Maximizing IBM Notes client to performance doesn’t have to be complicated! Reloaded for the latest IBM Notes 9 version, join Chris and find out what can be tuned – and how to resolve it. Learn how to debug your client, deal with outdated ODS, network latency and application performance issues and the measurable benefit that provides to users. Gather best practices on how to streamline location and connection documents and why the catalog.nsf is so important. Improve your IBM Notes client installations to provide a better experience for happier administration and happier end users! As a special bonus, Chris will show you how to increase the startup time of virtualized IBM Notes Clients (Citrix / vmware / etc) up to 70%! A presentation by Christoph Adler

1. IBM Notes Performance Boost - Reloaded
DEV-1185
Christoph Adler, panagenda

2. Notices and
disclaimers
Copyright © 2017 by International Business Machines Corporation (IBM). No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted
in any form without written permission from IBM.
U.S. Government Users Restricted Rights — Use, duplication or disclosure restricted by GSA ADP Schedule Contract with
IBM.
Information in these presentations (including information relating to products that have not yet been announced by IBM) has been
reviewed for accuracy as of the date of initial publication and could include unintentional technical or typographical errors. IBM shall
have no responsibility to update this information. THIS DOCUMENT IS DISTRIBUTED "AS IS" WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY, EITHER
EXPRESS OR IMPLIED. IN NO EVENT SHALL IBM BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGE ARISING FROM THE USE OF THIS
INFORMATION, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, LOSS OF DATA, BUSINESS INTERRUPTION, LOSS OF PROFIT OR LOSS
OF OPPORTUNITY. IBM products and services are warranted according to the terms and conditions of the agreements under which
they are provided.
IBM products are manufactured from new parts or new and used parts. In some cases, a product may not be new and may have been
previously installed. Regardless, our warranty terms apply.”
Any statements regarding IBM's future direction, intent or product plans are subject to change or withdrawal without notice.
Performance data contained herein was generally obtained in a controlled, isolated environments. Customer examples are presented
as illustrations of how those customers have used IBM products and the results they may have achieved. Actual performance, cost,
savings or other results in other operating environments may vary.
References in this document to IBM products, programs, or services does not imply that IBM intends to make such products, programs
or services available in all countries in which IBM operates or does business.
Workshops, sessions and associated materials may have been prepared by independent session speakers, and do not necessarily
reflect the views of IBM. All materials and discussions are provided for informational purposes only, and are neither intended to, nor
shall constitute legal or other guidance or advice to any individual participant or their specific situation.
It is the customer’s responsibility to insure its own compliance with legal requirements and to obtain advice of competent legal counsel
as to the identification and interpretation of any relevant laws and regulatory requirements that may affect the customer’s business
and any actions the customer may need to take to comply with such laws. IBM does not provide legal advice or represent or warrant
that its services or products will ensure that the customer is in compliance with any law
2 3/1/2017

3. Notices and
disclaimers
continued
Information concerning non-IBM products was obtained from the suppliers of those products, their published announcements or other
publicly available sources. IBM has not tested those products in connection with this publication and cannot confirm the accuracy of
performance, compatibility or any other claims related to non-IBM products. Questions on the capabilities of non-IBM products should
be addressed to the suppliers of those products. IBM does not warrant the quality of any third-party products, or the ability of any such
third-party products to interoperate with IBM’s products. IBM EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESSED OR
IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A
PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
The provision of the information contained herein is not intended to, and does not, grant any right or license under any IBM patents,
copyrights, trademarks or other intellectual property right.
IBM, the IBM logo, ibm.com, Aspera®, Bluemix, Blueworks Live, CICS, Clearcase, Cognos®, DOORS®, Emptoris®, Enterprise
Document Management System™, FASP®, FileNet®, Global Business Services ®, Global Technology Services ®, IBM
ExperienceOne™, IBM SmartCloud®, IBM Social Business®, Information on Demand, ILOG, Maximo®, MQIntegrator®, MQSeries®,
Netcool®, OMEGAMON, OpenPower, PureAnalytics™, PureApplication®, pureCluster™, PureCoverage®, PureData®,
PureExperience®, PureFlex®, pureQuery®, pureScale®, PureSystems®, QRadar®, Rational®, Rhapsody®, Smarter Commerce®,
SoDA, SPSS, Sterling Commerce®, StoredIQ, Tealeaf®, Tivoli®, Trusteer®, Unica®, urban{code}®, Watson, WebSphere®,
Worklight®, X-Force® and System z® Z/OS, are trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation, registered in many
jurisdictions worldwide. Other product and service names might be trademarks of IBM or other companies. A current list of IBM
trademarks is available on the Web at "Copyright and trademark information" at: www.ibm.com/legal/copytrade.shtml.
3 3/1/2017

