The Eleven Commandments - Review

I'm attempting something like Live Blogging.... I'm not that technically advanced so I'm just going to
write this blog during the session.
The session started at 11am for me (yes, the lunch period) because of a work emergency. Luckily, Wild
Bill didn't mind me sticking around while he got prepared. Then he very graciously let me come up to the
front table and use his wired connection. So before he bashes the Admins too bad, I wanted to say "Thanks
Bill!" for helping this Admin.
On with the review....- Started with a great slide show of pictures of the presenters, Bill Buchan and Paul Mooney (for those
that didn't know). Paul aka Frodo, Bill aka Fred Flintstone, and even Ed Brill as Dr Evil. Even blessed
with the pic of Bill with jacket taped on.
- Duffbert is next door and came over to shush the crowd. Bill ran over to his side to taunt.
- They're offering donuts and doing general silliness show as everyone still files in....
- Usual Pledge... check
- Intro spoilers: Bill is Paul's father!
- Developers are "God" like and Bill is now wearing a tiara/Halo to represent the developers
- Administrators are "Evil" and Paul immediately goes after the end users with his evil trident
- Admin Commandment #1: Stubborn refusal to change crap, hatred of everyone, feet up means everything is
running, favorite word is "no". Because change is bad for the environment and service is good. Are you
meeting your SLA and can you measure your success.
- Developer Commandment #1: Good attitude and empathy, ability to change without failure, multiple code
ability, never call the customer idiots, favorite word "yes". Because change is GOOD.
- Admins2: Preventing changes on the fly protects your services. Change control is risk management.
Implement strict change control. What's your process? Where is your documentation?
- Developer2: Change control is risk management. All changes are well understood and documented.
Development sandbox, User test environment, Production.
- Admins3: Failure to secure means your a target. Anonymous editor access to directory. Everyone's ID
still in the NAB with password LotusNotes. Anonymous editor access to donation site, all credit card
details still available. Open ECL's? Be aware of Domino Security model and conduct informal audits -
catalog.nsf, ACL view. Know your group infrastructure and how it relates to security. Who is allowed Full
Access Admin?
- Developers3: Failure to understand security leads to: private information becoming public, unhappy
customers, reputation as an ass. Users should only be allowed to see what you allow them to see. Database
ACL, Roles, Reader/Access Fields.
- Admins4: ECLs! Prevent unsigned code and provide extra security. Too many times see any code available
to execute in Domino. A good/bad developer could have a fun time there. Simple steps to execute: register
two signer id files, one for restricted and one for unrestricted. Push down but decide replace/refresh.
This is NOT as simple as it is documented. This is a slow process to allow time to make sure all signers
of agents in your environment. Make sure you don't disrupt service in environment. (Check pmooney.net for
code to evaluate all agent signers in environment)
(Mooney sneaks over to disrupt Duffbert's class again. Sure he'll be back before next Admin commandment)
- Developers4: Write maintainable code. Majority of time is spent updating code then writing new code.
1200 lines of code in a single function, no errorhandling. It might be you that has to fix it later so
write it correctly the first time. Re-use code, check everything at the start of your code, test early
and often.
(Nice bull joke by Bill!)
- Admins5: Thou shall understand your environment. Sometimes your not the one deciding hardware
acquisitions. Slow/poorly managed RAID arrays SERIOUSLY hamper server performance. Sharing arrays with
other products can make performance totally inconsistent and unreliable. Know your DMZ, your VPN, your
architect, your SAN, anything that might effect your environment.
- Developers5: Thou shall measure twice, cut once! More time thinking and less time coding. Whiteboard
and meet instead of always fighting fires. (Paul hugs audience member that has to use Vista...awwww) If
you get ambiguous specs, then get it in writing. Don't rush code to the fingertips. Slow down.
- Admins6: Thou shall review the catalog! Records everything in your environment. Open $replica for
proof. Neglected catalog leads to poor security. Applications end up with default access to high or
anonymous access. Go to the ACL view and look at -Default. Developers tend not to look at impact on ACLs.
Use the catalog.
- Developers6: Thou shall understand @Formula! So you don't end up writing something horrible in the
wrong language. Use the best features of each language. Call between your languages to get the best from
all languages.
- Admins7: Thou shall monitor mail usage! Router task is too good and often ignored. Unrestricted mail
usage can hamper server performance. Often we are too forgiving on internal mail messages. Attachment
control. (IdeaJam to limit attachment size on the client instead of waiting for the hit on the server)
Implement DAOS!! Space saving is huge.
- Developers7: Thous shall understand versions! Servers upgrade first, then clients, then developers and
code. You'll code with features that aren't available to your users.
- Admins8: Thou shall maintain your servers! Compact -C and -d every night, too much. Wrong maintenance and
wrong parameters too frequent or not enough. Understand the tasks! What does compact do? Update versus
Updall. Fixup, when? and consequences.
- Developers8: Thou shall keep up with Evolution! Things change - new releases, new techniques, changes
to business. New vs mean new capabilities. Old, ugly inefficient apps, code and developers. Stay on top
of everything like release notes even. Keep up! You're not alone out there. Go out to the blogs and see
what's going on.
(and now another hug for the Vista guy, this time from Bill)
- Admins9: Thou shall not set 300 year lifespans! It's easy! Use policies in registration. ID VAULT!
License tracking
- Developers9: Thou shall Log! We need to know before the users tell us. Don't make the log so big that
it crashes the server though.
- Admins10: Thou shall manage the minions! We owe a level of service to the users. (Crowd gasps!) They
need to leave you alone, make it happen. Look at support calls and see where you can prevent problems.
Wrong location documents, wrong replicas, archive issues. Policies, lock them down.
- Developers10: Thou shall be organized. Develop a system and stay on top of things.
- Admins11: Learn NSDs! Debugging them is not that hard. It's written in Klingon but it IS telling you
whats wrong. Download the NSD debugger tool for FREE from IBM.
- Developers11: Thou shall learn Web Services! Enough said!
WrapUp....We share the same goals in the end and hate the end users together.
Bill is now giving the speech on professionalism! lol Basically, choose when and where to have
excitement. Promises us that his excitement her is more controlled when meeting with customers.
And finally... Chinese Curse: May you live in interesting times.
Great session as always!!!