of IBM Notes/Domino & add-ons.
This technote contains download links and fix lists for Interim Fixes for 9.0.1.x versions of Notes, Domino, and iNotes. Also included are Interim Fixes for ICAA and Verse On-Premises. Interim Fixes are cumulative and contain all of the fixes from previous versions.

I am still catching up with the Notes topics that I missed during my vacation. One of these topics concerns the webinar below. On July 26th there was a very interesting webinar, IBM Domino Hybrid Solutions To Maximize ROI, organized by Maarga Systems. In this webinar the following topics are discussed:
- Domino: Challenges with full migration
- Hybrid solutions combining Domino with new technology
- Benefits of the hybrid approach
- A successful case study walkthrough

In case you missed it below the replay of the webinar.

The road to Domino 10 continues. At the moment the final preparations are being made for the update of our production environment to Feature Pack 9. The test for implementing Feature Pack 10 has already started in our Domino test environment.
Furthermore, we actively participate in the Domino Beta 2 test program at this time.

In order to be well prepared for Domino 10, I also took the IBM Notes & Domino V10 Sales Advisor v1 exam this morning and I passed the exam.

We are now an officially certified IBM Notes & Domino 10 Sales Advisor. The corresponding IBM badge has been added to Acclaim.

IBM 10 is coming and we are ready!

Yesterday I tried to upgrade our Domino test environment from Domino 9.0.1 Feature Pack 9 to Domino 9.0.1. Feature Pack 10. The installation started without any problems but at the end of the upgrade an error message appeared, Can't rename old nsd.exe: access problem. The upgrade to Domino 9.0.1. Feature Pack 10 failed.

In all previous Domino upgrades this error message had never occurred.
On the internet I quickly found the following IBM Technote, Domino Fix Pack installed with "Can not rename old nsd.exe: access problem". In the Technote the possible cause is given that this behavior can occur when installing any Domino Fix Pack on a Domino server when Lotus Domino Diagnostic service is running.

So before I started the upgrade to Domino 9.0.1 Feature Pack 10 again I stopped the Lotus Domino Diagnostic service on the server.

The upgrade to Domino 9.0.1 Feature Pack 10 was then executed without any problems. For more information see the IBM Technote Domino Fix Pack installed with "Can not rename old nsd.exe: access problem".

Remark: During the upgrade to Domino 9.0.1. Feature Pack 10 I also stopped de WMI Service on the Domino Server. For more information see the IBM Technote Installing Hotfix on Windows fails due to Windows Management Instrumentation Service.

One of the big advantages that I have regarding my daily Notes Development tasks and Domino Administration tasks is that I have access to some very powerful tools in the Ytria EZSuite. To update and expand the knowledge of these tools, the first Ytria University 101 class was held yesterday, Ytria Development Tools 101. The following topics were discussed in this webinar.

scanEZ: Accelerating application development lifecycle by better understanding and working with your documents, views, and more.
actionBarEZ: Beautifying Notes client applications and managing action buttons & shared actions.
viewEZ: Intermediate and advanced techniques.
agentEZ: Mastering agent management.

In case you missed this webinar below a recording of the webinar Ytria Development Tools 101.

Get back to basics with this session on how to use Ytria's EZ Suite tools for IBM Notes development. Accelerate your application development lifecycle with scanEZ by better understanding and working with your documents, views, and more. Beautify Notes client applications and manage action buttons and shared actions better with actionBarEZ. Learn intermediate and advanced techniques to handle views with viewEZ. And master agent management with agentEZ.

As indicated in yesterday's blog post, one of the big advantages that I have my daily Notes Development tasks and Domino Administration tasks is that I have access to some very powerful tools in the Ytria EZSuite. To update and expand the knowledge of these tools, the second Ytria University 101 class was held yesterday, Ytria Administration Tools 101. The following topics were discussed in this webinar.

aclEZ: Manage your ACLs.
databaseEZ: Introduction and hands-on best practices.
agentEZ: Mastering agent management.
consoleEZ: Working with your consoles, logs, and more.
scanEZ: Analyzing and working with your documents like never before.
replicationEZ: Discovering, understanding and resolving replication problems.

In case you missed this webinar below a recording of the webinar Ytria Administration Tools 101.