4. Senior Consultant at panagenda
15+ years of IBM (Lotus) solutions experience
Focused on
• IBM Notes Client Management
• Analysis and Optimization of ICS infrastructures
• Cloud onboarding
Good to know
• Lives in Germany
• Frequent traveler
• Wine or beer? Beer!
• Don’t give energy drinks  squirrel mode
Christoph Adler
4 3/1/2017

5. Make Your Data Work for You
3 things before we start ...
5 3/1/2017

6. 1. Thank you!
Francie Tanner
6 3/1/2017
Florian Vogler Daniel Reimann

7. 2. Notes is not dead – at least until Sept. 2021
7 3/1/2017
IBM Notes and Domino V9.0.1 extends support and enhances its
collaboration toolset with social capabilities from IBM Connections V5.5
Link:
https://tinyurl.com/NotesIsNotDead

8. 3. Most import :-)
I (still) love Notes.
8 3/1/2017

9. Make Your Data Work for You
Let‘s start with some numbers
9 3/1/2017

10. IBM Notes 9.0.1 Fix Pack 7 Interim Fix 2
3/1/2017
~35.000 files (Notes 6/7 | 8/9 Basic used to have ~550) = +6.300%
• 28.600 files in Notes Programframework in 2.700 subdirectories
– 11.200 (largely undocumented) .properties files
– 1.200 .jar files
– 1.300 .html files
• 600 files in Notes Dataworkspace in 250 subdirectories
– 40 (largely undocumented) XML files
– 40 (largely undocumented) .properties files
• Which is
– 35.000 files in 2.950 subdirectories
– 11.280 largely undocumented files
– ... and around 60 NSFs/NTFs
– ... and the good old notes.ini file
10

11. IBM Notes 9.0.1 Fix Pack 7 Interim Fix 2 (cont.)
3/1/2017
Add over 80 preference/dialog boxes
• Each dialog has ~15 settings at average
For a total of 1,200+ settings sprayed across
• address book (very few)
• notes.ini (few)
• and XML files (lots)
Plus any plugins, widgets,
add-ons, etc. “you“ or the user
may have added to the Notes
client install
11

12. IBM Notes 9.0.1 Fix Pack 7 Interim Fix 2 (cont.)
3/1/201712

13. IBM Notes 9.0.1 Fix Pack 7 Interim Fix 2 (cont.)
3/1/2017
Workspace
(nsf)
Physical nsfs 1, 2, 3, … n
13

14. Make Your Data Work for You
What makes the Notes Client
START slow
14 3/1/2017

15. IBM Notes release
3/1/2017
If you‘re not on at least 9.0.1 yet  9.0.1 is a significant improvement
Software lifecycle of IBM Collaboration Solutions
– http://www-01.ibm.com/software/support/collaboration/lifecycle/
15

16. Antivirus realtime scanning in Data directory
3/1/2017
~50% of the entire data volume in the Data
directory changes on a DAILY basis in most
setups
• 5 - 10% in Dataworkspace (up to 300 files)
• DISABLE Antivirus scanning for at least
*.ns*
*.ndk
*.xml
*.properties
*.jar
in Data Directory.
16

17. What makes the Notes Client START slow (cont.)
3/1/2017
Client crashes/database fixups
• especially bad for network based data directories clients
Outdated Hardware
• You need >2 GB memory if you want to use Notes AND something else
• Old fixed disks with fragmentation
• Fun Exercise: Buy a Solid State Disk and make Notes start off of that ;-)
Tons of startup programs/scripts launching during the “boot storm”
• If the disk is unable to keep up, it‘s not Notes' fault
17

18. What makes the Notes Client START slow (cont.)
3/1/2017
Outdated Data directories
• Virtually 100% of all NTFs (Laptops: 90%) can be removed by
• Cleaning up old Notes 4+5+6/7 templates
• using ini:SharedDataDirectory= (also with Single User install!)
Operating System
• Windows 8.1 boots ~20% faster than Windows 7
• Windows 10 ~15% faster than 8.1
18

19. ODS of local databases
3/1/2017
ODS = On Disk Structure
• ODS 16 = Notes 2
• ODS 17 = Notes 3
• ODS 20 = Notes 4 (or Templates)
• ODS 41 = Notes 5
• ODS 43 = Notes 6 & 7
• ODS 48 = Notes 8
• ODS 51 = Notes 8.5 & 9
• ODS 52 = Notes 9.0.1
The difference between ODS 43 and 52 = up to 80% LESS FILE I/O
This helps with ANY client AND server hardware
19

