January 17th, 2007
Daylight Saving Time 2007 - Part 3
Now that you are looking at the systems you have in the US that may need to be updated for the new DST rules in 2007, let's talk about the effect on Lotus products a bit. I'm going to focus on Lotus Notes and Domino for now, since that's what this blog is about, but the link over there in the last sentence talks about more than just Notes, so you need to read up on them. Seriously - study that technote and the linked technotes.
Once you get your operating system updated, double check the time zone on your system, just for fun. Then double check the time zone on your software products. The reason I say this is that the Microsoft patch includes the addition of new timezones, created to deal with DST in Western Australia, and the fact that Western Mexico decided to stop using Pacific (US) time, because it would have thrown them out of line with the rest of Mexico. Other time-related fixes are included in the Microsoft fix that were previously hotfixes only for the affected areas, so there are a few new things floating around in there. If you used Microsoft's test DST tool to test your systems, the final product is different. Just double check, OK?
Domino
If you're working with Domino, get your OS patched, then run the JTZU tool to update the tables inside the Java code. This update is needed for LEI, Sametime and other products, so while you are in there working on the server, do it so you'll be up to date. Another alternative is to upgrade the server to upgrade to Domino 7.0.2FP1 when it ships later this month. The changes for Java are in there already.
A word about re-starting here. I've been getting a lot of questions about whether to restart the server or not after such changes. My experience as an administrator is that you ALWAYS reboot the server - Domino, OS, whatever if you make a major change. I consider mucking around with time a major change, so I say reboot, that's my opinion. Your server needs a nap too sometimes.
The server isn't what gives calendar entries it's time/date stamp though - its the client.
Lotus Notes
Simple enough here. You have to update Windows XP with Microsoft's solution. It's a manual rollout for now, so if you have control of your desktops, you can roll it. If you don't have control of your desktops, then MS will push it as a critical update after their Outlook and Exchange fixes are in place (according to that link above).
What's that, you say? You're running Windows2000, or 98, or 95? Then you get to package a registry update and push it somehow to those machines. Microsoft gives you the info here.
Okay, then restart the computer and double check the time zone (because I'm paranoid about that - see above, not necessarily an 'official' requirement).
All new meetings and invitations will now be created with the correct settings and you'll be on time. All existing meetings need to be touched somehow. For Notes 6 and 7, use the agents provided here. You can have users run them manually with a button, put it in post open code, or run from a single database on each server. It depends on your users and your system which option you choose.
If you have a small system, its probably easier to tell users to change their meetings after you update their Windows. I'll give screen shots later on manual rescheduling, but remember, this is AFTER the OS change is made.
As far as Resource Reservations, there's an agent for those in the technote also. If the entries are created manually in the resource database, this agent will reschedule those. If the entries are set using a calendar meeting invitation, the user reschedule, whether manual or agent-driven will reschedule those.
So get going, get the desktops updated, get your plans in place and TEST. Then TEST some more. Grab the agents from the technote above and TEST them. Are you seeing a pattern here? Get familiar with the changes for operating systems and software. Test the changes.
More to come - this should keep you busy for a while. Hit me with questions................
