Upgrading Lotus-Notes to IBM-Notes

[holgerbartels]

Hi,

I would like to ask into the community how you would realize a upgrading-procedure from an existing Lotus-Notes installation to the latest IBM-Notes?

Best wishes,
Holger

[holgerbartels]

Hmm, seems like nobody is upgrading Lotus Notes to IBM Notes... Maybe it's just to complicated with this kind of software :))

[bpavlov]

@holgerbartels You probably aren't getting much of a response because most companies have moved away from POS software like Notes. You can attempt to the use the installer as is. Just make sure to have the latest Java installed. That should get it installed. Not sure about uninstalling the older version and/or whether the new installer will transfer the Notes Preferences, ID file, etc. to the new version. I've seen how a company that shall not be named does it and I also think there may be some command line arguments you can use with the installer (or perhaps its app's binary). Can't promise you I'll spend any time looking for it (I try to limit my exposure to IBM Notes as much as possible) but if I run into it I'll share it back here.

Either way, good luck.

[krademacher]

If you are talking about just the Lotus Notes Client on your PC, and not a Domino mail server, I'd just make a backup copy of your Notes folder, stash it somewhere safe, and then do the upgrade.

If you're looking at a server upgrade, I would suggest exercising a lot of CYA during the upgrade process, because unrelated and goofy things can be murphy's law moments (I had two drives fail in a RAID during an upgrade, for example). Most domino servers tend to be elderly nowadays, so things like this are legitimate concerns.

If you have a Domino admin up your sleeve, make sure that person is riding shotgun, and make sure to do a full system backup of your server before beginning.

Things that could bite you:
Do you have a clustered environment?
Is server-to-server replication working as it should?
Do you have the appropriate admin rights to every server in your environment (Domino AND host OS)
Do you have single copy object store turned on?
Do you have an archive system that will be compatible with the upgraded IBM Notes?

[jconte]

We have been using Lotus Notes for a long time and just create a policy in Self Service to update the users. What are your concerns ?

Thanks
Jeff

[holgerbartels]

Hi,

okay lets be more specific. We have a large Lotus-Notes, resp. IBM-Notes installation base. With El Capitan we have to get the 64bit Notes to our Machines.

Upgrading Notes is a pain: just firing up the IBM-Installer via Script increases the Support-Calls, it just does't work. Either the Client crashes or the Notes would be incredible slow, so we have to manually uninstall and then reinstall IBM Notes. Thats not a good option.

Has somebody of you a working upgrade-script?

Thanks,
Holger

[jconte]

Hi holger -

Sorry for the delayed response. What I do here is put the application in self-service for users to install after we send out a communication. We will also install automatically via policy that runs at login, this prevents the app from being launched or being open.

We rm -rf the Notes folder via a before script, then install the app and if you are a sametime IM shop you will want to install the fix afterwards.

We have had great success since the Notes Preferences and User Data stay intact.

Let me know if I can be of more assistance.

[erickj]

Hey... Just wondering if you had made any headway on this. I will be going through my first go around to update, and just wanted to know some good methods. Should be a short term, as we should be removing and then moving onto O365. (Thank god)