1. No category

... or how to give your IBM Lotus Notes Clients a little love – and be loved back!
The mind is like a parachute. It doesn’t work unless it’s open.
© 2007 - 2012 panagenda
Agenda
Coming up next …
Who am I? … and about panagenda
Basics
• A summary of what a Notes 8 client comes with
Under the Hood
• What makes a Notes client START slow (and what makes it faster)
• What makes a Notes client PERFORM slow (and again faster)
• Deep Diving
• A peek under the hood of Client / Server interaction
Under the Hood of (IBM Lotus) Notes Clients
2
Introduction
Under the Hood of (IBM Lotus) Notes Clients
3
Daniel Reimann
Head of Technical Account Management - panagenda
Lotus Notes / Domino since 1999
Consultant at several IBM business partners
• Administration and Development
• Also long-term for well-known big companies
TAM @panagenda since 2011 with core competence
on Lotus Notes Client Management,
Lotus Notes / Domino Infrastructure-Analysis and Optimization
I enjoy working with many great companies in many
different countries (I travel *a lot*)
Under the Hood of (IBM Lotus) Notes Clients
4
About panagenda
We network symbiotic relationships with our customers and partners for ongoing joint win-win
HQ: Vienna/AT, offices in Heppenheim near
Frankfurt/DE, Boston/USA
Development of standard products
>4 million licenses in over 70 countries
IBM Lotus Notes
Client Management
MarvelClient :: „99%“ manageability
(not „just“ IBM Lotus Domino)
Server Analytics, Monitoring & Reporting
GreenLight :: realtime, longterm, smart
Analyze Groups, Certifiers and ACLs
GroupExplorer :: better transparency, security & automation
plus: NameChanger (Name changes), DatabaseExplorer (Design Analysis), Notes2Web (Web transformation)
Under the Hood of (IBM Lotus) Notes Clients
5
Agenda
Coming up next …
Who am I? … and about panagenda
Basics
• A summary of what a Notes 8 client comes with
Under the Hood
• What makes a Notes client START slow (and what makes it faster)
• What makes a Notes client PERFORM slow (and again faster)
• Deep Diving
• A peek under the hood of Client / Server interaction
Under the Hood of (IBM Lotus) Notes Clients
6
Before we start ...
I Love Notes.
Under the Hood of (IBM Lotus) Notes Clients
7
What the (or rather a used) Notes 8 STANDARD Client typically comes with
• > 20,000 files (Notes 6/7 used to have ~550) = +3,700%
• 17,000 files in Notes Program\framework in 1,800 subdirectories
 7,500 (largely undocumented) .properties files
 1,500 jar files
 1,200 HTML files
• 3,000 files in Notes Data\workspace – in 2,400 subdirectories, out of which 1,850 are empty
 900 (largely undocumented) XML files
 100+ (largely undocumented) properties files
• That is ...
 20,000 files in 4,600 subdirectories
 8,500+ largely undocumented files
 Many (many many) subdirectories are plain empty, especially in Data\workspace
 ... and around 100 NSFs/NTFs (=0.5 %)
 ... and the good old notes.ini file ...
Under the Hood of (IBM Lotus) Notes Clients
8
+ over 80 Preferences Dialog Boxes!
• Each dialog has ~15 settings at average
 1,200+ settings
sprayed across addressbook (very few),
notes.ini (few),
and XML files (lots)
Plus: any plugins, widgets,
addons, etc. „you“ or the user may have
added to the Notes client install.
Under the Hood of (IBM Lotus) Notes Clients
9
+ what we should all be familiar with:
Physical nsfs 1, 2, 3, … n
(nsf)
Desktop
Under the Hood of (IBM Lotus) Notes Clients
10
Agenda
Coming up next …
Who am I? … and about panagenda
Basics
• A summary of what a Notes 8 client comes with
Under the Hood
• What makes a Notes client START slow (and what makes it faster)
• What makes a Notes client PERFORM slow (and again faster)
• Deep Diving
• A peek under the hood of Client / Server interaction
Under the Hood of (IBM Lotus) Notes Clients
11
What makes the Notes Client start slow (and how to make it faster)
• If you‘re not on 8.5.3 yet. 8.5.3 is a significant improvement. (EOM 7: April 30, 2011!)
• Note: preloading maybe recommended – many users start Notes only once per day (=cold starts only!)
• Boot-Storm (up to 10 x longer start times)
• OS Indexing (up to 2-3 x longer start times)
• Antivirus Software (up to 2 x longer start times)
• Disable Antivirus scanning for at least *.n(s)* in Notes Data Directory. Period.
 almost 50% of the file volume in the entire Data directory change on a daily basis in most setups (replication, fti,
checking for background agents, ...), 8.5% in Data\workspace
• Disc encryption (up to -50%)
• Database encryption (up to -50%)
• Port/Network-Encryption (-20%)
Under the Hood of (IBM Lotus) Notes Clients
12
What makes the Notes Client start slow (and how to make it faster)
• Prehistoric Hardware
• At least 1 GB – 2 GB recommended if users use more than „just“ Notes (otherwise: Swapping hell)
• Old fixed disks
 Fragmentation
 Tons of startup programs/scripts – if the disk is busy like hell, it‘s not Notes‘ fault.
