What is happening
The certificate for some Java applets in Lotus Domino 6.5.x, Domino 7.0.x, Domino 8.0.x, and Domino 8.5 have an expiration date of May 18, 2009. Starting May 19th, Web users will see a dialog with a message similar to one of the following when loading a Web page that contains a Java applet from the Domino server:

“The digital signature was generated with a trusted certificate but has expired or is not yet valid.”
“The security certificate has expired or is not yet valid.”

This issue can occur even if IBM is set up as a trusted publisher in the browser.

What does this mean
Please be assured that this message does not mean security has been compromised. It simply reflects the expiration of the signature originally provided in the security certificate used with certain Domino applets. You can find an explanation in the following technote:

Title: “Security certificate expiration messages generated from Domino applets (May 18, 2009)”
URL: http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=899&uid=swg21381298

Action needed to resolve
To resolve the situation, you have three options: (1) Instruct users to “Always Trust” content from IBM, (2) if using Domino 7.x, upgrade to Domino 7.0.4, or (3) download and apply fixes. IBM recommends that you replace the affected Jar files (option 3) as described in the following download document for any supported release of Domino:

Title: “Download re-signed Java applets for Lotus Domino (May 18, 2009)”
URL: http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=899&uid=swg24022981

Alternatively, an interim fix will be posted to Fix Central for the latest Modification and Fix Pack levels by May 8th. These include Domino 6.5.6 FP3, 7.0.3 FP1, 7.0.4, 8.0.2 FP1, and 8.5.0. If you’re not running one of these releases, access the download document above, which provides fixes for all supported release levels.

General Self-Help Resources
Here are links to other ways that you can access IBM Lotus Notes & Domino self-help support information on the Web:
1. My Support (http://www.ibm.com/software/support/einfo.html)
2. Lotus Support is just a click away (http://www.ibm.com/software/lotus/support/clickaway/); learn more about Lotus Software Self-Assist Options.
3. IBM Software Support Site design update (http://www.ibm.com/software/support/gcnews.html)
4. New Lotus Notes Domino Wiki (http://www.lotus.com/ldd/dominowiki.nsf)
5. Fix Central (http://www.ibm.com/support/fixcentral/)

Sincerely,

The IBM Lotus Notes & Domino Team

Also, to  run Connections on Linux you must use WebSphere Application server. Now, I don’t mind WSAS per-se, but it is a massive system, that ends up using more resources you would want.

After I got the operating system up and running, I prepared myself for installation. I installed Sametime and Sametime Gateway on Linux many times before, but this was a new experience all together. As we use IBM partner sites to download I needed to upload files to the server, decompress them and run each application one by one. 

First attempt… failure. Why? Well, according to online help, I missed a step at pre-install and some other apparently required OS applications  were not installed. After much fiddling, I first located those and install them. Then removed installation and tried again.

Second attempt… failure. Apparently, one must install an upgrade for WSAS, as the one included when downloading is way too old. OK, so I patch WSAS, remove the installation and run installation process again.

Third attempt… failure. This time, I missed the create databases step. So, I removed installation and tried again. 

Fourth attempt… success. Finally. And it worked too .

Now, as I said, I am not exactly a noob when it comes to installing Lotus apps on Linux, but the thing that always bothered me with STGW and now Lotus Connections is that there is no wizard that would guide you through the installation. It would simplify things a lot or at least, prevent me to miss some necessary steps on the way.

Alternatives

After all this time wasting process, I started to wander myself. Is integration with Lotus environment really worth the hassle? I mean, you can set up Apache server (which is easier to maintain that WSAS and definitely less resource consuming), install open source forums (e.g. phpBB), wiki (e.g. MediaWiki), bookmark and link sharing and a project management tool. Granted, it will never be Lotus integrated, but it would save you loads of time, money and resources.