PlanetNTF

Providing a secure enterprise mail solution trusted by governments and regulated industries has always been an essential mission for HCL Domino. Trusted by 40% of the Fortune 500, Domino is the backbone of corporate communications and powers our customers’ workflow applications that run their business.

In every Domino release, we have continued to invest in the core platform for apps and mail. This includes our own desktop, web and mobile clients, plus open client options such as Apple Mail. Here, we provide an update on the progress we’ve made and what’s coming.

User Experience  
Here are examples of the improvements we’ve made to both HCL Verse and HCL Notes. If you’ve not seen these before, please contact your BP or HCL sales representative for more information on upgrading so you can take full advantage of this more modern experience.

Capabilities Recently Delivered and What to Expect Next

Based on feedback from our community, here’s a summary of our Domino mail portfolio and our product plans for the next 3 years: 

 
Note:*
Recently, Microsoft announced an initiative to consolidate its Outlook clients and mail protocols. In addition, they announced the deprecation of the Exchange Web Services (EWS) protocol and API and its M365-based replacement that even Exchange on-premises customers will need to use.  

Due to the change in Microsoft’s protocol, and since most of the Domino customer base are Windows users, HCL has decided to invest in HCL Microsoft for Outlook (HTMO) to provide the open mail experience rather than continuing to develop EWS support. Specifically, our plan to deliver support for Outlook on Mac and Mobile under Project Quattro has ended. Consequently, in subsequent HTMO releases, we’ll focus on improving the ease of installation, performance, stability, and provide calendar feature parity with Notes and Verse where applicable.  
 
As always, HCL Digital Solutions is fully committed to the Domino community and our customers.  We value your feedback, so please feel free to reach out to us with any questions or submit your ideas to Aha. Thank you for your support.

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 products is intended to outline our general product direction and it should not be relied on in making a purchasing decision. The information mentioned regarding potential future products is not a commitment, promise, or legal obligation to deliver any material, code, or functionality. Information about potential future products may not be incorporated into any contract. The development, release, and timing of any future features or functionality described for our products remains at our sole discretion. Performance is based on measurements and projections using standard HCL benchmarks in a controlled environment. The actual throughput or performance that any user will experience will vary depending upon many factors, including considerations such as the amount of multi programming in the user’s job stream, the I/O configuration, the storage configuration, and the workload processed. Therefore, no assurance can be given that an individual user will achieve results like those stated here.   

After the successful launch of HCL Domino v12.0.1 in December 2021, we are approaching the next release milestone: Today, we are happy to announce the new early access program for HCL Domino Danube!

You are invited to join the early access program to beta test our latest release and give feedback to our development teams.

We’re calling on our community to share honest, effective, and thoughtful reviews and testing of our software product. Your input is always essential for developing our products, and we will continue to listen to you every step of the way.

What you can expect from this first drop of Domino Danube:

HCL Domino Server 

For the Domino server, there are several enhancements waiting for you: 

• Anti-virus scanning for message attachments 
  This will allow you to set up HCL Domino to work with an ICAP protocol server to scan for viruses in mail message attachments. 
• Windows VSS support in Domino backup 
  Domino now provides a native Windows VSS writer for snapshot backups for use with the Domino backup and restore. VSS writers are designed for application-aware VSS snapshots. 
• DAOS improvements 
  A new server task, DAOS Encryption Manager (daosencmgr), can be used to ensure DAOS objects on an HCL Domino server use a consistent encryption key.
• XPages: upgrade to CKEditor 
  CKEditor, used in iNotes, is now version 4.5.6.1. Previously it was version 4.18.0. The new CKEditor version is also used in XPages.
• New version of OpenSSL 
  HCL Domino now uses OpenSSL version 3.0.1. (it used OpenSSL version 1.1.1a previously).
• Support for 5.x Linux kernels 
• “Tell Domino support” console command 
  You can use the new tell domino support command to collect diagnostic files recently created in the IBM_TECHNICAL_SUPPORT directory into a .zip file to provide to support.
• 256bit AES Encryption for database 
  The new default selection for database encryption is 128-bit AES. Previously it was Strong Encryption.
• Administration Quick enhancements 
  Administration Quick (AdminQ) has been enhanced in Domino Danube.
• Domino directory user interface enhancements 
  These Domino directory user interface enhancements are added for improved usability. 

… Plus, several other minor changes and performance improvements.

For a complete list of changes and improvements, please refer to the Domino Danube release notes.

And this is just the first beta drop! We are going to release even more features and Notes client builds in the coming stages of the early access program. We are planning to have monthly drops until the end of September (subject to change).

What’s new in Domino Danube? Find out here.

How to participate in this beta? 

Customers with a current entitlement to Domino can find the software packages for both beta programs on Flexnet. Beta participants, please let us know by submitting any and all feedback in our beta forum. For general input and new ideas or feature enhancement requests, please use the Domino ideas forum, here.

Thank you for your participation and your passion for HCL Domino!

