This morning I was stumbling upon a very interesting issue in Lotus Notes/Domino that involved truncated documents on a server replica. This is an issue as the database on the server is the only one, besides a number of local replicas on laptops.

A bit of research on the web unveiled that Almar Diel has encountered a similar problem, which pointed me towards the right solution.

In order to get the full documents back onto the server replica I had to find the laptop that was holding the replica with the corrupt replication formula as this had to be cleared out as described in workaround option 2 of this IBM technote.

This will ensure that all documents replicated from now on would not be appearing as truncated documents anymore on the server. In order to fix the existing truncated documents though, I had to remove the documents from the server replica without leaving deletion stubs. This can easily be achieved in utilising Julian Robichaux’ stub-less delete function documented here. Clearing out the replication history of the local database and issuing a new replication did make the documents re-appearing on the server replica in there entirety.

Thanks to Almar and Julian for documenting your solutions!

While hunting for something completely unrelated, Google presented me with this analysis on CNNMoney dated back to 2004 1994 (Thanks Carl!). It’s an interesting read and some of the stuff could actually be highlighted again as part of the LotusKnows campaign.

And now that I got your attention I might actually share the search phrase I was typing in: “lotus policy change is clearing replication history -click”

I am having an issue here where a change in dynamic desktop settings is clearing out the replication history of local databases on laptop computers, enforcing them to run the ‘one time only – replication setup’ again. This is a bit of a problem as most of the Laptops are still connected via pretty old dial-up.
The desktop settings document got a new database link added to the list of databases to be created as new replicas on the user’s machine.

Has anyone had this behaviour before? Is there any workaround for that? Server and Client version are both 8.0.2.

I am truly stunned what technology can achieve those days. Just discovered that there is now the possibility to display your Google contacts’ birthdays within the Google calendar. Check out the ‘more’ section in this document.

Combine above with the new 8.5.1 feature that allows for calendar feeds to be downloaded for offline use:

Now syncronise your mail file with your mobile device using Traveler. Within a flash you got all your Google Calendar entries replicated to your mobile device using pure Lotus technology.

Only just realised that IBM has gone through the full trouble in order to not only provide us with an easy way to push location, but also Eclipse preference settings to the client via policy.

While I wouldn’t necessary pronounce that it was worth the wait, while applying the workaround in Lotus Notes and Domino 6 to 8, it’s definitely a feature that has been waited for a long time.

Guess this is widely published on the web but since I was searching for this like mad today I have to write it down for the next time I need it.

In order to enable the Eclipse update manager UI in Lotus Notes:

1. Close you Lotus Notes client
2. Browse to the plugin_customization.ini in the notes application folder\framework\rcp
3. Add com.ibm.notes.branding/enable.update.ui=true
4. Save and close file and restart Lotus Notes

You can now find the Eclipse update manager under File > Application > Application Management.