| To-Do | Task | Description |
 | Learn how to get started and find information about this product release. | See the technical document:
|
| Determine if your system will support running Domino 8.5. | See the technical document:
|
| Review the Best Practices for System i | See the IBM Tech Exchange Webcast:
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| Determine if a compatible OS level is being used, including all of the required licensed programs, options, cumulative PTF packages and group PTFs.
This step includes installing the new Java 6 option for IBM i 5.4 or i 6.1:
57xxJV1 Option 11 - IBM Technology for Java 6 32-bit
| Domino 8.5 is supported on i 5.4 and i 6.1.
See these documents for required software and maintenance:
To obtain 5722JV1 Option 11 for i 5.4:
5722-JV1 Option 11 (JDK 6 32-bit) is available as orderable media in PTF SI30432 from Fix Central. Alternatively, you may contact your IBM Service Provider and order PTF SI30432 on media.
Before you order and install JDK 6, you must have V5R4M0 5722-JV1 Option *BASE installed on your eServer i5 server. It is recommended that you also have the latest Java Group PTF SF99291 on hand to obtain the most recent updates.
To obtain 5761JV1 Option 11 for i 6.1:
5761JV1 Option 11 is available with the IBM i 6.1 media. |
| Verify compatibility with other Lotus software products. | Refer to the Lotus Software for IBM i operating system Compatibility Guide |
| Verify compatibility with any third-party add-on products. | If you are running third-party applications such as anti-virus, spam blockers, administration tools, etc., verify Domino version 8.5 compatibility with your vendor. |
| Plan additional time for PROGRAM CONVERSION required when installing Domino 8.5 on i 5.4 or in select i 6.1 upgrade scenarios.
RECOMMENDED: Upgrade to IBM i 6.1 (i5/OS V6R1) before installing Domino 8.5 to alleviate the additional time required to convert the Domino product during installation. | See the technical documents:
|
| Remove any Domino 8.5 Beta or pre-Beta servers and software. Upgrade from Beta or pre-Beta software is not supported. | End Beta or pre-Beta servers:
ENDDOMSVR SERVER(<server-name>) or WRKDOMSVR option 6.
Remove any Domino servers created using Beta or pre-Beta software.
CFGDOMSVR SERVER(<server-name>) OPTION(*REMOVE)
Remove the Beta or pre-Beta software:
DLTLICPGM LICPGM(5733L85) |
| Plan for the new Lotus Notes client. | There are two client configurations available: basic and standard. For more information, refer to the Lotus Notes and Domino 8.5 Information Center. |
| Set a default size for the console log. | When you upgrade to Domino 8 or later release, the console log maximum size is automatically set to 1 KB, if you have not already explicitly set a maximum size in your notes. ini file. It is recommended that you set a maximum size prior to the upgrade so you do not lose valuable debugging information. A value between 100 - 1000 KB is good for most customers.
You can set the maximum size using the console_log_max_kbytes=<kbytes> parameter. A value of 0 means no maximum.
If you do not want console logging enabled, you can disable it with the setting console_log_enabled=0. |
| Plan for the new ODS level. | Domino version 8.5 introduces new ODS level 51. Domino databases are not upgraded to the new ODS level by default, and no conversion is required as part of the upgrade.
For details on Create_R85_Databases=1 and how to upgrade your databases to the new ODS, refer to the Domino 8.5 Information Center
See the following technical document for changes to the RUNDOMCMD when running COMPACT on Domino 8.5 for i.
|
| Plan for using DAOS | Refer to the DAOS Quick Start Guide and DAOS Best Practices for more information about enabling this feature. Use the DAOS Estimator to evaluate your server's attachment sizes and identify the optimum DAOS minimum size. Use care when choosing the DAOS minimum size; selecting an attachment size that is too small (for example, the 8.5 default value which is 4K) can result in a large number of .nlo objects which will have an impact on the time required for save operations. |
| Plan to upgrade the design of the Domino Directory (names.nsf) and allow time to rebuild views in names.nsf. | If you are upgrading the first server in the domain, you also need to upgrade the design of the Domino directory (names.nsf).
To do so, start the Domino server and answer "Yes" in the Domino console:
|
| Plan for any additional upgrade tasks if you are upgrading from a prior release of Domino. | For example, if you are upgrading from Domino 7.0.x to Domino 8.5, read the documentation and upgrade recommendations for Domino 8 as well as the Domino 8.5 information. |
| Become familiar with the new features in Lotus Notes and Domino version 8.5 | See the Domino 8.5 InfoCenter:
New features in IBM Lotus Domino 8.5
New features in IBM Lotus Notes 8.5
New features in IBM Lotus Domino Designer 8.5
New features in IBM Lotus Domino Web Access 8.5
See also the Domino Blog. |
| Learn about the new release of Domino | Read the technote:
|
| Obtain necessary hotfix(es) | Obtain also any high impact Domino 8.5 hot fixes that are available at the time of general availability.
If you are currently running any hotfixes on earlier releases of Domino, contact Lotus Support to see if you will need a replacement hotfix or if that hotfix is part of the 8.5 product.
Note: Hotfixes for the following issues are not required for Domino 8.5; they are already incorporated into the release:
|
| Remove Domino software that is no longer used. | After the installation of a new release of Domino software and upgrading servers, remove any older versions of the Domino software that are no longer needed. For example, if you have installed Domino 8.5 and upgraded all of your servers to the new release level, remove older versions of Domino that are no longer used.
Use the DSPSFWRSC command to display the installed Domino versions and options. Use the DLTLICPGM command to remove Domino software that is no longer required.
Refer to the Technote i5/OS V6R1 upgrade roadmap for Lotus Domino and related products for helpful information on removing older versions of the Domino product. |
| Improve performance of existing Domino server(s) by removing DECS if it is not required.
| Check existing servers for DECS; configure new servers with CNNSRV(*NONE) if DECS is not required.
The default value for Connection Services on the CFGDOMSVR command is CNNSRV(*DECS). If you are not using DECS, then remove this task from your existing servers using the CHGDOMSVR command:
CHGDOMSVR
SERVER(<server-name>)
CNNSRV(*NONE) |
