HCL Domino


HCL Notes and HCL Domino are the client and server, respectively, of a collaborative client-server software platform formerly sold by IBM, now by HCL Technologies.
HCL Notes provides business collaboration functions, such as email, calendars, to-do lists, contact management, discussion forums, file sharing, microblogging, instant messaging, blogs, and user directories. It can also be used with other HCL Domino applications and databases. HCL Notes 9 Social Edition removed integration with the office software package IBM Lotus Symphony, which had been integrated with the Lotus Notes client in versions 8.x.
Lotus Development Corporation originally developed "Lotus Notes" in 1989. IBM bought Lotus in 1995 and it became known as the Lotus Development division of IBM. As late as 2015, it formed part of the IBM Software and Systems Group under the name "IBM Collaboration Solutions".
HCL acquired the products in July 2019.
HCL Notes is a desktop workflow application, commonly used in corporate environments for email and to create discussion groups, websites, document libraries, custom applications and business workflows.
On December 6, 2018, IBM announced that it was selling a number of software products to HCL Technologies for $1.8bn, including IBM Notes, Domino, Commerce, Portal, Connections, BigFix, Unica and AppScan. Their location within HCL Technologies' umbrella is named HCL Software. This acquisition was completed in July 2019.

Design

HCL Notes is a client-server cross-platform application runtime environment that provides an interface to the HCL Notes and Domino software. It can be used as an email client without an HCL Domino server, for example, as an IMAP client.
HCL Notes and Domino provide email, calendars, instant messaging, discussions/forums, blogs, and an inbuilt personnel/user directory. In addition to these standard applications, an organization may use the Domino Designer development environment and other tools to develop additional integrated applications such as request approval / workflow and document management.
The HCL Notes and Domino product consists of several components:
HCL Notes and Domino compete with products from other companies such as Microsoft, Google, Zimbra and others. Because of the application development abilities, HCL Notes and Domino is often compared to products like Microsoft Sharepoint. The database in IBM Notes and Domino can be replicated between servers and between server and client, thereby allowing clients offline capabilities.
HCL Domino, a business application as well as a messaging server, is compatible with both HCL Notes and web-browsers. HCL Notes may be used to access any HCL Domino application, such as discussion forums, document libraries, and numerous other applications. IBM Notes resembles a web-browser in that it may run any compatible application that the user has permission for.
HCL Notes provides applications that can be used to:
The standard storage mechanism in HCL Domino is a NoSQL document-database format, the "Notes Storage Facility". The.nsf file will normally contain both an application design and its associated data. IBM Notes can also access relational databases, either through an additional server called HCL Enterprise Integrator for Domino, through ODBC calls or through the use of XPages.
As HCL Notes and Domino is an application runtime environment, email and calendars operate as applications within HCL Notes, which HCL provides with the product. A Domino application-developer can change or completely replace that application. HCL has released the base templates as open source as well.
Programmers can develop applications for HCL Notes in a variety of development languages including:
The client supports a formula language as well as JavaScript. Software developers can build applications to run either within the HCL Notes application runtime environment or through a web server for use in a web browser, although the interface would need to be developed separately unless XPages is used.

Use

HCL Notes can be used for email, as a calendar, PIM, instant messaging, Web browsing, and other applications. Notes can access both local- and server-based applications and data.
HCL Notes can function as an IMAP and POP email client with non-Domino mail servers. The system can retrieve recipient addresses from any LDAP server, including Active Directory, and includes a web browser, although it can be configured by a Domino Developer to launch a different web browser instead.
Features include group calendars and schedules, SMTP/MIME-based email, NNTP-based news support, and automatic HTML conversion of all documents by the Domino HTTP task.
HCL Notes can be used with HCL Sametime instant-messaging to allow to see other users online and chat with one or more of them at the same time. Beginning with Release 6.5, this function has been freely available. Presence awareness is available in email and other IBM Domino applications for users in organizations that use both HCL Notes and IBM Sametime.
Since version 7, Notes has provided a Web services interface. Domino can be a Web server for HTML files; authentication of access to Domino databases or HTML files uses the HCL Domino user directory and external systems such as Microsoft Active Directory.
A design client, HCL Domino Designer, can allow the development of database applications consisting of forms and views.
In addition to its role as a groupware system, HCL Notes and Domino can also construct "workflow"-type applications, particularly those which require approval processes and routing of data.
Since Release 5, server clustering has had the ability to provide geographic redundancy for servers.
Notes System Diagnostic gathers information about the running of a Notes workstation or of a Domino server.
On October 10, 2018, IBM released IBM Domino v10.0 and IBM Notes 10.0 as the latest release. In December, 2019, HCL released HCL Domino v11 and HCL Notes v11.

