A month ago we released the first beta drop of HCL Domino v12 and we’re excited to see such a high level of engagement among our customers, ambassadors and business partners. Two weeks ago, we announced the drop of Beta 2 and hosted a webinar with an overwhelming number of live questions — 118 to be exact! If you missed the webinar, you can catch the replay here. We also picked the most popular questions about our beta program and v12 , and have published those — along with the answers — here.   To keep up with this exciting momentum, please join us at our next webinar about beta 3 on March 30, at 10AM ET. Register here. Beta 3 will be the last beta drop before the v12 release, so don’t miss your chance to participate and help us shape the future of HCL Domino! In fact, don’t wait for the next beta drop. All existing customers are automatically entitled to download the software packages from Flexnet today. We look forward to your feedback. Beta Q&A  Still have unanswered questions about the beta? Submit them in the beta forum. Q: Is there a way to tell if issues raised in the beta forum are included/fixed in beta 2 or 3?  A: The list of SPRs fixed in beta2 can be found in the release notes. Please see here. Q: When can we expect the 64-bit standard client?  A: Our plan is to start with the basic Notes client first in v12 beta 3, and then release the 64-bit standard client in a beta post v12 GA. Q: Is the C-API toolkit updated and available as part of this beta?  A: We released the C-API toolkit for v11 and will update for v12 post release. Q: Is two-factor authentication available?  A: Yes, feel free to try it out today!  Q: If I load the beta on my system, will upgrading to v12 Prod work?  A: When going from the beta version to the GA version, we recommend uninstalling the beta and installing v12 as a clean new install. Q: Is there a backlog of undo/redo?  A:...

HCL Digital Solutions would like to take this opportunity to clarify the requirement for offering Support subscription for the various HCL Domino Programs. This blog covers two such cases related to partial renewals that are not permitted. Specifically, HCL Digital Solutions does not permit: 1. Partial renewal of HCL Domino Programs under Non-Expiring (“Perpetual”) License. I.e., Licensee cannot renew a lesser quantity than the entitled volume to obtain Support. 2. Separate renewal of Client-only or Server-only licenses where both are needed for a production environment and must be on Support for all users.   Here are the requirements for the HCL Domino Programs that can subscribe to Support (1) for Perpetual Licenses beyond the initial 12 months: All-inclusive Per User Licenses (i.e., all server entitlements included with the per user license)  HCL Domino Complete Collaboration Business Edition (CCB/CCX) HCL Domino Volt User HCL CEO Communications User HCL Collaboration Express User HCL Messaging Express User  To receive Support for any above Program, each User must be under Support. Licensee cannot have some Users on Support and others not, which precludes any partial Support renewals of Perpetual Per User Licenses. 2. Stand Alone Server Licenses  HCL Domino Utility Processor Value Unit (“PVU”)  HCL Domino Utility Express Processor Value Unit (“PVU”)  To receive Support for either of these Programs, all PVUs as entitled must be under Support. This precludes any partial Support renewals of Perpetual Utility Server and Utility Server Express Licenses.  3. Client and Server Licenses    HCL Domino Enterprise Client Access HCL Domino Enterprise Processor Value Unit (“PVU”)  As stated in the License Information (LI), each of these parts are interdependent and form one logical Program. Specifically, the HCL Domino Enterprise Server License Information mandates the corresponding Client License for any productive use (for all in-market versions).  From the HCL Domino Enterprise Server V10.0.1 License: “Use of the Program by any means of Authenticated Access requires an entitlement to HCL Domino Enterprise client access, or a subscription to either HCL SmartCloud Notes or a HCL Connections Cloud S1.” (2)  Further, the most recent Domino v9.0.x and Domino v10.0.x Support Update [KB0085697] documents the packaging and Support dependency for HCL Domino Enterprise Client and Server side as one Program, why these cannot...

