Upgrading Domino to 8.5.1 - Process Complete

WOW! That was really easy...

OK... so I know, now, that I could have done this all by myself, and didn't need to bring in someone to help me with this. The only reason I did, is because, as is usually the case, when I attempt an upgrade by myself, something inevitably goes wrong, and I have to call someone (usually a consultant), and wait for them to call me back. Sometimes the call back is quick, sometimes it's two or three hours after the initial call. Of course, when I spend the money to have someone come in and "spin the disks", nothing goes wrong and everything comes out hunky dory, like it did yesterday.

Both our Domino servers are running 8.5.1, including our Good Mobile Messaging server. We were also able to install Lotus Traveler 8.5.1 on the same server as Good, and there were no knocking of heads between the two. Now we just have to wait to get some DNS and an SSL certificate issues taken care of before I can start testing Traveler on my phones (an AT&T (HTC) Tilt and a iPhone.) Speaking of the iPhone, I ordered it last Tuesday and was told that there was a 5-7 day backorder on the phone. On Wednesday (yes, the day after I ordered it), I received the phone... go figure.

All of our third party apps are working fine. All of our 6.5.4 and 7.0.3 clients are working fine. We installed the basic client on Citrix and that is working fine... of course, I am the only one running a mail database at 8.5.1 right now. I figured I would learn all I can about the standard and basic clients before rolling them out to the user community, so I'd be able to handle any and all questions. I'm guessing I'll start to roll out the clients sometime in early December.

All in all, I am very happy that the upgrade went well, everything is working, as expected, and there are no issues at the present time.

I will say that the two guys I had come up to help, Todd Stratman and Michael Weber, both from Teamwork Solutions, were very knowledgeable and very helpful. I couldn't have asked for two better people to help me out with this upgrade, even though it was easy money for them. I'm sure they were thinking "why are we here?", because it was so uneventful, but I was glad they were here.

I couldn't have asked for a better Monday!

Upgrading Domino to 8.5.1 - This Weekend

Well, it's finally going to happen. With the help of Teamwork Solutions, I'm going to get our primary Domino server upgraded from 7.0.3 to 8.5.1. We're also going to upgrade our Good Mobile Messaging server to 8.5.1, and attempt to install Lotus Traveler on the same server as Good. If that doesn't work, I've got a temporary server to install Traveler on.

I'm excited about the weekend. I'm excited about seeing 8.5.1 up close and personal. I'm excited about the possibilities of using Traveler and kicking Good to the curb. It's not that Good is a bad product, it's worked well for us over the last couple of years. It's just that Good is slow getting compatibility for the new phones, including the iPhone.

Speaking of the iPhone, I ordered one yesterday, for testing with Traveler. Of course, the phone is on backorder, so chances are, I won't get the phone before the weekend, which is unfortunate. Since I've not really seen an iPhone up close, other than someone showing me their phone (and not letting me touch it), I have no idea what to expect. I have a lot of questions, and I guess I'll have to wait until I get the phone to have my questions answered.

While I don't like working weekends, I am looking forward to working this weekend. I'm as giddy as a kid at Christmas.