Error in HATS toolkit after applying RAD 7.5.5 fix pack

This blog entry popped up on my radar tonight. If you have a HATS project and are suddenly getting and extra 'Web Content" folder. This, fix will correct the problem.

http://www-949.ibm.com/software/rational/cafe/blogs/hats-tricks/2010/01/28/creating-projects-with-hats-v75-after-applying-rad-v755-fix-pack-may-cause-problems

Thanks to Gerald Mitchell for the post.

So, what is the 'Facebook for the Enterprise'?

Its also the fastest growing product in IBM's history. Hmm...

Watch to find out.

Domino 8.5 fixpack 1 Heap Overflow via DOS attack

Just saw this issue pop up on my crawlers.

http://intevydis.blogspot.com/2010/01/lotus-domino-7-probably-8-ldap-heap.html

No indication if this is specific to a particular operating system. Secunia, vulnerability intelligence provider, rates this as a moderately critical issue. It is currently unpatched.

Beta 3 of WebSphere Portal 7 Now Available

I just saw that IBM released beta 3 of Portal 7 this week. I didn't see it on my #ls10 radar on twitter, so I guess I'm not following enough Portal geeks out there.

New features in Beta 3 include:

• Tagging allows users (and entire user communities) to classify, organize and structure content autonomously. It can add valuable meta-information and even lightweight semantics and allows non-expert users to develop folksonomies that categorize content available in the system.
• Rating allows users to vote for the popularity of portal content and helps other users to quickly identify hot items
• Virtual resources based security concepts to control which and how users and groups can tag and rate
• Full xmlaccess support for tagging and rating
• Powerful APIs to create, delete, update and query tags and ratings
• Lotus Web Content Management enhancements including: content model simplified by merging Sites and Site Areas, enhanced workflow model providing support for Bi-directional workflow traversal, and taxonomy driven option selection element
• Extend and integrate Lotus Web Content Management with external applications via Java Messaging (JMS)

Also IBM is announcing a Portal Hypervisor edition for use with WebSphere Cloudburst. This is a preconfigured image that can be deployed onto VMware ESX/ESXi and VSphere. I don't see in the documentation that it is available for PowerVM, but you can bet that is in the works as there are a LOT of AIX installs out there.

Then they have a new beta for WebSphere Portlet factory. Portlet Factory beta's new features include:

• New visual application development features with palette based drag and drop design capabilities
• Enhanced Web 2.0 support enabling creation of even richer and more interactive applications
• Expanded theme support for generating visually compelling user interfaces out-of-the-box including page tabs, paging button and links
• New transformation capabilities providing the ability to easily manipulate, filter and merge data from multiple back-end systems
• New remote deployment feature for hassle-free application deployment to remote systems
• Improved Web service and improved application and memory performance enabling creation of faster and more scalable applications

Now Portlet factory, is a tool that you can use to build not only portlets, but also plain old java web apps. Its name is a bit of a disguise for some of its hidden gems. I've deployed web apps to tomcat with this tool before. Now, its no substitute for a pure ground-up high performance app, but if you need an application with lots of features and you need it quick, this is a real productivity tool. Of course, it shines in developing portlets because doing a portlet has quite a bit more complexity that a Java EE web app.

I'm dowloading the latest beta now. I still have not had a time to review the last beta, so I guess this is good timing!

IBM Rational Products and WIndows 7 Support: UPDATED

*** UPDATED 4/2/2010***  new support for Rational Functional Tester, Rational Performance Tester, Rational Service Tester, Rational Quality Manager, ClearCase and ClearQuest

The following is from the IBM Support site. For those preparing to deploy or run the SDP on Windows 7. Note that some products are also supported on a linux desktop environment.

Microsoft Windows 7 support for Rational products

News Abstract The Detailed System Requirements Documents for all IBM Rational Products should be reviewed for Operating System and Environment support. This document serves to notify you which Rational Products Support Microsoft Windows 7 as of its release.