If you joined us at Digital Week 2020, you’ve probably heard about the preview of Domino v12. (It was the most popular session of the event!) Now that the release of v12 is around the corner, we would like to provide all current customers an exclusive preview. Today, we’re officially launching the first public beta of Domino v12!   We are inviting you to join this beta program and take part in shaping the future of our product, helping us deliver the best-ever product experience! All existing Domino customers are automatically entitled and will be able to download the required software packages from Flexnet today. (See below for Q&A.)  The goal of the Domino v12 Beta Program is for our community of beta participants to conduct an honest, constructive, and thoughtful review and testing of the Domino v12 beta software, which includes HCL Domino V12 , HCL Notes V12 , HCL Domino Designer & Admin V12 and HCL Traveler V12   In the first phase of the beta program, we are delivering the following components:   Domino on Docker Domino for Windows, Linux, AIX Traveler for Windows, Linux, AIX Notes Standard for Windows   Notes Standard for Mac   Designer and Admin Client   At a later stage of the beta program, we will be providing Domino and Traveler for IBMi. In v12 Beta 1, we are supporting English and 15 language translations:  Arabic Brazilian Portuguese Czech Dutch French German Italian Japanese Korean Polish Russian Swedish Spanish Simplified Chinese Traditional Chinese  Beta participants, please let us know how you think about the product by submitting your feedback in our beta forum. For general input and new ideas or feature enhancement requests, please use the Domino ideas forum here.   v12 Beta 1 Highlights  Domino  Reduce your total cost of ownership by using DAOS tier 2 objects across servers   A wide range of security improvements including: - Two Factor Authentication (TOTP) - Automated SSL/TLS certificate management with built-in support for Let’s Encrypt - Implementing IP based blocking of failed authentication attempts based on this idea - And many more Automate your Domino server installation and initial...

You’ve all heard the HCL Domino Volt tagline, “Build enterprise apps lightning fast.” But what do we really mean when we say “fast”? We recently hosted a webinar to show you what you can build in 30 days or less. You can catch the replay here or read the recap below. You’ll also find responses to our live Q&A during the webinar below.   If you don’t already know, HCL Domino Volt is a low-code capability for business users and citizen developers to easily build powerful, secure, and enterprise-grade workflow-based applications. From business-process apps to customer-facing mobile apps, you can create solutions for any industry, across different use cases. What Can You Do in 30 Days?   So, let’s imagine that you have a solution or app in mind but have little to no knowledge of HCL Domino Volt. How do you go about using it to build an app? Assuming you have a day job and can only squeeze in 1-2 hours a day, this is what a timeline could look like for you: Day 1-3 (3 days): Learn how to use HCL Domino Volt. Sign up for a free sandbox account and get access to a list of training resources.   Day 4-9 (5 days): Pick a use case and define the requirements. What are you trying to solve and build? Does your app need workflows and approval processes? How will those be mapped out? Your requirements might also require refinements and iterations along the way.   Day 10-17 (7 days): Build the app! Refer to our documentation and wiki pages along the way use our forum to participate in our community and ask questions.   Day 18-25 (7 days): Share, test, and refine the app. Building your app is an iterative process. This is where you’ll build the app, share and gather feedback, and work towards a finalized version.     Day 26-29 (3 days): Style the app. You can either use the current themes provided or add custom themes that align with your organization’s branding. Or use CSS or HTML to...

While the holiday season is upon us, we’re not slowing down! Including the launch earlier this April, we’ve had three releases of HCL Domino Volt — with many more to come in 2021. Starting today, customers can access v1.0.2 on the HCL License Portal and updated documentation here.   To learn more about building apps with HCL Domino Volt and what new features are in the latest release, please join our webinar next week, “Zero to Hero in 30 days,” where we’ll demonstrate apps built across different use cases, industries, and skill levels. You will learn what you can realistically deploy in 30 days.   Highlights of this new release include:  Improved user experience Standardize the look of your apps More ways to use HCL Domino to get things done   Improved usability: With a new properties panel and no modal dialogs, we’ve eliminated extra steps and hidden settings. These changes have made the tool more intuitive and requires fewer clicks to get things done.   Standardize the look of your apps: Drive brand consistency and standardize the look of your apps​. You can now add custom themes that align with your aesthetics and your organization’s branding. Users will be able select the themes you add when designing their apps.  Leverage Domino to get things done: The following features provide more ways for you to get things done by leveraging Domino’s capabilities:  ‘Contains’ search operator (uses full text indexing): Quickly find information you need by searching for data by text string. It works with data view and services.   Sort by app-specific fields ​(uses DQL): Easily analyze data you’ve collected by sorting your fields in the data view.  Name-picker item on the palette (uses Domino directory): Easily find and select people and groups in the Domino directory and assign them to roles or to receive notifications. Workflows and other improvements  Map internet email to role and notifications: You now have the flexibility to use any internal email address when assigning roles and notifications, not just Notes addresses.  Email attachments:  Now you can include files that have been attached during the form fill process in email notifications.  Application history: You...