Overview

Client/server

HCL Notes and Domino is a NoSQL client/server database environment. The server software is called HCL Domino and the client software is HCL Notes. HCL Domino software can run on Windows, Unix, Linux, AIX, and HCL mid-range systems and can scale to tens of thousands of users per server. There are different supported versions of the HCL Domino server that are supported on the various levels of server operating systems. Usually the latest server operating system is only officially supported by a version of HCL Domino that is released at about the same time as that OS.
HCL Domino has security capabilities on a variety of levels. The authorizations can be granular, down to the field level in specific records all the way up to 10 different parameters that can be set up at a database level, with intermediate options in between. Users can also assign access for other users to their personal calendar and email on a more generic reader, editor, edit with delete and manage my calendar levels. All of the security in HCL Notes and Domino is independent of the server OS or Active Directory. Optionally, the HCL Notes client can be configured to have the user use their Active Directory identity.

Data replication

The first release of IBM Notes included a generalized replication facility. The generalized nature of this feature set it apart from predecessors like Usenet and continued to differentiate IBM Notes.
IBM Domino servers and Notes clients identify NSF files by their Replica IDs, and keep replicate files synchronized by bi-directionally exchanging data, metadata, and application logic and design. There are options available to define what meta-data replicate, or specifically exclude certain meta data from replicating. Replication between two servers, or between a client and a server, can occur over a network or a point-to-point modem connection. Replication between servers may occur at intervals according to a defined schedule, in near-real-time when triggered by data changes in server clusters, or when triggered by an administrator or program.
Creation of a local replica of an NSF file on the hard disk of an IBM Notes client enables the user to fully use IBM Notes and Domino databases while working off-line. The client synchronizes any changes when client and server next connect. Local replicas are also sometimes maintained for use while connected to the network in order to reduce network latency. Replication between an IBM Notes client and Domino server can run automatically according to a schedule, or manually in response to a user or programmatic request. Since Notes 6, local replicas maintain all security features programmed into the applications. Earlier releases of Notes did not always do so. Early releases also did not offer a way to encrypt NSF files, raising concerns that local replicas might expose too much confidential data on laptops or insecure home office computers, but more recent releases offer encryption, and as of the default setting for newly created local replicas.

Security

IBM Notes was the first widely adopted software product to use public key cryptography for client–server and server–server authentication and for encryption of data. Until US laws regulating encryption were changed in 2000, IBM and Lotus were prohibited from exporting versions of Notes that supported symmetric encryption keys that were longer than 40 bits. In 1997, Lotus negotiated an agreement with the NSA that allowed export of a version that supported stronger keys with 64 bits, but 24 of the bits were encrypted with a special key and included in the message to provide a "workload reduction factor" for the NSA. This strengthened the protection for users of Notes outside the US against private-sector industrial espionage, but not against spying by the US government. This implementation was widely announced, but with some justification many people did consider it to be a backdoor. Some governments objected to being put at a disadvantage to the NSA, and as a result Lotus continued to support the 40-bit version for export to those countries.
Under current US export laws, IBM Notes supports only one version of the Notes PKI with 128-bit symmetric keys, 2048-bit public keys, and no workload reduction factor. The Domino server includes security tools support S/MIME, SSL 3.0 with industry standard key sizes for HTTP and other Internet protocols, X.509 client certificates, and an integrated certificate authority.
IBM Notes and Domino also uses a code-signature framework that controls the security context, runtime, and rights of custom code developed and introduced into the environment. Notes 5 introduced an execution control list at the client level. The ECL allows or denies the execution of custom code based on the signature attached to it, preventing code from untrusted sources from running. Notes and Domino 6 allowed client ECLs to be managed centrally by server administrators through the implementation of policies. Since release 4.5, the code signatures listed in properly configured ECLs prevent code from being executed by external sources, to avoid virus propagation through Notes/Domino environments. Administrators can centrally control whether each mailbox user can add exceptions to, and thus override, the ECL.

