Mergers, acquisitions, divestitures,
consolidations, upgrades and corporate rebranding have become increasingly
commonplace events in today’s business climate, and companies often move
these projects forward with little regard to how they’ll impact corporate
Domino infrastructures. Performing these transitions with minimal
disruption to the user base will greatly stress most administrators. Proper
planning and organization is crucial for success. Using Binary Tree’s
software along with their proven transition methodology, these challenges
can be taken on with ease! The transition methodology outlined below can be
used to structure all of these types of transitions:
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Binary
Tree’s transition methodology begins with a detailed assessment of the
application environment using
CMT Inspector for Lotus Notes. The
assessment identifies a list of all databases that will require code
remediation prior to the transition. Code remediation can include
hardcoded references to server names or functions that are incompatible
from one version of Domino to another. This phase typically kicks off an
independent remediation effort which runs parallel to the rest of the
transition project and typically ends prior to the update phase.
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An
in-depth audit of the Domino environment is performed using
CMT for Domains. This process
analyzes the Domino domain, refines the application analysis results,
reviews mail routing
and replication topology, determines readiness for application migration
to new servers, identifies impact to scheduled agents and manages
mail-in-database redirection. This process also validates user mail
files for proper access and configuration and identifies and
programmatically corrects any potential issues.
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CMT for Domains
helps administrators guide large numbers of users through the intricate
processes of changing their visible naming hierarchy, updating their
certificates and ID files to ensure that their read and unread marks are
preserved, and ensuring they maintain continuous access to encrypted and
otherwise secured data. The rename process is monitored with the
software and the renamed user ID's are harvested from the workstations
for escrow purposes. This rename process is best suited prior to
transition but can be performed later if necessary.
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CMT for Domains
simplifies the transfer of a Domino server or cluster of servers from
one Notes domain to another both by identifying all the steps required
to move the server to a new domain, and then by actually performing each
step automatically in the correct sequence. Users and applications are
moved to new servers, after server moves are completed, by the creation
of replicas on the target server as well as all cluster members. The new
replicas are kept in synchronization by means of scheduled replication.
Once all databases have been replicated to the new servers, the files
are validated and assigned new Administrative servers. The Domino
directory is then updated and distributed to reflect these changes.
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CMT for Domains
performs server rename using virtual Domino server clustering by
methodically executing a hierarchical server rename with minimal server
outage and no negative impact to end users’ server access. Both server
and domain renames, if required, should occur after the user rename and
move phases are complete.
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The final
step in this methodology is the updating of client workstations and
Lotus Notes desktops. The workstation update is executed by means of an
email sent to the user. This will allow for the reconfiguration of the
client desktop in a manner that minimally impacts the user and requires
no workstation visit. The location documents, workstation icons and
bookmarks are all updated to reflect the new changes.
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