For Domino customers on v9 or 10, you might be familiar with debugging a Java agent remotely on IBM JVM using the following server ini’s and set Port 8000 in Debug Configuration from the Designer client: JavaEnableDebug=1 JavaDebugOptions=transport=dt_socket,server=y,suspend=n,address=8000  This will work up to Domino v10 but not on Domino v11. In fact, doing so will cause it to crash! This article is going to help developers looking for a way to debug Java agents remotely on Domino v11. The pre-requisites are:  Domino v11 or above on Windows Server 2016 / 2019. HCL Domino Console. Notes, Designer and Administrator Client v11 or above. Java agent to be debugged. Any Web Browser to run Java agent.  Domino v11 uses OpenJDK. With the above ini's enabled, both the JVMs would attempt to bind to same port (8000) and the second process that attempts to bind to this port would fail and crash. To overcome this problem, the idea is to remove the Port 8000 from the Debug and attach it to some other random Port.  First, you will need to add the below ini’s to the server’s notes.ini.   JavaEnableDebug=1  JavaDebugOptions=transport=dt_socket,server=y,suspend=n  Note that we are not binding the Debug to Port 8000 by omitting address=8000, as compared to ini which was set on earlier version of Domino.  The JVM will then pick a random port. To know the random Port number, simply quit and load http or run your Java agent from web browser and check the console from HCL Domino Console Program. You will need to restart http task after adding those ini’s to make it work.  Note down this Port number somewhere as you would need it in next step. (The server console in the Administrator Client doesn’t show the Port number information.) With your Port number, you are going to bind to the Debug from the Designer client. Go to Tools menu > Debug Server-side Javascript > Manage Debug Configuration You should land on the Debug Configuration window. Here you need to mention the Port number which you noted down from the HCL Domino Console...

Last month, we introduced the HCL Domino V12 Early Access Program, where we provided customers the chance to test new product features early in the development cycle. Today, our engaged development team has provided a new code drop named "October 2020", now available for download on Flexnet to all current customers.  We are looking for YOUR feedback on the features provided below, please:  Start testing the Early Access Code - details on how to get started can be found here  Vote for the ideas referenced or leave a comment Join the discussion and provide feedback in our forum here. What’s Provided in this Release     Time-based one-time password (TOTP) authentication   When users log on to a Domino Web server, you can now require that they provide time-based one-time passwords in addition to their user names and passwords. These one-time passwords are generated by authenticator apps like Authy, Google Authenticator or similar.   DAOS Version 2   DAOS Version 2 (DAOSV2) is a new version of DAOS that provides a more reliable way of tracking DAOS objects on a server.    Certificate management improvements   A number of enhancements and improvements related to certificate management are provided:   Disable TLS 1.0 by default now   Support for PEM-file format, in additon to *.kyr file format  (Note: This feature is intended as a test bed for future work supporting PEM-formatted keys and certificates)   Support for using CertMgr to import third-party CA keys and certificates - based on this idea (Thanks Martin!)  Support for replacing keys generated by the Let's Encrypt CA    Domino directory enhancements   There are a number of improvements around the Domino directory design (pubnames.ntf) to improve usability for administrators. Some of which were long standing requests. If you like what you see, please vote for the idea(s)s referenced below:  Mail-In Databases and Resources view - based on your input from this idea (Thanks Michael!)The Mail-In Databases and Resources view now displays the internet addresses of mail-in databases that have them and also includes a Go to...

This year, HCL Digital Solutions has delivered a modern, per user, licensing model for Domino – HCL Domino Complete Collaboration Business Edition (a.k.a. “CCB”). CCB has helped facilitate the growth in the Domino customer base and new user adoption and we’re proud to announce the completion of CCB licensing with the introduction of an eXternal user entitlement – the “CCX” Authorized User.  CCB: Simplifying HCL Domino Licensing  CCB is a key step in our journey to provide one license model for HCL Domino, eliminating the uncertainty of server capacity and sub-capacity (PVU) licensing. A simple “Per User everything model” - use any client and any protocol for any server capacity to run all applications – including enterprise e-mail (HCL Verse). Transparent license compliance management by simple user counting. Adding additional capabilities to the core Domino environment under CCB entitlements – like HCL SafeLinx 1.1 which is now entitled for all CCB users. We recently added a Guest user entitlement to permit web applications to run on CCB licensed servers – vastly improving the value of CCB. (This blog post contains updates to the announcement, “HCL Complete Collaboration (CCB) Guest Licensing” from July 29, 2020) More capabilities will be provided using a simple “add-on” scheme for CCB licensing, which now includes: Domino Volt: can be licensed to all CCB users at renewal or new CCB license sale Sametime Premium v11.5: special price add-on to all CCB users , as soon as Sametime 11.5 goes eGA in November. (Sametime Premium stand-alone will also be available at full price.) CCX: per user add-on for external users, from the end of September. Introducing CCX   CCX is an add-on to a CCB entitled Domino environment extending applications to external users at an attractive per user price. We now distinguish between internal users - who must be...

