Domains, Servers, Databases, Directories... What does it all mean?

I like to use analogies when trying to explain concepts that are new to people. For many, the terminology of Lotus Notes/Domino includes words they've never used before. I know analogies are never perfect, but they can help lead to a general understanding. So with that in mind, I'm going to try and explain Lotus Notes and Domino by relating it to the physical world we work in.

Similar to how your company has office buildings where everyone works, Domino has what are called a domains. Your company might have a single building (domain), or they may have many. Sometimes you may work in a different building than your normally do, just as sometimes you may access information in a different Domino domain.

Inside those office building you have many rooms/offices where people work. Inside your Domino domain there are many servers. Often rooms have specific functions such as the boardroom, the copy center, or the cafeteria. Servers may also have specific functions. You may access your email on one, a shared TeamRoom on another, and a Project Management database on yet another.

Where are documents stored in each of these offices? In filing cabinets. On a Domino server these "filing cabinets" are represented by databases. Similar to how in each office you may find documents unique to a specific person, each Notes database might have documents for a specific person, for example your email. However, your company might also have a common room where general information is stored and shared, like a library. Lotus Notes/Domino does the same thing, as some databases like a CRM package, a HelpDesk application, or a Discussion Forum can be accessed by multiple people.

The Domino Directory is like the phone directory and/or map often found in a building's lobby. They list all the people that work in the building, their phone numbers, and where to deliver their mail.

Below is a visual description of this analogy. An office building contains rooms, which contain filing cabinets, which contain documents. A Domino domain contains servers, which contain databases, which contain documents.




To put this in context for you, below you can see an example of my Workspace. Each "square" that I click on opens a different database, and each database may be on a different server. The first two databases, my email and the Lotus Domino Directory are located on a server named WTFMAIL02. The third, my Personal Address Book, is located locally on my computer's harddrive. The fourth and fifth databases are on CAMDB04 and CAMDB18 respectively.



One final note. Just like in the physical world, Lotus Notes and Domino can provide security at many different levels to protect your information. You may need a key or security badge to get into your building, a second key to open your office door, and a third to unlock your filing cabinet. When accessing a document in Lotus Notes, you need to first have proper access to the server, then to the database, and then to the document. With Lotus Notes you can add even more levels of security, as you can control access to specific sections of a document, and even specific fields!

While you may not need to know all of these things to get your daily work done, I truly believe understanding the tools you use can really help alleviate much of the confusion and mystery.

Alan Lepofsky