Database security

Access control lists control a user of server's level of access to that database. Only a user with Manager access can create or modify the ACL. Default entries in the ACL can be set when the Manager creates the database.
Roles, rather than user id, can determine access level.

Programming

IBM Notes and Domino is a cross-platform, distributed document-oriented NoSQL database and messaging framework and rapid application development environment that includes pre-built applications like email, calendar, etc. This sets it apart from its major commercial competitors, such as Microsoft Exchange or Novell GroupWise, which are purpose-built applications for mail and calendaring that offer APIs for extensibility.
IBM Domino databases are built using the IBM Domino Designer client, available only for Microsoft Windows; standard user clients are available for Windows, Linux, and macOS. A key feature of IBM Notes is that many replicas of the same database can exist at the same time on different servers and clients, across dissimilar platforms; the same storage architecture is used for both client and server replicas. Originally, replication in Notes happened at document level. With release of Notes 4 in 1996, replication was changed so that it now occurs at field level.
A database is a Notes Storage Facility file, containing basic units of storage known as a "note". Every note has a UniqueID that is shared by all its replicas. Every replica also has a UniqueID that uniquely identifies it within any cluster of servers, a domain of servers, or even across domains belonging to many organizations that are all hosting replicas of the same database. Each note also stores its creation and modification dates, and one or more Items.
There are several classes of notes, including design notes and document notes. Design notes are created and modified with the Domino Designer client, and represent programmable elements, such as the GUI layout of forms for displaying and editing data, or formulas and scripts for manipulating data. Document notes represent user data, and are created and modified with the Lotus Notes client, via a web browser, via mail routing and delivery, or via programmed code.
Document notes can have parent-child relationships, but IBM Notes should not be considered a hierarchical database in the classic sense of information management systems. Notes databases are also not relational, although there is a SQL driver that can be used with Notes, and it does have some features that can be used to develop applications that mimic relational features. IBM Notes does not support atomic transactions, and its file locking is rudimentary. IBM Notes is a document-oriented database with support for rich content and powerful indexing facilities. This structure closely mimics paper-based work flows that IBM Notes is typically used to automate.
Items represent the content of a note. Every item has a name, a type, and may have some flags set. A note can have more than one item with the same name. Item types include Number, Number List, Text, Text List, Date-Time, Date-Time List, and Rich Text. Flags are used for managing attributes associated with the item, such as read or write security. Items in design notes represent the programmed elements of a database. For example, the layout of an entry form is stored in the rich text Body item within a form design note. This means that the design of the database can replicate to users' desktops just like the data itself, making it extremely easy to deploy updated applications.
Items in document notes represent user-entered or computed data. An item named "Form" in a document note can be used to bind a document to a form design note, which directs the IBM Notes client to merge the content of the document note items with the GUI information and code represented in the given form design note for display and editing purposes. However, other methods can be used to override this binding of a document to a form note. The resulting loose binding of documents to design information is one of the cornerstones of the power of IBM Notes. Traditional database developers used to working with rigidly enforced schemas, on the other hand, may consider the power of this feature to be a double-edged sword.
IBM Notes applications development uses several programming languages. Formula and LotusScript are the two original ones. LotusScript is similar to, and may even be considered a specialized implementation of, Visual Basic, but with the addition of many native classes that model the IBM Notes environment, whereas Formula is similar to Lotus 1-2-3 formula language but is unique to Notes.
Java was integrated into IBM Notes beginning with Release 4.5. With Release 5, Java support was greatly enhanced and expanded, and JavaScript was added. While LotusScript remains a primary tool in developing applications for the Lotus Notes client, Java and JavaScript are the primary tools for server-based processing, developing applications for browser access, and allowing browsers to emulate the functionality of the IBM Notes client. With XPages, the IBM Notes client can now natively process Java and JavaScript code, although applications development usually requires at least some code specific to only IBM Notes or only a browser.
As of version 6, Lotus established an XML programming interface in addition to the options already available. The Domino XML Language provides XML representations of all data and design resources in the Notes model, allowing any XML processing tool to create and modify IBM Notes and Domino data.
Since Release 8.5, XPages were also integrated into IBM Notes.
External to the IBM Notes application, IBM provides toolkits in C, C++, and Java to connect to the IBM Domino database and perform a wide variety of tasks. The C toolkit is the most mature, and the C++ toolkit is an objectized version of the C toolkit, lacking many functions the C toolkit provides. The Java toolkit is the least mature of the three and can be used for basic application needs.