HCL is fully committed to enabling you and your organization to maximize the value you get from the Domino and Sametime platforms today and in the future.   In the latest release of Domino v11.0.1, we’ve delivered innovative new capabilities such as low-code app dev and integration with Microsoft Active Directory. We’ve also launched a brand new Sametime meetings solution over the last two years. The response from customers and business partners has been unanimously positive!    Today, we’re excited to announce, “Project Eleven,” a new program designed to help every Domino and Sametime customer running on releases prior to v11 have a smooth upgrade experience. As part of the HCL Digital Solutions Academy, Project Eleven’s goal is to enable you to:   Go straight to Domino v11.0.1: HCL now supports direct upgrades from any of Domino version prior to v11. Whether you’re on v8, v9, or older, you can go straight to v11.0.1 with no additional steps necessary. Experience the latest version of Sametime risk-free: Secure meetings and data privacy are the most important features in today’s environment. Sametime meetings runs on Cloud Native technologies allowing you to auto scale as needed. Experience our brand new, highly secure, scalable video meetings and enterprise chat risk-free. Augment your skills today: Attend our online training sessions and get best-in-class support and training from a technical advocate in your local language. We’re rolling out more than 40 webinars and workshops and new articles, cookbooks, and help guides. Speak to a technical expert: Schedule an appointment with one of our highly skilled technical advisors to understand your options and create an upgrade plan that’s right for you.    Check out the new Project Eleven webpage to find all the resources you need to make your upgrade worry-free.                                             

We’re proud to announce the HCL Domino Early Access Program, a new program that gives our customers and business partners a chance to test new product features early in the development cycle. This program provides a preview of features and functionality that may be shipped with a future version of HCL Domino and gives us the ability to incorporate your valuable feedback. At this stage, we are providing early access to features that contribute to HCL Domino v12.  The Early Access Program aims to get feedback on specific features, with a more formal traditional beta program planned at a later stage to receive feedback on the overall release quality and language packaging.  The Early Access Program is feature-driven and iterative, meaning new iterations and code drops will be made available as soon as it is declared ready for testing by our development team. New code drops can be provided in just a few weeks after the previous one, on short notice, without sticking to a fixed release cycle.   Based on your feedback we may proceed, improve or adjust the feature, or in some cases withdraw the feature from the code stream. The following graphic illustrates this concept: Each code drop is provided in the form of a Docker image which enables us to ship new iterations faster and to minimize the time to upgrade from one code drop to the next. You can expect us to deliver code drops at a fast pace as we want participants to have exclusive access to our latest product feature set. Please note that only the newest code drop will be available for you to download. How to Participate HCL Ambassadors who have registered Domino v11.0.1 Beta Preview will automatically be added to Domino Early Access Program. Customers and partners with a current Notes/Domino entitlement will also have access to the Early Access Program as of today. There is no need to register separately to participate. For overall...

At HCL, we understand that securing your network is a topmost priority. HCL SafeLinx provides remote users with secure web-based and client-based access to enterprise applications and today, we’re excited to announce that the latest release of HCL Safelinx 1.1. For Domino customers using HCL Nomad, SafeLinx v1.1 enables you to securely access your Domino apps on a phone, tablet, or desktop browser without the need of an additional VPN. Introduction of HCL SafeLinx SafeLinx uses standards-based protocols to enable secure access from mobile computing devices outside the firewall to business applications and data on your organization's internal network. SafeLinx supports an extensive list of standard Internet Protocol (IP) and non-IP wireless bearer networks, server hardware and operating systems, and mobile security protocols. Remote users can connect to your internal network from a range of desktop, notebook, and handheld mobile devices and operating systems. Top Product Features Client and clientless access Network choices: Supports a worldwide selection of wireless and wireline network technologies, enabling a worldwide scope of connectivity. Cellular, LAN, satellite, dial-up, radio (IP, non-IP) Authentication: Multiple strong authentication options (Radius, Secure ID, LDAP, Active Directory, Certificate) Encryption DES, Triple DES, RC5, AES and FIPS 140-2-certified Network Optimization and Scalable and Reliable Customer Benefits Supports all major platforms: Windows, Linux, MacOS, iOS, and Android Best enterprise VPN with reverse proxy capabilities Mobility clients and Distributed Administration - Gatekeeper Dedicated mobile app for Android and iOS Two-way secure authentication Supports seamless, non-disruptive cross-network roaming Quick and easy deployment of servers and agents What's New in HCL SafeLinx 1.1? This new release includes improved functionalities of VPN and reverse proxy and support for TLS 1.3. View documentation on SafeLinx 1.1 here. For all Notes Domino Complete Collaboration cCustomers, SafeLinx v1.1 is now available as a free entitlement and will be listed...

