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The Clueless Administrator

HomepageThe adventures of a clueless system administrator continue. It's all a bit daunting really, suddenly being in charge of your very own web server. Turns out there are quite a few things I've taken for granted over the past few years. Whilst I've got my own Domino server that I use to play with databases and such like, I've never really had to go in to the fine tuning of system settings. This is why I have to thank one of my regular posters, harkpabst_meliantrop, for helping me out.

Did anybody notice that, after the move, you would be redirected to codestore.net/store.nsf if you typed just codestore.net in the address bar? I noticed this and had got it on my list of things to try and resolve. It wasn't a problem but it did mean that the conversation between server and browser about where the homepage was meant a slight delay in performance.

Harkpabst mailed to say that he had noticed this and suggested it was probably because my homepage setting missed the leading forward-slash. He was right. I've added the slash and now there is no redirect when you first enter the site. I thank him.

Anybody receiving email from me for about a week after the move may also have noticed something strange. Instead of the inbox showing a message from "Jake Howlett" it would have shown "jake@codestore.net". After quite a bit of investigation I managed to find the setting that controls how your reply address is formatted. To show your name it needs to be like so: "Jake Howlett" <jake@codestore.net>. Here's the setting in the Domino Directory:

Domino RFC822 Setting

Not something you are going to find by chance. I find myself starting to respect the System Administrators amongst us. There's a hell of a lot of stuff to know. A good start would be the Domino Administrator's Kit. Thanks to our man on the inside, Jeffrey Condon of IBM, for the link. Maybe I should stick to what I know best though ;o)

Went to Leeds last night to see Goldfrapp. Very strange band but a very cool performance. Looking at their website I see they've taken from the rather good school of web design. All very well until you want to use the site and find out where to buy tickets!

Comments

  1. Jake - That setting only applies if you enable MIME. Some of us don't like MIME when we have perfectly good Notes RTF :)

    However you can have "Jake Howlett" <jake@codestore.net" without enabling MIME - as the first port of call for internet address composition is your current location document on the basics tab.

    See my earlier post today for some other interesting URL mapping stuff

  2. This is why being a developer is good, being an administrator is good, but knowing both is great! You start to develop with an admin's mindset (server load etc.) and start smarter administration with automated tasks etc.

    The goal for me is to master at least one of these things though... and as v2 of my site template is going - I may go with administration ;-)

  3. Administrators....good...hehehehe

  4. 8)

    Admin stuff....nice.

  5. After using Notes for almost 2 years now, I still have no idea where Dev stops and Admin starts. I, some would say, unfortunately, just learn what I need to get by.

    Most recent was the maximum POST size bug in 5.0.11 and 5.0.12, another tribute to Lotus field naming!!

    • avatar
    • Mike Hunt
    • Wed 28 May 2003 07:54

    I've been involved with Notes admin and development for the last 7 years and am now bored to tears with them both .... in fact computing full stop!!! :-(

    It's hard to think of what else to do though :-O

    Anyone else in the same boat???

    • avatar
    • Jake
    • Wed 28 May 2003 08:09

    I sometimes get bored (more with Domino than computers in general) and try to think what other job I could possibly do that gave me so much satisfaction. I can't. That's why I shall stick with IT for as long as I can.

    Sounds like you need to venture out past the Domino buoy Mike.

    • avatar
    • Chris King
    • Wed 28 May 2003 15:02

    Just found this little gem of an admin hack. I thought you might be interested since you seem to share my lack of enthusiasm for Domino URLs. Maybe it's something you could try here and let us developers know if it really works or not. {Link}

    • avatar
    • Jake
    • Wed 28 May 2003 15:28

    Chris, it does indeed work. Not sure it's a good idea though unless you are confident you will never have to live on a server where you don't have the luxury of full access to your own NAB.

    Got to admit I am tempted though ;o)

  6. Regarding the link too my site.

    Chris,

    It does indeed work I am not in the habit of posting false information. My site proves that so why does Jake need to prove it?

    Jake,

    I dont have access to a NAB I just use Domino Developer Newtworks standard hosting package which gives me the ability to add my own re-directions. Anyone hosted on DDN can do it and I am suprised most of them have not. Not sure about other hosting providers allowing this but DDN has good hosting options although of late does not seem to be too reliable.

    regards john

    • avatar
    • Larry Lizzard
    • Sat 31 May 2003 10:10

    Love your solution John!

    To me it sounds that the re-directions settings should (also) have been part of the database design itself, instead of being part of the NAB. Maybe something for R7?

    • avatar
    • Thomas Fleischer
    • Fri 20 Jun 2003 03:42

    Went to see Goldfrapp in Brussels yesterday.

    What can I say?

    Those base lines, the way she sings, the way she moves... it is all sex!

    Real good musicians too. Cool.

    I agree with you about their website. Just look at it as an animation movie and not a dynamic information source or so.

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Written by Jake Howlett on Tue 27 May 2003

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CodeStore is all about web development. Concentrating on Lotus Domino, ASP.NET, Flex, SharePoint and all things internet.

Your host is Jake Howlett who runs his own web development company called Rockall Design and is always on the lookout for new and interesting work to do.

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