IBM is hosting an Open Mic conference call with Lotus Development and Support Engineering to discuss “Customizing the Notes Install Kit”.
The Open Mic call will be held on Wednesday, July 21. The call will take place at 10:00 AM US Eastern Time and will last for 1 hour. Please dial into the call 5 minutes before the scheduled start. This conference call is designed to be an open question & answer format, so bring your questions. Please refer to the Open Mic technote #1433037 for more details.
Please post any advanced questions within the ND8.5 forum by creating a response to this post.
Subject: Push install Lotus Notes client
I would like to request the functionality to ‘push install’ the Lotus Notes client to our users’ computers. Ideally it would be nice to do a mass push install to our entire network.
The difficulty in this would obviously be that you would have to be able to deal with special computer installs (users with installation that are non-standard). If there was an option for a ‘trial’ or a ‘test’ push install that would evaluate each computers environment and provide feedback to the administrator as to the potential success level of the push install, this would help. Also, it would be beneficial to have an option to copy, migrate or save the users’ current environment that would be excellent.
Due to the potential complexity of the push install feature, at the very least, it would be nice if this feature was available for ‘new installs’. The push install tool could evaluate the target computer(s) and if it senses an existing installation it could abort and ask the administrator to remove the current installation and then re-attempt the push install.
Thank you for your serious consideration of this desired feature.
Subject: suggestion
great advice!! i would also add my voice to this what I would recommend is to follow up and request an enhancement request for this
Subject: Inventory
What you’re talking about is an inventory tool for the computers where Lotus Notes is running on.
Those tools do exist (e.g.: http://wolcottgroup.com/products/software/adt/ )
even the best tool can only provide you with a point-in-time snapshot of the current environment. A second later, your data is old.
However, those tools are a good planning base, but not required in every project.
How would you imagine a testinstall feature would work? there are functions which you can only apply during a real installation, e.g. replacing a file with a newer version. The installer wouldnt be able to find this out until it runs into this problem.
Subject: West Coast
It would be nice if there were some times for these forums that were better for PDT workers. 7 AM is a bit early.
Subject: suggestion
it is an excellent thought! and i agree
also this can be helpful:
Here is the technote that will be updated with the Q&A from this Open Mic session: Technote #1433037
Subject: Apply 8.5.1 FP3to Windows 2003 Termina Server
Hi,
When we tried to apply the 8.5.1 FP3 from 8.5.1 on a Windows 2003 64-bit Server (Terminal), it gave an error and can’t continue.
We have no problem applying it on another Widows 2003 32-bit server.
To workaround, could we copy the lotus folder from the 32-bit server and replace that 64-bit server?
Thank you.
Subject: Hot Fix and Fixpack installs
Two questions: 1. What’s the best way to chain together 8.5.1 and 8.5.1 FP3?
- What’s the best way to push out fix packs? I wish there was a background update feature.
Subject: chaining upgrade
hello this link will help you:
Title: Chaining Notes Smart Upgrade Kits
Doc #: 1438849
URL: http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21438849
Subject: Multiple langauage variants of the client on a single PC?
Is it possible to install several langauge variants of the client on a single PC and let the user pick which language they want? For example: Can English, German, French and spanish be installed on a PC and the user select shich one they want to use?
Subject: multiple language
We have packs of the MUI that might help you out?
Lotus Software Knowledge Base Document
Title: Notes Client Multilingual User Interface (MUI) functionality changes for Notes 8.x
Doc #: 1288585
URL: http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21288585
Subject: Desktop and Bookmark upgrade question
We are in the process of moving everyone from 7.x to 8.5.x while changing their workstations to Windows 7 and Office 2010.
After we build the new workstation and copy the users Data directory over to the new workstation the LN workspace does not come over. It opens with no icons except the mail and address books.
What is the secret to moving the data directory from 7.x to 8.5.x and having the workspace populate correctly with the old workspace icons in place.
Thanks…
Subject: Remove Symphony from the kit
I need to remove Symphony from the kit to make it a smaller download. This component consumes a huge amount of space and makes the download/unpacking of the Notes software much longer. That is especially bad for remote users who are never in the office.
Subject: reduce file size
Hi,
Is it possible to reduce the size of the installation files (by stripping out the included Lotus Symphony for example?)
We need to distribute the Notes client + G1 and G2 language packs to 1200 users. The combined size of those packages is almost 1Gb. It doesn’t even fit on a CD anymore…
PS: We already stripped the language packs of the unnecessary languages.
Subject: Pre Installing DB’s and setting up connection docs for the users based on Org Unit?
What is the best method to have the install pull down and bookmark and required DB’s for the users based on their Org Units? We have several Sub orgaizational units and require a different sub set of db’s for each one. My biggest issue is creating a custom install that contains these db’s and having to set up connection documents while the install runs. As well as using the Install Tuner is not very well documented and a chore to use, is there a easier solution?
Subject: Desktop Policy
Why dont you create a desktop policy ??There you can define if the user will get a local replica or just a bookmark.
Option 1) Applications\Create as new replicas on the users machine
Option 2) Applications\Bookmarks to merge with users’ bookmarks
Another option is to deploy a customized bookmark.ntf/nsf, which contains a functionality to display a frame from a serverside database.
In this database you create one document for each Database, use reader name fields to control who can see which documents.
Finally users will see a list of applications they have access to within a frame on their homepage 
Subject: Is it possible to let the upgrade package “trickle” down to the PC?
Is it possible to let the upgrade package “trickle” down to the PC in the background rather than have the user wait while the entire package is pulled across the network in one huge chunk?