Introduction to Application Analyzer 2006 for Lotus Domino

Application Analyzer 2006 for Lotus Domino was released today (click here for the download and the accompanying white paper) and as a member of the team that worked on this tool, I’d like to take a little time to explain what the tool does and provide some context for understanding the information provided by its reports. Later blog entries from our team will go into much more detail about the tool, but I wanted to clarify how it should be used as part of the process of preparing a migration and integration effort between Lotus Domino and the Microsoft Collaboration Platform. This tool is part of a comprehensive application analysis process. It kicks off the process by identifying which applications are good candidates for migration to another platform, which applications should be further analyzed and which applications should be handled by another process (mail databases) or ignored (Domino administration databases). Additional steps in the analysis process are used to obtain additional information that is helpful in identify the appropriate target platform for applications that are appropriate for migration. The goal of this tool is to identify applications that should be considered when planning a coexistence & migration project. The first thing that Application Analyzer 2006 for Lotus Domino does is to remove mail applications from the analysis process as they are migrated during a separate mail and calendar migration using different tools. By default, applications in the MAIL directory are not included in the analysis since they are migrated to Exchange using Microsoft Migration Wizard 2005 for Lotus Notes. If your company uses different directory name(s) for your MAIL directory, you can modify the XML file that defines what applications and directories are excluded from the analysis. The second group of applications that are excluded from the analysis are Domino specific administration applications that need not be migrated, such as the Mail Box (MAIL.BOX), Administration Application (ADMIN4.NSF), Events (EVENTS4.NSF), Server log (LOG.NSF), etc. Again, this list can be modified by modifying the XML file. The reports generated during the analysis list applications that have not been accessed for a period of time (30 days, 60 days, 90 days, etc.) Applications that are not frequently used are likely candidates for archival, but should be considered on a case by case basis. Microsoft Application Analyzer 2006 for Lotus Notes begins the application analysis process. It is meant to be used to identify the applications that can be quickly and easily moved and the applications that should be examined in further detail. After further detailed analysis, you can determine which applications are appropriate for migration, which applications should stay on the Domino platform and which applications should be archived or not considered for migration or integration. - Amy