Category: community

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Want to go to IBM Connect .. be nice to a Champion for a discount

Being an IBM Champion is great and it does come with some benefits.

Today all IBM Champions are happy to announce that we can offer YOU a discount of $100 for IBM’s upcoming ICS event – IBM Connect in San Francisco

So what do you need to do – just reach out to an IBM Champion tell us why you want to go to Connect and what your expectations are and as if by magic we will give you the dscont code.

Now is a great time to register .. and I wish I was going to be there with you all (but I will be in Orlando – on a very long awaited family holiday) – so ping a champ and get the code 🙂

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6 years a Champion !!

I recieved an email yesterday – just before I joined a live stream to watch the IBM Champions for ICS be announced.

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On behalf of IBM, it is my great pleasure to recognize you as a returning IBM Champion in 2017. Congratulations!

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I am so honoured to be amongst a great group of champions again. I have been an ICS IBM Champion since the program began in 2011.

Being an IBM Champion is all about being part of a great extended  community, sharing knowledge, giving feed back and constructive critism and helping IBM with what ever they will let us help them with – from documentation to ideas about Connect.

In my 6 years of being an IBM Champion .. I have made some great friends and been introduced to some great IBMers (who I now class as great friends), helped influence some products, given a lot of honest feed back, and assited with my favourite thing – Documentation 🙂 It really has been a blast .. and I would still continue to do these things If I wasn’t a Champion 🙂

Being an IBM Champion doesn’t mean you have to be a *yes man/woman* – It just means you are passionate about what you do and have the right attitude – that doesn’t mean agreeing to everything, being constructive, giving feed back and ideas is part of being a champion which is why I love it.

 

So thank you once again IBM and especially to Amanda and Libby for everything they do for us Champions .. and I hope to be worthy of this title for the next year 🙂

 

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So Docs 2 CR1 and iFix 1 is not playing ball

I knew that some of our community had seen issues with applying Docs 2 CR1 and the accompanying iFix, so I purposely held off applying it.

But low and behold on Saturday afternoon when I did attempted to install CR1 I had problems.

The Docs and Viewer applications deployed without issues, but the Conversion server had these errors:

WASX7303I: The following options are passed to the scripting environment and are available as arguments that are stored in the argv variable: "[remote_install_a_version, connections.hostname.com, [u\'connections.hostname.com\'], 8]"

WASX7017E: Exception received while running file "../execwas.py"; exception information: com.ibm.websphere.management.exception.AdminException: CWWSY0102E: Target with name connections.hostname.com was not found.

My friend and co-speaker Roberto Boccadoro had had this exact issue .. so off I went to his blog and round this post: IBM Connections Docs 2.0 CR1 fix does not install.

Excellent .. Followed the instructions but that didn’t resolve it – exactly the same issue. I checked the machine name, its host entry and FQDN and they were all correct – stumpted I asked in the Connections skype chat as I know other people had seen similar issues.

Monday morning .. I started getting some answers ….

Another quality participant Robert Farstad had seen issues with the Conversion application installing the iFix 1 for CR1 so I checked out his blog post here: Docs 2.0 CR1 iFix 001 – Conversion app will not update. Where there is an issue with the conversion-config.json in the Dmgr config not having the iFix attribute in the build section
i.e

 "ifix_version": 6,

I added this at version 1 for my test as I hadn’t applied any fixes at this point.

Tried to run the update again and you guessed it – failed again with the same issue as previously.

Roberto went back through his notes and found another post he had made on another Docs install he had issues applying the fix on ..IBM Connections Docs CR1 installation may fail with an error on Conversion server. This issue was exactly the same problem as I had the resolution is actually very simple

  1. Edit the applypatch.py in the Docs CR1 install directory
    Comment out the 2 lines in red from the def update_apps() section of the file

    def update_apps():

 “””update apps in present work directory”””

 for filename in os.listdir(‘./’):

 if(filename.endswith(“.ear”) or filename.endswith(“.ear.zip”)):

 appname = get_app_name(filename)

 CONFIG.call_was_task(‘update_app’,[appname, filename])

 #if os.path.exists(“docs_remote_installer.zip”):

