#3

WebSphere User GroupRoyal Society of Edinburgh

11th September 2007

Neil Burston, Solutions Technical Consultant

Social Networking Using Lotus & WebSphere

Social Networking using Lotus & WebSphere

Me+ You= Us

IBM Lotus Connections Special Interest Group . . .

I.L.C.S.I.G?

Why

?

New thinking, new language

W.I.I. F.M

• Why

• What

• How

Why . . . #1 - Demographics

BB

XY

Why . . . #2 – Technology Adoption

BB

Why . . . #3 – Human nature

The Consumer-focused “Web 2.0” is leading transformation

Flattening the enterprise with Web2.0 on premises

• User-driven adoption

• Value on demand• Controlled

deployment on private infrastructure

ON PREMISESservices

ON PREMISESservices

Service, not software

COMMUNITYmechanisms • Tagging

• Rating• Recommendations

• Rewards (TR3)

• Social networking features

• User comments• Community rights

management

Users add value

SIMPLEuser interface

and dataservices

• Responsive UIs (AJAX)• Feeds (Atom, RSS)• Simple extensions• Mashups (REST APIs)

Easy to use, easy to remix

Web 2.0ON PREMISES

Social Networking

visualization

Wiki’s

BlogsSocial Networks

AJAX

RSS

Mash-ups

Social Computing

MySpace

Tags

Web 2.0

del.icio.us

Flickr REST

ATOM

LinkedIn

folksonomy

Consumerization

Digg

bookmarking

Communities

Video Sharing

Avatars

Facebook

Tag Cloud

Social Networking – W.I.I.F.M?

IBM Lotus Connections Social Software For BusinessFive new collaborative components that help business

by…– Tapping into the latent expertise within an organization or

community

– Collaborating more effectively at larger scales, both internally and externally

Personal profiles Communities Blogs Bookmarks Activities

Social Networking at work

Ok, I want one, what do I do?

Is it a . . . ?

Is it a . . .

It’s a set of Web Services

API docs released1.0.1

Lotus Connections Architecture

ReST easy, it’s simple . . .

• Representational State Transfer (REST)• REST Web Service Conventions:

– Plain XML is the data representation format

– HTTP is the transfer protocol

– HTTP's GET, POST, PUT, and DELETE are the access/manipulation verbs

– URIs point to individual data records (such as catalog items or customer info)

– HTTP authentication and SSL provide security

• REST = a design pattern that uses standards

REST at work

Lotus Connections Extensibility

• Simple– Easy to learn – ReST-style HTTP based API with XML, Javascript

and HTML formatted output– Enables “amateur” as well as professional developers

• Open– Access for all users to functionality, regardless of client or

platform– Based on Open standards: XML, HTTP, Javascript, Atom feeds

• Extensible– Utilizes Open Standards – Used internally by own plugins, mash-ups and partners

BrowserRich ClientsFeedsCustom Applications

MS IE 6.x, 7.xFirefox 2.0

Lotus Connections Operational Topology (high level view)

Lotus Connections ServicesWAS 6.1.0.3 + IBM HTTP Server 6.1.0.3

onRedHat Enterprise Linux ES v4 or Windows 2003 Server

One or more features…ActivitiesProfilesDogearBlogs

Communities

RDBMSDB2 9.1 Fix Pack 2Oracle 10G 10.2.0.3

Corporate LDAP DirectoryIBM TDS v6

MSFT Active Directory 2003Lotus Domino planned 2007

WAS + RDBMS

Enterprise Applications

Db2 Control Center

Stand-Alone Deployment: Option 3• Single WAS Profile with single application server

– Planned to be officially supported in V1.0.1– Simplest form of deployment/configuration– All features (Blogs, Communities, etc.) installed on one application

server– All features share one common Lotus Connections features

configuration file– Single admin console for five different application server instances– Only recommended for development/demo

Physical Machine (machine1)

Node (machine1)

Profile (AppSrv01)

App Server (server1)

App (Blogs) App (Communities)App (Profiles) App (Dogear) App (Activites)