Database

IBM Notes includes a database management system but IBM Notes files are different from relational or object databases because they are document-centric. Document-oriented databases such as IBM Notes allow multiple values in items, do not require a schema, come with built-in document-level access control, and store rich text data. IBM Domino 7 to 8.5.x supports the use of IBM DB2 database as an alternative store for IBM Notes databases. This NSFDB2 feature, however, is now in maintenance mode with no further development planned. An IBM Notes database can be mapped to a relational database using tools like DECS, , JDBCSql for Domino or NotesSQL.
It could be argued that IBM Notes and Domino is a multi-value database system like PICK, or that it is an object system like Zope, but it is in fact unique. Whereas the temptation for relational database programmers is to normalize databases, Notes databases must be denormalized. RDBMS developers often find it difficult to conceptualize the difference. It may be useful to think of an IBM Notes document as analogous to an XML document natively stored in a database.
Since Lotus Notes 8.5, IBM started to change the term Database to Application, because of the reason that these files are not really object databases as mentioned above.
The benefits of this data structure are:
  1. No need to define size of fields, or datatype;
  2. Attributes that are null take up no space in a database;
  3. Built-in full text searching.

    Configuration

The IBM Domino server or the IBM Notes client store their configuration in their own databases / application files. No relevant configuration settings are saved in the Windows Registry if the operating system is Windows. Some other configuration options is stored in the notes.ini.

Use as an email client

IBM Notes is commonly deployed as an end-user email client in larger organizations, with IBM claiming a cumulative 145 million licenses sold to date.
When an organization employs an IBM Domino server, it usually also deploys the supplied IBM Notes client for accessing the IBM Notes application for email and calendaring but also to use document management and workflow applications. As IBM Notes is a runtime environment, and the email and calendaring functions in IBM Notes are simply an application provided by IBM, the administrators are free to develop alternate email and calendaring applications. It is also possible to alter, amend or extend the IBM supplied email and calendaring application.
The IBM Domino server also supports POP3 and IMAP mail clients, and through an extension product supports native access for Microsoft Outlook clients.
IBM also provides IBM iNotes, to allow the use of email and calendaring features through web browsers on Windows, Mac and Linux, such as Internet Explorer and Firefox. There are several spam filtering programs available, and a rules engine allowing user-defined mail processing to be performed by the server.

