9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent Reference for New or Experienced Domino Administrators, March 21, 2009
This review is from: Survival Guide for Lotus Notes and Domino Administrators (Hardcover)
Finally, a new book on Lotus Notes and Domino specifically for Domino Administrators. However, it is already a little dated, as it focuses on Notes and Domino 8 and the most recent version of the software is 8.5. But do not think that there is no value in this book. After reading this book, you will have an excellent understanding of the Notes client, how to troubleshoot some of the most common error messages and issues in the environment, how to upgrade your Notes clients, a very good understanding of Policies, and more. It is amazing the amount of information packed into this 280 page book.
Contents:
Acknowledgements
About the Author
Introduction
Chapter 1: Lotus Notes
Chapter 2: User Support and Problem Management
Chapter 3: Finding Additional Help
Chapter 4: Lotus Notes Tools and Plug-ins
Chapter 5: Managing Upgrades
Chapter 6: Using Domino Administrator to Manage Client Settings
Appendix A: Domino Development
Index
Mark Elliott, the author of Survival Guide for Lotus Notes and Domino Administrators, has written an excellent introduction to Domino Administration. While geared for new Administrators, old hands will find value in this book, too. Elliott begins the book with a chapter on the Notes Client, which is more than a cursory overview. He provides general enhancements to the Release 8 client, specific mail and calendar enhancements, and then shows you how to get more out of Notes. Incredibly, he shows one feature, Copy as Table, which is underutilized but extremely useful. The Domino Administrator will probably find the most value in Chapter 2, User Support and Problem Management. From database maintenance to specific errors, including some of the more "unusual" error messages, Elliott provides excellent guidance. Many of the items covered in this chapter would take someone hours, if not days, to research and correct. Whether you read the chapter or refer to the comprehensive Index, this is one of the best chapters in the book and one that will provide immediate value to the Domino Administrator. The last two chapters, Managing Upgrades and Using Domino Administrator to Manage Client Settings, take two topics and make them accessible to the new Administrator; Upgrading the Notes Client and Policies. Both topics can be daunting to any Domino Administrator, mainly because of the wealth of information, but Elliott makes the topics extremely accessible and easy to understand.
While a book on a technical topic can be difficult to read, Elliott does not fall into that trap. Survival Guide for Lotus Notes and Domino Administrators is written as if he was talking to a friend, new to Domino Administration; plenty of annotated screen shots, links to additional information on the internet, and supplementary Notes and Tips. When describing error messages, he not only gives you the resolution, he provides the symptoms and a little analysis, which allows the reader to improve their troubleshooting skills and understanding of Notes and Domino. When an error points to a specific application, he is not shy about telling the reader to contact the developer for resolution. However, there was one which made me smile. Elliott was describing how to resolve an issue with a Mail Folder and tells the reader to "contact the application developer to resolve this issue." If that were taken literally, Lotus Support would have to be engaged. While this book is highly recommended for those that provide end-user and infrastructure support, I was surprised that Domino Domain Monitoring (DDM) was not included. A new feature in Release 7 of Lotus Domino, this would be very beneficial to new Domino 8 Administrators. The only other area that could have been improved was the references to Lotus TechNotes. Elliott provides the full IBM Support Site URL's, and they are rather long. However, if he provided the reader with the simple URL of http://support.lotus.com and then gave the Tech Note reference number, the chances for improperly entering the IBM URL would have been minimized. Whether new to Notes and Domino Administration or experienced, this is an excellent, well written reference book.
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1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A 'must' for both computer and business libraries catering to software administrators using Lotus Notes, June 16, 2009
This review is from: Survival Guide for Lotus Notes and Domino Administrators (Hardcover)
Database administrators and management personnel will find this the only title to focus on the specific technical, desk-side and infrastructure issues that support administrators running Lotus Notes in production. From client setup to technical support issues, Survival Guide for Lotus Notes and Domino Administrators offers quick, accessible coverage from reviews of key software changes to upgrades and changed client settings. A 'must' for both computer and business libraries catering to software administrators using Lotus Notes.
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