When IBM Domino 9.0.1 saw the light of day in 2013, no one thought that 10 years later in September 2023 we would still be talking about this version. And not just talking! Notes and Domino 9.0.1 still have a considerable install base to this day.
It was not without reason that first IBM and later HCL long kept the EOL (End of Life) of this version: 10 years of continued support still seems to match major vendor release cycles, if not customer expectations or requirements.
HCL recently shiped the new Fixpack 10 Interim Fix 12 for Domino 9.0.1.
Don’t upgrade to the wrong release
IBM already announced in 2016 that they would maintain support for Notes and Domino 9.0.1 until September 2021.
Following the acquisition of Notes and Domino, HCL further extended the time frame until end 2021, and beyond. A list of exceptions was published for which availability or support ended before or as of January 1, 2022. The general support for Notes and Domino 9.0.1, however, remained upright.
End of Marketing (December 1, 2022)
To me it seems that HCL is pursuing two different goals at the same time:
On the one hand, there has always been, and continues to be, a desire to encourage as many customers as possible to upgrade Notes and Domino to newer versions as early as possible. If all customers were on more recent releases, HCL could discontinue the support of older versions earlier and concentrate more on newer releases. Also, with the latest release 12.0.2 FP2, customers benefit from all important tightened security with more than 100 security fixes since 9.0.1 FP10 IF12 – let alone all the additional enhancements! On the other hand, HCL remains committed to providing reliable longterm support to their customers.
As an intermediate step towards End of Support for 9.0.1, HCL announced “End of Marketing” at December 1, 2022. “End of Marketing” did not mean the “End of Life (EOL)” for Domino and Notes in versions 9.x and 10.x, nor did it mean “End of Support”. Rather, the download resources were removed from the HCL Flexnet Portal. Also, from this date on, it was no longer possible to purchase new licenses for these outdated versions.
End of Support (June 1, 2024)
The designated “End of Support” date for both Notes and Domino versions 9.0.1 and 10.0.x is set for June 1, 2024 – marking over a decade since the debut of version 9.0.1 and surpassing five years post the initial launch of version 10.0.1!
A general and official overview of the HCL Product Lifecycle can be found here!
Notes and Domino 9.0.1 FP10 IF12
To be honest, I didn’t expect HCL to release a Fixpack for Notes and Domino 9.0.1 in the official download portal since the “End of Marketing”. Especially since all download resources for this version were removed from that date on.
Domino
Notes
You can download the current Interim Fix via Flexnet. Unfortunately, downloading via the new download portal is not possible.
What is fixed?
Since Interim Fix 11 and Interim Fix 12 were released in quick succession, I would also like to mention the Fixlist of IF11. Especially since only a security issue was resolved in that prior interim fix.
| Fix introduced in release | SPR | Description |
| Notes 9.0.1 Feature Pack 10 Interim Fix 12 Help > About shows 9.0.1FP10 SHF655 | VGAECKXFNY | Security Bulletin: A Denial of Service (DoS) Vulnerability in XStream affects HCL Notes (CVE-2022-40151) (KB0106544) |
| Notes 9.0.1 Feature Pack 10 Interim Fix 11 Help > About shows 9.0.1FP10 SHF633 | YGAOANDKR5 | Fix an issue where drag & drop mails creates *.eml file in workspace folder when program and data folders are on different drives. |
| PANNB68QED | Fixed an issue in Standard Notes client where a url within an outline would not work. This regression was introduced in 10.0 and 9.0.1FP10IF3 | |
| AKURBH2F4C | Fixed an issue where sending encrypted mail to a very large group would not warn if group was too large. This regression was introduced in 10.0 | |
| AKURBPAFZJ | Citrix Workspace on iOS – Fixed an issue where client would crash when accessing Notes through Citrix Workspace on iOS and trying to send email using finger / touch | |
| HNAKBZDPT | Fixed an issue in the Basic Notes client where clicking on a url or hotspot for a file or folder will open the url in MS Edge browser vs File Explorer if the default browser preference has been changed to MS Edge | |
| SAIACHKEGH | Notes 901FP10IF11 supports AUT (AutoUpgrade) to upgrade the clients to V11x or higher | |
| JMEABY4N3 | Fixed an issue where user’s were unable to federated Google calendar in Notes client. Google enforced a policy to discontinue support for sign-in to Google accounts from embedded browser frameworks. Notes now uses external system browser for sign-in, instead of embedded SWT browser. This regression is caused due to Google policy enforcement. See KB0087236. |
A list of all Interim Fixes of Notes and Domino 9.0.1 is also available, of course.
What to do?
HCL has definitely lived up to its support promises for Notes and Domino 9.0.x. Upgrading both the Domino servers and Notes clients to at least the latest 9.0.1 Fixpack and interim fix is highly recommended – if not actually upgrading to V12.
MarvelClient Upgrade
We are aware that updating the client landscape in particular is challenging and requires planning. With MarvelClient Upgrade, we can help turn months into weeks or even days. If you’d like to learn more, we would love to hear from you! In the meantime, you may also want to watch one of our webinar recordings:
