Author: Benjamin Hering

Apples and Berries

I really like Blackberry Smartphones and I used them over the last 10 years. Never needed a case for protection. All devices dropped on any type of ground for many times. You can see it at the edges and corners but no broken screen.

Some months ago my Blackberry Passport dropped very hard directly on a piece of stone and the screen broke completely. I would buy this phone again but Blackberry has stopped the development for their OS.

My first thought when I was able to compare Samsung Galaxy with an iPhone was about the advantages of a single vendor for hardware and the operating system. IOS feels more whole integrated and you have not to care about long time updates for the software. This is what I am used to. So I finally decided for an iPhone 8 – together with a case.

I also would like to think that the business model of Apple and Google is at least slightly different. Apple as manufacturer for devices running their own software with a high pricing. And Google as big data company with Android and any device vendor as yet another data source (#yads).

It will take me some time until I stop scrolling to the far left screen searching for the message hub. The far left screen on iOS is rather useless. I also miss the separated spaces for business and private which is directly and fully integrated on Blackberry OS. By contrast, the app container sandbox used by MDM solutions on iOS look like a work-around.

IBM Connections 6.0 part numbers and links for Windows and Linux

IBM Passport Advantage:

Websphere Application Server & Supplements 8.5.5 (multi-platform): CIK2HML,CIK2IML,CIK2JML,CIK1VML,CIK1WML,CIK1XML

Connections 6, Wizard and Surveys Linux: CNIB2ML,CNIB5ML,CNIC1ML
Connections 6, Wizard and Surveys Windows: CNIB0ML,CNIB4ML,CNIC0ML

Tivoli Directory Integrator 7.1.1 Linux: CZUF3ML

Tivoli Directory Integrator 7.1.1 Windows: CZUF7ML

FIX CENTRAL:

TDI 7.1.1 FP6 (multi-patform)
DB2 Enterprise Server 11.1 FP1 (Windows & Linux / includes full server setup)
Websphere Application Server & Supplements 8.5.5 FP10 (multi-platform)

Connections 6 OrientMe, Day1 Fixes, TypeAhead, Textbox.io

Installation Manager 1.8.6 Linux

Installation Manager 1.8.6 Windows

IBM Solutions Catalog

Connections Touchpoint installation package

Facebook Workplace

A few days ago I had a conversation about the business version of Facebook and the IBM Connections Cloud offering.

In the private sector, Facebook has nearly grown up to a global communication provider because the service is used by almost everyone. The success is not just based on good software but how money is made from the collected information. “Personalized advertising” is only one aspect of the business model.

What you get with Facebook Workplace is a modern software stack with basic social tools. Easy to use and end-user training might take small effort because it’s already well known.

But in general this kind of software is used to store important information, with Facebook as a system ultimately developed for data analysis. There must be a lot of trust given that your data will not used for the daily “big data” business.

Mac OS X: Switch between windows of same application

I’ve been working for quite a while with Apple Mac OS X. As a former Windows user I missed the possibility to switch between windows of the same application with an keyboard shortcut.

Cmd + TAB only changes between the open applications and does not replace the alt + TAB, which is known from Windows.

At least in the most recent version of OS X you can use cmd + > (german keyboard layout, cmd + ` with US layout) to change between windows of the same application. You can change this shortcut in the System preferences: System Preferences -> Keyboard -> Keyboard Shortcuts -> Keyboard & Text Input

Store IBM Connections data on Unix filesystem

The last days I tried to move the IBM Connections datastore (or “shared data” folder) from a single-node Linux system to a Microsoft Windows file server.

The Connections data files are stored in a bunch of folders and sub-folders, managed by the associated applications. Linux filesystems like EXT3 support case-sensitive names. Connections Blogs and other applications create folders with case-sensitive names on this filesystem type to structure the data.

NTFS filesystem which is used on Windows file server does not support case-sensitive file and folder names. As a result it’s not possible to copy Connections data from Linux to Windows filesystem.

This might be annoying in some situations, especially because some of the applications are managing data without braking cross-platform compatibility. The Connections Files application for example stores it’s data in folders with numerical names.

 

Basic troubleshooting with ldapsearch

Ldapsearch is a simple comannd-line tool, helpful for checking LDAP connection parameters and building LDAP search filters.

On many Linux and Mac OS setups it’s installed by default. Fortunately a ldapsearch.exe running on Windows is included in the program directory of IBM Notes Client and Domino Server.

