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Many customers I work with have Lotus Quickr 8.2 Services for Domino clusters, fronted by IP Sprayer technology for load-balancing and failover.  This solution works well for availability and performance purposes, but takes quite a lot of configuration.  

As usual, the Infocenter gives most of the information needed, but doesn't provide much context as to how or why these steps are necessary, nor indeed what to do if things go wrong.

An example of this occurred this morning, when one cluster showed signs of poor performance, rendering of blank pages after login, and lots of errors in the server consoles, along the lines of:

HTTP JVM: java.net.ConnectException: Connection timed out: connect
HTTP JVM: at sun.reflect.NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance0(Native Method)
HTTP JVM: at sun.reflect.NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance(NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.java:59)
HTTP JVM: at sun.reflect.DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance(DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.java:41)
HTTP JVM: at java.lang.reflect.Constructor.newInstance(Constructor.java:528)
HTTP JVM: at sun.net.www.protocol.http.HttpURLConnection$6.run(HttpURLConnection.java:1305)
HTTP JVM: at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(AccessController.java:251)
HTTP JVM: at sun.net.www.protocol.http.HttpURLConnection.getChainedException(HttpURLConnection.java:1299)
HTTP JVM: at sun.net.www.protocol.http.HttpURLConnection.getInputStream(HttpURLConnection.java:953)
HTTP JVM: at java.net.HttpURLConnection.getResponseCode(HttpURLConnection.java:386)
HTTP JVM: at com.lotus.quickplace.util.QuickrSupportUtil.doPost(QuickrSupportUtil.java:270)
HTTP JVM: at com.lotus.quickplace.util.QuickrSupportUtil.doGet(QuickrSupportUtil.java:133)
HTTP JVM: at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:499)
HTTP JVM: at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:588)
HTTP JVM: at lotus.domino.servlet.DominoServletInvoker.executeServlet(DominoServletInvoker.java:296)
HTTP JVM: at lotus.domino.servlet.DominoServletInvoker.service(DominoServletInvoker.java:237)
HTTP JVM: at lotus.domino.servlet.ServletManager.service(ServletManager.java:258)
HTTP JVM: Caused by:
HTTP JVM: java.net.ConnectException: Connection timed out: connect

Firebug was also throwing up some very odd Dojo and Javascript errors.

By checking the output of NetStat commands, it appeared that the Quickr/Domino servers were trying to talk directly to the IP Sprayer to retrieve content (assumed to be CSS/javascript bundles), and the firewalls present in this environment were preventing this from occurring.

We tried opening the ports between the servers and the IP Sprayer, which improved the situation a little but performance was still poor and the errors occurred (though less frequently).

The next tactic was to add entries in the hosts files on the Quickr servers so that the FQDN for the IP Sprayer resolved to localhost, thus forcing lookups to be serviced by the local Quickr Domino server:
127.0.0.1  localhost    quickr.myorg.com

After restarting both servers, this worked a treat, with the errors no longer littering the server console, and performance being back to expected levels.  Hopefully, this solution will be of use to someone someday!

By: Stuart McIntyre | 2 Comments | On: 8 July 2010 13:10:26 | Tags:  quickr  domino  8.2 

Definitely one for your diaries:

IBM is hosting a Webcast conference call with IBM Software Engineers to discuss Sametime Integration with Lotus Quickr 8.2 for Lotus Domino on Wednesday, July 14, 2010 at 10:00 AM EDT.

The Webcast will consist of a slide presentation followed by Questions & Answers related to the material covered. You'll have the opportunity to ask questions directly of IBM Software Engineers.

Title: Lotus Sametime Integration with Lotus Quickr 8.2 for Lotus Domino
Date: Wednesday, 14 July 2010
Time: 10:00 AM Eastern US time, for 60 minutes

Webcast Details can be found in Technote #1438564

Post questions to the Sametime forum
In addition to asking questions live during the call, questions may be submitted in advance as a response to this announcement in the Lotus Sametime Forum.

Q&A transcript
This session will be recorded and a transcript of all questions and answers will be posted in the above technote after the call.


Visit the Lotus Support Technical Exchange Event landing page for a list of Open Mic calls/events.

