DOTS (Domino OSGi Tasklet Services) allows developers to run background tasks in a lightweight scalable container separate from the Domino server JVM. DOTS was contributed as an OpenNTF project in 2010 and included in Domino 9 and 12. It provides advantages over Java agents like better performance, scalability, and compatibility. Example uses of DOTS include importing blog posts, running long-running upload tasks from a CRM system, and more. The presentation provides an overview of DOTS and recommendations for getting started with it.

1. RETURN OF THE DOTS!
Now in the Domino v12…
Serdar Basegmez
Twitter: @serdar_basegmez
Blog: http://lotusnotus.com

2. LONG TIME AGO…

3. WHAT IS DOTS?
• DOTS: Domino OSGi Tasklet Services
• Develop and run OSGi level server Tasklets for Domino
• Run background tasks in a lightweight scalable container
• Tasklet: A lightweight server task
• Manual (console commands / socket trigger)
• Scheduled or on server start
• Triggered (Hooks through data events)
• Tooling: Eclipse IDE + OpenNTF XPagesSDK
• Leverage existing OSGi assets

4. HISTORY OF DOTS
• OpenNTF project contributed by IBM
• Named as JAVADDIN project in 2010
• Renamed as OSGi Tasklet Service in 2011
• Added to IBM Domino 9 Social Edition in 2013
• Installed with the OpenSocial add-on
• For internal use (Out of Support)
• Removed in version 10 in 2018

5. DOTS RETURNED TO DOMINO V12!
• Installed with the Core product
• Support: Windows 64 and Linux 64
• Upgraded to Eclipse OSGi 4.6.2 (Neon 2)

6. OVERVIEW OF DOTS
• DOTS task coordinate its tasklets/threads
• Separate JVM and OSGi Container
• Supports multiple profiles
• Virtual containers
• Separate service threads
• Great for scalability
Source: Domino OSGi Tasklet Service (DOTS) Documentation

7. WHEN SHOULD YOU USE DOTS?
• Need Background processing in your application?
• Accessing Domino resources
• Long-running
• Unattended
• Scalable
• High performance
• Great alternative to Java agents
• More compatible
• Much faster / scalable
• Less buggy

8. WHEN SHOULDN’T YOU USE DOTS?
• Expensive for simple tasks
• More time consuming to develop/maintain/deploy
• Steep learning curve
• Java, OSGi, Eclipse, Deployment, etc.
• Attended background tasks
• If not scheduled or not triggered by internal event
• Some form of user interaction

9. DOTS OR JAVA AGENTS?
• Agents are easier to develop
• Easy development/maintenance/deployment
• Well-integrated into Domino Designer
• Wide range of triggers
• Scheduling
• Web/XPages/Notes actions
• High level database events
• Good Security
• Code signing, ACL, etc.
• Runs on Notes client too…
• However, they are not perfect!

10. DOTS OR JAVA AGENTS?
• Java Agents are inherently slow…

11. DOTS OR JAVA AGENTS?
• Java Agents are inherently slow…
Run!
DOTS tasklet: Everything is ready to run
> tell amgr run "testXPagescrash.nsf" 'LongJobAgent'
09.11.2012 19:38:39 JVM: Java Virtual Machine initialized.
09.11.2012 19:38:39 AMgr: Start executing agent 'LongJobAgent' in 'testXPagescrash.nsf'
09.11.2012 19:38:39 Agent Manager: Agent printing: 181349
09.11.2012 19:41:02 Agent Manager: Agent printing: 2227
09.11.2012 19:41:02 Agent Manager: Agent printing: Finished in 143 secs... -
09.11.2012 19:41:02 AMgr: Agent 'LongJobAgent' in 'testXPagescrash.nsf' completed execution
> load dots
> Listening for transport dt_socket at address: 8001
09.11.2012 19:42:40 Domino OSGi Tasklet Container started ( profile DOTS )
> 181349
> 2227
09.11.2012 19:43:22 [DOTS] (annotated) Finished in 41 secs...
AMGR
launches a
Thread
JVM
Initializes
Prepare
Java and JNI
interfaces
Load Agent
Bytecode Run!
Java Agent:

12. DOTS OR JAVA AGENTS?
• Java Agents are inherently slow…
• Old and Buggy
• Incompatible with many modern libraries
• Design limitations (SSL, reflection, etc)
• Buggy behaviours (Memory leak in JAR files)
• Java Agents are not scalable
• A resource-intensive agent can block other agents

13. DOTS OR XOTS?
• XOTS might be a feasible alternative…
• “DOTS tasklets within XPages” (credits to Paul Withers)
• Part of the OpenNTF Domino API
• Differences:
• XOTS: Shares context and code base with XPages apps
• Developed as Java classes right in the DDE
• Utilises all functionalities of ODA (logging, auto-recycling, etc.)
• Disadvantages
• Shares the same resources with XPages apps.
• XOTS is a community-driven effort

14. EXAMPLE PROJECTS
OpenNTF Collaboration Today - FeedMonster

15. FEEDMONSTER
• DOTS module in OpenNTF Collaboration Today
• Problem:
• Curators adding news stories manually
• Find the news story
• Adjust title, summary, etc.
• Publish
• Manual import is a time consuming process
• Curator might save huge time if some blog posts were
imported automatically!

16. FEEDMONSTER
• DOTS module designed to pre-fetch new blog posts
Blog Feeds
Queue Documents
Feed URL #1
Feed URL #2
…
Feed URL #N
Feed Monster
Manual Fetch
Scheduled Queue Refresh
Manual Queue Refresh
Scheduled Fetch
Domino Console
Commands
Blogs

17. EXAMPLE PROJECTS
Customer Case: CRM - E-Mail Marketing integration

18. E-MAIL MARKETING INTEGRATION
• A customer case
• CRM, Sales and Marketing Automation apps
• Notes Client apps
• Multiple facilities, multiple Domino servers
• Campaign and Newsletter e-mails
• A third party E-mail Marketing service
• Upload CSV file to a secure FTP (SCP) server
• All uploads are transient.

19. E-MAIL MARKETING INTEGRATION
• Tasklet can handle long-running upload process
• Watching queue every minute
• Very small footprint for queue monitoring
• Reuse Java code already developed before
User builds a target
query for the campaign
Predefined target lists
for newsletters
UploadJob Queue DOTS Tasklet
(Scheduled / Manual)
• Fetch next UploadJob
• Run query
• Convert to CSV file
• Compress
• Upload to SCP Server
Upload Job #1
Upload Job #2
…
Upload Job #N

20. START USING DOTS TODAY!

21. HOW TO START? - UPGRADERS
• Update Eclipse 4.6.2 or later
• Recompile your plugins
• Upgrade to Domino v12
• Removes existing DOTS plugins
• Resets everything

22. HOW TO START? - NEWBIES
• Eclipse IDE is needed for development
• Minimum Eclipse 4.6.2 (Neon 2)
• Designer might be used with a few unsupported settings.
• “Unsupported” means “exciting” (like bungee jumping)
• Install the latest OpenNTF XPagesSDK for testing/debugging
• Local Domino Server for development is recommended
• File-level access between Eclipse and Domino is needed
• For Mac users, Linux/Windows VM works well
• Development setup is easy.
• DOTS documentation by HCL
• BP207 slides from IBM Connect 2013
• Notesin9 - Episode 93: Introduction to DOTS

23. THANK YOU!