20. ODS of local databases (cont.)
3/1/2017
CAUTION: The ODS is not automatically updated when upgrading clients
– ODS 51 requires Notes >= 8.5 and CREATE_R85_DATABASES=1 in notes.ini for NEW db's
– ODS 52 requires Notes >= 9.0.1 and CREATE_R9_DATABASES=1 in notes.ini for NEW db's
Good News for Notes > 8.5
– Use NSF_UpdateODS=1 with CREATE_R85/9_DATABASES=1 for a one-time upgrade of most local
databases
• NOTE: USE WITH EXTREME CARE IF YOUR DATA DIRECTORIES ARE ON A NETWORK DRIVE!
• NOTE: End users can't access databases during compact OR databases will be ignored if in use
20

21. ODS of local databases (cont.)
3/1/2017
Impact examples
– Startup time of a Notes 9.0.1 client with 3 ODS20 databases in Notes data = 45 seconds
– After ODS upgrade: 17 seconds
– Reduced File I/O of your disks/SAN/NAS after ODS41 to 52 upgrade by 60%
– Removing 70% of all old files in Data directories on SAN/NAS = 45% less managed storage (backup)
The bad news: There is no way to tell what is “out there”
– 3rd party tools or random inspections are highly recommended
21

22. IBM helps!
3/1/201722

23. Make Your Data Work for You
What makes the Notes Client
START (super) fast
23 3/1/2017

24. Eclipse Workspace improvement
3/1/2017
• Every IBM Notes Client start in a virtual environment (citrix, vmware, etc.) is a first
(setup) start and takes at least 23 sec on average
• ~65% - 70% of time during first starts is used to build the workspace folder (at least
15 sec)
• A typical new workspace folder (IBM Notes 9.0.1 FP7)
consists of
– >500 files
– >200 folders
– >85 MB (including 64MB *xpdplat_.jvm_G11 file  NotesShareClasses improvement)
Building the workspace folder causes lots of file I/O
24

25. Eclipse Workspace improvement (cont.)
3/1/2017
Accelerate the IBM Notes Client start to be >65% faster (with less file I/O)
1. With a non-admin user (Windows + IBM Notes) run an initial setup of IBM Notes
2. Start IBM Notes and wait for 2-3minutes
3. Exit IBM Notes
4. Start IBM Notes again and wait for 2-3minutes
5. Exit IBM Notes
6. Create the following folder  %ProgramData%IBMNotesDataCommon
7. Copy the workspace folder from %LocalAppData%IBMNotesData
to %ProgramData%IBMNotesDataCommon
25

26. Eclipse Workspace improvement (cont.)
3/1/2017
8. Delete the following files & folders in
%ProgramData%IBMNotesDataCommonworkspace
a. UDM
b. Logs  all but .prov2install
c. .metadata.pluginscom.ibm.collaboration.*
d. .metadata.pluginscom.ibm.rcp.personality.framework
e. .metadata.pluginscom.ibm.rcp.security.auth
f. .metadata.pluginscom.ibm.rcp.managedsettings
26

27. Make Your Data Work for You
Live
27 3/1/2017

28. Make Your Data Work for You
What makes the Notes Client
PERFORM slow
28 3/1/2017

29. What makes the Notes Client PERFORM slow
3/1/2017
Again
• ODS of local databases
• Hardware
Notes.ini
• EXTMGR_ADDINS = (not just) local virus scanners
• Disable Notes “plugins“ like virus scanners etc.
– They increase Network traffic by up to 200 – 250%!
Data directory on the network vs. fixed disk
• Disk performance is the #1 bottleneck
– think SSD vs. normal HDD ; 7.200rpm vs. 5.400rpm ; network drive vs. local fixed disk
29

30. Port settings
3/1/2017
Port settings are included in the notes.ini
• Type / Active / Encryption / Compression / Timeout
Legacy
• LAN0 / COMx / DisabledPorts  should be removed
Good idea
• Use TCPIP according to the client type
• PORTS = TCPIP
• TCPIP = TCP,0,15,0,,12320, Desktops
• TCPIP = TCP,0,15,0,,45088, Laptops
• TCPIP = TCP,0,15,0,,12288, Citrix / VDI
• Riverbed !?
Don‘t forget the Domino servers!
30

