Quickr 8.5 (Domino): Remove h_VersionType from NOTES.INI

Please check if you do have the parameter “h_VersionType” in your NOTES.INI of a Quickr 8.5 (Domino) server. This parameter was used to make sure that documents which were created with a pre-8.1 release of Quickr do have versioning enabled. (see this wiki article).

If you do have that parameter in your NOTES.INI you really should remove it as otherwise you get strange results e.g. while creating custom forms and maybe during other operations as well. Also server console messages like “You are not authorized to perform this operation [/dm/atom/library/….”…] might occur because of that.

From my point of view the problem will be introduced if the parameter is present during creation of a place so you should really delete that parameter immediately as otherwise new places will be affected even if you remove the parameter later.

Problem is logged in the meantime as SPR# DWHN89XL95 and APAR LO55323 but there is not yet a statement if and when it will be fixed.

So again: Remove “h_VersionType” from NOTES.INI NOW

Error “The medium type … is differencing but it is not associated with any parent medium in the media registry” after upgrading to Virtualbox 3.2.8

After I upgraded my Virtualbox server to 3.2.8 I was unable to access certain disk images. I got the error

The medium type <path to image file>.vmdk is differencing but it is not associated with any parent medium in the media registry

I was able to fix all images with a tool called VBoxFixHdd which is described in this forum entry.

“Access to remote server … has not been granted” / Quickr 8.5 (Domino) & ECM

While trying to connect a Quickr 8.5 (Domino) server to an ECM system (IBM Content Manager) we were not able to login via the Quickr Web UI. Although we did implement all things described in the this Developerworks article we always got the error “Access to remote server <hostname> has not been granted”.

It seemed that the Domino proxy was unable to sent the request. We enabled debugging by adding the following lines to the file “logging.properties” in <Domino program>\jvm\lib:

handlers=java.util.logging.FileHandler,java.util.logging.ConsoleHandler
java.util.logging.FileHandler.pattern = c:\\jdklog.txt
java.util.logging.FileHandler.formatter = java.util.logging.SimpleFormatter

com.ibm.dwa.service.proxy.level = ALL

In the file “c:\jdklog.txt” you could find the confirmation that there is an issue with the policy:

Policy does not allow request for /xsp/proxy/BasicProxy/http/HOSTNAME.acme.com:9080/dm/atom/libraries/feed

However the policy itself looked fine and we did not see any issue.

It took some time to find the root cause:

In the policy you need to add the URL for proxy whitelisting like “http://HOSTNAME.acme.com:9080” and we added the host name in capital letters By doing so we were not able to connect via the WebUI regardless if we used capital or lower case letters in the host name.

As we changed the URL in the policy document to lower case letters only, then we suddenly could connect via the Web UI both with upper and lower case letters without any problems.

So just in case you might have a similar issue, do only use lower case letters …

Provisioning Sametime Connect’s plug-in preferences

If  you want to set some preferences for the Sametime Connect client remotely you can do this via an update site. How to create such an update site and how to configure your Sametime server that these preferences will be forced to the clients as soon as they log in is described in these technotes:

Provisioning Sametime Connect’s plug-in preferences

Automatically updating Sametime 7.5.x Connect clients

Although both technotes are for Sametime 7.5.x the same procedure will work with the current 8.5.x clients.

In the first technote you will also find a sample update site where you just need to adapt the preference settings you want to deploy. You can find a list of the valid settings for the current 8.5.1 client in the infocenter.

There are two things I would like to mention as they are not obvious:

The sample for the setting “URL for UIM Proviosioning” in STCONFIG.NSF is a bad one. You will find “http:///STclientupdate/site.xml”. This should better read “http://<full host name of your update site server>/STclientupdate/site.xml”. So, do NOT forget to specifiy the full URL to your site.xml including the host name. Sametime will NOT add that automatically …

And in the sample update site you will find the following line in the “feature.xml” within the “<required>” section:

<import feature=”com.ibm.collaboration.realtime.application.feature“ version=”7.5.1“ match=”equivalent“ />

This means, that the update will only be applied if you do have exactly the Sametime 7.5.1 installed. If you want to only apply that for another client version, e .g. 8.5.1  you need to change “7.5.1” to “8.5.1”. If you want to apply the settings to all clients with version 7.5.1 or above you need to change the line to:

<import feature=”com.ibm.collaboration.realtime.application.feature“ version=”7.5.1“ match=”greateOrEqual“ />

Provisioning Sametime Connect’s plug-in preferences

Personal Support Requests

In the last weeks I got more and more requests for support for Quickr or Sametime via my website (mail, chat etc.). Unfortunately, due to lack of time, I normally will not be able to anwer them.

I am actively participating in the Lotus Quickr and Lotus Sametime forums and I will publish things I see during my daily work here in the blog or in my Quickr and Sametime wikis.

If you still have questions which you do not get answered or problems which cannot be solved I would kindly ask you to open an official support request with IBM.

If you need further assistance, me any my collegues from IBM Software Services Lotus will be glad to assist you officially. Just contact your IBM representative for that.

So, I am very sorry that I cannot answer support requests directly addressed to me and I ask for your understanding…

SNAPP-On Modules for Lotus Quickr (Domino)

SNAPPS just published some great enhancement modules for Lotus Quickr (Domino):

Favorites is a commonly requested feature for Quickr and exists in the J2EE version but not the Domino version. Consulting companies including SNAPPS have designed interfaces for many companies to have a Favorites feature, but each of these efforts has been unique to the client. Now, we’ve taken an approach that with one line of code and a single Domino database, enables this enhancement to the Quickr experience for everyone in your organization.

The Custom HTML Module gives you the ability to add your own tab to the My Places area, and place anything on that tab – from simple HTML with images to complex JavaScript and deep functionality. The new tab is server-wide, so it can be used for common purposes such as Privacy Policies, Company News, System Statistics, links to email administrators, password reset requests – the possibilities are limited only by your development needs. And, if you do not have web developers on staff, SNAPPS can build the Custom HTML Module for you.

There is also a demo video available on YouTube.

There are more  modules to come in the near future:

Modules under development include modules for administrators to more easily administer the server, aggregation modules that will combine data from multiple places, messaging and workflow modules, user activity modules, and modules to manage users across multiple places.

Modules under development include modules for administrators to more easily administer the server, aggregation modules that will combine data from multiple places, messaging and workflow modules, user activity modules, and modules to manage users across multiple places.