 #update_conversion_binary()
  2. Under Docs CR1 install directory, go into the DocsApp subdirectory and rename the file concord-config.json to concord-config.json.OLD or something similar
  3. Re run the apply update script – it should work this time AND update the ifix version number in the config file to 6.
  4. Stop the Conversion cluster
  5. Under Docs CR1 install directory open the DocsConversion subdirectory. Unzip the docs_remote_installer.zip to a directory (in my case this was E:\Install\Docs\IBMConnectionsDocs_2.0_CR1\DocsConversion\docs_remote_installer)
  6. Check the [SYM_COUNT] which is the number of instances of symphony that are configured, typically this is between 4 and 8. Check the <Conversion_Install_Root>\symphony directory (in my case E:\IBM\ConnectionsDocs\Conversion\symphony)
  7. From the docs_remote_installer directory () run the command 
    upgrade_node.bat --installroot <CONVERSION_INSTALL_ROOT> --symcount <SYM_COUNT>

i.e

upgrade_node.bat --installroot E:\IBM\ConnectionsDocs\Conversion --symcount 8
  8. Check fixpack.log in directory <CONVERSION_INSTALL_ROOT>\logs\
  9. Restart the Conversion cluster

Now all is good with my Docs update .. its working perfectly with Connections.

Thanks again to Roberto and Robert for helping me find the right solution.

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Sutol, Pokemon and an awesome time

As blogged over on the BCC page .. a round up of Sutol with some extra Shaz related bits  🙂

Last week we were in the beautiful city of Prague for the 8th annual SUTOL Czech user group. It was a small affair with approx. 100 attendees – making it more like an extended family gathering, which actually worked really well. The sessions were well attended and there seems to be a chunk of Czech business that already have hybrid and cloud environments and are uses of IBM Connections.
The Keynote:
Lots of news which was nice .. some of it revisited some of the information that was made public at ICONUK, but there were updated and NEW news!
So Drew Birnbaum kicked off the keynote with a look at ICS strategy through the ages – admitting that IBM had lost its way a little and how they are redeeming themselves going forward. It was very refreshing to know that the beast that is IBM have taken on board what Customers, Business Partners and IBM Champions have been saying – so positive news on that front.
Drew also covered the #newwaytowork message that IBM have been delivering to us over the past few months, and it seems to be becoming more and more relevant to how normal businesses work. One of the statistics that was shown was the average worker consumes approx.. 15.5 hours of media a day – 15.5 hours!! That is a lot of data, it’s no wonder we can get distracted.
One of the things that the Watson and cognitive engines can do is help us make sense of all that *stuff* and we are seeing it more and more as the API’s become available to hook in to. This message was reinforced on the integration into application and services that are cloud ready. Unfortunately there is no news on when on premises customers will be able to take advantage of this – here is hoping that one day we will be able to consume Watson or some of those features as a web service.
Barry Rosen had a lot to say. He is the new hero of our ICS community, and has become the go to man to pass on concerns, queries and praise to IBM. Always ready to listen and very honest, and had already made some changes since he announced the Road map at ICONUK back in September 2016.
The features and fixes to be released in the Notes/Domino feature packs are to be released via priority. Each cycle the highest priority fixes and features will be worked on for release, rather than promising something and not delivering, announcements will be made on what is coming over the next few weeks we hope and that will continue going forward. Again another improvement.
Sametime will also follow the continuous delivery method, which is fantastic news. There were a lot of speculation that IBM would be killing off Sametime now they had Watson Work (Project Toscana) and the alliance with Cisco, but Barry told us Sametime is not dead and it will have continued investment and fixes. Sametime IS the on-premises chat and meeting solution and will continue to be.
The same can be said of application development and x-pages. There will be an announcement in early 2017 on the future of application modernisation, development and the plans IBM have – Connect 2017 will be the place to hear this. Barry assured us that Martin Donnelly’s x-pages team have plenty to do and to release to us – looking forward to more new on that early next year.