31. What makes the Notes Client PERFORM slow (cont.)
3/1/2017
Install types: Basic vs. Standard
– Basic client starts up fast, Standard client, well … not so fast
IBM Roaming Users
– Try replicating 80MB each time you logon to Notes before use!
Connection documents
– Pointing to outdated server names or IP addresses
– Low priority connection documents, which can cause connectivity failures
Location documents
– IP addresses for mailserver breaks Policies
– Outdated mail and home server information
– Outdated mail file path
– Outdated Catalog server
31

32. Make Your Data Work for You
PERFORMANCE Tips and Tricks
32 3/1/2017

33. Performance Measuring with Client Clocking
3/1/2017
NOTE:
All of this should only be done on “ONE” client – slows down client, creates huge log
files!
Use the following to see and measure client performance
– CLIENT_CLOCK=1
– CONSOLE_LOG_ENABLED=1
– Debug_Outfile=c:debug.txt
– Debug_Console=1
– DEBUG_TCP_ALL=1 (use only if needed)
Fileserver or local disk Performance Debugging is virtually impossible
– If on >= 8.5 try adding DEBUGGINGWCTENABLED=16386 in Notes
33

34. Performance Measuring with Client Clocking (cont.)
3/1/2017
Client_Clock=1 leads to a debug file of the following format:
34

35. Performance Measuring with Client Clocking (cont.)
3/1/2017
OpenNTF – NRPC Parser
Link:
http://www.openntf.org/internal/home.nsf/project.xsp?action=openDocument&name=
Notes%20RPC%20Parser
Last Update:
v1.0.14 – Nov 10, 2016
Developed by:
Jamie Magee, MartinScott Consulting LLC, US
Andrew Magerman, Magerman Collaborative Software GmbH, Switzerland
35

36. Performance Measuring with Client Clocking (cont.)
3/1/2017
OpenNTF – NRPC Parser
36

37. Performance Tuning – Understanding cache.ndk
3/1/2017
We've all been “advised to”/guilty of deleting the cache.ndk in an effort to cure Notes
performance problems/symptoms
– Some companies even delete cache.ndk on a scheduled basis
HOWEVER, let us explain the impact of that on Notes performance ...
– Increases traffic between client and server by 4,000% (forty times more traffic, yes)
(10,000+% if the data directory is on a network drive)
– The more databases end users use, the worse it gets
– There is always a root cause – deleting cache.ndk only fixes symptoms
– Let's look at some detailed traffic analysis for just ONE application (the mail file) of ONE user ...
37

38. Performance Tuning – Understanding cache.ndk (cont.)
3/1/201738
100 users =
150 MB vs. 3,7 MB
1000 users =
1.5 GB vs. 37 MB
Excluding Fileservers!
After deleting cache.ndk Keeping / NOT deleting cache.ndk

39. Make Your Data Work for You
Summary
39 3/1/2017

40. Summary: IBM Notes Performance Boost - Reloaded
3/1/2017
Update/clean out your ODS, databases and templates and hardware
Standardize whenever and however possible
– This will save you hugely on support time/cost
Keep your users version/fix packs current
– Each release brings performance improvements but also resource demands
Work around your inability to see clients
– Write an inventory agent, login script, get a 3rd party tool
Any challenge can be overcome with Knowledge and Tools
– All client issues are solvable
40

41. Questions?
The latest version of this presentation is available here:
https://www.slideshare.net/secret/fqTz44Btqj2wPx
41 3/1/2017

42. Headquarters, Austria:
panagenda GmbH (Ltd.)
Schreyvogelgasse 3/10
AT 1010 Vienna
Phone: +43 1 89 012 89
Fax: +43 1 89 012 89-15
E-Mail: info@panagenda.com
Headquarters, Germany:
panagenda GmbH (Ltd.)
Lahnstraße 17
DE 64646 Heppenheim
Phone: +49 6252 67 939-00
Fax: +49 6252 67 939-16
E-Mail: info@panagenda.com
USA:
panagenda Inc.
60 State Street, Suite 700
MA 02109 Boston
Phone: +1 617 855 5961
Fax: +1 617 488 2292
E-Mail: info@panagenda.com
Germany:
panagenda Consulting GmbH (Ltd.)
Donnersbergstraße 1
DE 64646 Heppenheim
Phone: +49 6252 67 939-86
Fax: +49 6252 67 939-16
E-Mail: info@panagenda.com
The Netherlands:
Trust Factory B.V.
11th Floor,
Koningin Julianaplein 10
NL 2595 AA The Hague
Phone: +31 70 80 801 96
E-Mail: info@trust-factory.com
© 2007-2015 panagenda
Make Your Data Work for You
christoph.adler@panagenda.com
42 3/1/2017

43. Thank you
43 2/22/2017