Andys Blog

Riverbed and Lotus Notes

2009-08-04T13:59:00.007+01:00

We implemented a Lotus Notes email infrastructure for users worldwide, using just 4 domino mail servers.

2 servers are based in the US and 2 servers in the UK.

These servers are accessed by 1600 Notes clients in no less than 60 countries.

One of the challenges in this size of global server consolidation is ensuring that sufficient bandwidth is available, and ensuring that there is little reason to locate a Notes server in the country, even with a sizeable local user population.

The answer to dealing with this challenge has been to use Riverbed Steelhead appliances and Riverbed Mobile client software, both of which have Lotus Notes application layer data reduction/optimisation. This is a relatively new feature introduced in RiOS 5.5 and Steelhead Mobile 2.1.

As an example of the optimisation levels we have experienced on the Notes TCP port 1352 only: (real world numbers, not from a datasheet!)

In our Manila office (40 people using Notes 8.5)

Over the last week, 2518MB of LAN traffic, was reduced down to 648MB over the WAN.
Over the last month, 12.7GB of LAN traffic was reduced down to 3178MB over the WAN.

Over the last week, data reduction of 74% and a bandwidth increase of 3.88 times.
Over the last month, data reduction of 75% and a bandwidth increase of 4.08 times.

In our Melbourne office (50 people using Notes 8.5)

Over the last week, 40.6GB LAN traffic, was reduced down to 1718MB over the WAN.
Over the last month, 76.9GB of LAN traffic was reduced down to 7492MB over the WAN.

Over the last week, data reduction of 95% and a bandwidth increase of 24.16 times.
Over the last month, data reduction of 90% and a bandwidth increase of 10.51 times.

I'm really very impressed with these figures. The benefits of implementing the Riverbed in the infrastructure here have been to achieve great cost savings on Notes administration and managing servers in multiple countries. The users also benefit from much enhanced performance when accessing the central intranet and other applications hosted at HQ. The payback on this solution was easily achieved in less than six months.

For more information on the solution we used, and some solution briefs:

http://www.riverbed.com/results/solutions/accelerate/lotus_notes.php

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10 beautiful iMac setups worth a look (pics)

2008-04-16T20:00:00.003+01:00

The original Intel iMac (24″) received CNET’s “Must-have desktop” in their 2006 Top 10 Holiday Gift Picks list. Technology columnist Walt Mossberg described it as the “gold standard of desktop computing”, and Forbes hailed it as “industry-altering success”. No wonder iMacs turn eyeballs wherever it is spotted. Here are 10 beautiful iMac setups

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IBM Launches Pilot Program for... Migrating to Macs!

2008-04-16T19:56:00.002+01:00

IBMs Research Information Services has launched an internal pilot program to study the possibility of moving significant numbers of employees to Macs. The study has already found an enthusiastic response from participants and is helping to drive Mac support for IBM’s business applications.

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My first post, and How to hide the navbar...

2008-02-29T15:37:00.002Z

So this is my first proper blog post. I set up a blog here some time ago, but never got round to actually using it. One of the first things that I wanted to fix was to hide that hugely irritating blogger navigation bar at the top of the page. After some research, I found the best answer at:

http://derya-webresource.blogspot.com/2007/02/how-to-hide-blogger-nav-bar.html