If you are wanting to go down the Verse on Prem route for your email client there is also good news. The Connections entitlement to Files and Profiles has now been updated for Domino 9.0.1 customers to allow Connections 5.5, allowing the additional features for Verse on Prem at no extra cost – Shameless plug for the BCC Connect your Domino offering to help you get to that point to be Verse ready.
The ICS portfolio is becoming like a buffet, allowing us to pick and choose what applications and solutions suit our business and needs as users. Improved integration points should make this a lot easier and with the new framework and set of APIs for that framework will ensure that it’s easier to integrate applications and systems.
So exciting times and generally good and positive news all around. I sincerely hope that this is not too little too late and that IBM really have taken note of what Customers and BPs have been telling them. It’s a good message that Customers that can’t or won’t go to the cloud are still going to get support and updates for on-premises software and that if they do want to go hybrid that there will support for that too – Another shameless plug fpr the BCC Admin Tool for Connections Cloud at this point, as this helps with just that very scenario, manage your Hybrid and Cloud users just like your on-prem ones.

All in all ….
A very positive message was sent out by IBM and the attendees and those following the twitter stream seemed also to be enthused by the message, let’s just hope that message and the enthusiasm stays with us to Connect and Engage and well into 2017.

Personally

This was the first time I had been to SUTOL .. It really was like an extended small family gathering .. which was GREAT .. so good to catch up with friends and colleges in our space and with those IBMers that I only get to see at events like this. I finally got to chat to people that I have only spoken to in skype and on twitter. User groups are so important for networking and keeping in touch with what everyone is doing and sometimes you can’t beat a chat over a beer.

The speaker / sponsor dinner was so much fun – i haven’t laughed so hard and so long for a while .. Prague is also excellent for Pokemon hunting and I caught my first 2 Pikachu on the way, and about 15 other little blighters and many stops (so lots of balls).

The food was amazing, filling and tasty .. and there were many sausage jokes occuring on our two tables (we may have got a little rowdy, luckily we were in a private dining area). I haven’t been to many bars with such a crazy drinks menu .. we had GROG (unfortunately it wasn’t served by a pirate or a busty wench .. or in a wooden jug.. but it was GROG) .. so well worth the night out 🙂

I also won a prize in the closing session – thank you Panagenda for the kit .. I shall have hours of fun playing with that 🙂 The speaker gift was a lovely bottle of Czech wine – made for St Martin’s day (I know it was lovely as I have already finished it).

Thank you Prague .. thank you to the SUTOL team for making me feel so welcome and to Wannes and Roberto for being brave enough to speak with me for a second time. Shout out to Stephanie as well as it was girls on tour for BCC and we had a great giggle too ..  bring on the next one 🙂

 

Cloudbit starter kitWineczech pub20161110_19132820161110_191334

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So much going on

I know its been quiet here but that is because I have been a little busy with the new job at BCC .. which is great .. I love to be busy

so what I have I been doing ..

Starting at BCC which is awesome, I have been to MWLUG and spoke their again which was also great, We had ICONUK which was much fun (if a little stressful for the organisation team), Run a 5k and raised over £1,000 for charity, and I have been to SUTOL in Prague – all this and the day job at BCC 🙂

BUT I do have lots to blog over the next few weeks ..

Main topics

  • SUTOL16 in prague – I will have a run down of what we learnt at the 8th annual Czech user group
  • DB migration from Oracle on AIX to DB2 on Windows for a Connections customer – on going still on how and why we are moving the Connections DB from Oracle to DB2 (its been fun)
  • Admin Tool for Connections Cloud – some of the exciting things I am working on at BCC

and more ..

first up will be the SUTOL recap which I will post this week ..

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What’s New In ICS Computing Webinar

A brand new webcast hosted by ICONUK is starting this month on the 14th July at 3pm (BST)

 

This month we will introduce the webinars and also have speakers from the world of IBM Collaborative Services, The Champion Community and the wider user community.
These are going to be regular monthly webinars, so get in quick for the first one, as they are bound to be popular.

 

What’s New in the World of IBM Collaboration: Chris Moore & Leon Becket from IBM will talk about the latest enhancements and updates to IBM’s collaboration solutions. In this session, they will present what the updates have been to Verse, Connections Cloud and more. What these mean to you and demonstrate some of these key updates.

 

Also this month: The Internet of Things talking to IBM Connections Cloud – by our very own Steve McDonaugh

 

You can register for this event here: http://iconuk.org/iconuk.nsf/events.html

And find out more and register for ICONUK here: http://iconuk.org

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A new challenge …

I have been a little busy of late – working on some exciting projects (which I will be blogging about shortly).