If you are interested in learning more about Lotus Sametime 8.5 before joining this call, refer to the Sametime 8.5 Information Center.
Also, check out the new Whitepaper, Troubleshooting IBM Lotus Sametime and IBM Lotus Quickr integration issues http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/lotus/documentation/d-ls-stquickrtroubleshoot/


The IBM Lotus Sametime Team

By: Stuart McIntyre | 0 Comments | On: 7 July 2010 16:23:07 | Tags:  quickr  sametime  webcast 

Ebiz.net reports on today's public announcement of Lotus Quickr 8.5 for Portal at the Enterprise2.0 conference in Boston (following the formal announcement letter earlier this week):

New IBM Social Software to Help Enterprises Securely Manage Files, Blogs and Wikis

Today at the Enterprise 2.0 conference in Boston, IBM announced new social software called IBM Lotus Quickr 8.5 for WebSphere Portal to help workers connect and adapt to information and insight, including files, blogs, and wikis in a rapidly changing business environment.

ebizQ received the following:

The software, which offers a higher level of integration with a variety of IBM and Microsoft offerings than the previous version, is available now.



Rheinmetall AG tested the new software. “Lotus Quickr 8.5 software will help our employees cope with daily business challenges and collaborate more efficiently with coworkers, customers and suppliers,” said Markus Bentele, Corporate CIO, Rheinmetall AG.

A recent study by IBM found that 98 percent of CEOs need to restructure the way their organizations work; 5.3 hours is wasted per employee per week due to inefficient processes. Two hours is spent per employee per day looking for the right information and expertise within an organization. IBM’s social software can help alleviate this problem because it helps keep global work teams better connected and more able to deliver results.

IBM Lotus Quickr helps teams create content, collaborate and work fast online together. It’s a companion product to Lotus Connections, software that empowers business professionals to develop, nurture and remain in contact with the network of their colleagues; respond quickly to business opportunities by calling upon expertise in their network; and discuss and refine new creative ideas with communities of coworkers, partners and customers.

It's a shame the Domino release of Quickr 8.5 isn't ready for a launch at this important conference, but I understand the reasons why this wasn't possible.  I'll be looking out for more coverage of the Quickr announcement over the next 48 hours.

More >

By: Stuart McIntyre | 1 Comments | On: 15 June 2010 21:35:34 | Tags:  quickr  lotus  8.5  e2conf 

IBM Content Manager V8.4.2 and IBM FileNet Content Manger V4.5.1 integrate IBM Lotus Quickr for direct connect integration between collaborative Web 2.0 tools, common desktop, and e-mail applications

Adding IBM Lotus Quickr to IBM Content Manager V8.4.2 and IBM FileNet Content Manager V4.5.1 enables robust collaborative team services and document management integration.

• Enables the discovery of enterprise content and provides seamless access to business documents across the organization, while leveraging collaboration tools and every day business applications (e-mail, Office, and other tasks)
• Provides organizations with the ability to handle content as a secure corporate asset in an Enterprise Content Management (ECM) system, allowing content to participate in Business Process Management, and to be managed in accordance with content discovery, auto classification, as well as compliance and retention policies

These Web services components, components of IBM Content Manager and IBM FileNet Content Manager, enable business users to:

• Transfer collaborative content from Lotus Quickr to an ECM repository
• Incorporate existing ECM content inside collaborative team places
• Search Lotus Quickr and ECM content from a Lotus Quickr user interface
• Search IBM Content Manager and IBM FileNet Content Manager content from common desktop and e-mail applications
• Use the e-mail and desktop Place connectors to directly interact with content in IBM Content Manager and IBM FileNet Content Manager
• Use direct connect iWidgets to natively interact with content against IBM Content Manager and IBM FileNet Content Manager
• Extend advanced ECM services and function to broader collaborative team services and document management environments

IBM Content Manager Services V1.1 and IBM FileNet Content Manager Services V1.1 provide direct connect integration between e-mail and desktop applications and ECM, as well as enable Web 2.0 collaborative user interfaces and widgets to be used in multiple desktop computing environments (for instance, Microsoft Windows, Portal, and Domino). These Lotus and ECM integration points, enabled through these Web services components, unite the best-of-breed collaboration of Lotus Quickr and the industry-leading content management platform - IBM ECM. This provides the most complete single-vendor end-to-end collaborative document and content management solution in the industry.