• Grown Data directories
 Virtually 100% of all NTFs (Laptops: 90%) can be removed by
 Cleaning up old Notes 4+5+6 templates
 using ini:SharedDataDirectory= (also with Single User install!)
 Up to 70% of all NSFs still have an old ODS (see next slide) ...
Under the Hood of (IBM Lotus) Notes Clients
13
ODS? What‘s that?
• ODS = On Disk Structure
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
ODS 16 = Notes 2
ODS 17 = Notes 3
ODS 20 = Notes 4 (or templates)
ODS 41 = Notes 5
ODS 43 = Notes 6 & 7
ODS 48 = Notes 8
ODS 51 = Notes 8.5
• The difference between ODS 43 and 51 = up to 80% LESS FILE I/O; average 50% less.
Also helps with slow local fixed disks, not just SAN/NAS! – Think servers, too!
• Unfortunately the ODS is not automatically updated when upgrading clients
• Except for names.nsf, bookmark.nsf, and desktop*.dsk/ndk (provided you upgraded „properly“ ... uh-oh)
• Upgrade to ODS 48 requires Notes >= 8 and CREATE_R8_DATABASES=1 in notes.ini
• Upgrade to ODS 51 requires Notes >= 8.5 and CREATE_R85_DATABASES=1 in notes.ini
Under the Hood of (IBM Lotus) Notes Clients
14
ODS continued
• Fortunately, in Notes 8.5 you can use
• NSF_UpdateODS=1
• This will do a one-time upgrade of all local databases in the background
• USE WITH EXTREME CARE IF YOUR DATA DIRECTORIES ARE ON A NETWORK DRIVE!  Loadbalance!
• Note that end users cannot access databases during compact (mailfile replicas!)
• Note that names.nsf and bookmark.nsf are upgraded at next client startup ( Splash screen)
• Impact examples
 Startup time of a Notes 8.5.2 client with three ODS 20 databases in Notes data: 15 seconds
After ODS upgrade: 7 seconds
 After upgrade of all NSFs from previously mostly ODS 41 to 51 = 60% less File I/O on SAN/NAS!
 Removing 70% of all old files in Data directories on SAN/NAS = 45% less managed storage (backup)
• Unfortunately, you have little to no clue on „what is out there“ = which databases where and
with which ODS (we can help with that – after this session ;-))
Under the Hood of (IBM Lotus) Notes Clients
15
Agenda
Coming up next …
Who am I? … and about panagenda
Basics
• A summary of what a Notes 8 client comes with
Under the Hood
• What makes a Notes client START slow (and what makes it faster)
• What makes a Notes client PERFORM slow (and again faster)
• Deep Diving
• A peek under the hood of Client / Server interaction
Under the Hood of (IBM Lotus) Notes Clients
16
What makes a Notes Client PERFORM slow (or badly/wrong)
It doesn‘t get any easier ...
ODS of databases (again)
Hardware (again)
Install types (Basic vs. Standard, Data directory on Network vs. fixed disk)
• Desktop, Laptop, Citrix, local, network, „XP User/Roaming Profile“
Notes.ini and Network (more later)
• Port-Settings (e.g. compression) – not turned on in many companies, or worse: turned off on server, on on client …
• EXTMGR_ADDINS = (not just) Local Virus Scanners
Disable Notes „plugins“ like Norton or McAfee – they increase Network traffic by 200 – 250%!
Connection documents
Locations
• Mail-/Homeserver, path to mailfile (Alarming!)
• Catalogserver (otherwise Homeserver)
 Catalog.nsf on Home- or Catalogserver …
Under the Hood of (IBM Lotus) Notes Clients
17
The catalog.nsf problem …
... or „the Asian connection“
User in Oslo
Sends Doc|DB-Link to user in Hammerfest
Unfortunately, the user in Hammerfest
does not open the database from onsite
server
but from the one in Oslo
... or even Alesund or Bergen!
Under the Hood of (IBM Lotus) Notes Clients
18
More of what makes a Notes Client PERFORM slow (or badly/wrong)
The 95+5% problem ...
or why Managers often don‘t like IBM Lotus Notes as much as they could / should
90-95% work „somehow“
• Training, Helpdesk, IT skilled end users, ...
