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Lotus Notes 4 Administrator's Survival Guide


Andrew Dahl


201 West 103rd Street
Indianapolis, Indiana 46290

Copyright © 1996 by Sams Publishing


FIRST EDITION

All rights reserved. No part of this book shall be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher. No patent liability is assumed with respect to the use of the information contained herein. Although every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book, the publisher and author assume no responsibility for errors or omissions. Neither is any liability assumed for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein. For information, address Sams Publishing, 201 W. 103rd St., Indianapolis, IN 46290.

International Standard Book Number: 0-672-30844-4

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 95-74775

99 98 97 96 4 3 2 1

Interpretation of the printing code: the rightmost double-digit number is the year of the book's printing; the rightmost single-digit, the number of the book's printing. For example, a printing code of 96-1 shows that the first printing of the book occurred in 1996.

Printed in the United States of America

All terms mentioned in this book that are known to be trademarks or service marks have been appropriately capitalized. Sams Publishing cannot attest to the accuracy of this information. Use of a term in this book should not be regarded as affecting the validity of any trademark or service mark.

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Acknowledgments


A book of this scope is never written by a single person. I would like to thank all the people who added suggestions and tips, reviewed the manuscript, and generally made this book a true resource for administrators. You know who you are. Thanks to Rob Wunderlich for contributing the chapter on using Notes with the Internet. I would also like to thank Leslie Lesnick, without whom this book would not have been possible.

About the Authors


Andrew Dahl is a co-founder of L3Comm, a consulting firm that specializes in Lotus Notes and the World Wide Web. Andrew is a graduate of MIT and has more than 10 years' experience working with networks and client/server systems. Before founding L3Comm, as part of CompuServe's Enterprise Connect for Lotus Notes team, Andrew designed and developed network-management tools for an international Notes network. He has also worked as an IBM consultant, specializing in user interface development for client/server systems. His previous author credits include Internet Commerce, Connecting NetWare to the Internet, and Inside OS/2. He lives in Columbus, Ohio and can be reached at 102174.2004@compuserve.com.

Rob Wunderlich, CLP/CLI, is an instructor and Notes consultant for ENTEX Information Services in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, formerly The LEAD Group. He is the author of numerous articles on groupware in general, Lotus Notes in particular. In addition to consulting and development work with Notes, Rob is ENTEX/Michigan's webmaster and has "grown to love" the InterNotes products by employing them on ENTEX/Michigan's web page (http://web1.leadgroup.com).

Foreword


Since 1989, Lotus Notes has made the global business world a much smaller, more manageable place and the business of business less daunting. Lotus Notes has achieved this by systematically tumbling the barriers to sharing, managing, and distributing business information, and helping customers automate strategic business processes that improve their bottom lines.

Simply put, Lotus Notes makes the process of communicating, collaborating and coordination easier and more productive. Notes combines a replicated document database, an enterprise-scalable messaging infrastructure, and a cross-platform client/server application development environment. The software is built on a client/server backbone that not only supports all of the major operating systems and network architectures, but also masks the underlying complexities and incompatibilities among systems.

Since day one, we've continued to enhance and modify Notes to incorporate support for new technologies and forms of business information—from standards such as DDE and OLE, to multimedia objects such as images, video, and audio.

Today, more than 8,000 companies and 4.5 million individuals have incorporated Lotus Notes solutions into their strategic business operations.

We're extremely excited about the recent release of Lotus Notes Release 4, a major upgrade of the software featuring hundreds of new capabilities and enhancements. Release 4 was developed over the course of several years with input from thousands of customers and Lotus Business Partners. It addresses some important customer hot buttons.

Of particular interest to system administrators are:

We are continuing to enhance Notes. In the future, look for:

Exciting times are ahead. This edition of Lotus Notes 4 Administrator's Survival Guide should help system administrators stay at the top of their form in making Notes work hard for their organizations.

Regards,

Steve Sayer
Vice President, Lotus Notes Marketing
Lotus Development Corporation

Introduction


Managing a Lotus Notes installation poses many unique problems. Notes is a combination database tool, application development tool, and security tool customized for groupware applications—an area in which few organizations have experience. When properly done, a groupware project can significantly change jobs and the flow of information within a company. Project managers and administrators not only must deal with new technology, but with egos and corporate culture.

Lotus Notes Release 4.0 includes features that significantly reduce the time and cost associated with administrating a Notes network. With a little planning, you can position yourself to make the best use of these features. This book discusses each of these features in detail.

More than with any other product currently available, Notes requires a close working relationship between project managers, application developers, and administrators. Mistakes made by application developers or project managers can have a significant impact on administration costs. This book is intended to help project managers, application developers, and network administrators to work together to reduce the costs associated with administering Notes.

Why Read This Book?


Lotus Notes 4 Administrator’s Survival Guide was written to help companies plan, install, and maintain Notes. This book goes beyond the references currently available and explains

Whether you're just thinking about installing Notes, migrating to Release 4 from Release 3.x, maintaining a current Notes installation, this book can help you reach your goal faster with fewer problems.

Who Should Read This Book?


This book is primarily targeted at project managers and administrators responsible for Notes, although some application development issues are covered. Issues for small, medium, and large organizations are discussed. You should have some background with client/server systems and/or network administration before reading this book. Because this book spends very little time introducing the Notes interface, you should spend some time using Notes as you read the text.

Conventions Used in This Book


This book uses the following conventions:

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