More >

By: Stuart McIntyre | 0 Comments | On: 15 June 2010 06:09:39 | Tags:  quickr  lotus  filenet  contentmanager 

Formally announced today, electronic delivery on 15th June, 2010:

IBM Lotus Quickr 8.5 for WebSphere Portal delivers:

• New user experience
• Native bridging with Enterprise Content Management (ECM) repositories
• More administrative control
• New library portlet to integrate Lotus Quickr content into WebSphere Portal applications
• Infrastructure update and expansion, including support for IBM WebSphere Portal V6.1.5

IBM Lotus Quickr Connectors 8.5 provides:

• Users with the ability to easily access and contribute shared content in Lotus Quickr team places and ECM systems directly from popular desktop applications
• Integration with Lotus Quickr and ECM systems from Lotus Notes, Lotus Sametime, Lotus Symphony, Microsoft Office, Microsoft Outlook, and Microsoft Windows Explorer

Whilst the Domino version of Quickr 8.5 has been held back for a little longer, it's great to see the Portal release making its way into the world.  The new features are evolutionary rather than revolutionary, but do tick the boxes for a lot of customer requirements - in particular the the use of the Lotus OneUI look and feel:

IBM Lotus Quickr 8.5 for WebSphere Portal provides user interface enhancements, increased integration, streamlined administration, and infrastructure updates. It includes:

• Updated browser theme to give users a consistent experience across IBM products, including Lotus Connections and WebSphere Portal.
• Simplification of frequent user actions such as navigation within a place and common library, and document management actions.
• New rich text editor for browser-based creation of content. The same text editor is used across IBM products, such as Lotus Connections, giving end users a common experience.
• Increased integration between Lotus Quickr and Lotus Connections, including top-line navigation, use of the person card, and integrated search menu.
• Simplification of member management inside Quickr places to facilitate end-user self-service.
• New place catalog with tag-based navigation that simplifies locating places, particularly in large Lotus Quickr deployments.
• Enhanced integration with Enterprise Content Management (ECM) repositories, including new "direct connect" Web-based component that allows users to natively display and interact with ECM content from within a Lotus Quickr place.
• Parametric search of ECM content.
• Enhancements to Lotus Quickr Connectors to better support ECM content (refer to Software Announcement ZP08-0602, dated December 09, 2008.
• Easier, more flexible management tools with new administrator console that provides more complete user and place statistics, enhanced backup and recovery tools, and simplified place customization.
• New library portlet to integrate Lotus Quickr content into WebSphere Portal applications.
• Support for WebSphere Portal V6.1.5.
• Other infrastructure platform updates including AIX V6.1 64 bit, Windows 2008 64 bit, SLES 10, SLES 64 bit on System z, Oracle 10.2, Internet Explorer 8 on Windows, Firefox 3.5 on Windows, Linux, and Mac.

Also announced today are the new Quickr 8.5 Connectors:

Using Lotus Quickr Connectors 8.5 so users can easily and naturally work together on content and access content contributed by colleagues directly from their favorite desktop applications. The connectors support check-in and check-out to help manage the process of multiple authors, and version control to ensure that everyone always has the latest copy of a document. Lotus Quickr Connectors 8.5 is included with other Lotus Quickr offerings and is also available separately for access to other content repositories such as ECM systems.

• Mandatory metadata enforcement - new, simple and intuitive interface to enter and enforce entry of metadata for documents.
• Notes integration - simple drag-and-drop of Lotus Notes e-mails into Lotus Quickr places.
• Sametime integration - drag-and-drop documents into a Lotus Sametime chat windows and Web conferences.
• Microsoft Office integration - native integration into the Office 2007 "ribbon."
• User-initiated publication to a content server that helps manage performance -- particularly useful in low bandwidth situations.
• Launch a search dialog from the context of a desktop connector.
• Support for third-party authentication tools, such as SiteMinder and Tivoli Access Manager.
• Support for single sign-on tools, such as SPNEGO.
• Support for multiuser installation of the connectors on a shared workstation.

It's fair to say I haven't seen as much of Quickr 8.5 for Portal as I have of the Domino release, so I can't vouch for any aspects of performance or usability at this stage.  Now that the code has gone 'gold' I look forward to getting my hands on the new release.  I know that my fellow blogger, Sharon Bellamy, has been positively drooling with anticipation waiting to upgrade her organisation's Quickr 8.1.1 environment, so I look forward to hearing more once she gets the code on June 15th.

By: Stuart McIntyre | 6 Comments | On: 8 June 2010 06:59:58 | Tags:  quickr  portal  8.5  connectors 

The process of integrating Lotus Sametime functionality into Lotus Quickr (for presence awareness and chat) has been covered a few times, most notably in the very useful (but now out-of-date) developerWorks article, Integrating IBM Lotus Quickr Services with IBM Lotus Sametime.

