Michael Masterson Xi Pan Xiao Wei She
Technical Product Manager Software Engineer Software Engineer
IBM Lotus – Austin, TX IBM Lotus – Beijing, CN IBM Lotus – Beijing, CN

Introduction

The Lotus Domino 8.5.1 development-use Amazon Machine Image (AMI) provides a fully functional Domino server for development and test use in the Amazon Web Services^TM Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) environment. This image complements the Lotus Domino Designer Integrated Development Environment (IDE) that is now freely downloadable from the IBM developerWorks Lotus site.

Independent Softwre Vendors (ISVs) can use the AMI to reduce the amount of time and skills needed to develop and test their applications on a Domino server and outside the Designer IDE. At this time, however, it is neither suitable nor supported for running applications in a production setting, and IBM Support is unable to address issues related to its use.

Additional support resources are available on the Cloud Computing Central site on My developerWorks.

The image is built on SuSE Linux® Enterprise Server (SLES) 10 and Lotus Domino 8.5.1 FP1. The steps in this article complete the configuration of the server, including the attachment of an Elastic Block Storage (EBS) volume for the Domino data directory, creation of the Administration ID file and password, and setup of the IP address.

A prototype user interface, known as simpleAdmin, has been included to facilitate the most common administration aspects. Additional administrration of the server may be done through either the Web Admin interface or the Administration Client.

For more information on administering the server, refer to the Lotus Domino and Notes Information Center and the Lotus Domino wiki.

Purchasing the AMI

Amazon AMIs that are preloaded with IBM software must be purchased before use. This establishes the hourly pricing that will be charged with the AMI.

Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) may use the Development AMIs for no additional fee above the normal Amazon EC2 charges. Refer to the IBM and AWS Web site for more details and to purchase the Domino AMI.

Launching the instance

1. Before launching the Domino instance, you must first open the Amazon Web Services site with your favorite browser and sign in by clicking the “Sign in to the AWS Management Console” link at the top of the page (see figure 1).

Figure 1. Sign in and register


2. Click the Launch Instance button on your home page, and then select the Community AMIs tab in the Request Instances Wizard window (see figure 2).

Figure 2. Request Instances wizard



3. Enter “domino851” in the search box. The search results will display in the window as shown in figure 3. Click the Select button to launch the instance.

Figure 3. Search for Lotus Domino in Community Cloud images



4. Fill in the appropriate data such as the Availability Zone field of your instance (see figure 4). Click Continue.

NOTE: The Availability Zone chose in this step must match the storage volume created later.

Figure 4. Fill in instance details


5. Specify the Key Pair for the instance. This pair of keys will be used to encrypt the communications between the instance and your local host. You can select an existing Key Pair if you already have one set up (see figure 5).

Figure 5. Specify Key Pair


6. If you don't already have a Key Pair, you can create a new one, which generates a key file (a .pem file) that is used by the Secure Shell (SSH) tool to connect to the instance. Input the name of Key Pair and then click “Create & Download your Key Pair” (see figure 6).

Figure 6. Create a new key pair


A download dialog box prompts you to save the .pem file (see figure 7).

Figure 7. .pem file download window (for Firefox)


7. Next, configure the firewall. A previously created security group may also be used (see figure 8).

Figure 8. Use an existing security group


8. If you create a new Security Group, make sure to open the ports needed by your applications (see figure 9).

Figure 9. Create a Security Group with some ports enabled


TIP: If you have problems accessing the server, try opening up more ports as a means to determine the issue.

9. Alternatively, create a new Security Group with all ports enabled initially, and then configure it later (see figure 10).

Figure 10. Configure security group


Here is a list of typical ports used by Lotus Domino:

• HTTP: 80
• HTTPS: 443
• LDAP: 389
• SSH:22
• NRPC:1352

10. Then, if everything looks OK in the Review window, click the Launch button to complete launch of the instance (see figure 11). It will take a few minutes to finish.

