| This document contains the recommended procedure for migrating to Lotus Notes/Domino 8.x from versions 6.5 and 7.
NOTE: This document is written to be platform independent; additional information to run the specific commands for each operating system can be found in the following online documents.
UNIX: "How to run Compact, Fixup, and Updall on AIX, Linux, and Solaris while the Domino server is down" (# 1303727)
IBM i (AS400): "How to run Fixup, Compact, or other command while the Domino iSeries server is down" (#1102349)
Windows: To run Domino server commands while the server is shut down (offline), append the letter "n" to the beginning of the Domino server command (required when Domino is shut down, Windows platforms only). - Open a command window (click Start -> Run, type "cmd", type Enter)
- Navigate to the file system folder where Domino server is installed. This is the same directory where nserver.exe is located.
- From that path, type the Domino server command in the command window, appending the letter "n" before the name of the Domino server task, such as in the following examples:
x:\Lotus\Domino\nfixup names.nsf -f -j -v -l
x:\Lotus\Domino\ncompact names.nsf -c -i
x:\Lotus\Domino\nupdall admin4.nsf -RX
Lotus Domino Administrator 8.0 information center topics:
Before upgrading to Lotus Domino 8.x, ensure that database is pristine by: - Running the fixup, updall and compact maintenance tasks to remove corruption, and
- Shutting down the Domino server to ensure that no server or client-invoked calls are modifying this server data while these maintenance tasks are running.
- Run Fixup (consistency checks) against all databases
Fixup -f -j -v -l
NOTE:
-f Exhaustive fixup, all documents are checked.
-j Include transaction logged databases. Without this option, fixup does not check logged databases.
-v Exclude database views (faster) for all views that will be rebuilt by updall later, no need to check view at this moment.
-l Log all processed databases (optional).
If you are running transaction logging, you must use the -j switch.
- Run Updall against all databases
Updall -R -X
NOTE:
-R (Completely rebuilds the view indexes)
-X (Completely rebuilds the full text index, if the index exist)
- Run Compact against all databases
Compact -c -i
NOTE:
-c Use copy-style compaction and recover unused white space
-i Ignore errors and allow compact to run anyway (only for copy-style)
If you are running transaction logging, be sure to use the -b switch. This is different than the upper case -B switch as -B will change the DBIID of any transactionally logged databases.
2. Because Domino 8 is scaled to handle more users concurrently, it is recommended that any stabilizing NOTES.INI parameters, such as the following, be removed or commented out of the NOTES.INI:
SERVER_SESSION_TIMEOUT
SERVER_MAXSESSIONS
SERVER_MAXUSERS
3. Investigate compatibility of vender-supplied applications and companion products with Domino 8.
After database clean-up is completed, migrate as follows:
- Install the Domino 8 Administrator client in order to administer the Domino 8 server.
NOTE: The three Notes-based clients are: Lotus Notes, Lotus Domino Administrator, Lotus Domino Designer. Domino Administrator is not the same as the standard Lotus Notes client, but a superset of that product. For a trial download of these clients, click here.
- Upgrade the Domino domain Administration server (Administration Server listed in ACL of the names.nsf) and the Domino Directory design to Domino 8.
- Replicate the Domino Directory to the other servers. Note: It is recommended to replicate ONLY the 8.x Domino Directory design elements to 7.x and 8.x servers. For more information, read the Domino Administrator topic "Limiting information received from other replicas."
Once the Domino server upgrade installation is completed, do not start the Domino server. Run the following commands to upgrade the Domino domain Administration server's names.nsf and complete initial maintenance from a command line. (Note: It is also recommended to upgrade the admin4.nsf):
1. Run design task
design -f names.nsf
design -f admin4.nsf NOTE: -f Synchronizes a specific database Read and follow this excerpt from the Notes/Domino 8.0.x release notes.
Rebuild system views in the Domino Directory after upgrading
There are several views in the Domino Directory (NAMES.NSF) which use the Unicode standard collation, and which must be rebuilt immediately after upgrading to Domino 8. The IBM Lotus Domino server knows the collation versions, and automatically rebuilds the view indexes when the server needs to use them. When the Domino server starts, it needs to access two important views, $Users and $ServerAccess. The server stops and waits for these views to rebuild. If the Domino Directory is a large file, rebuilding the two views requires a substantial amount of time. After upgrading to Domino 8, during the first server restart the server may stop while waiting for the views to rebuild. During this time, the server console will display initial information regarding the Domino server. This process has been tested using a Domino Directory containing 17,000 users. Rebuilding (reindexing) the views required approximately 40 minutes during the initial server restart after upgrade. This test was performed on the platforms listed below. Note that the time requirements varied slightly by platform. - Microsoft Windows 2003 server
- IBM AIX
- Linux
- i5/OS
If you upgrade to Domino 8 and your Domino Directory contains 10,000 users or more, plan ahead for view updating. You can use the UPDALL program to update the index offline, and then place it on the server. On Microsoft Windows platforms, enter this command nupdall -r names.nsf For more information about using the UPDALL program, see the Domino 8 Administrator documentation.