Comparison with other email clients

IBM Notes was designed as a collaborative application platform where email was just one of numerous applications that ran in the Notes client software. The Notes client was also designed to run on multiple platforms including Windows, OS/2, classic Mac OS, SCO Open Desktop UNIX, and Linux. These two factors have resulted in the user interface containing some differences from applications that only run on Windows. Furthermore, these differences have often remained in the product to retain backward compatibility with earlier releases, instead of conforming to updated Windows UI standards. The following are some of these differences.
Lotus Notes 7 and older versions had more differences, which were removed from subsequent releases:
Lotus Notes 8.0 became the first version to employ a dedicated user-experience team, resulting in changes in the IBM Notes client experience in the primary and new notes user interface. This new interface runs in the open source Eclipse Framework, which is a project started by IBM, opening up more application development opportunities through the use of Eclipse plug-ins. The new interface provides many new user interface features and the ability to include user-selected applications/applets in small panes in the interface. Lotus Notes 8.0 also included a new email interface / design to match the new Lotus Notes 8.0 eclipse based interface. Eclipse is a Java framework and allows IBM to port Notes to other platforms rapidly. An issue with Eclipse and therefore Notes 8.0 is the applications start-up and user-interaction speed. Lotus Notes 8.5 sped up the application and the increase in general specification of PCs means this is less of an issue.
IBM Notes 9 continued the evolution of the user interface to more closely align with modern application interfaces found in many commercial packaged or web-based software. Currently, the software still does not have an auto-correct option - or even ability - to reverse accidental use of caps lock.
Domino is now running on the Eclipse platform and offers many new development environments and tools such as XPages.
For lower spec PCs, a new version of the old interface is still provided albeit as it is the old interface many of the new features are not available and the email user interface reverts to the Notes 7.x style.
This new user experience builds on Notes 6.5, which upgraded the email client, previously regarded by many as the product's Achilles heel. Features added at that time included:
Publications such as The Guardian in 2006 have criticized earlier versions of Lotus Notes for having an "unintuitive interface" and cite widespread dissatisfaction with the usability of the client software. The Guardian indicated that Notes has not necessarily suffered as a result of this dissatisfaction due to the fact that "the people who choose tend not to be the ones who use it."
Earlier versions of Lotus Notes have also been criticized for violating an important usability best practice that suggests a consistent UI is often better than custom alternative. Software written for a particular operating system should follow that particular OS's user interface style guide. Not following those style guides can confuse users. A notable example is F5 keyboard shortcut, which is used to refresh window contents in Microsoft Windows. Pressing F5 in Lotus Notes before release 8.0 caused it to lock screen. Since this was a major point of criticism this was changed in release 8.0. Old versions did not support proportional scrollbars. Proportional scroll bars were only introduced in Notes 8.
Older versions of Lotus Notes also suffered from similar user interaction choices, many of which were also corrected in subsequent releases. One example that was corrected in Release 8.5: In earlier versions the out-of-office agent needed to be manually enabled when leaving and disabled when coming back, even if start and end date have been set. As of Release 8.5 the out-of-office notification now automatically shuts off without a need for a manual disable.
Unlike some other e-mail client software programs, IBM Notes developers made a choice to not allow individual users to determine whether a return receipt is sent when they open an e-mail; rather, that option is configured at the server level. IBM developers believe "Allowing individual cancellation of return receipt violates the intent of a return receipt function within an organization". So, depending on system settings, users will have no choice in return receipts going back to spammers or other senders of unwanted e-mail. This has led tech sites to publish ways to get around this feature of Notes. For IBM Notes 9.0 and IBM iNotes 9.0, the IBM Domino server's.INI file can now contain an entry to control return receipt in a manner that's more aligned with community expectations.
When IBM Notes crashes, some processes may continue running and prevent the application from being restarted until they are killed.

Related software

Related IBM Lotus products

Over the 30-year history of IBM Notes, Lotus Development Corporation and later IBM have developed many other software products that are based on or integrated with IBM Notes. The most prominent of these is the IBM Lotus Domino server software, which was originally known as the Lotus Notes Server and gained a separate name with the release of version 4.5. The server platform also became the foundation for products such as IBM Lotus Quickr for Domino, for document management, and IBM Sametime for instant messaging, audio and video communication, and web conferencing, and with Release 8.5, IBM Connections.
In early releases of IBM Notes, there was considerable emphasis on client-side integration with the IBM Lotus SmartSuite environment. With Microsoft's increasing predominance in office productivity software, the desktop integration focus switched for a time to Microsoft Office. With the release of version 8.0 in 2007, based on the Eclipse framework, IBM again added integration with its own office-productivity suite, the OpenOffice.org-derived IBM Lotus Symphony. IBM Lotus Expeditor is a framework for developing Eclipse-based applications.
Other IBM products and technologies have also been built to integrate with IBM Notes. For mobile-device synchronization, this previously included the client-side IBM Lotus Easysync Pro product and IBM Notes Traveler, a newer no-charge server-side add-on for mail, calendar and contact sync. A recent addition to IBM's portfolio are two IBM Lotus Protector products for mail security and encryption, which have been built to integrate with IBM Notes.

