Leadership By Numbers

I have had some time to work with ND6.5.1 and overall I'm impressed with some subtle improvements.

Every upgrade adds a little more polish, and there are always the unintended errors. For instance, I have found problems using an R5 client connecting to a ND6.5.1 server through a remote console. If the R5 client runs either the @Command([AdminRemoteConsole]) or the R5 Admin client, the sole console message reads, 'Your mail file has exceeded the size threshold. You should delete messages and compact your mail file.' It's a small incompatibility, but a critical lack of functionality for sites that are beginning their upgrade to ND6.5.

Of course the WebAdmin application is an appropriate work around--provided the administrator is willing to load HTTP on each server. After all, the WebAdmin even permits creation of Notes client IDs through the Certificate Authority (CA) task.

New with ND6.0 is the CA, used to safe house Notes registration certificates. I have found it to be a little finicky in earlier ND6 code, but ND6.5.1 has my confidence. The new user ids are validated almost immediately and the CA application databases seem easier to modify. Personally, I think the new CA process has dramatic consequences for administrators. The CA encourages tighter security, and finally offers the possibility of having true support administrators on staff that can manage registration and name changes without actually having direct access to the certificate ids. I have been waiting to do a more extensive write-up on the CA until I could get it working consistently, so now I don't have an excuse to wait much longer.