However, dealing with issues relating to this integration point has always been tricky - there are a number of areas where things can fall apart, most notably with SSO and LTPA token issues.  Fortunately IBM has published a new article, detailing the best practices approach to trouble-shooting any problems:

Troubleshooting IBM Lotus Sametime and IBM Lotus Quickr integration issues
               
Level: Introductory
02 Apr 2010

By Casey Brown, Purvi Trivedi, and Stephen Shepherd

This white paper provides a step-by-step guide to isolating root causes of IBM Lotus Sametime and IBM Lotus Quickr integration issues, including the configuration areas to check, for example, Domino Names.nsf, QPconfig.xml, STconfig.nsf, and firewall settings. In addition, we provide relevant debug parameters specific to hosting IBM Lotus Domino Servers, Quickr Servers, and Sametime Servers, to help pinpoint where Sametime and Quickr integration configuration fails.

In this article:
Introduction
Setting up SSO
Authentication / LDAP configuration
Authetnication / native Domino Directory
Configuration and copying files
STLinks troubleshooting
Home Sametime server
Understanding and troubleshooting dual-directory environments
Other troubleshooting areas
Best practices for Quickr Server
Best practices for Sametime Server
Working with Lotus Technical Support
Conclusion
Resources
About the authors

It's a really good piece of work, and from my experience, covers a lot of the bases.  Get the PDF here.

By: Stuart McIntyre | 0 Comments | On: 20 May 2010 08:27:54 | Tags:  quickr  sametime  integration 

The new RIM Blackberry Client for Lotus Quickr was published earlier this year, and has recently been updated to support Lotus Quickr services for Domino 8.2 (as well as the Portal version).

Here is a demo video from RIM describing the features and look/feel of the client:

Blackberry Client for Lotus Quickr from Stuart McIntyre on Vimeo.

Demonstration of the new client for Lotus Quickr.

Originally uploaded to http://www.youtube.com/watch?hl=en-GB&v=PViUhAZITsc - reposted to allow embedding on The Quickr Blog http://quickrblog.com

More >

By: Stuart McIntyre - Quickr Blog | 0 Comments | On: 6 May 2010 06:13:06 | Tags:  quickr  blackberry  lotus  rim  demo 

Alfresco, the open-source enterprise content management provider, announced at Lotusphere 2010 that it would be introducing integration with Lotus Quickr, and showed off a number of features and functions as part of its 'technology preview'.

Today the organisation released Alfresco Community 3.3 , its new Content Services Platform for Developers:

Alfresco Software, the leader in open source enterprise content management (ECM), today announced the immediate availability of Alfresco Community Edition 3.3 for download. This release includes a range of content services for developers, including integrations with IBM Lotus Social software and a preview of an upcoming Google Docs integration. With LGPL licensing and enhancements to document and web content management (WCM) functionality, Community 3.3 is also the first ECM tool to enable developers to deliver content-rich business applications leveraging CMIS 1.0 open source standards.

“From CMIS 1.0-compliance that will ‘future proof’ content application development, to LGPL licensing, Community 3.3 offers a range of new features and functionality that will continue to extend the free distribution and presence of Alfresco open source ECM,” said John Newton, CTO, Alfresco Software. “The enhanced content services in Alfresco Community 3.3 are designed to help organizations better manage web presence with tools designed to simplify the process of building content-rich web applications using CMIS.”

The integration options in the new release include:

IBM Lotus – Building on the ‘technology preview’ of the integration between Alfresco and IBM Lotus software products (Lotus Quickr, Lotus Connections and Lotus Notes), this integration provides a more open platform and full-featured solution than Microsoft SharePoint.
Google Docs – Alfresco’ s integration with Google Docs provides users with full online editing capabilities, removing the need to use office applications, such as Microsoft Office to modify or update content.  The integration will be previewed at AIIM Expo and available for download in Alfresco Community in May.

Whilst full details of the integration with Lotus products are yet to be made available, this mix of open-source Alfresco ECM and Lotus social collaboration software seems one well worth investigating.

By: Stuart McIntyre - Quickr Blog | 2 Comments | On: 2 May 2010 20:53:39 | Tags:  alfresco  lotus 

An interesting series of videos from the IBM Lotus Information Development Center (LotusIDC), including this one on how to use Lotus Quickr to create a project team space:

By: Stuart McIntyre - Quickr Blog | 0 Comments | On: 28 April 2010 14:48:56 | Tags:  quickr  lotus  youtube 

If your organisation is looking to replace its existing Intranet solution, there are plenty of more options available than ever before, whether built on a products from a vendor such as Lotus or using open-source or bespoke alternatives.