Figure 11. Launch instance

Preparing a data volume for Lotus Domino

All data will be lost when a running instance is shut down, unless it is stored on external persistent storage, such as Amazon S3. Our AMI has been designed to store the Domino data directory on an external volume. To prepare a volume for Lotus Domino:

1. Click the Volumes link in the left-hand navigation pane, and select an existing volume in the EBS Volumes window.

2. Make sure that the Availability Zone of the volume is the same zone as where the instance is located; otherwise, the volume cannot be attached to the instance. You can also click the Create Volume button at the top, to create a new one (see figure 12).

Figure 12. Create a new volume



3. Next, click the Attach Volume button to attach the selected volume to our Lotus Domino instance (see figure 13):

• The newly created volume will be partitioned and formatted once attached, so don't use an existing non-Domino volume that has valuable data stored.

• If you use a volume that was previously attached to a Domino AMI, the existing data driectory will be preserved.

Figure 13. Attach volume


4. In the Device field, select “/dev/sdf”; the image is listening for this attach point.

Setting up Lotus Domino

After you successfully launch the instance of Lotus Domino in the Amazon Cloud, you can connect to the instance and start setting it up.

Connect to the instance via SSH tools

First you need to get the instance's public DNS, which will be used as the instance's host name. To do this, go to “My Instances” window from the Instances link in the navigation of the AWS Console (see figure 14).

TIP: An Elastic IP can be optionally configured that allows a custom hostname to be used in lieu of the generated name that Amazon provides. Refer to the Amazon Web Services page for instructions.

Figure 14. My Instances window



Various SSH tools can be used to connect to the instance; however, in this guide, we use PuTTY as the SSH tool.

The key file that Amazon provides is a .pem file, but PuTTY needs a .ppk file as its private key file, so the key file must be converted. To do this we use the PuttyGen.exe program that's packaged with PuTTY:

1. Launch PuttyGen.exe, and in the PuTTY Key Generator window, click the Load button to load a .pem file, and then click the Save private key button (see figure 15).

Figure 15. Convert .pem file to .ppk file


2. Next, launch PuTTY, specify the .ppk file as the private key file and the public DNS as the host name, and then click Open (see figure 16).

Figure 16. Configure PuTTY


Now you can connect to the instance. Use “root” as username to log in. Because we use the private key file, the server will not prompt for the password.

Setting up Lotus Domino

1. Upon the initial connection with SSH, select your language and keyboard layout (see figure 17). Click Accept.

Figure 17. Languages window



2. Next, read the Linux Distribution Statement (see figure 18). Click “I understand.”

Figure 18. Linux Distribution Statement window


3. Read the Novell SLES10 License Agreement and click “I understand” (see figure 19).

Figure 19. Novell License Agreement window



4. Read the Lotus Domino License Agreement; click I have read the agreement” (see figure 20).

Figure 20. Lotus Domino 8.5.1 License Agreement window


5. Accept the Novell License Agreement for Lotus Domino 8.5.1 (see figure 21).

Figure 21. License Agreement window


6. Set the password for Lotus Domino (see figure 22). The server.id, cert.id, and admin.id files will use the same password you input here, and the last name of the Domino administrator user is set to “notes”.

Figure 22. Set Domino password


7. Confirm the Domino password (see figure 23).

Figure 23. Confirm Domino password

Administering Lotus Domino with simpleAdmin

After a few minutes, Lotus Domino should be set up and running properly. Now you're ready to use the simpleAdmin application that's designed to perform simple administration tasks:

1. Open the URL http:///simpleAdmin.nsf with your favorite browser; the simpleAdmin UI displays (see figure 24).

2. Enter “notes” in the User Name field, and in the Initial password field, enter the password you just set up in Step 6 of Section 4 above.

Figure 24. simpleAdmin UI



3. Change the Server Name, Organization Name, and Host Name fields to what you want; click Submit. These changes require Lotus Domino to restart, which will take a few minutes.

When registration completes, simpleAdmin will provide a link for downloading the user's ID file, along with a button for removing the user.

In figure 25, the Certificate ID password is the same password you set up in in Step 6 of Section 4 above. The certifier password is required to unlock the certifier ID that is used to create your new user.