Get back to basics with this session on how to use Ytria's EZ Suite tools for IBM Domino administration. Better manage your ACLs with aclEZ. Learn some best practices for handling database properties on a large scale with databaseEZ. Master agent management with agentEZ. Work with consoles, logs, and more using consoleEZ. Analyze and with documents in unique, powerful ways with scanEZ. And discover, understand, and resolve replication problems using replicationEZ.

Some days ago I was asked to deploy a change in the mail applications of all users. Specifically this involved a change in the day and times regarding the availability for meetings in the Calendar Scheduling. One of the powerful options available in Domino are the Policies in which settings for all users can be centrally arranged and controlled. In this case the current settings were centrally set as follows for all users in the organization by a Mail Policy.

For all days and times in the Calendar Scheduling a change had to be made to the value 00:00 - 23:55 where also the new settings could no longer be changed by the users. Finally, the change had to be implemented immediately in all mail databases.
The solution in this case was to change the setting in the Mail Policy document.
In the Domino Administrator I opened the current Mail Policy document. If there is no Mail Policy document available you can create a new Mail Policy document.
Next I changed the values in the Tab Scheduling and set added in the Field How to apply this setting the value 'Set value and prevent changes'.

Remark: For the Field 'How to apply this setting' you can set the following options.

Don't set value -- If you select this option, no value is specified for the setting but the end-user can specify a value. When you assign this setting to a field in a policy settings document, you cannot modify the field value but the end-user can. If the end-user specifies a value for a field with this setting, that value is saved. For fields where there is a check box, if you leave this option unchecked, any value in the corresponding field is used by the policy.
Set initial value -- You specify a default value for the field but the end-user has the option of changing this value. The setting will be set to this value once. If the end-user then specifies a value for a field with this setting, that value is saved and not overwritten by the value in the policy.
Set value whenever modified -- When you choose this option for a field, all of the policy settings are set to the values that you most recently specified. Values that are specified by end-users are overwritten by values specified in the policy whenever the policy is applied. Be default the policy is applied every 12 hours. The user can change their settings, but they will always be overwritten by the settings in the policy.
Set value and prevent changes -- You specify the value for the field and that value is saved in the policy and cannot be modified by end-users.

After saving the new settings the next step was to deploy the new Mail Policy setting instantly to all users. It generally takes a few hours for a mail policy change to take effect. I used the following console command to apply all mail policy settings instantly: Tell adminp process mail policy.
Regarding the error handling when deploying policies more in my next blog post about policies in general.

The setting in all mail files after executing the console command results in the desired changes. the times have changed with the times in the mail policy and the users are unable to change these settings.

For more information see also Understanding the How to Apply setting for a policy.

We are currently working on the final preparation for the upgrade to Domino 9.0.1 Feature Pack 9 next week. One of the new features in Feature Pack 9 relates to performance, namely that databases and views can be opened more quickly in databases that are enabled for transaction logging. It takes less time to open databases and views that are at ODS 52 or higher and enabled for transaction logging. Previously, performance for opening databases or views could be slow in frequently updated databases. This improvement is due to the implementation of less contention with update operations.
Therefore it is very important to update the ODS to ODS52. Below the steps I performed to update all databases, templates and mail.box files to ODS52 after the upgrade to Feature Pack 9 in our test environment. In Domino 9 there is a new compact switch "-upgrade". "-upgrade Upgrades databases created with older DB classes to the most recent class."

1. Domino Server - NOTES.INI
First I added the parameter Create_R9_Databases=1 to the NOTES.INI file.

In addition it is extremely important that the Transaction Logging is enabled on the Domino server! Enabling transaction logging can improve server performance in most cases. Transaction logging saves processing time because it allows Domino to defer database updates to disk during periods of high server activity. Transactions are recorded sequentially in the log files, which is much quicker than database updates to random, non-sequential parts of a disk. Because the transactions are already recorded, Domino can safely defer database updates until a period of low server activity.

In case Transaction Logging is not enabled on the Domino Server you can enable Transaction Logging by following the steps below.

Ensure that all databases to be logged reside in the Domino data directory, either at the root or in subdirectories.
From the Domino Administrator, click the Configuration tab.
In the "Use Directory on" field, choose the server's Domino Directory.
Click Server Configuration, and then click Current Server Document.
Click the Transaction Logging Tab.
Complete all fields on the Transaction Logging Tab and then save the document.