HCL Domino Product Team 

As someone who has spent almost 28 years working around HCL Notes and Domino administration, my mind was blown with the number of new features that were delivered when v12 shipped in May of 2021.  And HCL kept the pedal pressed to the floorboard, introducing many more enhancements with Domino v12.0.1 in December of 2021. 

Considering the primary goal of a systems administrator is to protect the service, these new offerings make obtaining that goal easier.  When it comes to simplifying configuration, boosting security, and ensuring data integrity, Domino sets you up for success.

Nomad Web 

For years you have had the option of letting your end users access their Domino data from the Notes client or a web browser.  The Notes client provides various UI features, and the web browser offers mobility.  Nomad Web gives you the best of both worlds – a Notes client that is accessible from anywhere with zero local install required. 

By deploying Nomad Web, you no longer manage Notes client deployments.  The binary files supporting Nomad Web are on a single server.  In just a few minutes you can upgrade thousands of users to a new Notes version, apply a fix pack, etc. 

And, when migrating Notes users to Nomad Web, they can take their Notes desktop with them.  Out of the box, they have all their same databases available.

CertMgr  

Just like you wouldn’t send a letter in a non-sealed envelope, you should take the same safeguard and put a lock on your system’s network traffic.   

Domino v12 has a new Certificate Manager feature, which provides an easy and effective way of managing TLS credentials used for securing Domino server communications.  From within the Certificate Store database, you can create certificate requests, add trusted roots, upload received certificates and configure automatic renewal of Let’s Encrypt certificates.   

In v12.0.1 you can import PEM/PKCS12 certificates, export TLS credentials to PEM/PKCS12 certificates and create your own Domino based certificate authority.

Backups and Restores 

Mistakes, failures, and disasters happen.  Your ability to respond to these events is a keystone in data management.   

Domino v12 has a native backup and restore offering.  The configuration, processing and logging is all part of Domino.  As a result, the Domino administrator has complete control over protecting Domino’s data.   

Additionally, you can use third party backup software and integrate it with the native feature.  Domino v12.0.1 allows you to reliably restore data from a third party.  Full integration with Veeam snapshots are possible, too.

DKIM 

Domain Keys Identified Mail, DKIM, is an email security standard used to guarantee email messages are not tampered with during transit.   

Domino v12.0.1 supports DKIM by adding an encrypted signature to the messaging header of outbound emails.  DKIM signatures not only assure message contents but also confirm the originating point, meaning your sender addresses cannot be forged.  Adding DKIM to the Domino configuration allows recipients of your domain’s email to trust your communication’s authenticity.

Time-based One-time Password (TOTP) Authentication 

Domino v12 delivers 2-Factor authentication, requiring web users to provide both their user name/password credentials and a unique six-digit token.  The token is unique for the user, generated by the TOTP application and the user’s Domino ID Vault server.  While a third party may obtain a user’s credentials, they will not have access to the device running the TOTP application.  Hence, they cannot provide the required code and the access attempt fails.

IP Address Lockout 

The ability to control Domino resource access by IP address has been part of the SMTP and Router configuration for several releases.  With v12 you can also define which IP addresses are allowed to access the Domino server from a web browser.  Addresses outside of the allowed list will be denied access.

iNotes/Verse and User IDs 

A cornerstone of Notes client security is the ability to sign and encrypt email.  With the move to accessing email from a web browser, iNotes and Verse support document signing and encrypting by requiring a copy of the Notes ID be contained in the mail file.   

With v12.0.1 iNotes and Verse can use the ID stored in the ID Vault.  This enhancement continues the trend towards leveraging the ID Vault for security operations.  Using the ID Vault provides a secure, centralized and sustainable ID file storage strategy, which improves the formidability of the Domino deployment.

Domino Directory Enhancements 

The Domino Directory is where administrators do most of their configuration work.  Domino v12 adds new features to improve the directory’s usability. 

• Auto group population: Groups can now be automatically updated based on a pre-defined criteria.  In a group document select Custom for the Auto Populate Method field and use the Selection Criteria field to define a LDAP search query, which will search the Domino Directory.  For example, have a membership list based on department name specified in person documents.
• Mail-in database usability: The Mail-in Databases and Resources view now displays the Internet email address of mail-in databases. Also, there is a Go to Database action button available.  Pressing this button, opens the respective mail-in database of the document in focus.
• Find Groups button: The Find Group action button, located on the Person document, shows all groups the user belongs to.  This is for both groups where the user is listed as a member and nested groups.
• Find Server Config button: The Server document has a new Find Server Config action button, which displays a list of Configuration Settings documents associated with the server.  From the document list you may select one and open it. 

 AdminQ 

The Administration Process in Domino automates user renames, updating a locally stored ID, group listings, access control lists and Names fields in documents.  However, if a user does not log in from a Notes client, the rename process fails to complete. 

New to v12.0.1 is Admin Quick, which is a Notes database, adminq.nsf, AdminP uses to process user renames automatically.  While this feature is intended for iNotes and Verse users, the administrator can extend it to all users.