In the IBM/Lotus stable, one could use a Domino-based content management system, WebSphere Portal, Lotus Connections or Lotus WCM as the underlying infrastructure.  All would do a great job I'm sure (though as ever, the tool being used is only a fraction of the overall solution)...

However, an option that doesn't get considered as often as it should is to use Lotus Quickr as the core for the intranet.

A Danish IT services company, Semler IT, have done just that, by basing their intranet on Lotus Quickr together with the Neo.Dashboard solution from OpusNeo:

Semler IT is part of the Semler Group, the largest family-owned car importer in Denmark. The group employs 1,600 people and imports Volkswagen, Audi, Seat, Škoda and Porsche vehicles, which are sold through a network of 200 dealerships across the country. Semler IT employs 60 people, and provides IT services, support and consultancy for the other group companies and the dealership network.

Business need:
Semler IT's existing intranet had been designed by external consultants, and could not easily be developed by the in-house team. To reduce development costs, the company wanted to move to a new technology platform.
Solution:

Semler IT deployed Neo.Dashboard from IBM Business Partner Opus Neo. Based on IBM Lotus Quickr, Neo.Dashboard provides a highly versatile intranet platform that users can personalise with RSS feeds, Google Gadgets and other Web 2.0 technologies.

Benefits:
Neo.Dashboard is easy for the in-house team to maintain and develop – and should deliver an estimated reduction in ongoing costs of more than 50 percent. The flexible Lotus Quickr platform enables simple integration with email, calendars and applications. Employees can personalise their own homepages, improving the user experience and encouraging them to make regular use of the intranet.

Taking the best features and functions of Lotus Quickr, and adding a layer of web content management from Neo.Dashboard, the solution delivers a comprehensive, dynamic and highly-personalised home page for Semler employees:

“We immediately recognised Neo.Dashboard as the right solution for the new intranet,” says Thomas Hansen. “It leverages the flexibility of Lotus Quickr to enable the integration of all sorts of content – from text, pictures and video through to Web 2.0 technologies such as Google Gadgets and RSS feeds. Adopting Neo.Dashboard meant that there would be no more need to build portlets to add new features. Instead, everything could be handled via simple iFrames, and we already had all the skills we needed in-house.”

The first phase of the project was to migrate the existing intranet content over to the new platform, giving Semler an intranet that runs on the Lotus Quickr platform and displays data from Lotus Domino databases and several internal and external Web sites. In the future, the intranet will also display data from the company’s Quickr places.

“The intranet is one of the most important channels Semler Group uses to communicate with its employees, so we wanted to make sure that the new solution would be as easy to use as the old one,” says Thomas Hansen. “To maximise user acceptance, we decided to replicate the look and feel of the existing intranet as far as possible, before we started to add anything new.”

With the new platform running smoothly, the team began to introduce new features. Integration with Lotus Notes and Domino enables users to access their email and calendars, as well as a number of Lotus Domino databases and applications.

“For example, we have an application that allows staff to pre-book their own cars into our repair shops for servicing,” comments Thomas Hansen. “We used to handle this process by email, but now it’s much easier – they can make pre-bookings directly into the repair shop’s Lotus Domino database via Neo.Dashboard.”

In the future, Semler IT plans to integrate other systems with the Neo.Dashboard solution – including the company’s IBM Cognos Business Intelligence platform. This is intended to give executives a simple, at-a-glance view of important key performance indicators, making it easier for them to get the information they need to make important decisions.

Thomas Hansen says: “The beauty of the solution is that this kind of thing is very easy to implement. We have a lot of experience with the Lotus Quickr platform in-house, and its tight integration with Lotus Domino means that we can surface all sorts of applications quickly and easily, with no need for help from external consultants. The initial cost of the Neo.Dashboard solution was 80 percent less than our previous intranet, and we estimate that ongoing maintenance and development costs should be at least 50 percent lower.”

(The Semler case study is available in PDF form for download).

So, if you're looking to replace your corporate intranet site, give some thought to using Lotus Quickr and Neo.Dashboard - it might be just the solution your organisation needs...

By: Stuart McIntyre - Quickr Blog | 3 Comments | On: 6 April 2010 06:22:43 | Tags:  quickr  opusneo  intranet