For more information regarding Transaction Logging on Domino Server see the IBM Support document Transaction Logging on Domino Servers.

2. Upgrade ODS
Next shut down the Domino Server en start the Command Prompt. Navigate to Program Directory of Domino and enter the following command: ncompact -ODS -* -upgrade

Remarks: In this case I use -ODS -* instead of compact -c because I want to upgrade all Notes databases, Templates and Mail.Box files and not just the Notes databases. -ODS -* will upgrade Notes databases, Templates and Mail.Box files which have an older ODS and compact -c will only compact / upgrade all Notes database except the Templates and Mail.Box files.
The upgrade can take some time but runs without any problems on a Domino 9.0.1 Feature Pack 9 server.

In response to several questions about yesterday's blog post a short addition for the upgrade of the ODS of the local database in the Notes Client. By default local databases are not updated when the Notes client is upgraded. Using either the Notes Client, Domino Administrator Client or the Domino Designer Client you can force the client to perform ODS upgrades of all local databases. For most non-essential databases the ODS upgrade will take place in a background process and while a database is upgraded, the end user will not be able to use the database. For essential databases that are in use at the point that an upgrade is attempted the ODS upgrade will be done at the next first time open which will typically occur at client restart. The following NOTES.INI setting performs the upgrade: NSF_UpdateODS=1. With this setting the client will do a one time pass to upgrade local databases using the compact task. In addition,the specific ODS level that is desired can be set. If none is set, ODS52 will be forced.
The steps below for the upgrade of the ODS are based on the use of a Desktop Policy.

1. Desktop Policy
A mentioned, for clients we need to set NSF_UpdateODS=1 in combination with CREATE_R9_DATABASES=1 which lets the client convert to the new ODS. These settings can easily be distributed to all users through a Desktop Policy.
Open the Domino Directory on the Domino server (names.nsf).
Click the People & Groups Tab and open the Settings view.
Click Add Settings, open the Desktop Settings dialog and select the Custom Settings Tab or select and open an existing Desktop Policy and select the Custom Settings Tab.
Select NOTES.INI.

Click Edit List to open the panel that enables you to create a notes.ini variable name and value pair.
Add NSF_UpdateODS=1 and include Enforce.

Next add CREATE_R9_DATABASES=1 and also include Enforce.

Enable the Enforce option to push the value pair to overwrite any other previously set value for the named setting.

Click OK and Save & Exit.

2. Deploy Policy
Users receive updates to the desktop settings the next time users authenticate with the home server in case the policy settings change and the desktop policy settings are enforced.
In the NOTES.INI file (Notes Program Directory) the new Desktop Policy Setting are added.

Next time the Notes Client is started the upgrade of the local databases to the new ODS will be executed. In the log you can see the following message : 11-09-2018 07:56:01 21 databases had an older NSF ODS version. 17 of those databases were successfully upgraded to a later NSF ODS.

Remark: Another possibility is to set the field Enable upgrade of all local NSFs to latest ODS version in the Desktop Policy document on the Mail Tab under Client Settings if you always want to upgrade to the latest ODS version.

For more information see the IBM Technote Local database's ODS is not updated when Notes client is upgraded and Domino On-Disk Structure.

In our preparations for Domino 10, we will initially upgrade our production environment to Domino 9.0.1 Feature pack 9. Part of this upgrade is also the upgrade to Notes Traveler 9.0.1.18. The Notes Traveler version has a major update, the Run as User feature, that is selected by default. In order to be able to carry out the Notes Traveler upgrade a number of requirements must be arranged on the Domino Server and in the Mail databases. Below is a short description of the steps we have carried out. Note that Notes Traveler is also running on our Domino (Mail) Server. We do not have a separate traveler server yet.

Starting with IBM Traveler 9.0.1.18, the Run as User feature will now be enabled by default.
When running as the user, the Traveler server will access the user's mail file as the user ID instead of the server ID. This feature resolves several long standing issues with accessing the user's mail file as the server ID, including:

Honor ACL controls on mail file and corporate lookup for the user.
Prevent event notices and automated responses from being sent from the server ID.
Prevent the server ID from being assigned as the owner of the mail profile when there is no owner defined.