Related software from other vendors

With a long market history and large installed base, IBM Notes and Domino have spawned a large third-party software ecosystem. Such products can be divided into four broad, and somewhat overlapping classes:
IBM Notes has a history spanning more than 30 years. Its chief inspiration was PLATO Notes, created by David R. Woolley at the University of Illinois in 1973. In today's terminology, PLATO Notes supported user-created discussion groups, and it was part of the foundation for an online community which thrived for more than 20 years on the PLATO system. Ray Ozzie worked with PLATO while attending the University of Illinois in the 1970s. When PC network technology began to emerge, Ozzie made a deal with Mitch Kapor, the founder of Lotus Development Corporation, that resulted in the formation of Iris Associates in 1984 to develop products that would combine the capabilities of PCs with the collaborative tools pioneered in PLATO. The agreement put control of product development under Ozzie and Iris, and sales and marketing under Lotus. In 1994, after the release and marketplace success of Notes R3, Lotus purchased Iris. In 1995 IBM purchased Lotus.
In 2008, IBM released XPages technology, based on JavaServer Faces. This allows IBM Domino applications to be better surfaced to browser clients, though the UX and business logic must be completely rewritten. Previously, IBM Domino applications could be accessed through browsers, but required extensive web specific modifications to get full functionality in browsers. XPages also give the application new capabilities that are not possible with the classic IBM Notes client. The IBM Domino 9 Social Edition included the IBM Notes Browser Plugin, which would surface Notes applications through a minified version of the rich desktop client contained in a browser tab.

Branding

Prior to release 4.5, the Lotus Notes branding encompassed both the client and server applications. In 1996, Lotus released an HTTP server add-on for the Notes 4 server called "Domino". This add-on allowed Notes documents to be rendered as web pages in real time. Later that year, the Domino web server was integrated into release 4.5 of the core Notes server and the entire server program was re-branded, taking on the name "Domino". Only the client program officially retained the "Lotus Notes" name.
In November 2012, IBM announced it would be dropping the Lotus brand and moving forward with the IBM brand only to identify products, including Notes and Domino. On October 9, 2018, IBM announced the availability of the latest version of the client and server software.

Release history

IBM donated parts of the IBM Notes and Domino code to OpenOffice.org on September 12, 2007 and since 2008 has been regularly donating code to OpenNTF.org.

21st century

Despite repeated predictions of the decline or impending demise of IBM Notes and Domino, such as Forbes magazine's 1998 "The decline and fall of Lotus", the installed base of Lotus Notes has increased from an estimated 42 million seats in September 1998 to approximately 140 million cumulative licenses sold through 2008. Once IBM Workplace was discontinued in 2006, speculation about dropping Notes was rendered moot. Moreover, IBM introduced iNotes for iPhone two years later.
IBM contributed some of the code it had developed for the integration of the OpenOffice.org suite into Notes 8 to the project. IBM also packaged its version of OpenOffice.org for free distribution as IBM Lotus Symphony.
IBM Notes and Domino 9 Social Edition shipped on March 21, 2013. Changes include significantly updated user interface, near-parity of IBM Notes and IBM iNotes functionality, the IBM Notes Browser Plugin, new XPages controls added to IBM Domino, refreshed IBM Domino Designer user interface, added support for To Dos on Android mobile devices, and additional server functionality as detailed in the Announcement Letter.
In late 2016, IBM announced that there would not be a Notes 9.0.2 release, but 9.0.1 would be supported until at least 2021. In the same presentation IBM also stated that their internal users had been migrated away from Notes and onto the IBM Verse client.
On October 25, 2017, IBM announced a plan to deliver a Domino V10 family update sometime in 2018. The new version will be built in partnership with HCL Technologies. IBM's development and support team responsible for these products are moving to HCL, however, the marketing, and sales continue to be IBM-led. Product strategy is shared between IBM and HCL. As part of the announcement, IBM indicated that there is no formal end to product support planned.
On October 9, 2018, IBM announced IBM Domino 10.0 and IBM Notes 10.0 in Frankfurt, Germany, and made them available to download on October 10, 2018.
Prior to the 2018 sales to HCL, IBM made announcements that it continues to invest heavily in research and development on the IBM Notes and Domino product line.