CHAPTER 2 INSTALLING DECS
DECS Installation
Domino Enterprise Connection Services (DECS) is a forms-based technology in IBM® Lotus® Domino® that provides the capability to integrate live data from enterprise systems natively into Domino applications. DECS is installed as part of all new Domino installations and upgrades but you must select the DECS option to activate its functionality when you install Domino.

This version of DECS is designed to work with the latest version of IBM® Lotus® Notes® . The DECS version and the Domino version must match, for example DECS 8.5 requires Domino 8.5.

DECS installation is a simple process, simply elect to install DECS when you install Domino. But please see the following section, "DECS and Access Control List (ACL) Levels," for additional suggestions and Name and Address Book setting.

Note Make sure that all users who will be creating DECS activities have entries in the Name and Address book and that the server is listed as part of a group. For more information, see the pop-up help in the Domino Directory.

Note If after upgrading to DECS, you are unable to get data when running Virtual Fields activities, open each Virtual Fields activity document and ensure that the specified Domino Server is correct.

As part of the install process in Domino and Notes, the following DECS documentation databases are installed:

Note These documents are also available at http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/lotus/documentation/decs.

For Domino server installations, the following three document databases are installed:


For Notes client installations, the following two document databases are installed:
After Upgrading to DECS Replace Administrator Design

After a Domino pgrade, you must manually replace the design on the DECS administrator prior to running any activities. When you replace a DECS administrator design, Domino has to be running. Any scheduled DECS activities will launch once Domino is started, these activities should be stopped prior to replacing the design. Once the design replace is complete, the activities can be restarted.

Another approach is to disable DECS the first time you restart Domino after an upgrade, replace the design, re-enable DECS and restart the server.

Use the supplied decsadm.ntf database to replace the design. Design replacement follows standard Domino procedures, see Domino documentation for more information.

DECS Virtual Fields Activities in a Clustered Domino Server Environment

If you plan to use DECS in a clustered Domino server environment, see "Using DECS Virtual Fields Activities in a Clustered Domino Server Environment" in Appendix A.

Installation Considerations

The IBM® Lotus® Domino® Enterprise Connection Services (DECS) Virtual Fields activity does not work in true real-time with IBM® Lotus® Domino® clustering. Writing changes to the external system database may be delayed if not all databases within the cluster are DECS-enabled.



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