As a Domino Administrator you might have been asked by your users, “Where is this specific email!?” It has been a long-standing issue with older versions of Domino when an important document goes missing in an application used by multiple users, with no way to identify who/what/when/how a certain document was deleted. Fear no more! Domino document deletion logging is now a feature that was made available starting from Domino v10. You now have the ability to explain what might happen to the document they are looking for.  So, how can you implement it? It’s as simple as running compact task on a database, literally! A new compact task option is available to enable logging of data about deleted documents in databases that you specify. Here are the key requirements for such feature.  Use Domino v10 and above. Have transaction logging enabled. Run compact task against the database that you want to monitor:   load compact <database path> -dl on "<comma separated list of items>"  where <database path> is a specific database or a directory of databases, relative to the data directory, for example, mail or discussion.nsf.   <comma separated list of items> is a list of fields to show in the logs to help you identify deleted documents. The fields must be one of these types: Text, Text_List, RFC822_Text, or Time. Suggested fields for mail documents are Subject, SendTo, From, and DeliveredDate. If you have custom fields on a document, you can use them as well.  The data is logged to a deletion log file called delete.log, which is located under the server Data directory, IBM_TECHNICAL_SUPPORT folder. When documents are deleted from a database, entries are added to that file.  When the server is restarted, a new deletion log file is created. Old deletion log files are renamed to delete_<servername>_yyyy_mm_dd@hh_mm_ss.log; for example: delete_Server1\Renovations_2020_01_10@06_28_45.log  Deleting a document from a database adds an entry to the current deletion log file with the following data. This data is provided in a CSV-compatible format.  Data in deletion log entry ...

Last week, our team of global support advisors hosted a webinar on best practices for upgrading to Domino v11. If you missed the webinar, feel free to watch the replay here. In this session, we covered several topics on how to prepare for a successful upgrade including: Baseline monitoring: Know your current workloads   Evaluating your environment: Should you upgrade in-place, or do you need new hardware? Deployment sequence: See the order of steps to upgrade your environment  Preparing your environment: What to do before your upgrade  Application upgrades: Learn how to handle your custom apps    We received a lot of questions during the webinar and you can find the Q&A recap below.    Want to learn more about what’s new in Domino v11 before planning your upgrade? Download this deep dive to see newest features. For our technical folks, check out this support article which provides a guide on how to plan your upgrade and a step-by-step guide for Domino install, setup, and upgrade tasks.   Q: Regarding Notes.ini, are there any tools we can use to check the values used in our Notes.ini to identify redundant ones?    A: DCT would be a good place to start, however there is no such tool available for the same. DCT will not detect duplicates. It is a best practice to start with a new notes.ini file.  Q: Can we get a list of Notes.ini obsolete parameters?  A: We are working on a consolidated article and will be publishing it soon.  Q: Is there a URL for recommend new Notes.ini settings to help weed out old Notes.ini settings?  A: Starting with a new Notes.ini file is the best way to ensure your file does not contain outdated settings.   Q: Can we have a mix of both Domino 9 for applications and Domino 11 for email servers?  A: Yes, you can upgrade your mail servers to version 11 now, and the application servers can remain at Domino 9.0.1. As mentioned, make sure that you are not mixing Domino versions in a cluster. Use a test pilot to see how well your Domino 9.0.1 applications work in the Notes 11 client.  Q: Is...