Important notes: For the Run as User feature to function properly, the Traveler server must be listed as a trusted server in the user's Mail Server document.
To disable Run as User, set the following notes.ini parameter: NTS_USER_SESSION=false

A. Server document of the user's Mail server
On the Security Tab in the Server Access section you can find the Trusted servers field
If the Traveler server is not in the mail server's Trusted Servers list, mobile users cannot access their mail file through the Traveler server.
In our case there is no separate Traveler Server so there is no need to add a server in the Trusted Servers Field.

B. Server document of the user's Traveler server / User's Traveler server
Select the Security tab in the Server document. In the Server Access section you can find the field Access server and Not access server.

If the field Access server is non-blank only those servers and users will be allowed to access. All others not listed will be denied access.
If the field Not access server is non-blank those servers and users will be denied access even those that are also in the 'Access server' list.
If you have servers listed in the Access server field check the box labeled 'users listed in all trusted directories'. If individual users are listed in the Not access server field remove them if you want to allow them to sync.
In our case we selected in the Field Access server 'All users can access this server' and in the field Not access server the Group 'Terminated Employees' from the Domino Directory.

IBM Notes Traveler Access section, Access server and Not access server

This is configured similar to the Security tab, Server Access section. However, Traveler does not log console messages for these access controls because they are Traveler configuration parameters, so they are treated as expected events. To see these log entries you must be logging the user on FINE or FINEST.

C. ACL of the user's mail file - Basics tab
For the Feature Run as User anything less than Editor Access in the Access Control List of the user's mail file or without all boxes checked can restrict actions that the user can take on his own mail file
Reader Access can receive emails and invitations, but cannot reply or accept because Readers cannot create the response documents. Author Access can only Create documents if you check that box.

For all users we set the Field and Attributes settings as shown above. All users have Editor Access in their personal mail file.

D. ACL of the user's mail file - Advanced tab
For the Maximum Internet name and Password field all users should have at least Editor Acces.
Restricts access for Internet users that authenticate using name and password (so iNotes users using basic auth), and all Traveler users (mobile and IMSMO) when running as user.

Default value is Editor which is sufficient to create, delete, read and write docs in the mail database.
Other values like Reader or No Access cause exceptions reading or writing specific documents in the user's mail file. In our case all users have Editor Access in the Maximum Internet name and Password field.

With the requirements as described above we are going to perform the Notes Traveler 9.0.1.18 upgrade in our production environment. For more information see the IBM Technote How to resolve synchronization issues that start after upgrading to IBM Traveler 9.0.1.18 (or higher).

In my previous blog posts, Upgrade ODS on Notes Databases, Templates And Mail.Box Files and Upgrade ODS Notes Client Local Databases, I described how to update the ODS of databases, templates and mail.box files after upgrading to Domino Feature Pack 9. Another great new feature in Domino Feature Pack 9 is Inline View Indexing. A view index is an internal filing system that is used to build the list of documents to display in a database view or folder. By default, view indexes are updated on a server at scheduled intervals. To update a view index immediately after documents change instead, you can enable inline view indexing. With the new feature inline view indexing it is very easy to keep all critical views in your Notes applications up-to-date for your users.
In this introduction a short description how to enable this new feature for your Notes databases. Basically there a two options for enabling inline view indexes for your Notes databases.

Enabling inline view indexing with the Updall task
You can enable inline view indexing with the Updall task which updates the $Index view design element. With this method, inline view indexing is enabled automatically in replicas of a database. In addition, if you enable inline view indexing in a design template, the inline view indexing is enabled automatically in databases that inherit their design from the template.
Use the following command to use the Updall task to enable inline view indexing for a database. To enable inline view indexing for all views in a database, omit the view and-T argument.
Inline indexing is enabled as a view is opened.

load updall database -T view -inline on (for a specific view in a database)

load updall database -inline on (for all views in a database)

Enabling inline view indexing with INLINE_VIEW_INDEX setting
You can enable inline view indexing with the NOTES.INI setting INLINE_VIEW_INDEX. With this method, you specify a list of databases on a server to enable for inline view indexing. Unlike the Updall method, this method does not update the $Index view design element in databases and so does not propagate view indexing through replication and design inheritance.
Use the Configuration Document in the Domino Directory to Add the new NOTES.INI Parameter.
A server restart is not necessary. Inline view indexing is enabled as views are opened.

