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You are here: Home › Blog

NOMAD and such things like security, manageability


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Declan beat me to a general overview.  I suffer from not enough time and the lack of ability to talk about this beta some time ago.

Yes you can make Designer, Admin and a bunch of other things work.  Lotus will not support these, but I am using Java Console, Server.Load and slew of others successfully for some time.

But, security on Nomad fits the same security you would offer for any portable device, including a laptop.

  • Password security for the USB.  Not the top of the line security measure, but a welcome alternative.  Laptops have them, everyone seems to overlook that part
  • Biometric security.  This happens to be stronger than most laptops.  The data sits in an encrypted data partition until you provide a finger scan
  • Make sure you have Domino policies in effect that force encryption of all local replicas. How much data do you really plan on storing on these smaller drives?  Let's be realistic here.  Some people think they will be carrying a ton of data.  The idea of Nomad is portable access to important info and then the ability to connect at any machine.  With multi-GB mailfiles, not including the base install and simple things like address books, bookmarks and directories, it is a bit.  You can assist by stripping out unnecessary templates
  • U3 support will not be coming from Lotus direct.  Look for that from 'other' sources though.  If you are unfamiliar with U3 on USB, look it up right here
  • As was mentioned, don't worry about VPN connectivity.  You can load VPN files just fine on a USB and make it work.  This gives you more than portability.
  • Lost USB keys.  If you can get the password quality higher, remove unnecessary templates and data and encrypt everything, like you should, then you can lower your exposure

I saw a comment on Ed's or Declan's blog about manageability.
  • Smartupgrades will be an issue.  I do not see it feasible to have users send in USB keys and go without.  Some work needs to be performed here.
  • User id management will remain the same.  It is a Notes client for gosh sakes!  If you can rename, recertify or lock out users in Notes, then no worry here
  • Loading time for the initial install can take a little longer than you desire.  But that is a cost you pay for that one time part of the work.
  • **** Ed had a comment on his blog about turning this ability off.  Well no you cannot turn it off, it is a Notes client with the same code.  I see no identifier that shows it is Nomad versus the full Notes 7.0.2 client
  • Ben Rose wants to see it work at airport kiosks that still have USB ports enabled.  It should as my basic testing as a non-admin user launched fine as long as USB support was there.  I did not attempt on a fully restricted and locked down UI, but that is next