The all new Microsoft Application Analyser tool for Lotus Domino
CategoryWarning - long post....
Ok.... this is just plain unhealthy. So far since yesterday, I have received 12 pings and 13 emails reminding me that the new MS Application Analyser is out and when am I going to take a look at it. I am just back from London, and am tired, but still really eager to take a look at the new tool. There are a few reasons for this:
1. For those that don't know I reviewed the 2003 version of the Application Analyser tool (It was pretty poor)
2. In January of this year, I reviewed the beta version of the 2006 Application Analyser tool (it was worse then the old one)
3. Some great people from MS were very honest and constructive about my review, which was fair. I want to see what has changed in the product.
4. Some idiots from MS dug themselves a hole. "The beta had reached the end of its life cycle" was the best. But the main reason given is the version should not have been posted in the first place. If the version posted pre-Lotusphere came out "by accident", why did they press release it?
5. Yesterday MS released a report quoting Radicati (Jesus) on a poll they took and claimed it was credible. That just annoyed me.
6. MS staff asked me to review this tool when it came out and are interested in my findings. This I took as a compliment from some very smart people.
7. Lots more reasons... but most of which revolve around me needing to get a life!
Before continuing, my summary findings are in the next post if you don't want the gorey details......
Now, after the product was reviewed in January by myself and others, MS pulled the tool from the website. The (final) excuse that was given was the beta being posted was a mistake. It should not have been made public. So, six weeks have passed since then, and I want to see what is different. In fact, I will run the same tests as I ran last time, on the same databases using the same server / client. This is a marketing tool, and is going to be used as a marketing exercise. Microsoft will want Domino houses to run this tool to gain information on the domino site. As the whitepaper says:
"Microsoft® Application Analyzer 2006 for Lotus Domino is the beginning of a multi-phase process of defining and understanding your Lotus Domino application environment. To identify the applications that should be included in the integration and transition plan, it is necessary to consider criteria such as which applications are in use, the functionality those applications depend on, and the applications security and distribution requirements.
The application analysis and transition process includes the following phases:
- Initial application analysis to define the subset of applications that require additional analysis. Applications that do not require additional analysis are user's mail databases, Lotus Domino administration applications, and applications based on the default templates that ship with Lotus Domino.
- Custom application discovery is the process of performing advanced analyses on the remaining applications components to identify key requirements that are essential in determining the target solution for each application.
- Target solution mapping defines possible target solutions for each application. Target solutions include archiving unused applications, leaving the application in place on Lotus Domino, or transitioning the application to a new platform, which may or may not be a Microsoft product.
- Architect and transition is when you plan, deploy, and transition the applications to their target solutions.
and.....
"Microsoft Application Analyzer 2006 for Lotus Domino is the beginning
of the process of building an analysis and transition plan. This process
defines the appropriate target solution for each application, which includes:
- Archive unused Applications
- Leave the application in place on Domino or,
- Transitions the application to a new platform, which may or may not be a Microsoft product"
Ok... that's fair enough. Its goals are to tell you what databases are not in use on your domain and what tools could be used to migrate the applications that are in use. So this is useful information.. so it better be accurate. So, like last time, I am giving myself a few hours to take a look at this, posting my findings (good or bad) but will add to this document as I go along. I am armed with:
- The Whitepaper
- The readme file (in the install)
- Online help
"Note Although IBM does not support running Lotus Notes on Windows Server 2003, Microsoft has tested this configuration and supports it"
Very well written. Of course IBM do not supported Lotus Notes clients on the server platform. Why should they? A lot of customers would believe that this means that the Domino server is not supported on W2k3 (which it is). I won't give that a FUD seal......... but it comes close.
OK - So I download the new version of the tool. There are some prerequisites to get this up and running. You need to have:
- .net framework 2.0 installed (possibly 1.1 will work - the readme says it does but it didn't work for me)
- windows installer 3.0 installed
- MSDE SQL engine installed
- As said earlier, ND5.16(?) or ND6.x
Anyway... on with the show....