In the next blog post more detailed information about enabling inline view indexing, setting index expiration for inline view indexes, using console commands to manage inline view indexing, showing inline indexing statistics and disabling inline view indexing.

NIFNSF has been introduced in Feature Pack 8. At that time we did not use this new feature as there were some performance issues. These problems are solved. After the upgrade to Domino 9.0.1. Feature Pack 9 we have enabled NIFNSF on our Domino Server. For several Notes databases, including all mail databases, we have enabled NIFNSF. NIFNSF offers the possibility to separate the view and folder index into a separate NDX file. Major advantages of enabling NIFNSF are significantly better database performance and a reduction of backup storage as well as a faster backup. Below is a brief description of how NIFNSF can be enabled.
There are two requirements before NIFNSF can be enabled on the Domino Server. Initially, the Transactional Logging must be enabled on the Domino Server in the Server document. Secondly, the ODS of the Notes database should be 52 (recommend) or at least ODS 51. For more information about upgrading the ODS, see my previous blog posts Upgrade ODS Notes Client Local Databases and Upgrade ODS on Notes Databases, Templates And Mail.Box Files.

Enabling NIFSNSF on the Domino Server
To enable NIFNSF on the Domino Server a number of NOTES.INI settings should be added in the Configuration document.
The first, and also the most important setting, is NIFNSFEnable = 1 which ensures that NIFNSF is enabled on the Domino server.
The NDX files are stored in the Domino Data Directory by default. To specify a different location the setting NIFBasePath = path can be used.
If NIFNSF should be enabled automatically for all new Notes databases the setting CREATE_NIFNSF_DATABASES = 1 can be used which will ensure that all new databases are automatically NIFNSF enabled.

Enabling NIFSNSF on a Database
For enabling NIFNSF on a Notes Database the normal recommendation is to use:
compact -c -NIFNSF ON database.nsf
If the Notes database is on ODS 51 or higher and NIFNSF is enabled on the Domino Server new indexes are created in the corresponding NDX files.
Remark: Only the copy-style compact will move the views to the NDX file. If the database is in use the copy-style compact will not be executed.

The NDX file has been created in teh directory specified in de NOTES.INI setting NIFBasePath = path or in de Domino Data Directory by default.

To disable NIFNSF on a database use also a compact -c with the option OFF.
compact -c -NIFNSF OFF database.nsf

Show all NIFNSF Enabled Databases
To show all NIFNSF enabled databases only on the Domino Server (NIFNSF state ON) use te following server console command:
show dir -nifnsfonly

For more information see the IBM Note Moving views out of databases and the blog post Current Information about NIFNSF by Daniel Nashed and the IBM Note Updall switches, Update and NIF - Notes indexing basics.

The IBM Champion program recognizes innovative thought leaders in the technical community. An IBM Champion is an IT professional, business leader, or educator who influences and mentors others to help them make the best use of IBM software, solutions, and services, shares knowledge and expertise, and helps nurture and grow the community. The program recognizes participants' contributions over the past year in a variety of ways, including conference discounts, VIP access, and logo merchandise, exclusive communities and feedback opportunities, and recognition and promotion via IBM's social channels.
Contributions can come in a variety of forms, and popular contributions include blogging, speaking at conferences or events, moderating forums, leading user groups, and authoring books or magazines. Educators can also become IBM Champions; for example, academic faculty may become IBM Champions by including IBM products and technologies in course curricula and encouraging students to build skills and expertise in these areas.
Take the opportunity to nominate an influencer of IBM Social Business now.

The nomination period for IBM Champions will run from 17 September to 22 October this year.
Now that nominations are open, it's time to gather your information so you can (re-)nominate yourself or nominate a community member you think should join the Champion ranks.