Content

Change History Microsoft released Windows 7 in October 2009. Where Windows 7 is mentioned below, the business release versions included (unless otherwise stated) are: Windows 7 Professional Windows 7 Enterprise Details can be found on the Microsoft Web site: HERE IBM Rational intends to provide client-side support for the following versions of Windows 7. Windows 7 Professional 32 and 64 bit Windows 7 Enterprise 32 and 64 bit Windows 7 Ultimate 32 and 64 bit Note: Server components may not be supported on Windows 7 Refer to the product specific platform support pages and Technotes for Windows 7 support restrictions or limitations. Rational products currently supporting Windows 7 IBM Rational Application Developer Supported introduced in version: 7.5.5 Details and Limitations: 1407577 Full Product Downloads & Upgrades IBM Rational Asset Manager Supported introduced in version: 7.2.0.1 Details and Limitations: 1382926 Full Product Downloads & Upgrades IBM Rational Change Supported introduced in version: 5.2.0.2 Full Product Downloads & Upgrades IBM Rational ClearCase Supported introduced in version: 7.1.1 Details and Limitations: 1404683 Product updates page: Available iFixes and Fix Packs for ClearCase Family 7.x IBM Rational ClearQuest Supported introduced in version: 7.1.1 Details and Limitations : 1415926 Product updates page: Latest iFixes and Fix Packs for ClearQuest 7.x IBM Rational Doors Web Access Supported introduced in version: 1.3 (Browser client supports IE8) Full Product Downloads & Upgrades IBM Rational Focal Point Supported introduced in version: 6.4.1 (Browser client supports IE8) Full Product Downloads & Upgrades IBM Rational Functional Tester Supported introduced in version: 8.1.1 Full Product Downloads & Upgrades IBM Rational Host Access Client Package Supported introduced in version: 7.0 Full Product Downloads & Upgrades IBM Rational Host On-Demand Supported introduced in version: 11.0 release. (Packaged with HACP V7) Full Product Downloads & Upgrades IBM Rational Performance Tester Supported introduced in version: 8.1.1 Full Product Downloads & Upgrades IBM Rational Personal Communications (PCOMM) Supported introduced in version: 6.0 (Packaged with HACP V7) Full Product Downloads & Upgrades IBM Rational ProjectConsole Supported introduced in version: 7.0.3 and 7.0.1.7 Details and Limitations: 1411053 Full Product Downloads & Upgrades IBM Rational Publishing Engine Supported introduced in version: 1.1.1 Full Product Downloads & Upgrades IBM Rational Quality Manager 2.0.0.1 Supported introduced in version: 2.0.0.1 (Browser client supports IE8) Full Product Downloads & Upgrades IBM Rational Service Tester for SOA Supported introduced in version: 8.1.1 Full Product Downloads & Upgrades IBM Rational SoDA Supported introduced in version: 7.0.3 and 7.0.1.7 Full Product Downloads & Upgrades IBM Rational Software Architect Supported introduced in version: 7.5.5 Details and Limitations: 1407577 Full Product Downloads & Upgrades IBM Rational Synergy Supported introduced in version: 7.1.0.1 Full Product Downloads & Upgrades IBM Rational Team Concert Supported introduced in version: 2.0.0.2 Details and Limitations: 7015704 Full Product Downloads & Upgrades IBM Rational Test RealTime Supported introduced in version: 7.5.0.3 Details and Limitations: 4025388 Full Product Downloads & Upgrades

LotusSphere 2010 - Blogging from the sidelines

This year, I am sadly missing LotusSphere, IBM's annual collaboration conference due to some prior commitments. Sigh. I am, however, very intently, watching the blogosphere and the twittersphere for updates, and it appears Lotus is making a LOT of new strides and releasing a dizzying array of new features for their software portfolio. Among those, and just since the opening session and business partner day yesterday are:

• Announcement of Project Vulcan - a social and business analytics project involving Lotus Notes, Quickr, Connections and new software from IBM focused on Continuity, Convergence, Innovation & New Opportunities.
• Announcement of Lotus Quickr 8.5 with key features of running on Domino 8.5.1
• An expansion of the LotusLive offering. One major advantage of the LotusLive Notes offering -- it is designed specifically with hybrid (on-premises + cloud) environments in mind.
• IBM announced Lotus Notes Traveler Companion, which is IBM's first-ever application available on the Apple iPhone App Store.
• IBM will be producing a Lotus Traveler server for running on Linux environments (currently only available on Windoze).
• Lotus Notes Traveler client for Google Android coming in 2H10
• Lotus Notes and Domino will be moving to a closed distribution model - meaning that only partners that are capable of properly implementing and servicing the product will be able to sell it (Strongback Consulting is already there and has over 14+ years of expertise in Notes/Domino)
• IBM and partners will be reselling the RIM Blackberry components that support Quickr and Connections - this means getting your Lotus Quickr wikis, blogs, and documents natively on your Crackberry.
• Sametime 8.5 is now delivered in a Collaboration Server and Meeting server edition as well as a new Proxy Server edition.
  

You can keep up with the events and happenings of LotusSphere by looking for the #LS10 hashtag on Twitter. Look at my twitter widget on the right hand side of this blog for my retweets.

Making the installation of SNAPPS Templates much Quickr

For anyone using Lotus Quickr (formerly Quickplace), the guys at SNAPPS have created some freely available templates for use. Whenever I install Quickr for a customer I often install these templates with the base installation as a bonus.
After you've installed something repeatedly, you often think 'hey.. I could script that!'. And so I did. You don't have the full flexibility of scripting in a Domino environment, but there are quite few things that you can do in a batch/shell script by calling the specific items in the Domino program directory. Now, this part is really just for upgrading or registering the newly created SNAPPS templates. My step just speeds up the command line portion of it and allows you to run a single batch file instead of 16+ commands. This is for Windows only, but a shell script is just a AWK away. If you have more fancy things to add to the script, please leave a comment.

Follow all the instructions from the SNAPPS team for the initial download and setup of the QEngine and QContacts applications, and copying the other templates into your LotusQuickr directory. Then, copy the following into a batch file and insert into your Domino program directory. Then at step 3 of installing a single template, execute the batch file. This will install and register all the SNAPPS templates.


REM #################################################
REM Install and/or upgrade the SNAPPS Templates
REM Copyright 2010, Strongback Consulting
REM www.strongbackconsulting.com
REM
REM Obtain the SNAPPS templates via http://templates.snapps.com
REM #################################################
echo ### REGISTERING qactivities ####
nqptool upgrade -f -p qactivities
nqptool register -install -p qactivities

echo ### REGISTERING qannounce ####
nqptool upgrade -f -p qannounce
nqptool register -install -p qannounce

echo ### REGISTERING qcontacts ####
nqptool upgrade -f -p qcontacts
nqptool register -install -p qcontacts

echo ### REGISTERING qideas ####
nqptool upgrade -f -p qideas
nqptool register -install -p qideas

echo ### REGISTERING qissues ####
nqptool upgrade -f -p qissues
nqptool register -install -p qissues

echo ### REGISTERING qmeeting ####
nqptool upgrade -f -p qmeeting
nqptool register -install -p qmeeting

echo ### REGISTERING qphotos ####
nqptool upgrade -f -p qphotos
nqptool register -install -p qphotos

echo ### REGISTERING qpresent ####
nqptool upgrade -f -p qpresent
nqptool register -install -p qpresent

echo ### REGISTERING qsite ####
nqptool upgrade -f -p qsite
nqptool register -install -p qsite

echo ### REGISTERING qsurvey ####
nqptool upgrade -f -p qsurvey
nqptool register -install -p qsurvey

echo ### REGISTERING qproject ####
nqptool upgrade -f -p qproject
nqptool register -install -p qproject
echo ----- Registration Complete ------
pause

Then you can use the Domino Admin console to add owners to all the places at once.

