Notes 8.5 Roaming

Anthony Holmes  2 June 2008 02:13:18 PM

I've reviewed the Notes 8.5 Public Beta 1 documentation on Roaming. As well as allowing the Notes 8.5 Standard client to roam like previous versions, there are some enhancements, including the ability to use a file server, and the ability to roam Administrator and Designer preferences.

Another welcome return is the ability to install Notes 8.5 'on a stick' (or USB drive).

I've put together a description of what's new. A fair amount of it is lifted word for word out of a number of documents in the Domino 8.5 Administration Help. But I've consolidated it to focus on what's new, and I've interspersed some commentary of my own.



Summary of new Roaming Features

The Administrator Help Documentation provided with Notes/Domino Public Beta 1 outlines some of the updates to the Roaming functionality: Read it for a full description of roaming.

First, Roaming is now supported for the Notes 8.5 Standard client. With Notes 8 it was only supported for the Notes 8 Basic client.

Secondly, there are also some new options which I've collated below.

Roaming (re)introduced for Notes 8.5, including roaming of Feeds & Eclipse functions

Roaming for the IBM® Lotus® Notes® standard configuration user is introduced in this release. A new Roaming policy settings document is introduced to support this functionality, as are two new roaming-specific databases (a feeds subscription database (LocalFeedContent.nsf) and an Eclipse™ plug-in data and preferences database (RoamingData.nsf)). User files configured for roaming now appear in a single Roaming Applications folder on the Notes replicator page. As well, a new Notes preference panel, Roaming, is now available for file server roaming-enabled users.

Domino Administrator & Designer Roaming

Roaming user functionality is available for the Notes client and IBM® Lotus® Domino™ Administrator client. If the Notes client is started before the IBM® Domino® Designer™ client, Designer settings can also be roamed.

It wasn't possible to roam the Administrator or Designer with previous releases of Notes.

Roaming available to either Domino Servers or File Servers

Notes roaming user functionality for the Notes Standard configuration is available, for use with either Domino server roaming or file server roaming.  Domino server roaming was available with previous releases. File server roaming is new to 8.5.

For file server roaming, specify the file server to roam by mapping a network drive or specifying a file share.

For file server roaming choose one:

• Click Local to specify that Notes replicates roaming data from the computer you are working on to your roaming [file] server.
• Click Remote to specify that Notes uses NSF database links to access data on the roaming [file] server. Using this mode, only one Notes client can be active at a time because NSF sharing is not supported in a file share.

The words "access data on the roaming [file] server" are particularly interesting. Back in the early days of Notes (3) it was a supported option to run with your Notes Data directory on a file server. This was convenient, because it meant that no matter which PC you logged in on, you'd see the same personal files. However, at a relatively early stage it became apparent that the Notes' clients dependence upon immediate access to configuration files meant that this led to client crashes. To ensure Notes client stability, IBM dropped support for running with your data on a file server. But because of the simplicity and convenience of this setup, many customers continued to run Notes this way, with varying levels of success. See:

Title:        Is running Client Notes.ini and/or Notes Data directory on a File Server a supported configuration?
Doc #:        1086958
URL:        http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=899&uid=swg21086958

The implication from the Beta documentation is that IBM is officially reintroducing a way to run Notes with most configuration files on a file server. It looks like some files (like the Cache and the Desktop) will still be run on a local disk.

Roaming Policy Page

A new Domino Roaming policy page is used to configure Notes Standard configuration users for roaming.

The Replication page contains a Roaming Applications folder, containing the applications that have been enabled for roaming. Users  can enable or disable replication for all applications in the Roaming Applications folder, not individual items within the folder.

IBM® Lotus® Notes® files that are specified for roaming are replicated from the roaming server to the user's local computer. These include the user's contacts, bookmarks, notebook or journal, feeds subscriptions, and Eclipse plug-in data and settings.
When a roaming user logs in to any computer on which Notes is installed, their roaming-enabled files are replicated from their roaming subdirectory on the specified roaming server to that computer. On the Notes replicator page (File - Replication - Replicate) their roaming-enabled files appear grouped in their Roaming Applications folder.

Note  All applications that are roamed appear in the Roaming Applications folder on the replicator page. While users can schedule replication individually, they cannot delete from this folder.
The user's contacts application (NAMES.NSF) may contain their user's user.ID file and dictionary as file attachments.

Note  The user ID is double-encrypted for added security before being attached. Because the user ID replicates, users do not need to copy their IDs to different computers when it is modified (for example, by changing the password). Changes may not take effect, until replication occurs. In this case, the roaming user can use the old user ID.

Note  Use the "Store user ID" setting on the Roaming policy setting to specify where to store the user's user.ID file.

What gets Roamed

Most of the settings in the user's Notes preferences, except for those that are specific to the operating system's configuration, are replicated. Examples of preferences that do not roam include fonts, communication ports, background printing, bi-directional language settings, and file paths.

For Apple® Mac OS® users, replication copies the information from the Notes Preferences file.

The user's bookmarks application (BOOKMARK.NSF) include personal Welcome pages, toolbar preferences, all bookmarked applications, folders, icons, other bookmark preferences, and settings for framesets.  

The personal notebook or journal application is replicated if it is named NOTEBOOK.NSF or JOURNAL.NSF, as named on the Notes Home page (Open - Home).
Other applications that are roamed are feeds subscriptions (LOCALFEEDCONTENT.NSF) and Eclipse™ plug-in data and settings (ROAMINGDATA.NSF).

ID File Storage options

When you set up Roaming you can specify where the user's Notes ID file, in which the user's encrypted Notes password resides, is to be stored. The options are either locally, as username.ID or in the user's contacts application Personal Address Book (NAMES.NSF).

For this beta release, this setting does not apply to File server mode.

Considerations for Notes roaming user configuration and usage

The Administration Help file lists the following things to remember:

• Roaming user functionality is available for the Notes client and IBM® Lotus® Domino™ Administrator client. If the Notes client is started before the IBM® Domino® Designer™ client, Designer settings can also be roamed.
• Roaming user functionality for Notes users on the Apple® Mac OS® platform is not available in Lotus Notes standard configuration in this Beta. Roaming user in Lotus Notes basic configuration remains unchanged from earlier release capabilities.
• Notes roaming user functionality for Notes standard configuration is available, for use with either Domino server roaming or file server roaming. A new Domino Roaming policy page is used to configure Notes standard configuration users for roaming.
• If you start one of the Lotus Symphony editors before starting Notes, in a single Notes session, many Notes preferences will not be available for roaming in that Notes session. To ensure that all possible Notes preferences are available for roaming in your current Notes session, be sure to start Notes before starting Lotus Symphony.
• Roaming against a DB2-enabled server is not available in this Beta release.
• The Replication page contains a Roaming Applications folder, containing the applications that have been enabled for roaming. Users  can enable or disable replication for all applications in the Roaming Applications folder, not individual items within the folder.
• The roaming user feature in Lotus Notes basic configuration remains unchanged from its earlier release capabilities does not take advantage of the new Domino Roaming policy page.

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