Admin 2008 is history

Andy Pedisich   May 4 2008 02:45:00 PM

Admin 2008 was a blur of speaking, seeing old friends and acquaintances, and meeting many fellow engineers for the first time.  That's always fun.
Here are some notable end points from my geekish point of view:

• DDM is still very much misunderstood, just as I thought.  That's what causes it to languish. Give a geek the proper message about DDM and curiosity will abound.  I think it should be a centerpoint of any pro-active Notes team's efforts to keep the customer satisfied.
• No need to buy bottled water in Boston.  Water in the hotel seemed fine on its own.
• It's amazing that people will stand in line overnight for a shot at buying Mario Brothers Wii game at the mall.
• I remain convinced that the parameter Server_Session_timeout should be set to 30 on most Domino servers.  Most attendees were not aware of its positive effect on server resources.
• I need to add more links to this blog.  There are so many people whose opinion I respect that aren't linked here and should be.
• I actually got a body rush doing a presentation about upgrading servers.  How bad is that!?!?  I think I need therapy.
• Chris Miller is still the fastest talker I have ever worked with.  Just imagine what it's like to be in his brain trying to filter all of those ideas. And imagine what it must be like to listen to Chris if English is your second language. Heck, imagine trying to keep up with Chris if English is your first language. I always get the feeling that he is slowing down a bit to accommodate everyone else.
• The most appealing parts about turning on Activity Logging on servers are to analyze disk space shrinkage and to track inactive databases so you can remove them from servers. Many attendees were not aware of how to set up and use Activity Logging.
• I found this little tidbit about how to keep the log size smaller when Activity Logging.  Plus this one on setting up Activity Logging.  Don't forget to set up Activity Trending as well.  Take the defaults.
• Paul Mooney could be a much more entertaining speaker if only he was more sarcastic.
• Pizza at the food court in Boston is actually pretty good when purchased by the slice.  It has a nice crispy crust and is not overdone.
• As much as I know, I learned more just from the questions asked.  When I didn't know an answer, it always seemed like other Admins in the room had a solution.
• Social Networking for businesses will only work if two things happen.  First, SN must either cut costs or produce profit.  Second, participation in a business SN must be mandated and procedurized (if such a word actually exists).  
• I spotted Andy Donaldson in one of my many ND8 Upgrade sessions and sadly did not get to say hi to him.  Next time!
• The view from the 29th floor of the hotel of the brick Boston neighborhoods and the River Charles was positively breathtaking.  The sun lit the scene like a masterpiece painting.  What a glorious morning!
• Julian Robichaux continues to be a very funny guy.  I ran way late in a session where he followed mine.  His deadpan comment, "Perhaps when you do a few more of these you'll get the timing down."
• I really hate Logan airport.  In all the years going to the Admin conferences my exit flight has never left on time.
• The folks who run those View conferences are some of the nicest people I have ever met.  Thanks to Alan, Susan, Alison, Molly, Debbie, Scott and the dozens of others. They really make it look easy.

Well, this clears the decks for the week.  Thanks again to everyone I got to meet and regrets to those I didn't.

- Andy
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02:45:00 PM May 4 2008