Low code is a software development platform that gives non-coders and coders alike the chance to develop applications through visual interfaces instead of traditional hand-coded programming.   In plain English, it’s the power to create processes without the technical experience or hand coding background application development once needed.  (It’s like suddenly being able to sing, dance, and generally dominate like Beyoncé without having to undergo 25+ years of endless practice and constant performing.)    Comparing application development to pop stardom may not be the most common way to highlight the potential benefits of low code. But by not requiring a background in coding expertise, low code allows a wider audience to create applications, making for a faster and potentially more innovative environment that companies can benefit from. (It’s like turning lemonade into even better lemonade. Ok that’s the final reference to Queen B, promise). But we’re just getting started diving into the upside of low code. Develop Business Software at Incredible Speeds Low code development should be fast.    Unlike the laborious line-by-line hand coding process that is traditionally associated with software programming, low code can go from concept to reality in a flash.  Low code allows developers to execute apps up to 60-70% faster than handwritten code, bypassing the time-consuming steps of repeatedly writing, testing and debugging code until it works correctly.  Low-code development can give designers drag-and-drop features through a visual user interface, making it easy to build intuitively while cutting down on complicated obstacles that only expert coders can spot and fix.  By making the process more visual and less repetitive, low code brings a newfound velocity to a typically slow undertaking.   Increase Enterprise Productivity  When you increase the speed of app building, and you save designers and developers time, you open new space up for productivity throughout the entire enterprise. But it’s not only the efficiencies that companies benefit from.  Those closest to a problem can fix it without a drawn-out drama that drains weeks of time and energy from the IT department. Solving...

Last week, we hosted our new Domino Volt July release webinar covering the latest features and enhancements. We had several demos on how to directly access your Domino data, workflow enhancements, service catalogs, PDF integrations and more. For IBM z and IBM i customers, we covered the latest integration with Z and I Emulator (ZIE) to turn green screen apps into REST endpoints that Domino Volt can use to build new workflows and apps.  We received a lot of great questions. You can find those questions — and the answers — below. Or catch all the excitement in this replay here:   Want more Domino Volt?  Try v1.0.1 in the updated Domino Volt sandbox. Register for a free sandbox account. For those who already have a sandbox account, new sample apps have been uploaded here.  We recently launched a Domino Volt roundtable series, where we introduce different important topics and host open discussions with our customers and partners. Join us for the following sessions: Domino Volt App Integration Strategies: Learn about integration techniques and options within Domino Volt. August 12, 2 pm ET. Register now.     Domino Volt Deployment Topologies: Learn about different deployment options to fit your needs. August 27, 2 pm ET. Register now. DOMINO VOLT FEATURES  Q: What additional resources are needed on a Domino server to handle Domino Volt?  A: Domino Volt requires Domino V11.0.1 or greater. That’s is all!  Q: If an app is built in Domino Volt, can it be modified in Domino Designer?  A: You could add additional views, agents, or other elements as long as you do not change or delete things that Domino Volt created.  Q: Where do you upload the PDF for fill-in?  A: In settings, there is a File section where you can load PDFs as well as images, CSS, JS, etc. as needed in the app  Q: Can a signature from a Domino Volt form be printed in PDF? Or even pictures from your smartphone?  A: The PDF fill capability in Domino Volt does not support adding an image or picture to a PDF.  Q: Can you deploy your...

Since July 2019, it has been HCL Digital Solutions’ mission to help our customers and business partners by introducing contemporary licensing and making license management easier for all our products. Today, we are taking the next step towards consolidating all of our Domino licensing on a "per user" license model – the HCL Domino Complete Collaboration offering a.k.a “CCB.” Effectively immediately, customers with HCL Domino Servers deployed under CCB Authorized User entitlements can be accessed by a Licensee’s entitled CCB Authorized Users and Guest Users. A “Guest User” can be an anonymous web user (no authentication), or an authenticated web user with a predefined maximum level of Domino application access (ACL) as “Depositor.” In addition, HCL Domino servers under CCB may participate in mail routing (SMTP), directory lookup and authentication (LDAP) for non-HCL Domino programs and permit access to free/busy time calendar information. HCL made the following changes to the CCB license based on customer requests to facilitate: • A read-only external website for guest users • Data collection using surveys generated by Domino Volt 1.0.1 and its anonymous user support available today. • Removing the need for a separate Utility Server license for Guest Users with complex PVU reporting requirements. • Clarifying licensing for mail and calendar interoperability in multi-vendor scenarios involving our partner’s solutions. In August, HCL plans to update the formal License Information found here. In the meantime, you may refer to this blog or you can request a formal Product Notice for compliance. If you have any questions about this announcement or have any licensing questions, please contact your HCL product specialist or Business Partner. Uffe Sorensen & the Domino Product Team Disclaimer – HCL’s statements regarding its plans, directions, and intent are subject to change or withdrawal without notice at HCL’s sole discretion. Information regarding potential future...

