CrashTestChix

I've blogged on several occasions about our ongoing Notes 8.5 client upgrade.  As many of the recent discussions have focused on marketing/advertising I thought I would share one small component of how we prepared, notified and hopefully helped our users become more engaged about the Notes 8.5 upgrade.  The target group in this case was all our email users - and these individuals may or may not have been using the Notes client. So part of the message needed to not only address new features - but also include an overall reason for using Notes. Our inhouse marketing group came up with the concept of "the incredible power of one."  I hope that seeing this may spark some ideas for your own upgrades and help you maintain momentum. So far users here continue to be pleased with the Notes 8.5 environment.

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As we've upgraded users to the mail8.5.ntf template, occasionally this error message will pop up in the console: 

"Mail convert failed on <dbname>: Design Replacement Error: Attempt to use an invalid slot number."

Running convert -u to specifically upgrade folders does not correct the issue. The database will only open after a fxup has been run. 

A work around we've found is as follows:

1.  Run fixup (or fixup -J if transaction log environment).

2. Open the database and REPLACE the design using the dwa7.ntf template.

3. Manually upgrade the folder design of all folders in the database (use $Inbox as the standard folder design).

4. Once the folder design upgrade has completed, REPLACE the design using the mail85.ntf template.

We've seen this behavior on those databases that are used primarily by IMAP clients (all flavors) and are speculating that something has gone amiss with the folder structure. We have also observed this in databases with large/complex folder structures and those that have been repeatedly upgraded from version to version.  And as always we recommend taking a backup of the database prior to trying out these steps or call Lotus Support for assistance. 

Here are a few tidbits of "wisdom" gleaned from our current Notes 8.5 upgrade:

• databases that have been around migrated from previous versions (prior to 7.0.3), with private folders, or complex folder structures - may take longer on a convert - especially if you are converting the designs up from dwa7.ntf to mail85.ntf versus upgrading from mail8.ntf.  Check your resource utilization while the convert process is running to see if the process is affecting overall server availability.
  
• remember to change the mail85.ntf template to enable the compression features that are available beginning with 8.0.2.
  
• for Notes 8.5 installs on Vista workstations -- make sure that UAC has been turned off.  There are PMRs open for Vista/Notes 8.5 - especially with regards to the 8.5 client NSDing on first start after the client install.  The client will start in safe mode without networking, but with networking it will not load.  Support has relayed that there may be some Windows files at play that are either missing or not at the version expected. 
  
• for those workstations that continue to prompt for a software upgrade or a design refresh after the refresh has been confirmed on the server (smart upgrade tracking database) or in design properties of the database - a  nonsupported workaround to make the messages go away involves editing the notes.ini and removing any of the SmartUpgrade related parms (begin with SU).  As always make a backup of the notes.ini before attempting this.
  
• users do miss the red unread marks, and will find the workaround for editing the jar file - so be prepared for questions or issues if that fails.
  
• if a user is prompted with the message - no matching smart upgrade kit found - most likely the user is attempt to install a client kit versus an all client kit.  a nonsupported work around for this is to change the installtype in the notes.ini from installtype=2 (for all clients) to installtype=6; and then have the user attempt to run the smart upgrade again.
  
• Sametime preferences have changed significantly in the Notes 8.5 client, so review those settings before deploying.

So far training issues have been minimal, but we have not yet upgraded those power calendar users yet, and I expect questions may arise with some of those folks.  All and all the project is moving along!