Who should be nominated as an IBM Champion?
Well, below are the detailed criteria, but maybe what would help are some examples of people who might be IBM Champions: The person in your company who knows everything there is to know about your IBM software or hardware and makes it all work together and is always the one answering everyone’s questions. The person writing articles or books about IBM technology. The person with a blog who investigates and covers IBM technology. The person who runs the local meetup or user group covering IBM technology. The person whose Twitter stream is always sharing what they’re building with IBM technology. The person making YouTube videos about developing with IBM technology. The person who has a couple of sessions every year at IBM and user group conferences and events. Those are all people who might be IBM Champions.
The IBM Champion program requires IBM advocacy and influence outside one's own organization or customer engagements. IBM also seek individuals that have significant contributions in at least 2-3 areas as defined below (significant contributions = a contribution, executed multiple times or for an extended period of time).
This can be blogging regularly, tweeting regularly (on topics relevant to our industry, but not necessarily IBM-specific tweets), speaking at multiple events in a calendar year, User Group Conference Planning Committee member (involves the execution of a conference or a part of the conference over a period of several months) or be a President or Board member of a worldwide or local user group for a period of 1 year.

Below some usefull links for more information about the IBM Champion Program and the link to the nomination form.

Nominate an IBM Champion : IBM Champion Program

Nomination Form IBM Champion : Nominate an IBM Champion

More information about the IBM Champion Program: IBM developerWorks - Champions

For more information see also the blog post IBM Champion Nominations are NOW Open by Libby Ingrassia.

As you may know, I am Moderator of the Google+ XPages Community (and the Google+ XPages Twitter Account). Together with the original founder of the Google+ XPages Community, Rob Bontekoe, my old XPages teacher, this community was founded some years ago. The primary goal of the community was and still is to promote XPages as a rapid development tool and sharing information about IBM XPages, IBM Notes, IBM Domino, Domino 10 and much more.
During the last year we also expanded our field of vision and we focused also on other new developments and technologies such as IBM Watson Workspace and IBM Domino Applications on Cloud and other Cloud technologies and developments in addition to what we already covered in our community. The central focus for the coming period will be on the future of work and related news and posts such as Domino 10.

At this time, the community has 683 members and is still expanding!
If you are not yet a member of this community and want to be kept informed of the latest news and if you want to share news about IBM Notes, IBM Domino, Domino 10, IBM XPages, Watson Workspace, IBM Watson, DAC or other modern (web) technologies then join the Google+ XPages Community now.
The more members the more news and the more it is shared within our amazing community.

Link to the Google+ XPages Community : XPages Community

Since end of 2016 The XPages Google+ Community can also be found on Twitter, @XPagesCommunity.

So follow the Google+ XPages Community also on Twitter for the latest news on IBM XPages, IBM Notes, IBM Domino, Domino 10, Bootstrap, IBM Watson Workspace, Domino Applications on Cloud, Watson and more!

After upgrading our Domino Server and Clients to Feature Pack 9 we started the upgrade of the Mail Databases and the Personal Address Books to the new templates supplied with Feature Pack 9. For the upgrade of the Personal Address Books (pernames.nsf) we have chosen for using the LotusScript Shell command to call nconvert.exe. Initially we distributed the new template, pernames.ntf, to all users through our own file distribution system. Secondly, in our Security Settings Policy, we selected the option 'Don't prompt for a password from other Notes-based programs' for all users and deployed the Policy to all users.

This option in the Security Settings Policy prevents the request for a password during the final upgrade of the Personal Address Book when Notes is running.
For the upgrade of the Personal Addess Book databases we created an E-mail for all users with an Action Button with the LotusScript Shell command.

Through the action button the convert program is called, which reads the notes.ini file and retrieves the ID value form the KeyFileName entry. The convert program runs under the authority of that ID.
The user will be prompted to enter the password for that ID before the task continues if Notes is not running or Notes is running and the "Don't prompt for a password from other Notes-based programs" option is not selected in the User Security preferences or Security Settings Policy. Based on the settings in the Security Setting Policy the user will not be prompted for a password. If the option is NOT selected the screen below will appear for entering the password.

After the user select the Action Button in the E-Mail the upgrade will be executed and the new template is added in the Personal Address Book.

Another option is to use the formula @Command DesignReplace in an Action Button in an E-Mail send to all users. The following @Commands can be used to open the local database and open the Replace Design dialog box:
@Command ([FileOpenDatabase]; "": "names.nsf"; ""; ""; ""; "");
@Command ([DesignReplace])
We have not chosen this method since the user self has to choose the corresponding template in the Design Replace Dialog Box.

