Its been a while since I posted an SNTT,
and I did some work with this old feature recently, so it was worth a post.
Many environments automate the installation of the Lotus Notes client
using an installshield tuner or some such, which bypasses all the preference
settings and installs the client silently for the end user (actually this
is done for the administrator, to ensure and easier life, but enough said
about that). What can also be done is the automation of the
configuration wizard that the users have to go through with the lotus notes
client, after starting it for the first time. This involves a little
work and planning to get completed, but in larger scale environments, this
is worth it.
All the preference options that can
be chosen on the setup wizard can be pre-populated in a configuration text
file. This is documented in the ND8 installation guide. Here is an
example:
;Username= [e.g. User Name/OU/O]
;KeyfileName= [e.g. C:\Notes\Data\User.ID]
;;*****Server Details********
;Domino.Name [Domino server name e.g.
MAILSERVER1]
;Domino.Address [IP address of Domino
server]
;Domino.Port=TCPIP
;Domino.Server= [1 to connect to the
server, 0 for no connection]
;*****Internet Accounts********
AdditionalServices=0
;Mail.Incoming.Name= [incoming POP or
IMAP server name]
;Mail.Incoming.Server= [1 for POP or
2for IMAP]
;Mail.Incoming.Protocol=
;Mail.Incoming.Username= [Mail account
user name or login name]
;Mail.Incoming.Password= [Mail account
password]
;Mail.Incoming.SSL= [1 to use SSL; 0
not to use SSL]
;Mail.Outgoing.Name= [Outgoing mail
account name, a friendly name used to refer to these settings]
;Mail.Outgoing.Server= [Outgoing mail
(SMTP) server name]
;Mail.Outgoing.Address= [User's Internet
mail address, such as user@isp.com]
;Mail.InternetDomain= [Internet Mail
domain name such as isp.com]
;Directoy.Name= [Directory account name,
a friendly name used to refer to these settings]
;Directory.Server= [Directory (LDAP)
server name]
;*****Dialup settings********
;NetworkDial.EntryName= [Name of remote
network dialup phone book entry]
;NetworkDial.Phonenumber= [Dial-in number]
;NetworkDial.Username= [Remote network
user name]
;NetworkDial.Password= [Remote network
password]
;NetworkDial.Domain= [Remote network
domain]
;DirectDial.Phonenumber= [Dial-in number]
;DirctDial.Prefix= [Dialup prefix, if
required. For example, 9 to access an outside line.]
;DirectDial.Port= [COM port to which
the modem is connected]
;DirectDial.Modem= [File specification
of modem file]
;*****Proxy Settings********
;Proxy.HTTP= [HTTP proxy server and
port - e.g, proxy.isp.com:8080]
;Proxy.FTP= [FTP proxy server and port
- e.g, proxy.isp.com:8080]
;Proxy.SSL= [SSL proxy server and port
- e.g, proxy.isp.com:8080]
;Proxy.HTTPTunnel= [HTTP Tunneling proxy
server and port - e.g, proxy.isp.com:8080]
;Proxy.SOCKS= [SOCKS proxy server and
port - e.g, proxy.isp.com:8080]
;Proxy.None= [Do not use a proxy for
these hosts or domains]
;Proxy.UseHTTP= [Use the HTTP proxy
server for FTP, Gopher, and SSL security proxies]
;Proxy.Username= [User name if logon
is required]
;Proxy.Password= [User password]
;*****Replication Settings********
;Replication.hreshold= [Transfer outgoing
mail if this number of messages held in local mailbox]
;Replication.Schedule= [Enable replication
schedule]
;*****Instant Messaging Settings********
IM.Server=
IM.Port=1533
IM.ConnectWhen=1
IM.Protocol=0
;IM.ProxyType=
;IM.ProxyServer=
;IM.ProxyPort=
;IM.ServerNameResolve=
;IM.ProxyUsername=
Now, you don’t need all
of this to automate the installation, just the first fiew lines will do
to prevent users having to click on anything to force the configuration.
Here is an example of one that does just the basics:
;*****User Details********
;
Username = Paul Mooney/pmooney
KeyfileName=c:\pmooney.id
;
;;*****Server Details********
;
Domino.Name = mailserver/servers/pmooney
;Domino.Address [IP address of Domino server]
Domino.Port=TCPIP
Domino.Server = 1
As you can see, there is not that much
to it. Now, to force this file to be "read" all you have
to do is save it as a text file (for example, we call it configfile.txt)
and then modify the freshly installed notes.ini (manually or using an install
script) to include the following line:
Configfile=x:\configfile.txt
Now, all the user should have to do
is input their password and click on ok, and then click on ok to the "setup
complete" dialog box. The work lies in the automation of the
creation of these setup files, but this can be done using batch file exports.
I even heard of someone creating multiple copies of this file using
the mail merge facility of Microsoft Word!
There you go, nothing too new, but definitely
useful.
..