IBM announces a new support portal

For those (like me) tired of digging through dozens of different URL's to find the right product support site for the right IBM product, fear no more. IBM has announced the new support portal open for business as of yesterday.

As part of the IBM CIO transformation initiative, IBM has developed a best in class online technical Support Portal that helps differentiate IBM products in the marketplace. It is a no charge, value add to our clients and IBM Business Partners.

The portal is a unified, centralized view of all technical support tools and information for all IBM software, systems and services. Clients can tailor the pages to suit their needs, focus on the products they care about and organize the pages to reflect the way they work. The portal simplifies their online technical support experience, reduces the time it takes to find the information they need to solve problems, and alerts them to information that can help them avoid problems.

The new support portal is available at http://www-01.ibm.com/support/electronicsupport/portal.html.

Learn how to use it at with this video.

Java EE 6 released

After several years of development and LOTS of community involvement, Sun has announced the release of Java Enterprise Edition 6 or Java EE 6 for short. Please, please don't call it J2EE anymore!

There is a good article on the Sun Developer site on the new features of Glassfish v3 and JEE6. Another good presentation based overview of the new features are here.

Now, your next question will be "When will IBM have Java EE 6 in WebSphere?" Well, based on prior experience, look for IBM to release a feature pack for Java EE6 later this year, and possibly have a point release of WAS and WAS ND sometime early next year (perhaps named WebSphere 7.1 if prior numbering proves anything).

Properties based configuration in WebSphere App Server 7

One of the new features WebSphere Application Server 7 is its properties file based configuration. Since version 5 WAS has had a scripting interface called wsadmin (it was an xml interface in prior versions), which is accessed from the WAS_HOME/bin directory as wsadmin.bat or wsadmin.sh. This scripting interface allows live interaction with the server, or you can feed it a script to run several commands at once. In prior versions of WAS, some of these scripts could be very complex if you needed to update several configurations, and subsequently could take on an application development lifecycle of its own. WAS 7 makes this much easier by referencing parameters to be changed by a simple properties file.

To demonstrate, we'll update a JDBC property on our test WAS environment. We start by extracting the current configuration. First, start wsadmin in a new shell window.



wsadmin.bat -lang jython

wsadmin> AdminTask.extractConfigProperties('-propertiesFileName server1.props -configData Server=server1')


This will extract the entire current server properties to a text based properties file in your WAS profile bin directory. Open it up and take a look at it. I recommend using Notepad2 for readability if you are on Windows.






Notice that it is broken into sections. To get only a particular section, just substitute the resource name for the configData argument in the extractConfigProperties argument above.

In this example, I want to turn verbose garbage collection on. I simply change this value to 'true' and save the properties file. I'm choosing this value because turning on verbose gc makes troubleshooting JVM heap dumps easier to troubleshoot. I use this with the IBM Support Assistant (which is free) to help troubleshoot problematic environments.

Its a good idea to validate your new properties before you apply them. To do this we issue AdminTask.validateConfigProperties('-propertiesFileName server1.props') at the wsadmin prompt. If valid the prompt will return 'true'.

Next, we apply the properties with AdminTask.applyConfigProperties('-propertiesFileName server1.props'). If successful, the command should return two single quotes ('').
Finally save the configuration with AdminConfig.save().

To confirm that our new setting has been applied, open the administration console and go to the JVM settings for your server. These are found in under 'Servers - Server Types - WebSphere Application Servers' on the left navigation bar. Then go to 'Java and Process Management' under the 'Server Infrastructure' heading. On the next screen click 'Java Virtual Machine'. Your configuration should look like the image shown.





















If you have trouble with the commands you can get help by using the help interface, for example:

AdminTask.help('extractConfigProperties') or AdminTask.help('applyConfigProperties'). If you are really lost (and just not familiar with wsadmin), call Help.help() to get started. Of course you can always call our office to get some support too.

As you can see the benefits of the new properties based configuration is easier scripting, and therefore easier automation for your environment. Its a simpler configuration and one that more easily be adapted for disparate environments.