Declan Lynch looks at "Nomad" in 7.0.2 beta

July 12 2006

A number of customers have been given access to Notes/Domino 7.0.2 beta 1, including Declan Lynch.  In the first of several updates, he looks at the "Nomad" feature for carrying a mobile user's Notes install on a USB memory stick:

Nomad really does do as it was designed to do.  A truly portable install of Lotus Notes that is going to be perfect for certain groups of people. I can see this being used by the IT person who runs around the office all day fixing problems, they can plug in anywhere and grab their next assignment, or maybe the consultant who needs to plug in at a customer site to grab some files from a document repository back at the office. What other uses can you think of ?
The rest of the entry covers technical details and function.

Thanks for the report, Dec!

Link: Declan Lynch: IBM Lotus Notes Domino 7.0.2 Beta - NOMAD >

Ed Brill Highland Park, IL USA Category:  Notes/Domino 7  Add/View Comments [27]

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  1. 1  Bob http://www.bobcongdon.com/blog | 7/12/2006 7:43:37 PM

    Nomad might be useful for some folks but I'm not about to let someone (even an Admin) walk up to one of my machines and insert a USB memory stick.

  1. 2  Andy Steven http://www.cycle2max.com | 7/13/2006 3:14:03 AM

    Bob,

    Don't you know admins/tech's can't give you viruses. They don't need to wear antistatic devices when upgrading RAM either.

  1. 3  Sean  | 7/13/2006 7:30:21 AM

    It will be well received here, since everyone loves new gadgets. I was thinking of setting up all the executives with a Nomad, right around bonus time. :)

  1. 4  Michael  | 7/13/2006 8:42:55 AM

    Is Nomad just for the Notes Client or is there an option to install Designer as well?

  1. 5  Ed Brill http://www.edbrill.com | 7/13/2006 9:13:58 AM

    @4 it's not officially going to be supported, but certainly there are ways to run admin or designer. In fact, Declan followed up with another blog entry on admin: { Link }

  1. 6  Timothy Briley  | 7/13/2006 9:15:46 AM

    @1: Unless you lock down your desktop everytime you go to the bathroom, how do you know at some point in the past an admin hasn't already walked up to your machine and inserted a USB drive?

    I work for a small state agency and do some admin in addition to my main duties as a Notes dev. It's not unusual for me to do something at a user's PC that only takes a few minutes and the user never knows I was there.

  1. 7  Charles Robinson http://cubert-codepoet.blogspot.com | 7/13/2006 11:27:22 AM

    @1 - As an admin I can change your AD password and log on, or I could just use an admin password and force you out. Either way, as an admin I *can* get access to your computer and you can't stop me. :-)

    If I can get Domino Designer and Administrator to work with Nomad I'll be using it a LOT. Otherwise it's of no interest to me.

  1. 8  Bob http://www.bobcongdon.com/blog | 7/13/2006 11:34:17 AM

    @6: It's an issue of trust. At many larger companies it's a violation of security policy to leave your computer (and/or office door) unlocked when you're away from your desk.

  1. 9  Bob http://www.bobcongdon.com/blog | 7/13/2006 11:40:14 AM

    @7: Only if you have the key to the office door I locked when I left for the bathroom. And an updated resume to use to find your next gig if pull a stunt like that ;-)

  1. 10  Mark  | 7/13/2006 11:50:43 AM

    @9 with PC anywhere or Dameware, physical access does not matter.

  1. 11  Ed Brill http://www.edbrill.com | 7/13/2006 12:19:45 PM

    @7 "Otherwise it's of no interest to me." What about your users?

  1. 12  Flemming Riis  | 7/13/2006 12:52:30 PM

    Is this a ability to disable this feature from within domino ? , looks good for alot of users , but also a nightmare with userid and mailbox being forgotten all around

  1. 13  Chris Miller http://www.IdoNotes.com | 7/13/2006 2:12:33 PM

    Declan covered the install, I jumped into a management and security starter

    { Link }

  1. 14  Mike Brown  | 7/13/2006 2:17:26 PM

    @11

    Not convinced, Ed. Were people really banging at your door, asking for such a feature? I have to assume that they were, judging by the way IBM support people say "lack of triage" whenever they tell me that they're not going to fix the latest bug that I've found.

    I won't ever use this feature. Neither will any of my users. To me, it's a waste of development resources that could (and should) be better spent elsewhere.

    Cheers,

    - Mike

  1. 15  Volker Weber http://vowe.net | 7/13/2006 2:42:58 PM

    Mike, people may not have asked for this feature but for a solution to the problem that you cannot walk up to a Notes workstation and login as a different user.

    IBM has these cute replication workspaces, where people sit down and fill up their Notes laptops. And they have to carry them everywhere to do that. If you could place a regular Windows machine somewhere, and people could walk up with their memory stick, you could travel much lighter.

    You don't like this solution. That does not mean, that nobody likes it.

  1. 16  Charles Robinson http://cubert-codepoet.blogspot.com | 7/13/2006 4:32:49 PM

    @11 - We have the mobility issue covered by making access consistent and ubiquitous throughout our environment via Windows Terminal Services. The only time I have ever had a user ask about logging into Notes from another computer is when their own PC is down. For those users we just set up a Windows Terminal Services account, configure their e-mail, and they're off.

    The people who need access from home have laptops, or they VPN in and then connect to a Terminal Services server, or they just use DWA for mail.

    I'm sure there are people who will make use of this, and since according to Chris you can put Designer and Administrator on a Nomad install, I'll probably use it for telecommuting.

