Q&A R4.51 Incremental Installers
January 24, 2003
The Lotus Notes Incremental Installer is now available on the World Wide Web for download at http://www.notes.net/. The Incremental Installer is a way for you to update your files to the latest Notes release without having to reinstall the whole program. The current Incremental Installer updates Lotus Notes and Lotus Domino Release 4.5/4.5a to 4.51.
Q. On what platforms does the Lotus Notes Incremental Installer run?
A. This version of the Incremental Installer is available for several Notes Release Platforms.
Q. What kind of support will be provided?
A. Support for the Incremental Installer is covered under existing Notes Support contracts with the exception of problems encountered accessing the World Wide Web, for which you should contact your service provider.
Q. Do you need a password download the Incremental Installer?
A. No password is required. The Incremental Installer is a free download.
Q. Why would you want to use the Incremental Installer?
A. The average Notes installation kit is 20 Meg (40 Meg for UNIX) . Instead of distributing an entire Notes install kit for this Test Build you can download this smaller version. The Incremental Installer uses a binary difference engine to apply only the required changes to each program file to make it an exact duplicate of the target program file. The size of the Incremental Installer depends on the scope of the changes between Notes releases.
Q. Will Lotus continue to ship Notes maintenance releases on CD-ROM?
A. Yes, Lotus will continue to make available all Notes maintenance releases on CD-ROM though all normal channel distribution mechanisms as well automatically sending it to all Notes Passport maintenance customers in agreement with their contracts. The Incremental Installer is an added convenience to our customers making it easier to upgrade to the latest available Notes release.
Q. How do you download and run the Incremental Installer?
A. To download the Incremental Installer, access the Notes Information Center Web site, NotesNIC (http://www.notes.net) and choose the "Software Updates and Downloads" selection. Follow the links to the Release Downloads page. Available on this page are the instructions on running the Incremental Installer and a Problem Fix List for Release 4.51.
Q. Can you upgrade from any version of Notes/Domino to this version using the Incremental Installer?
A. No, this version of the Incremental Installer will only upgrade from a specific release of Notes/Domino to the 4.51 release. Please see the table included above to find out which versions are available.
Q. What's new in 4.51 and who should be interested in installing it?
A. Notes Release 4.51 is the latest Notes R4.5 maintenance release and contains over 250 enhancements. For a complete list of all enhancements look over the readme.txt and the Notes Release 4.51 Release Notes which are also available on the NotesNIC Web site.
Q. What are the system requirements for running the Incremental Installer?
A. The only system requirements for running the Incremental Installer are:
*You must be currently running either R4.5 or R4.5a (see table above for available versions).
*You have not changed, added, or deleted any .dll or .exe files (or any shared libraries or executables on UNIX).
*You must have the amount of available disk space to run the Incremental Installer specified in the Instructions.
*Notes must be shut down before running the Incremental Installer.
Q. Can the Incremental Installer be run if there are any Notes Addins or APIs installed on the machine?
A. Yes, the Incremental Installer can be used to upgrade a Notes Release client or server that is also running any Notes Addins or APIs.
Q. Is it necessary to backup any files before running the Incremental Installer?
A. Yes, If you have modified any of the Templates in your Notes directory, you should make backup copies before running the Incremental Installer as the existing ones will be replaced. As an added precaution, you could also make a backup of all important files and databases including:
notes.ini, desktop.dsk, names.nsf, and userid files.
Q. Will the Incremental Installer automatically update the Release Notes to the latest version?
A. No, this version of the Incremental Installer does not update the Release Notes automatically. The Release Notes are also available on the NotesNIC Web site to download. Simply copy the new Release Notes for (readme.nsf) over the old Release Notes in your Notes Data directory.
Q. Can you uninstall after running the Incremental Installer if you want to?
A. This version of the Incremental Installer does support a revert feature for the Windows, and OS/2 platforms. To downgrade back to a previous release of Notes/Domino you must rerun the Incremental Installer and follow the onscreen instructions. NOTE: Your templates will not be downgraded.
The revert feature is not available on the Macintosh and UNIX platforms. If for some reason you want to downgrade back to a previous release of Notes you must reinstall the full Notes/Domino software from CD-ROM. It is also a good idea to have your Notes/Domino Release 4.5/4.5a CD-ROM handy in the event the Incremental Install is interrupted before it has completed the upgrade as you will have to reinstall Notes/Domino Release 4.5/4.5a before running the Incremental Install again.
Q. Can you download the Incremental Installer to a Network file server and make it available over the LAN for users that do not have access to the Web?
A. Yes, you can download all available Incremental Installer executables to a Network file server and instruct users how to access and run the appropriate Incremental Installer executable for their platform. On UNIX the Incremental Installer supports multiple push installs as well as upgrading a "distribution" from which multiple push installs may also be performed. See the 4.51 Download Web page for detailed instructions.
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