I have spent many years working deep within the Notes Indexing Facility (NIF). I’m not done, because there is more to be done and harvested from the rich functionality well-bundled from day one by the earliest Domino developers. It can be a challenging area because so much variety of data flows through the code and onto the glass. If one is not careful, you will make one user story a delight while another becomes quite less so.  One of the most problematic operations in NIF is its handling of updates. Someone could say “Well, what is the problem? Other database products have no issue updating their indexes, why is Domino any different?” The answer lies in the ease with which views and folders are created in Designer. It is a very common story that views constantly grow in number and complexity.  So, I often reply to the question of the difference this way: “If you went to your MySQL or Oracle or DB2 or MongoDB administrator and asked for 200-1000 indexes on your database, what would they say?” Of course, they would laugh you out of the room, as they should. Yet, that number of indexes is quite normal on a Domino database and it is why they are updated lazily, on a scheduled or as triggered or forced. There are a variety of update/refresh rules and I will not go into them here.  Some of the costliest issues with NIF are due to excessive queueing for updates. Most of the APIs and documentation call it “refreshing” when a user opens a view and wants to see the latest updates, which is completely reasonable. The trouble what when a large number of users (well, threads) do that at once, they each compete for the right to update the view in...

We recently hosted our first HCL Domino Volt roundtable session, a series where we introduce HCL Domino Volt topics and host open discussions with our customers and partners. In this session, we covered several use cases for Domino Volt apps. We focused on visually enhancing out-of-the-box components with pure CSS (Cascading Style Sheet) and JavaScript. If you missed the live session, you can catch the replay here or read the recap below. Domino today is used by over 15,000 customers globally to develop applications that run their business. With the introduction of Domino Volt, our mission was not only to protect the investment of our Domino customers but also accelerate their ability to deliver business solutions faster and increase the value of Domino. By providing our customers and partner with new application development capabilities that extend throughout the organization, we empower everyone to build solutions while still taking advantage of Domino’s security, reliability and low TCO.  In just 3 months since our launch, over 80 new customers have taken advantage of Domino Volt to accelerate their delivery of applications to the business. Here at HCL, we believe in drinking our own Champagne (or "dogfooding" as the software industry calls it.) We recently launched an internal hackathon to see if our team could build apps to solve our business challenges as well as other real-world challenges facing our customers or community. More than 20 teams with more than 50 members across the globe participated, and none had prior Domino Volt experience! Some of the submissions were from sales team members who had no development experience at all. They were only given two weeks to design, develop, test, and deliver their apps — on top of their day jobs! We were thoroughly impressed with the apps submitted. Using CSS, the teams got...

Since July 2019, HCL Digital Solutions has been committed to introducing modern licensing, license management, and support lifecycle practices for all our products. We know this is a journey over multiple years and we know that managing license compliance is complex. Specifically, dealing with virtualized servers and sub-capacity licensing for products on a Processor Value Unit (PVU) metric.  While we intend to replace Domino PVU-based licenses with a simpler approach in the foreseeable future, we know that our customers want to know how to document their compliance with the IBM or HCL capacity-based licensing terms. Today, we are announcing that we will be consolidating our PVU compliance rules across all our products, starting with the Domino family – see “Reporting” section below for reporting methods accepted. Importantly, this announcement has no impact on any customer’s entitlements or license payments.  DEFINITIONS  What is Processor Value Unit licensing? A Processor Value Unit (PVU) is a unit of measure used to quantify licensing of software on different processor technologies and configurations. HCL defines a processor, for purposes of PVU-based licensing, to be each processor core on a chip (socket). Each processor core has a specific PVU capacity dependent on physical implementation as can be seen in IBM’s PVU Table by Processor Vendor, Brand, Type and Model Number here.   What is Sub-Capacity licensing? A program can be deployed using either Full Capacity or Virtualization Capacity (Sub-Capacity) licensing.  For Full Capacity licensing, (“bare metal”) customers need PVU entitlements to cover the entire physical server hardware where the program is running.  Where Sub-Capacity (Virtual Servers) licensing is permitted, customers need PVU entitlements to cover all activated processor cores made available to the Virtual Servers used by the Program. This is normally a lower PVU count than bare-metal licensing. Likewise, Sub-Capacity licensing applies to BYOSL deployment on Public Cloud environments.  REPORTING  All Domino customers are required to maintain a record of their total PVUs allocated to the product. The report must be presented to HCL on request (per HCL...