Syntax: ldapsearch -h HOST -p PORT -D BINDUSER -w PASSWORD -b BASEDN (LDAP_SEARCH_FILTER)
# For example: Use a LDAP account for bind to ldap service and search for a single user account with it's CN

ldapsearch -h "ldap.domain.com" -p "389" -D "CN=LDAP Bind,OU=User,DC=DOMAIN" -w "secret" -b "OU=User,DC=DOMAIN" "(cn=Connections ServiceUser)"

You might see some more output from this command. Pay attention to the following messages and probable failure reasons:

‘invalid credentials’

  • Wrong credentials for the LDAP bind user
  • TCP connection to LDAP service is working

’32 No such object’

  • The LDAP Base DN is most propably not available
  • LDAP bind works

‘numResponses: 1’

  • No result for your LDAP search Filter. You can try a search sring like (cn=*) to get an overview of all LDAP entries available.
  • LDAP bind works and Base DN is available

‘numResponses: 2’

  • Search for an single user was successful

IBM DB2 cross-patform migration

If your IBM Connections platform needs to move to a different operating-system (e.g. Windows to Linux) there is an important limitation for the transfer of DB2 data. A simple database backup and restore can not be used when switching the operating system.

For IBM Docs, the Forms Experience Builder (Surveys) or other 3rd-party applications this gets important for the migration from Connections 5.0 to the latest 5.5 release because Surveys and Docs are used in many customer deployments.

The DB2 database transfer for the connections core applications (homepage, files, …) with the DBT tool is working fine and is documented in the official wiki.

To move your Docs and FEB database we need another strategy:

Prepare transfer for DB2 data:

  • Create database on the destination server
    • Use the same SQL scripts the source database was created with
    • Example: If you migrate from Docs 1.0.7 to 2.0 you have to use the SQL scripts from the 1.0.7 packages
  • Update database on destination server to schema version of the source database
  • Grant access (run appGrants.sql for example)

Copy DB2 data:

Use db2move to export/import all data from a database. Execute the commands with the database instance owner (db2admin, db2inst1) on the source and destination server.

  • Run data export on source DB2 server for each database
    • Open command window and change to a temporary folder
    • db2move CONCORD export -u <db2admin_user> -p <db2admin_user_password>
    • <db2admin_user>: User the source database was created with
  • Import data on DB2 destination server
    • Copy the temporary folder with the exported data from the source server to the destination server
    • Open command window on DB2 destination server and change to the temporary folder
    • db2move CONCORD load

Update DB2 database:

  • Update database on the destination server with the SQL scripts from the recent release.
    • Example: If you migrate from Docs 1.0.7 to 2.0 you have to use the SQL scripts from the 2.0 packages to update the database
  • Grant access (run appGrants.sql for example)

Mac OS X and TRIM with 3rd party SSD

In short: If you have installed a SSD device from a 3rd party vendor to a Macbook ALWAYS disable tools for trim support in Mac OS X BEFORE resetting the NVRAM/PRAM for troubleshooting. Your Mac will stop during next startup with a stop-sign on grey background:

Mac OS X stop sign

After the last reboot on my Macbook Pro (late 2011) I have seen this error for the first time.

I tried the common troubleshooting steps (safe boot, reset SMC and repair disk/filesystem with Disk Utility) with no success. The safe boot stopped with the message “waiting for root device”.

At next I removed the SSD from the Macbook and could successfully boot from another SSD with OS X installed. So I tried to connect the estimated defective SSD with a SATA/USB Adapter to check if I can backup some files.

Surprise – the system booted automatically from my SSD when connected via USB.

I had no luck finding some tips for further troubleshooting. I finally decided to install the SSD back to the Macbook and re-install the OS with a bootable USB install device. All data and configurations were still available after the re-install and the system was working again.

To enable TRIM for a non Apple SSD device that was installed to my Macbook I am using Trim Enabler. The application disables a Kernel extension named kext-signing. This security setting prevents from installing 3rd party vendor firmware.

One week ago I had issues with high CPU usage and performed the NVRAM/PRAM reset. As described in the FAQ kext-signing needs to be enabled again before NV/PRAM reset.

 

WebSphere Federated Repository with Domino LDAP

If IBM Domino LDAP is used for WebSphere Application Server 8.x federated repository problems can occur if another repository (Active Direcory for example) needs to be added to the configuration.

A common work-around when using Domino LDAP in combination with WebSphere Application Server is to use “root” as base-entry. If “O=COMPANY” is used for example, which is actual more usual, Websphere is unable to resolve groups in Domino LDAP.

At the moment an additional LDAP source needs to be connected to WebSphere you might recognize that the configuration is screwed.

On my demo setup I have a Microsoft ActiveDirectory and Domino LDAP (configured in this sequence) connected as Websphere repositories.

was_fed_repo1

The configuration becomes corrupted if I want to add another LDAP server :

was_fed_repo2

To configure Websphere with a Domino LDAP and one or more additional LDAP repositories, first add the non-Domino repositories to your Application Servers.