Sametime 8.5 rant
As upgrading to Domino 8.5.1 went so fine, it is time to upgrade our only Sametime server. Yes. Only Sametime server. We are a company of 80 and there is really no need for something more. Specially as we use WebEx as a meeting and conferencing software.
Thanks to Lars Berntrop-Bos and the news of Domino 8.5.1 I went to download it from IBM partner site. During the download I remembered that the last time I did a Domino upgrade on Linux, our Sametime stopped working as upgrade overridden / deleted some Sametime files and folders. Hence, for the reasons specified in previous upgrade article, I decided to also download newest Sametime 8.5.
In the past, installing Sametime was almost a piece of cake. You installed Domino server, installed Sametime, did some configuration voodoo and you were done. Now, I am presented with 7 or 8 binaries to download. What on earth is System Console Server? Why do I need separate install for 7 other things that were mostly included in one binary in previous release? Why do I need WebSphere Application Server? And I am not even starting on DB2.
Thankfully, uncle Google led me to this blog, where all possible options are described in detail. Now, apparently, to run all new and shiny features, you need at least two servers. Most likely because mixing Domino and Websphere Application Server is not a good idea if not impossible. If you are willing to sacrifice all new and cool meeting and conferencing features, you can keep your one dedicated server and run Sametime 8.5 Classic.
My real question is, what was IBM thinking? I get that separating each and every major feature of Sametime may mean better performance, but I really cannot see smaller companies (up to 150 employees) sacrificing at least one additional server for the sake of running a simple messaging and meeting application. Specially not those (like the one I work at) that already use other meeting and conferencing software. How can I go to my boss and tell him that we need Sametime for meeting and collaboration, when it takes more resources than existing implementation of competitive software? Also, integrating WAS as a framework? Really?
Phew… now with that off my chest, I am off to prepare a plan of upgrading…
January 12th, 2010 at 10:13
Hate to burst the bubble, but 8.5.1 isn’t supported…..
January 12th, 2010 at 13:20
Kaj sam jamras 😉
January 12th, 2010 at 15:31
I completely agree, i work for a 120 user organization, moving to that would be a nightmare
January 12th, 2010 at 16:36
There’s an idea for that:
http://ideajam.net/IdeaJam/P/ij.nsf/0/921C72B4A378D435862576A3005E6C1A?OpenDocument
January 12th, 2010 at 17:23
Glad you found Carl’s article. I had posted the part numbers also to make it easier. For smaller companies wanting to run exactly what you have now, then Sametime Classic (which is the Domino install portion you are familiar with) is exactly what you want. The rest revolves around the new meeting services, web chat client and enhanced media services (A/V). So just that one install is all you need!
January 12th, 2010 at 17:56
I think IBM was thinking of super large businesses, if they were thinking of small companies, then they need some medication.
January 13th, 2010 at 00:40
Sametime Classic is what i am going to install, but what if I wanted to show off cool & new features to my superiors? I mean Sametime 8.5 was promoted as a product that will beat WebEx, or at least seriously compete with that. But how it will do that, when it requires more servers for same amount of load?
Also, that Classic add-on to the name reminds me of my younger years, when I was developing software that used NI digital IO card. They had C++ libraries that were called Traditional. And with each version and sub version, no-one knew if they were are going to be supported or not. On top of that, new libraries had a major bug that is yet to be fixed (for three years now), but that is a totally different story.
What I was trying to say is that now, IBM supports Sametime Classic, as it would obviously be too much to force customers to more expensive solution. But what about in version 9 or 10? Will Sametime Classic still be supported?
January 13th, 2010 at 04:40
To show of what’s new in 8.5 without installing any new servers go to Greenhouse.lotus.com and you can get the client and connect to 8.5 meetings. Or just use a web browser and use that for meetings; or use web browser based IM (available later this week on Greenhouse).
For SMB in particular, I’d also claim that this is one reason why we introduced Lotuslive (and also why you still pay Webex your hard earned money). In general the SMB market is potentially better off letting the IT cost be shared with other companies, at least from a purely economic point of view.
As Carl noted, there are many many large companies that have large and growing meetings and A/V workloads where they need a distributed topology. Sametime 8.0.2 and EMS simply stated do not do that is a very manageable way. That’s one of the many business drivers for Sametime 8.5 in the enterprise.
That’s what we were thinking!
Rob Ingram, Sametime Senior Product Manager, IBM
April 28th, 2010 at 07:28
I was trying to upgrade from ST 8.0.2 standard server to 8.5 standard server in our test server and failed. Binary for the upgrade went fine and the ST was up and running. To have the audio and video i had to install DB2, System console, media manager and meeting server where after installing System console the ST services failed to start. I had gone through the steps exactly as per the IBM documents. Am I doing anything wrong here. Will I benefiting much by upgrading this? I read there are some enhancements for Audio/Video.
I am running ST 8.0.2 on Domino 8.5.1FP2. Operating system is RHEL 5.1. I need to keep everything in one single server. Will you be able to advise how to plan for this upgrade?