Something is wrong in the world..... (Symantec Enterprise Vault does exactly what it says on the tin)
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Unfortunately, this doesn't happen anywhere near as often as I'd like, but I've had a really good couple of weeks. Why? I've been installed Symantec Enterprise Vault! Quite a while back (what seems like a very long time ago), I was in Reading with Symantec, talking to them about Enterprise Vault for Lotus Domino. You might have spoken to them at UKLUG too. Anyway, I've been over in Dublin for the last couple of weeks installing it for a client and it's gone almost spookily well.
As opposed to Domino archiving (which just moves the problem if you ask me), what a *proper* archiving solution does is to rip out data from your live databases and push it to a lower cost storage location. Whilst it's at it, all the data is single instanced, compressed and indexed. Oh, and the original database should then be left with shortcuts to the archived content, which will seamlessly open the document from the archive instead of from the live database. Securely. Pretty powerful and scary stuff from a Domino administrators point of view, so not having to manually create all the content types and data mapping is a very good thing (Commonstore, I'm looking at you*). Oh, and a nice management interface is good too - and detailed and comprehensive documentation as well. EV really ticks all those boxes.
I guess because Domino is so good at supporting large volumes of data, enterprise archiving solutions aren't something that are very high up the list of priorities for our customers. Of course, Bluewave has worked with a few solutions in the past (the less said about IBM Commonstore the better - believe me....), but in the main our customers seem to be fine with DAOS for space reduction, or just nothing at all. Many industries do need compliance tools though of course, and this is where EV comes in for this customer. Of course, being the old cynics that Paul and I are - we would never expect a completely flawless and pain free install.
I'm very happy to say that over the last couple of weeks though, we've installed, configured, tested and deployed Symantec Enterprise Vault with very little drama indeed. Admittedly this isn't the largest site in the world, but even so, we will have been in and out in under two weeks. As I mentioned to the customer today, archiving is one of the only areas in IT where you really want to see 'nothing' exciting happen - and that's exactly what we got! It's not a perfect product yet, of course, but it's such a marked difference from other products that sometimes it surprises you. In a way that's a depressing thought, but it's one I'm very happy to go with just now. Simple is good, and EV does exactly what it says on the tin. Can't say fairer than that!
* I wrote this blog post all the way back in 2008, but never published it. For your delight and delectation....
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www.elsmore.net - October 2008
You can say what you will about Lotus Connections, or Sametime Advanced. I raise you DB2 Commonstore for Lotus Domino.
Yes, dear reader, this week I have the pleasure of installing Commonstore for a customer. Well, that was the plan. It's something we've done before for other customers and they are up and running. This time, however, there's a whole NEW version of Commonstore to play with.
If you haven't ever looked at this particular gem of a 'product', let me introduce you. Commonstore is IBMs' archiving product for either Domino or Exchange. Though, when I say 'product', what I really mean is 'random collection of components that should work together. We think'. For instance, to install Commonstore 8.4 we have:
A Server. Any OS will do, pretty much.
DB2 Enterprise 9.1
DB2 Enterprise 9.1, Fixpack 6
Websphere Application Server 6.1
Websphere Application Server Update Installer fixpack 11, to let us install:
Websphere Application Server 6.1 FP 19*
DB2 Content Manager Enterprise Edition
Information Integrator for Content Manager
Lotus Notes 7.0.3
Commonstore
Lotus Domino 7.03
and, finally, a few template changes.
* Yes, that's an install of an update installer to allow us to run the update installer to install an update.
So far (after 3 DAYS) we're at the Content Manger stage - and guess what - it doesn't work. No matter, I'll check the documentation. Errr....
"Pre-requisites of Commonstore - Content Manager with Information Integrator installed". Well, thanks guys, really helpful there. I'll check the Redbook - oh, not updated since 8.3. Infocenter? err....
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Bookmark :
Unfortunately, this doesn't happen anywhere near as often as I'd like, but I've had a really good couple of weeks. Why? I've been installed Symantec Enterprise Vault! Quite a while back (what seems like a very long time ago), I was in Reading with Symantec, talking to them about Enterprise Vault for Lotus Domino. You might have spoken to them at UKLUG too. Anyway, I've been over in Dublin for the last couple of weeks installing it for a client and it's gone almost spookily well.
As opposed to Domino archiving (which just moves the problem if you ask me), what a *proper* archiving solution does is to rip out data from your live databases and push it to a lower cost storage location. Whilst it's at it, all the data is single instanced, compressed and indexed. Oh, and the original database should then be left with shortcuts to the archived content, which will seamlessly open the document from the archive instead of from the live database. Securely. Pretty powerful and scary stuff from a Domino administrators point of view, so not having to manually create all the content types and data mapping is a very good thing (Commonstore, I'm looking at you*). Oh, and a nice management interface is good too - and detailed and comprehensive documentation as well. EV really ticks all those boxes.
I guess because Domino is so good at supporting large volumes of data, enterprise archiving solutions aren't something that are very high up the list of priorities for our customers. Of course, Bluewave has worked with a few solutions in the past (the less said about IBM Commonstore the better - believe me....), but in the main our customers seem to be fine with DAOS for space reduction, or just nothing at all. Many industries do need compliance tools though of course, and this is where EV comes in for this customer. Of course, being the old cynics that Paul and I are - we would never expect a completely flawless and pain free install.
I'm very happy to say that over the last couple of weeks though, we've installed, configured, tested and deployed Symantec Enterprise Vault with very little drama indeed. Admittedly this isn't the largest site in the world, but even so, we will have been in and out in under two weeks. As I mentioned to the customer today, archiving is one of the only areas in IT where you really want to see 'nothing' exciting happen - and that's exactly what we got! It's not a perfect product yet, of course, but it's such a marked difference from other products that sometimes it surprises you. In a way that's a depressing thought, but it's one I'm very happy to go with just now. Simple is good, and EV does exactly what it says on the tin. Can't say fairer than that!
* I wrote this blog post all the way back in 2008, but never published it. For your delight and delectation....
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
www.elsmore.net - October 2008
You can say what you will about Lotus Connections, or Sametime Advanced. I raise you DB2 Commonstore for Lotus Domino.
Yes, dear reader, this week I have the pleasure of installing Commonstore for a customer. Well, that was the plan. It's something we've done before for other customers and they are up and running. This time, however, there's a whole NEW version of Commonstore to play with.
If you haven't ever looked at this particular gem of a 'product', let me introduce you. Commonstore is IBMs' archiving product for either Domino or Exchange. Though, when I say 'product', what I really mean is 'random collection of components that should work together. We think'. For instance, to install Commonstore 8.4 we have:
A Server. Any OS will do, pretty much.
DB2 Enterprise 9.1
DB2 Enterprise 9.1, Fixpack 6
Websphere Application Server 6.1
Websphere Application Server Update Installer fixpack 11, to let us install:
Websphere Application Server 6.1 FP 19*
DB2 Content Manager Enterprise Edition
Information Integrator for Content Manager
Lotus Notes 7.0.3
Commonstore
Lotus Domino 7.03
and, finally, a few template changes.
* Yes, that's an install of an update installer to allow us to run the update installer to install an update.
So far (after 3 DAYS) we're at the Content Manger stage - and guess what - it doesn't work. No matter, I'll check the documentation. Errr....
"Pre-requisites of Commonstore - Content Manager with Information Integrator installed". Well, thanks guys, really helpful there. I'll check the Redbook - oh, not updated since 8.3. Infocenter? err....
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