For more information see also the IBM Technote Switches and options that can be used when running Convert command. If someone has followed another procedure for upgrading the local Personal Address Book, I would like to hear this.

As indicated in my previous blog post, Programmatically Replace or Refresh Design of Local Databases, a number of new templates have become available at the release of IBM Notes Domino Feature Pack 9. One of these templates is the new Domino Directory template (pubnames.ntf) that extends Holiday documents through years 2026 or 2027 and also adds policy updates for both Traveler and IBM Mail Support for Microsoft Outlook (IMSMO). Summarizing the new templates includes the following updates:

Holiday documents that have been extended another 10 years through 2026 or 2027 depending on the holiday.
Policy update for cloud Traveler servers that allows admins to remove the device password requirement for Traveler devices. Hybrid customers will be able to override the default that says you must have a device password.
Policy update for IMSMO cloud and on-premises servers that allows more granular control of auto-processing notices. It is now possible to choose whether to skip processing of meeting notices that have pending reschedules. In the cloud, this new setting is enforced/enabled regardless of the policy setting selected on-premises.

Note: Be aware that upgrading the Domino Directory design replaces the template design. The Domino 9.0.1 design overwrites any customization's made to the Domino Directory in case the own design elements, like Views, do not have the option 'Prohibit design refresh or replace to modify' selected. Before upgrading to the Domino 9.0.1 design you can, if necessary, create a backup of the Domino Directory to preserve custom changes and add them later to the new template.

Deploying the new template on the Domino Server is fairly simple and straight forward. Initially shut down the Domino server. Next create a backup of the existing pubnames.ntf from the Domino server's data directory (optional). Finally copy the updated pubnames.ntf into the Domino server's data directory. Restart the Domino Server. For upgrading the design of the Domino Directory you can use the console command load convert names.nsf * pubnames.ntf. The design of the Domino Directory will be updated with the new template.

Next compact the Domino Directory after upgrading (load compact names.nsf -c). Compacting the Domino Directory upgrades the database format to the Domino 9.0.1 format if the ODS had not already been upgraded. Rebuild the ($ServerAccess) and ($Users) views in the Domino Directory.

load updall names.nsf -t "($ServerAccess)" -r or nupdall updall names.nsf -t "($ServerAccess)" -r

load updall names.nsf -t "($Users)" -r or nupdall names.nsf -t "($Users)" -r

Now the updated Holiday documents can be imported into the server's Domino Directory (names.nsf). First navigate to the Configuration - Miscellaneous - Holidays view.

Next from the Actions menu run the Import Holidays from Template agent.

User can update their calendars now by selecting More - Import Holidays from any Calendar view.

For details on implementing the Traveler policy update for "Do not require device password" and the IMSMO policy update for "Skip processing of meeting updates" see the IBM Technote New pubnames.ntf extends Holiday documents through 2026/2027 & adds policy updates for Traveler and IMSMO.

For more info on updating the Domino Directory on the server see also :
Upgrading to a new Domino Directory template
Upgrading the Domino Directory

After upgrading our Domino server and Notes Clients to Feature Pack 9 we initially upgraded all mail database to the new Feature Pack 9 mail template. After this upgrade a number of new mail features have become available in Notes 9.0.1 Feature Pack 9. In the next blog posts I will briefly describe these new features. New in Notes Domino 9.0.1 Feature Pack 9 is the support for recall of messages created with Memo Stationary. When Message Recall is configured on the Domino server messages created using a Memo Stationary can now be recalled. In the old template this resulted in the message 'This message type can not be recalled'. To enable this feature it is necessary to upgrade to the MAIL9.NTF template provided with Feature Pack 9. Below a short description of the configuration we have used for the recall message feature.

First we use the Domino server Configuration document to configure the Message Recall feature in Feature Pack 9. This central location let Domino Administrators easily allow or disallow this feature for all servers. We also use Mail Policy documents to further refine these settings. Be aware that the Mail Policy overrides the settings in the Server Configuration document. For instance if the server allows unread mail to be recalled but the Mail Policy applied to a user allows unread and read mail to be recalled, the Mail Policy applies and both unread mail and read mail can be recalled. This provides very specific control for individual users. Unless Mail Recall is disabled at the server or via a Mail Policy users can also control Message Recall. Under User Preferences - Basics users can select or deselect 'Allow others to recall mail sent to me'. If the user deselects this option the setting causes a notice to be sent back to the recalling user stating that the message cannot be recalled. See the screenshots below for the different settings in the Configuration document, the Mail Policy and the User Preferences.