Clustered System Deployment Topology

EDGE 1

RDBMS

HTTP 1

HTTP 2

DeploymentManager

LDAPNODE 1Connections

NODE 2Connections

TDI

Profi lesData Only

HR DB ERP DB

BrowserPlug-in

Feed Reader

NFS/ NSF

• Appropriate for enterprise deployments• WAS servers must have common file share for Activities and Blogs

service– NSF mount– Windows/SAMBA share

• LDAP, DB2, IHS can be also be clustered if desired

Complex Large Deployment Topology

ActivitiesCluster

BlogsCluster

CommunitiesCluster

DogearCluster

Profi lesCluster

DeploymentManager

Activities RDBMSCluster

Blogs RDBMSCluster

Communities RDBMSCluster

Dogear RDBMSCluster

Profi les RDBMSCluster

TivoliDirectory I ntegrator

OtherRepositories

Web

Sph

ere

HT

TP

Plu

g-in

ProxyLoad Balancing

Caching

HTTPServers

TI ER 2Every component in this area are in a single WebSphere cell. Each of the servers in the cluster can either be on the same physical

server (vertical), or on separate physical servers(horizontal).

TIER 3The top section is focused on “pre-existing” hardware.

The bottom shows RDBMS Clusters for each of the compnents. There is a special server that is included with the Profiles

component.

TIER 1This is the front end to the end user. To maximize load balancing and caching,

multiple servers would be required. Internal metrics indicate that a caching

proxy is the greatest benefit to the environment.

LDAP NFS/ NSFFile Share

Where TDI fits into Architecture

TDI

LDAPLDAP

PEOPLEDB

Main tables

Out of the box, identity profile info comes from single LDAP source

PEOPLEDB

Draft tables

TDI

DSML

Identity Data Topology Cloud

How much?

• Activities Authorized User £37.66

• Profiles Authorized User £37.66

• Authorized User £75.33Activities, Blogs, Communities, Dogear, Profiles

• Lotus Connections for Extranet £308.00

License + SW Maintenance 12 Months

= 19p per day*

= 38p per day*

How to get started?

Understand what your’e doing

Identify goals Run targeted pilotEncourage best practices Define an adoption plan

Encourage Evangelists

“Harvest” the innovation and value

What constitutes a community?

Mem

bers

hip

sta

bilit

yLa

bile

Sta

ble

Degree of Geographic DistributionSame place Everywhere

Communities of Interest

Local Users Group

PeersCo-workers

Social Networks

Communities of Practice

Focu

s,

Form

alisati

on

, S

hare

d I

den

tity

Focu

s,

Form

alisati

on

, S

hare

d I

den

tity

Hig

hLo

w

Involvement, Organisation, ComplexityInvolvement, Organisation, ComplexityLow High

Is a Social Network also a Community?

GeneralPopulation

Audience (SpecializedPopulation)

SocialNetwork

Community

Organization

Specific Interests

Direct Interaction

Group Identity

Formalized hierarchy & defined budgets

Individuals

Individuals w/ithCommon Interests

Informal, Ad-hoc, or Transitory groups

Formal groups withVoluntary members

Formal Teams withAssigned members

ConceptIdentity

How do Communities & Social Networks differ?

•A social network involves transitory interactions between members, communities involve longer-term or more well-defined relationships

•A social network may not have a group identity or name. When the individuals involved in the group decide to formally name themselves, it is the first step to transitioning to a community

•Community members have formally “signed-on” to be involved; social networks imply much looser associations and less commitment from their members.

How do Communities & Social Networks differ?

•A more-established community can continue to survive and exist even if some members leave - social networks may fall apart once members loose or break off contact permanently

•From an innovation, marketing or growth point of view, it is more useful to work with communities since it implies a longer-running entity, and possibly more open than the initial membership

•Sometimes it’s not that easy to tell them apart, but it is critical to do so, if you wish to successfully influence outcomes!

Adoption Curve

Need for Transformation Management

• Connections is a set of Social Networking tools– No network without people

• Requires a solid community of committed volunteers to seed social networking in an organization– Creating and maintaining content

– Commenting on entries

– Dogear content

– Etc

• Successful deployment requires internal Social Networking evangelists– Social computing has a viral effect

– Once people start using it, the relationships and usage increase

How to find out more

• The web• F2F events

http://lotusconnectionsblog.com

What next?

UK Lotus User Group – Connectrhttp://www.uklug.info ComputaCenta, Hatfield, EnglandWednesday 26th Sept

Questions?

Thank you

Without whom . . . With thanks to . . .• Ian “Guru” McNairn, IBM• Ian McIntyre, Morpheus• Brendan Tutt, IBM• Rob Thatcher, IBM• Mac Guidera, IBM• Jon Mell, Trovus• WebSphere User Group