Cloud Native 

Cloud computing provides a means to be flexible and scalable without having to internally support an expensive infrastructure and respective IT staff, which equals the ability to stay competitive at a reduced cost. 

Your Domino v12 servers can be part of your cloud journey.  V12 is fully supported to run on all major platform vendors, including Google, Azure and AWS.  Domino servers are certified for Docker, Kubernetes, and Red Hat’s OpenShift.  As always, Domino provides you with options.

One Touch Setup 

Part of a modern DevOps strategy is the ability to quickly deploy servers using a script that defines configuration settings.  Additionally, re using a script ensures your standards are applied to each install. 

Domino v12 allows you to use a JSON when building new servers.  The JSON can be used for the first domain server or additional servers.  When deploying Domino on Docker, Windows and UNIX platforms a JSON can set up the Domino server, an ID Vault, register users, configure directory assistance, create/update applications/documents and enable agents.

Advanced Properties Box 

The document properties box is a valuable troubleshooting tool when it comes to reviewing document contents, specifically field values.   

With the Notes v12.0.1 client you now have an Advanced Properties box that allows you to search for field names and values, copy rows of data as a CSV, view profile documents and compare documents.  And, the advanced properties box can be resized, making the text easier to read.

AD/Domino Password Sync 

The Domino Directory, also known as the Public Address book, has existed since v1 was released in 1989.  And while it is great for managing a Domino environment, most often it is not the only system directory you have.  You wind up duplicating efforts with user life cycle processing. 

To reduce administration efforts Domino v11 introduced the ability to synchronize the contents of AD to the Domino Directory, which includes both user and group documents.  User creations, renames and deletions are performed in AD and then flow to the Domino Directory. 

Domino v12 now includes password synchronization with AD.  When a user’s password is changed in AD, the password for the respective user ID in the ID Vault and Internet password in the Person document are updated to the same value.

Conclusion 

Domino v12 and v12.0.1 offer several new features that the administrator can use to improve the security and operations of the Notes and Domino infrastructure, all while decreasing total cost of ownership.  Most important, these are all included as part of the entitlement, no additional cost required.  There has never been a better time to upgrade!   

And I can assure you that HCL is not backing off the commitment to continue delivering powerful administrative features as we look to Domino v12.0.2 and beyond.

HCL keeps making improvements and investing in all our products, and HCL Domino has a strong and future-proof roadmap. The latest version (v12.0.1) has a lot of new features and improvements. You can listen to a webinar about everything it has to offer here (plus a Q&A summarizing the hundreds of questions asked at that event).

I have been using Notes Client for many years, and it has improved with each version, here is a summary of some of the latest features of Notes Client that you will surely love and will help you with everyday life.

1. You Can Access Your Email from Anywhere — Even Offline  

Due to the global pandemic, most of us are working from home. So, with Notes, even if you don’t have immediate internet access, you can draft emails and keep working. There are times that the internet connection is intermittent, or even lost due to unforeseen circumstances. Emails prepared offline will be sent as soon as the Internet connection is re-established. 

Also, customers have told us that when traveling on a plane or going somewhere, their favorite work-related activity is to clear up their email backlog. Most of them work in Notes Client during their journey. They can read and respond to email just like they would when they are at their desk connected to the Internet. As the Internet connection is re-established, the email is automatically sent.

2. You Can Schedule When Emails Are Delivered

There are times when you want to schedule or delay the sending of an email if you’re working late and want to send an important email to a customer/client, you may not necessarily want it to show up in their inbox at 12 midnight). You can schedule the sending of that message so that it will appear in their Inbox closer to their working hours.  

Here’s a link to how to schedule how you can schedule email.

3. You Can Recall an Email 

Have you ever experienced that sinking feeling as you realize you have accidentally sent an email to the wrong person? Or experienced sending email with incorrect data or missing attachment? If you are lucky, it could just be an embarrassing blip on your day, but there is the potential for some very real damage, like incorrectly sending confidential information. 

So yes, sending an email to the wrong person or group can be embarrassing. Here’s how.

4. You Can Categorize Email Items to Stay Organized

Hunting and pecking to find a lost email can be frustrating and time-consuming but Notes now has an easy way to search by sender. You can quickly find a name in this view by typing any string of characters in the name, not just the first characters. This feature requires the Notes® 10 mail template (mail10.ntf).

5. You Can Manage Email by Creating and Setting Mail Rules

Does your inbox get flooded with emails every day (like it does for all of us)? Ever wish they would magically move to another folder where you can view them later; so that you can focus and concentrate on what is more important. 

Great news, with Notes Client, you can set rules that will automatically manage your emails and organize them in specific folders. This is possible by setting mail rules through the Manage and Create rule feature.  

Here’s how to create and manage rules in Notes Client.

Blog Posted by:  
Ren Mark Tapang  
HCL Notes Client Software Engineer