Figure 25. Register new user


4. To search for a user, enter what you want to search for in the User Name field, and click the Search user button (see figure 26). If the user is found, a link for downloading the user's ID and a button for removing the user will be provided.

Figure 26. Search user

Configuring Lotus Notes or Administration Client

You can connect to Lotus Domino in the Amazon Cloud with the regular Lotus Notes and/or Administration Client, but you must prepare the user's ID before setup. You can get that from simpleAdmin, using the steps in the previous section.

In the steps below we demonstrate how to set up the Lotus Notes Client, but note that the Lotus Administration Client can be set up with similar steps. Both are included in the Lotus Domino Designer download.

1. Launch the Lotus Notes Client; the window in figure 27 displays. Click Next.

Figure 27. Launch Lotus Notes


2. In the User Information window (see figure 28), input the user's name and Domino name, which is represented as “ServerName/OrganizationName”. (You can change these using SimpleAdmin.nsf.) Click Next.

Figure 28. Specify User Name and Domino Name


3. Select the “Set up a connection to a local area network (LAN)” option and click Next (see figure 29).

Figure 29. Connect to Lotus Domino via LAN


4. Select TCP/IP as the protocol, and input the public DNS in the Server address field, as shown in figure 30. Click Next.

Figure 30. Specify protocol and server address



5. Enter the path of user's ID file here in the File name field (see figure 31). The ID file is downloaded from the simpleAdmin page. If you use “notes” (which is the last name of the Domino administrator user) as the user name instead of “user”, you don't even need a local ID file.

The Notes/Admin client will prompt you to save a local copy of the ID file of the Domino administrator user.

Figure 31. Specify ID file name


6. Decide whether to copy the ID file to your data directory (see figure 32).

Figure 32. Prompt to copy ID file to data directory


7. Input the user ID's password (see figure 33).

Figure 33. Input password


8. Configure the appropriate additional services, and click Next or Finish to complete the setup (see figure 34).

Figure 34. Additional Services


You should now see the Home page of Lotus Notes, as shown in figure 35. Your Notes Client has been set up successfully.

Figure 35. Lotus Notes Home page

Building your applications using Domino Designer

1. Launch Domino Designer and log on as the administrator user (“notes”), or any other users you created who have sufficient permission.

2. Press Ctrl + N to create a new application, or Ctrl+ O to open an existing application. The New Application window displays (see figure 36).

3. Enter the public DNS name in the Server field, and fill out details in the Title and File name fields. Choose a Template from the list, then Click OK.

Figure 36. New Application window


Figure 37 shows an XPage being designed.

Figure 37. Domino Designer Xpage

Terminating the instance

When no longer using an AMI instance, you can terminate it to prevent ongoing hourly billing. To do this:

1. Go to the Instance page in Amazon AWS console (from the Instances link in the left-hand navigation).

2. Select the instance you want to terminate, click the Instance Actions button, and then select Terminate (see figure 38).

Any storage volumes attached to the running instance will still be available for attachment to an instance in the future.

Figure 38. Terminate instance of Lotus Domino in Cloud


You can also delete the volume that you created. To do this:

1. Go to the Volumes page (from the Volumes link in the left navigation).

2. Select the volume you want to detach/delete, and click the Detach Volume / Delete button button (see figure 39).

Figure 39. Detach a volume

Conclusion

You should now be able to create an instance of a Domino server, configure basic settings through the SimpleAdmin console, and remotely create a Domino application using the Domino Designer Client.

Resources

Lotus Notes and Domino Application Development wiki:
http://www.lotus.com/ldd/ddwiki.nsf

Lotus Notes/Domino 8.5 discussion forum:
http://www.lotus.com/ldd/nd85forum.nsf

Lotus Notes and Domino developerWorks product page:
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/lotus/products/notesdomino/?S_TACT=105AGX13&S_CMP=LP

Lotus Domino Designer documentation:
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/lotus/documentation/dominodesigner/?S_TACT=105AGX13&S_CMP=LP

About the author

To find out more about Mike Masterson, visit his My developerWorks Profile page.