2. Run fixup task fixup names.nsf -f -j -v -l
fixup admin4.nsf -f -j -v -l
3. Run compact task
compact names.nsf -c -i
compact admin4.nsf -c -i
Note: The ODS level will not be upgraded unless a copy style compact is run on each server (not just the administration server).
4. Run updall task
updall names.nsf -RX
updall admin4.nsf -RX
Note: There will be an initial significant index rebuild performance hit on ALL databases. Read the following excerpt from the Notes/Domino 8.0.x release notes:
Rebuilding of the database design collections
To correct a potential defect, a one time rebuild of the design collection for each database will occur when either the design task or the index task is run on the database. If view events are being logged (LOG_VIEW_EVENTS=1), messages related to this activity may be observed on the console, and in log.nsf. For example:
Informational, rebuild view needed - collection object was deleted (reading C:\server\e.nsf default design note Title:'')
Informational, rebuilding view - no container or index (reading C:\server\e.nsf default design note Title:'')
Informational, rebuilding view - user specified REBUILD (reading C:\server\e.nsf default design note Title:'')
Databases will still be accessible while this rebuild is happening, but noticeable resource contention may be seen. It may be advantageous to run the index updater against your databases with the server down, where possible.
5. Start the Domino server.
Note: If you are running any third-party applications that use the 7.x Domino Directory design, do not replicate the design of the Domino Directory to those servers until the Domino 8 Design has been certified by the third-party vendor.
- Upgrade the Hub servers.
- Upgrade the Mail servers.
- Upgrade the SMTP servers.
- Upgrade the Web servers.
- Upgrade the Application servers.
- Any third-party/companion product server (check for Domino 8 readiness).
- Upgrade the database format by converting the .NSF format on the applications or mail files by running the Compact command on the Domino 8 server. Refer to the Special Notes section below for more information.
- Upgrade the general population of Notes Client users to Notes 8.
Note: If you are upgrading your executives to the Notes 8 client, upgrade their assistants to Notes 8 at the same time. This will alleviate any limitations when managing calendars.
DO NOT upgrade the mail file templates before upgrading the user's Notes 8.x client - Replace the design of any database/mail files with any new Notes 8 design changes last. For mail files, the Convert command should be run on the Domino 8 server to upgrade the design of the mail file. Do NOT use the Designer task to upgrade the design of the mail file.
For more information on using the Convert task see the topic, "Upgrading mail files with the mail conversion utility" in the Notes/Domino 8.0.x release notes.
For Converting the Database Applications
For databases that you do not want converted to the new Domino 8 format when Compact runs on the Domino 8 server, pull a new local replica of the database with an .NS6 extension. Renaming the file extension at the operating system prompt will not prevent the database from being converted.
Note: In Notes 7.x the ODS did not change; thus, the NS6 will keep the database at 43.
Refer also to the technotes:
"Databases created with an ODS-specific extension are not upgraded by Compact task" (#1086780)
"On-Disk Structure (ODS) version for Notes/Domino 8 and how is it enabled" (#1267844)
Page 60 of the IBM Redbook Lotus Notes and Domino 8 Deployment Guide , explains how to upgrade the ODS and benefits. It is listed as "highly recommended" to upgrade the ODS AFTER the Domino system administrator ensures that the Domino server is stable at the new Domino 8 code level.
NOTE: The ODS level will not be upgraded unless a copy style compact is run on each server (not just the administration server). The new ODS version is not enabled by default for new or upgraded Domino applications, so those databases will not be converted by compact when default settings are used. It is only enabled if the notes.ini setting CREATE_R8_DATABASES=1 is added.
For Calendar and Scheduling (C&S) in Mixed Environments
Meeting workflow is fully supported between Notes 8 and Notes 7. You do not need to be on a certain 6.x release or mail template to schedule meetings between Notes 8.x and Notes 6.x. If Calendar & Scheduling is in iCalendar (MIME) format, then all mail servers including any SMTP servers must be at a Domino 8.x release level. For more information about iCalendar and Domino, refer to the technote, "Support for iCalendar and vCard in Domino" (#1102862) .
Lotus Notes/Domino 8 Release notes
Lotus Notes and Domino 7 Enterprise Upgrade Best Practices
Lotus Notes and Domino 8 Deployment Guide
IBM Lotus Domino 8 server with the IBM Lotus Notes V8 client: Performance
Domino 8 Administrator documentation
The following knowledge collection contains all resources above as well as other technotes that may be helpful with upgrade to 8.x:
Knowledge Collection: Upgrading to Lotus Notes/Domino 8.0.1 (#7011887)
Note: Please note that overall impact of the recommendations in this Technote is subject to different performance per environment. |