The planning for ICONUK 2016 is in full swing too – don’t forget to register, submit your abstract or sponsorship over on the iconuk.org site

I have attended Social Connections 10 in Toronto which was an amazing time – was so good to catch up with so many friends, the sessions were fantastic, the venue was lovely, socialising is always good – and Toronto what an great city 🙂

I have been working with WebSphere for what seems forever and as a Connections consultant since version 2 – which I love doing. Learning new things and keeping busy is something that I crave .. so this brings me on to a new challenge ..

From the 1st of August I will be joining BCC

bcclogo

BCC have been working with companies to secure their social business infrastructure, automate underlying administration processes and ensure regulatory compliance for over 18 years – I am really excited about  joining a fantastic team and I will be continuing to work in the Connections space on some new and exciting products and projects .. 

My first “outing” with the BCC team will be at MWLUG in mid August

So here is to new things – onwards and upwards 🙂

 

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It’s almost time for ENGAGE :)

It’s that time of year again when our community gathers in a European city for the biggest user group meeting outside Connect / Lotusphere .. the fabulous Engage User Group. This year we are meeting in Eindhoven in the Netherlands in a fantastic location of Evoluon.

engageLogo Evoluon1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am speaking again with my good friend and college Mr. Christoph Stoettner on Wednesday, March 23 at  16:00 in Room D. Saturn – We will be covering everything connections related, installing, migrating, backing up etc 🙂

Tomorrow I am meeting the lovely Tim Clark for the roadtrip to engage .. looking forward to seeing friends, learning some great new stuff in the amazing amount of sessions and some good old social networking .. see you there 🙂

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Can you spare an item to help raise money for two amazing causes?

Friends, Geeks, Costumers, fellow Disney fans, lovers of star wars, friends of friends, basically everyone ….

As some of you know I am part of a team behind a charity convention later this year (August 7th).
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Our aim is to raise much needed funds for two amazing causes

Demelza Hospice Care for Children – a charity supporting children and young people (0-19) who are not expected to reach adulthood, and offer support to their families across Kent, South East London and East Sussex

Feel the Force Day (registed charity – 1st sensory legion) – Feel the Force Day is an accessible film and TV event designed for visually impaired and disabled people. Days include tactile costumes, props, vehicles, TV and film related smell jars… plus a few new and original ideas at each event.

All proceeds from Invictacon will be split between the two charities above – as you will agree both great causes.

 

So how can you help us?

The Invictacon team are looking for donations from you .. not in the monitory sense (although cash donations are lovely) – we are looking for items that we can use in our raffle and blind auction.

It can be anything related to film, tv, sci-fi, comic books, gaming, sport, any fandoms etc… that will help us raise some funds for Demelza and FTFD

 

How can you get it to us?

  • IBM/LOTUS/Conference people – we are at Connect 2016 in Orlando and Engage 2016 in Einhoven – bring it along (as long as i can fit it in a case)
  • Costuming friends – we will be at a few sci-fi / comic cons this year – let us know where you will be and we will come and collect or arrange for a friend to accept it on our behalf
  • Anyone else -You can contact us to arrange pick up (if you are local to the southeast of the UK) or postal / courier

 

Any donations will be gratefully received – and we would love to tell the world that you have donated a prize (if you don’t want us to do that, that is also ok)

We are also looking for category sponsors for the costume / cosplay competition (or for the whole comp) – a small prize, trophy and certificate will be presented in each category

  • Kids under 10
    Kids 10 – 16
    Adults 16 and over
    Best Group

The competition is being judged by the lovely Alan Flyng – Star wars (ESB / ROTJ – storm-trooper and imperial officer) who is an amazing costume maker / wardrobe master who has worked on thousands of TV, film and theatrical productions.

 

Thank you

So my plee for help ends .. if there is anyway you could part with something no matter how small to help us raise funds for both causes the whole team would be so so grateful.

The team and I can not thank you enough – we are all volunteers and get nothing but a warm and fuzzy feeling for raising some well needed funds for two amazing causes.

 

So thank you

Sharon, Sam, Nathan, David and Nicky

 

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