Requirements for Message Recall using Memo Stationery

A Lotus Domino 9 or later server containing the mail to be recalled.
A mail file based on the Lotus Notes 9.0.1 Feature Pack 9 mail template with which to recall the message.
A copy of the mail message in the sender’s mail file. This is usually found in the Sent view but the Message Recall button is also found in the All Documents view.
Permission given at the server to perform Message Recall and optionally at the policy and the recipient’s mail-file level where the feature can be turned off.

Based on the new deployed mail template a new mail using a Stationary can now be recalled. After the mail has been sent the Action Button Recall Message can be selected in the View Sent or All Documents (More - Recall Message) to recall the email. After selecting OK a Message Recall Status will be send.

Final remark: Messages can always be printed and forwarded or even have screenshots made of them. Message Recall is not effective in these cases. Message Recall is not guaranteed to get rid of any and all traces of a message. Message Recall is intended to give users the ability to recover from errors made in sending messages.

Yesterday the MarvelClient Essentials has been made available by Panagenda! Some of MarvelClient's functionality is now free to use for any IBM Notes and IBM Domino 9 customer. With MarvelClient Essentials installed in your Domino environment you will receive important insights into the IBM Notes client infrastructure and some tools to make initial optimizations. With the free MarvelClient it is possible to continuously analyze and visualize IBM Notes workspace, client configuration, and operating system details, take stock of your client deployment complexity and inconsistencies, deploy files - such as your Notes 10 upgrade image, run programs, and manage the Windows Registry and provide IT, helpdesk, and management with all necessary details, facts, and figures including identify pitfalls during upgrades such as insufficient resources or non-standard installations. Prepare a more efficient upgrade path, reduce risk and helpdesk tickets. So get ready for Domino 10 and istall the MarvelClient Esstials today like I did. The download contains an installer application that will guide you through the process of setting up MarvelClient Essentials. It also contains links to additional documentation. Beforehand I have signed the PCMInstaller database which becomes available after the download with my own administrator ID. The installation went smoothly without problems. Below the screens during installation.

After the installation the Marvel Client Config and the Marvel Client Analyze databases are available.

Initially after the installation it is possible to open the Marvel Client Config database and setup the further configuration. During the first setup I only saved the configuration document. The configuration document is also available in the Marvel Client Config database (Administration - Installation) in case you want to completed the configuration document at another time.

Using the mail based installation configuration document you can send an email to (all) users to install the MarvelClient.

Form more information see MarvelClient Essentials: Get it while it’s hot (and free)! including the instruction video.

The NOTES.INI parameter LOG_SESSIONS specifies whether individual sessions are recorded in the log file and displayed on the console. The parameter LOG_SESSIONS has two values as mentioned in the regular standard documentation, 0 and 1. As an example as we look in the IBM Domino Administrator 9.0.1 Social Edition Help database, only the values 0 and 1 are documented.

However, there is also a not so well documented value 2 for the parameter LOG_SESSIONS. LOG_SESSIONS=2 will print the Session Id, IP, Authenticated and (client/server)/pass-thru.
It can be set dynamically with set config log_sessions=2 or in the Domino NOTES.INI in the Configuration document. Value 2 is available since Domino 8.5.1.

0 = Do not log individual sessions
1 = Log individual sessions
2 = Log individual session with IP address and other information

Sample output for LOG_SESSIONS=1:
05/10/2018 13:15:05 Opened session for server01/domino (Release 9.0.1)

Sample output for LOG_SESSIONS=2:
05/10/2018 12:57:03 Opened session for 'server01/domino (Release 9.0.1) SessId 000E0FAE Ip '127.0.0.1''Auth''S'
05-10-2018 12:57:06 Closed session for 'username' SessId 006B0989 Databases accessed: 1 Documents read: 0 Documents written: 0 Transactions: 33

The information for value 2 is written both in the LOG.NSF and to the Domino Console.

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