Domino 10.0.1 has been available on the IBM i for a number of months now, however there have been no Fix Packs available for 10.0.1 on the platform to this point. That changes today, October 4 2019.
Many have been wondering where FPs for 10.0.1 on the IBM i have been. The reality is 10.0.1 for the IBM i has been 10.0.1.1 as the code load contains the fixes included in FP1. However, there have been no 10.0.1 FPs for the IBM i since, until today. This is due to issues HCL found in their internal testing that prevented them from releasing 10.0.1 FPs for the platform.
The issues are still being worked, so what HCL has done in order to get the FP4 code out to the IBM i community is create a full install for FP4. This means the prior 10.0.1 product needs to be deleted before FP4 can be installed. As is the case for the full product load, there are 3 savefiles associated with the installation.
QNOTES – *BASE of the 10.0.1 product
QNOTESAP – Option 1 which is the C API
QNOTESRL – Option 11 which is 10.0.1 (with FP4)
A couple of things to be aware of with FP4 being a full installation rather than just installation of a Fix Pack:
If you have Traveler installed with 10.0.1, you will need to reinstall Traveler after installation of FP4.
If you have any language packs installed, they will need to be reinstalled after installation of FP4.
For the official technote regarding FP4 for the IBM i refer to KB0069162.
Details on the installation of FP4 are in KB0069486.
It’s coming … just around the corner … can’t wait!!!!!!
One of the biggest questions I have been getting is which IBM i operating systems will support Domino 10.0.1. You will be very pleased with the answer 🙂 The releases supported are: 7.2, 7.3, and 7.4 (when it becomes available). The huge relief is that 7.2 is supported, whew!
In addition to the plethora of functionality that is provided in release 10.0, 10.0.1 brings some unique enhancements that are specific to the IBM i, let’s take a look at what these are.
Daylight Saving Time enhancement
This first one is long overdue. It’s one that is very subtle, until daylight saving time hits, then wham!! In Domino 10.0.1 on the IBM i, it will default to *TIMEZONE when you configure a new server. This means no more times being off by one hour when DST sets in because you forgot to add the DSTLAW= variable to the notes.ini when you configured the server.
Easier control over JVM used by Domino
Another enhancement to make administrator’s lives easier is the ability to change which JVM is in use for a Domino server. By default the 32-bit JVM is used for Domino on the IBM i. The process of changing from the 32-bit to the 64-bit JVM has been to add the JAVA_HOME variable to the notes.ini. While this doesn’t sound like a big deal, it can be a bit tricky. Below is the JAVA_HOME variable to convert a Domino server to use the 64-bit Java 8 JVM.
The main trick is case sensitivity, specifically with /QOpenSys. If you do not have the correct case for this portion of the path, it will not work. Domino 10.0.1 to the rescue! In this new release, there is a JVM version option available with both the Configure Domino Server (CFGDOMSVR) and Change Domino Server (CHGDOMSVR) commands.
MEMCHECK automatically collected in Domino 10.0.1
If you get into debug mode with your Domino servers, you will be elated that MEMCHECK is enabled by default on an IBM i Domino 10.0.1 server. You may be wondering why this is a big deal. Prior to Domino 10.0.1, this valuable debug data was not available unless you manually ran a memcheck on the IBM i, which very few customers know how to do.
Licensed Program Product (LPP) and Library changes
Other changes to be aware of are the licensed program product ID and library where the Domino 10.0.1 code resides. We are used to seeing 5733L85 and 5733LD9 for 8.5.3 and 9.0.1 respectively for the product ID. The 10.0.1 product will be 5733D10 with *BASE being the Domino 10.0 code and Option 1 being 10.0.1. We can quite easily guess that 10.0.2 will be Option 2.
The library where the Domino 10.0.1 code executables resides is probably the most noticeable difference. With libraries having a maximum length of 10 characters, the nomenclature of QDOMINO8xx and QDOMINO9xx no longer works with version 10.x. Therefore the library structure changes to QDOM100001 for version 10.0.1. The table below provides a summary of what the Domino releases and their respective LPP, library, and directory details look like for releases 8.5.3, 9.0.1 and 10.0.1.
Domino Release
LPP ID
Option
Program Library
Product Directory
8.5.3
5733L85
*BASE, 1, 13
QDOMINO853
/QIBM/ProdData/LOTUS/domino853
9.0.1
5733LD9
*BASE, 1, 11
QDOMINO901
/QIBM/ProdData/LOTUS/domino901
10.0.1
5733D10
*BASE, 1, 11
QDOM100001
/QIBM/ProdData/LOTUS/domino100001
When do we get all of this?!?
So now the big question remains, WHEN will Domino 10.0.1 be available on the IBM i?!?
I have some important discoveries to share on this front. In preparing for the Domino Technical University webcast I will be doing with Chris Adler on February 7th on Best Practices to Upgrading to Domino 10 (https://bit.ly/2BiMrVO), I found the following when reviewing the product documentation:
In addition when searching in Passport Advantage, I see this for Domino 10.0.1 for the IBM i.
When clicking the link to download it, this secret is revealed 🙂
I hope you are as excited as I am to get this phenomenal, feature rich, self-healing release available on the hardware platform that is most synonymous with Domino, the IBM i: it’s integrated, secure, scalable, and highly available.
Many of my customers, colleagues and friends in the community have been asking me when and “if” Domino 10 is going to be available on the IBM i. The rate of questioning increased after the announcement that HCL is going to purchase Domino, progressing beyond the current partnership agreement between IBM and HCL.
At first I was a bit perplexed why there was more concern with the purchasing agreement vs. the partnership agreement. I asked some questions and the answers became obvious. People’s assumption was that the IBM i would be supported by IBM because it owns the system and HCL does not. While I completely understand this assumption, reality couldn’t be farther from the truth.
HCL has listened to ALL customers of the Domino platform and has realized that IBM i customers are very committed to the product and many use it to provide key components of their businesses. In addition, HCL gets what Domino really is, an application development platform. They don’t see it as just an email, calendar, and contacts solutions which sadly is how the ones in IBM who decide where $$ go see it; rather HCL sees the significant advantage this low-code platform provides to companies to give them a competitive advantage.
HCL is fully committed to the IBM i platform, in ways we have not seen since the early 2000s. I am under NDA, so I cannot say exactly when Domino 10 will be available on the IBM i, what I can safely say is it will be in the first quarter of 2019.
To properly protect your IBM i systems, you need to install patches to both the OS and the firmware to address the Spectre and Meltdown security exposures. Below are the required fixes depending on your OS level:
The OS fix can be applied independently of the firmeware fix. Keep in mind that BOTH the OS and firmware fixes are required to mitigate the security vulnerabilities presented by Spectre and Meltdown.
The firmware update can be obtained from FixCentral. Download one of the following depending on your Power Systems firmware:
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