• Still huge Potential for cost savings (e.g. 80% less helpdesk calls)
The remaining 5-10%, however, require 75+% of all subsequent efforts (manual / individual)
• E.g. sending a Notes 8 upgrade package to all clients 
fixing all „problem“-clients requires 75% of the entire project time & efforts
NOTE: Virtually 100% of all VIPs are part of the „5-10%“
 High frustration on Management-Level
 High willingness to Migrate
(away from Notes; not originally to another product!)
Under the Hood of (IBM Lotus) Notes Clients
19
Agenda
Coming up next …
Who am I? … and about panagenda
Basics
• A summary of what a Notes 8 client comes with
Under the Hood
• What makes a Notes client START slow (and what makes it faster)
• What makes a Notes client PERFORM slow (and again faster)
• Deep Diving
• A peek under the hood of Client / Server interaction
Under the Hood of (IBM Lotus) Notes Clients
20
Widly unknown²
How to speed up your Notes client for daily working – for Admins/Developers only!
• Search for the file jvm.properties underneath [LotusNotesProgramDir]\framework\rcp
 Open it in a text editor
• First line to look for is: vmarg.Xmx=-Xmx256m
• Change it to e.g. vmarg.Xmx=-Xmx1024m (Maximum is ½ of physical memory; do NOT change
it to more than 1024m irregardless of how much memory you have)
• Change vmarg.Xms=-Xms48m to ¼ of what you changed Xmx to;
e.g. is you changed vmarg.Xmx to -Xmx1024m then use
vmarg.Xms=-Xms256m
• NOT recommended for production / normal end user; for admins & developers only!
Under the Hood of (IBM Lotus) Notes Clients
21
Deep Diving: Client Clocking
CLIENT_CLOCK=1
CONSOLE_LOG_ENABLED=1
Debug_Outfile=c:\debug.txt
Debug_Console=1
;DEBUG_TCP_ALL=1
(use only if needed)
Fileserver/local disk Performance Debugging is a pain / not possible, really;
(try DEBUGGINGWCTENABLED=16386 in Notes >= 8.5)
Under the Hood of (IBM Lotus) Notes Clients
22
Client Clock=1 leads to a debug file of the following format:
NOTE: Take a look at Notes RPC Parser on OpenNTF!
Under the Hood of (IBM Lotus) Notes Clients
23
Adding to Client Clocking ...
Network Latency has major impact
on perceived client performance
for users that (try to) work
on serverside databases!
Under the Hood of (IBM Lotus) Notes Clients
24
What happens when you delete cache.ndk (for just 1 database!)
After deleting Cache.ndk
Keeping / NOT deleting Cache.ndk
100 users =
150 MB vs. 3.7 MB
(2,5%; -97,5%; +4000%)
1000 users =
1.5 GB vs. 37 MB
Excluding Fileservers!
Under the Hood of (IBM Lotus) Notes Clients
25
Latency times and their meaning for end users
Response times turn into painful delivery times:
• „# RPC Calls *
(Latency Up +
Latency Down)
• 30 Calls *
(60 + 60) =
3.600 ms!
Under the Hood of (IBM Lotus) Notes Clients
26
Summary
• Configurability and connectivity are both a
– if not the – major strength and weakness of LN/D
• Weaknesses can be cured with Knowledge and Tools
• The < the knowledge, the more important the tool(s)
•  don‘t just reinstall
•  don‘t give up
•  if you fight for the Notes client,
it will pay you back with much more than just email (*hint*)
• Every symptom has a root cause – cure the root cause, not just symptoms!
Under the Hood of (IBM Lotus) Notes Clients
27
Summertime
Spending 45 minutes
on Performance Improvements
can be compared to
a walk on the tip of the iceberg –
we have worked on
a MANY more business cases
and solved a MANY more problems
than those mentioned just now.
If your problem was not mentioned in this
session – be it a Client, Server, Design, Admin
or other challenge:
we would love to hear from you.
Under the Hood of (IBM Lotus) Notes Clients
28
Commercial Break
http://panagenda.com/giftoftransparency
• Efficient Client-Analysis is impossible without additional tooling
• FREE 4 weeks license of panagenda GreenLight – our server
monitoring and reporting solution – includes Database Analyzer
for 1 year for one of your servers
• FREE one year license of panagenda MarvelClient Analyze
• The results speak for themselves on „just“ the clientside
• The results can also be used together with GreenLight
• For groups and databases, we also have GroupExplorer and
DatabaseExplorer
• Whether we may help you is up to you
Under the Hood of (IBM Lotus) Notes Clients
29
Thank you for listening – Questions? Answers!
Q&A
Under the Hood of (IBM Lotus) Notes Clients
30
Contact us
panagenda GmbH
Doblhoffgasse 7 / 6a :: 1010 Vienna :: Austria
Web: http://www.panagenda.com
Email: [email protected]
Fax: +43 1 89 012 89 – 15
Your contact in Norway
EVRY Consulting AS – Roger Johannessen
Under the Hood of (IBM Lotus) Notes Clients
31