Reducing DOLS download time with the client installation CD
The DOLS Client Pre-Installer CD is an alternative to having users install subscriptions from the server over a slow connection. The CD includes client drivers and IBM® Lotus® Domino® Web Access file sets. You can add database subscriptions, custom file sets that were created for the subscriptions, and custom programs intended to run after the installation.

To obtain a CD, contact your IBM Software Services for Lotus representative. Or you can download the CD code from www.lotus.com/dols and create your own CD.

Perform the following steps to add subscriptions, custom file sets, and custom programs:

To add a subscription
1. Create new replicas of all databases belonging to the subscription. Any database you add to the CD must have the same replica ID as the original. For example, you cannot make a new "copy" of a database with the IBM Lotus Notes® client, because copies have new IDs.

2. In the directory \Content\Subscriptions on the CD, create one folder for each subscription. Name each folder with the replica ID of the main database of the subscription. For example:


3. In each subscription folder, add the subscription itself in a directory structure exactly matching the directory structure under the Data directory on the Domino server. For example, if the DOLS-enabled mail database joe.nsf was located in \Data\Mail on the server, you would add the following:
4. If the subscription has a directory catalog, create a DirectoryCatalog folder under \Content\Subscriptions\<ID> and add a replica of the catalog. For example, if you wanted to add a directory catalog to the joe.nsf subscription, you would add the following:
5. Open the Offline Configuration Profile Document of the original subscription on the server. Click the Rules tab and add the names of the subscription’s Required and Optional databases to the Required and Optional fields.

To add a custom file set
1. Add custom file sets to the directory \Content\CustomFilesets on the CD. Each custom file set should have an EXE file and an INF file, both having the same name.

2. Open the Offline Configuration Profile Document of the original subscription on the server. Click the Services tab and select "Custom services." A "Custom services to install offline" field appears. Add the custom file set commands to it.

To create a custom program for the DOLS subscription
To create a custom program to run immediately after installation:

1. Create a file called DOLSCONTENT.INI in the directory \Content on the CD.

2. Make the first line [DOLS]; the second line SetupProgram=; and the third line SetupCommandLine=. You can also add the optional setting Nowait. When you add Nowait, the DOLS Pre-Installer will not wait for the custom program to finish running before displaying the "Setup Complete" dialog box.

3. Add the name of the program you want run to the SetupProgram= line. Add any specific commands you want to the SetupCommandLine line. For example, if the first thing you want to happen after installation is for the user’s Explorer browser to open to the URL of the subscription "offlineapp.nsf," add the following to DOLSCONTENT.INI:

Note You cannot launch more than one program.

Distributing the CD to users
After you’ve prepared the CD, distribute copies to your users. The installer runs automatically when the user puts the CD in the drive. If it doesn't run, the user should double-click setup.EXE on the CD.

If users delete a subscription from the IBM Lotus Domino Sync Manager, they must run the CD installer again, then re-install the subscription to restore it. If they install the subscription from the server, they’ll only get the online version of it, with none of your customizations.

Note See the readme file on the CD for system and browser requirements, tasks for administrators and users, and more reference information.

See Also