We know that there can be sticky challenges in sharing Domino data — the fidelity of Notes Rich Text has long been an issue when sharing data outside of the platform. The standard starting point is the Notes Rich Text field renderer/editor and Notes Rich Text Item storage format. They become hard constraints that any solution needs to fit within, a box outside of which we should not think.  At HCL Labs, we take a more radical approach. When new members were recently brought on board, they were instructed to not just think outside the box but to set the box on fire! This may result in approaches that don't suit everyone. But the mandate we were given for Project Rosetta, an internal proof of concept, was to find an innovative solution for fidelity of formatted content for use outside of Domino with only one must-have: the data must be stored in Domino, in some format. Jason Roy Gary, Digital Solutions CTO, covered the outcome in the DNUG launch event and the recent OpenNTF webinar. You can catch the 10-minute presentation between 40:27-50:44 here or read on for more details. Terms of Reference  One of the early actions was to be very specific about terminology. For a Domino audience, the phrase "rich text" is inextricably coupled with the Notes editor and a specific storage format. As a result, we have made a conscious effort to refer to handling "formatted text". I would strongly encourage anyone else discussing this to do the same, to avoid false assumptions.  Two radical options remained on the table throughout: that Notes may need a different editor/renderer for this content and that existing content may require a one-off conversion, if that content wants to leverage the benefits. There were also two key expectations we acknowledged: This was not intended to replace Notes Rich Text and not all existing Notes Rich Text should be converted. If the content...

We’re pleased to announce the release of HCL Domino Connector for SAP Solutions. This connector now simplifies integration between HCL Domino applications and various SAP enterprise solutions, specifically, CRM, HR, ERP, and finance applications.   The Domino Connector helps organizations save time by enabling the use of LotusScript to easily access SAP data without specialized or costly SAP training. The SAP connector easily installs over HCL Enterprise Integrator giving your Notes application team easy access to your SAP data. Additionally, with the 32-bit connector installed on Notes clients, you’re able to perform SAP tasks, retrieve SAP data, and initiate SAP actions.   Learn more about HCL Domino Connector for SAP Solutions by viewing documentation here.   Using this connector, you can:   Facilitate data transfer and real-time access to SAP enterprise applications from an HCL Domino v11.0.1 server or HCL Notes v11.0.1 client.  Use one or more HCL Domino servers to centralize connectivity to SAP applications. Use server-based Domino application development tools, such as HCL Enterprise Integrator software, to enable SAP solution access without programming. Integrate SAP solution information and business processes into web enabled HCL Domino applications. Access remote enabled RFC's, BAPI's, and transactions. Run agents from your Notes client, as well as use the LotusScript debugger to troubleshoot applications.  HCL Connector for SAP Solutions supports:   64-bit Linux and Windows systems  SAP 4.6c to ECC6, which allows you to take advantage of SAP's capabilities  HCL Domino v11.0.1  SAP RFC SDK Client 7.2 Have an SAP solution to integrate with your Domino app? Contact sales to find out more about this release and how to purchase your connector.  

We are thrilled to announce an ambitious new program called the HCL Digital Solutions Academy that seeks to empower our community of partners, developers, admins, customers and other key stakeholders to learn and understand everything our products are capable of. How to stay current about each new release, make the most of new capabilities, learn best practices, understand how they can power new opportunities and solve challenges, and, ultimately, transform business. We will be creating and sharing content in a regular cadence — through webinars, demos, articles, social media, events, and email — under the umbrella of the HCL Digital Solutions Academy. Our software helps people get real work done. We help people solve challenges, fix disparate systems, automate the everyday, and realize the “power of the possible.” At HCL we truly extend our relationship beyond the contract, and help people achieve the business outcomes they are looking to us to help them do.   We are building out a rich roster of content created and delivered by multiple teams within HCL — development, support, product management, technical advisors, etc. — but we don’t want to stop there. We want to invite you, HCL Masters, Business Partners, and customers to help us develop this program and grow our content catalog. Please send us a note with feedback or ideas for content you would like to see or help deliver as part of the HCL Digital Solutions Academy. The content we will be sharing with you includes webinars, workshops (hands-on labs), technical videos (10-15 minutes each), podcasts, and learning journeys.  And before you ask, the answer is yes! We want to bring back technical certification! Certification is very close to my heart, just like it is for many of you. In fact, I strongly believe that being a certified developer and administrator in our HCL Digital Solutions...