Again, after installing the framework and the MSDE SQL engine on my client PC, I have to start an instance to run this utility. Type the following in on the command prompt:
"c:\msderela\setup sapwd="password"
note: - if you are planning to do a big analysis, you would be best to use full SQL server, as there is a 2GB limit on the MSDE engine,
Breakdown of applications into Quadrants
The tool attempts to break down the applications into four quadrants:
In fact, you have this handy diagram to assist you with your categorisation of your applications:
Please look at this diagram closely and then re-read the table above.... I estimate less then 5% of applications will fall into the "easy" Quad 1 and Quad 2 categories. MS are being honest here.... there are very few easy applications to migrate. In addition, the whitepaper offers this easy breakdown of the quadrants:
"Quadrant 1 applications are both of the following:
- Databases created from the default Domino Discussion template.
- Have not been modified.
- Databases created from the default Domino Team Room or Document Library templates.
- Have not been modified.
- Databases created from the default Domino Discussion template that have been modified to include additional fields.
- Databases created from a blank template that do not implement workflow or connectivity to external systems.
- Databases created from the default Domino Team Room or Document Library templates that have been modified to include additional fields.
- Databases created from a blank template that implement workflow or connectivity to external systems. "
Unscanned applications/templates
Specific applications and templates are now omitted from the analyser engine. This is simply done using the "new" feature in the full version. There is an xml file called "AARULES.XML" on the analyser machine. This includes an exclusion list (which you can modify) of specific folders (including mail), filenames and database names not to be included during analysis. You can add databases to this list. Note to the MS sales rep - Add all the "hard" Domino databases to this list. It will make the final report look great!
What's the logic behind classifying Quad1 and Quad2 apps Paul?
Ok... bear with me on this one. I know I haven't gotten to my findings yet, but I can't let this go. the AARULES.XML file also is used for QUAD1 and QUAD2 classification. It lists template database names. If the database has the template name matching one in the list, it goes into the specified quadrant. For example:
"- <Template name="StdR50TeamRoom" title="SmartSuite Library" templatefile="Doclibs50.ntf" quadrant="2">"
First thoughts here - What if the template name is the same as the default template name, but it is acutally modified???? Looking up based on a text value in this database property is just not accurate enough for classification.
If it does not have a template name listed, the tool goes through a list of forms and amount of fields that should be in that form, that would make it unaltered. So for the team room we have:
"- <!--
Template forms are used to help identify custom databases which do not have template name entry. This information is used to try to match the custom database to the closest template. The fieldCount attribute is used to analyze the extent of customization of the database from the corresponding standard template.
-->
- <TemplateForms>
<TemplateForm name="$$ReturnAuthenticationFailure" fieldCount="3" />
<TemplateForm name="$$ReturnAuthorizationFailure" fieldCount="3" />
<TemplateForm name="$$ReturnGeneralError" fieldCount="1" />
<TemplateForm name="($Subscription)" fieldCount="32" />
<TemplateForm name="(ProfileInstructions)" fieldCount="1" />
<TemplateForm name="DeleteMissionItem" fieldCount="8"
etc etc etc...
What if an existing field is modified as opposed to another field added? C'mon guys... this is schoolboy stuff here!
There is a business logic customisation section to this xml file aswell
"The BusinessRules section of the file determines how closely the solution mapping items must match the items found in an application for the application to be considered a match.
- Templatemodificationpercentvalue=“0” means the field count of the Lotus application must match the field count listed in the XML file for the associated template. For example, a value of 20 means there could be up to 20 percent deviation from the field count listed in the XML file.
- TemplatePercentMatch value="100" means the Lotus application must have the same form names as the form names that are listed in the XML file for the associated template. For example, a value of 80 means there could be a 20 percent difference in the form names listed in the Lotus application versus the form names listed in the associated template in the XML file."
So, I can customise the results....... and be forgiving enough to say that a modified database that was based on a template can still fall into QUAD1 or QUAD2.... why would I do that, if I know that the Sharepoint solution can no longer easily reproduce the required application? Theoretically I could customise the XML file to say that even if the database is nothing like the template and has lots of additional fields, class it as a Quad1 or Quad2.
Part two is my analysis and findings...
- 
Comments
Posted by Ben Langhinrichs At 06:58:22 On 03/03/2006 | - Website - |
But, well said anyway.
Posted by Paul Mooney At 15:02:15 On 03/03/2006 | - Website - |
As an aside, somebody indicated that I may have made it sound in my post above as though I thought only large companies were moving to ND7, which is certainly not true. The adoption rate for ND7 seems very high among all my customers of all sizes, except customers for CoexLinks.
Posted by Ben Langhinrichs At 22:17:35 On 03/03/2006 | - Website - |