  1. 17  Bill Geimer  | 7/13/2006 4:52:01 PM

    I suspect that there will be many access control questions asked (like does it give access to all the notes databases on the local workstations that do not have consistent ACL enforced) and many areas it will not be welcome. There will be some environments where the answer that "Existing access controls will prevent or allow access to local workstations, whether by nomad or any other tool." will not work.

    But on the other hand, there are many large corporations that have hoteling cubicles that could be simplified this way. I can think of several applications within controlled environments were access to common area workstations would be enhanced by nomad without compromising workstations.

    My guess is that Windows Server admins would be another potential user of the took, as they never seem to be reachable in by mail or IM in the data center. There are some control issues there too, but the Admins already have full access to the machine; presumably nomads changes get logged like any other event.

    I am not sure about the utility of nomad in the "Cyber-cafe" world, with VPN requirements for remote access, although software only vpn solutions do exist. I think it will work for some telecommuters and persistent travellers

  1. 18  Colin Williams http://www.guttedgeek.com | 7/13/2006 6:14:28 PM

    What would be REALLY cool is an automatic function to sync your current "Notes Desktop" with the Nomad install.

    I can think of a number of users in our company who might use this feature but only on a casual basis.

    Ideally they could just insert a USB memory stick and click a button in their Notes client that would create the Nomad install and selectively copy over a local replica of their mail etc.

    Yeah ok, thinking out loud...

  1. 19  Susan Bulloch  | 7/13/2006 9:14:21 PM

    As Chris Miller said, Designer and Admin client work just fine - I have a 'custom' build that has both. Chris and I even thought that notespeek, resmote server setup and server.load would be useful. We both have a build with all of the above. All work and all fit on 512 M stick (along with IBM's VPN software). On my 1G drive, I even have my mail file and a bunch of normal 'stuff' you end up dumping onto a USB drive - like presentations, documents, etc.

    Passwords are an issue, but IBM's password rules are brutal, so I'm good there. With policies that enforce encrytped databases, the only real security issue I have is the ability of some VPN software to store passwords. (Mine's not stored - but it could be.)

    The drives will be lost - I've already lost one - but am not worried - because I have no unencrypted files and a really nasty password that I barely remember myself. Still, it was a cool drive.

  1. 20  AJP  | 7/14/2006 5:04:42 AM

    I don't want to pour cold water on a hot idea. Nomad is a good idea but not exactly new or cutting edge.

    We've been using USB's for a few years albeit with varying amounts of success, (ie don't use a "flash" drive use a usb "disk" drive, and you really want a USB2 machine). Now, thanks to Ulrich { Link } and his NSTART.exe utility which updates the ini file with the correct drive reference, you can create a self running Notes client on a USB now. Simply add nstart to the autorun.inf on the USB drive and your away. Notes (and the admin or designer client) runs perfectly. OK there is no update to the Registry, but do you really need the registry updated? (expect barrage of disagreement here). I doubt it wouldn't take long for Ulrich to update the nstart.exe utility to do that. This will run all 6.n clients and I expect any previous client (not tested).

    @14 Yes we do need this capability. We often have temp users around working on projects for a short period of time using their own pc. Often they never actually come into the office and we (pc support) never actually see them. We can send them a USB drive with Notes installed and off they go, when they are finished they send the USB drive back. Job done. yes they can copy the Notes files over but then they could do that with Nomad.

  1. 21  Chema http://chemalo.blogspot.com | 7/14/2006 7:31:39 AM

    I have been using a Nomad like system one year ago. Yes, with Notes 6. I try to copy one notes installation in a usb key and change somethings in the bat to load notes notes.

    Now I can use the same notes from any pc connected to internet . For me is a very impressive solution. I Have some folks using it.

    And, using it with the /kiosk parameter running notes, Notes does not appear anyplace and avoid the problems with TI pros that don't want to see Notes.

    Let me know if you are interested in it.

  1. 22  David Bell  | 7/15/2006 12:11:44 AM

    @19 - regarding security - can Nomad be used with a file encryption mechanism such as CruzerLock for SanDisk devices ?

  1. 23  Dave Harris http://www.wavysworld.com | 7/15/2006 11:33:32 AM

    Hmmm. The data directory on my laptop is currently 17.5 Gig. And most of that is accessed daily. I don't really want to take my (encrypted) mail file or directories (custmers' included) around on a stick, because i'd be worried about getting out of sync or losing it on a regular basis. And it wouldn't fit (at the moment). And AFAIK there aren't any 20Gb sticks available (yet), unless you count <insert mp3 player manufacture of choice - 1 vote for Creative Zen> or that sort of thing.

  1. 24  Chris Miller http://www.IdoNotes.com | 7/17/2006 9:23:11 AM

    @22 - So far as the playing around I have done, the CruzerLock protects the whole drive. You then have Domino encrytion which protects that data. So it seems they work together but my bet is that Cruzerlock is not encrypting the Domino encrypted data

  1. 25  Paul M. Kelly, Jr.  | 8/10/2006 2:03:25 PM

    With airlines moving to ban carry-on luggage, and a total dislike to check my laptop, it sure would be nice to know how soon IBM will be releasing Notes on a Stick.

  1. 26  Ed Brill  | 8/10/2006 10:30:38 PM

    7.0.2 still on a September 06 ship schedule.

  1. 27  Fred Berardi  | 11/26/2006 3:48:16 PM

    Does this work on larger USB Disks (like 1GB or 4GB)?