Domino 14.0 FP2 IF1 installer might fail on new machines -- VCRUNTIME140 32bit is missing

I ran into this today when testing and got a customer reporting this one hour later. So it was easy to reply with a root cause and solution.
Domino is a 64bit application. Therefore the Windows run-time installed with the Domino release installer is 64bit only. The Fixpack installer has no VC runtime requirements.
But it turns out the hotfix installer, which is also used for interim fixes is also a 32bit installer and has VC dependencies.

To get the new interim fix installed, you would have to install the 32bit VC run-time environment for now.
You find it here  -> https://aka.ms/vs/17/release/vc_redist.x86.exe

For some reasons the message in Windows sandbox is in German. But you hopefully capture the VCRUNTIME140.DLL name below and most of us had similar messages before.
What this message does not say is that it is missing the 32bit version.

If you are running on an older server or a server with other software installed, it might be likely that you already have the 32bit version of the Windows run-time installed.
Hopefully this will hit only new servers.

HCL is aware of this limitation of the Hotfix installer and it is on the list of getting it addressed (no I have no time line..).

There is no technote yet. So I hope this heads up helps some of you.

-- Daniel

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Domino AutoUpdate support for Interim Fixes

Did you know? Domino 14.0 is already prepared for distributing interim fixes.
It knows about the IF and HF mapping.

In the deployment dialog you select the IF version.
AutoUpdate will figure out the right HF for your platform.

That means when you select multiple servers from different platforms, each server document gets the right version assigned.
The designated server will also download missing download automatically before starting the distribution.

In future this will also work for installs in Domino 14.5.
You see below that the server document shows the IF and HF version.

If you are interested in this feature, join the EAP forum to hear details about what is already in 14.5 EA1.
There are interesting details posted how AutoUpdate and AutoInstall works.

https://hclsw.co/domino-14-5-eap-forum

-- Daniel

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Domino 14.0 FP2 IF1 available fixing a regression in 14.0 FP2

There is a regression but in Domino 14.0 FP2, which can cause your server to crash.
It's strongly recommended to install this Interim Fix if you are running on Domino 14.0 FP2.
One of my customer hit this problem and we worked with support over the previous weekend to get this narrowed down and got a fix ASAP.

This issue might hit you on specific documents and is mainly seen on Windows.
But you should apply the fix on Linux, too.

Here is the SPR and the link, which you also find in Product Info since a couple of minutes.

Domino 14.0+ can distribute this Interim Fix to your machines directly.

The Domino container project is already updated to support the Interim Fix as well.
This is affecting 14.0 FP2 only. If you are on an earlier version, you are OK.


SPR #NGRTD8PAUA Server - Upgrading to 140FP2 can invoke crashes inConvertTextToTIMEDATEZoneExt/ CvtTextToTIMEDATEExt2 for certain

https://support.hcltechsw.com/csm?id=kb_article&sysparm_article=KB0115848

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Nomad 1.0.13 - A major new release is available

This is awesome news! The Nomad server has been a game changer for Nomad Web developments.

It consisted of two components which had to work together hand in hand.
Now it has been rewritten as a single RUST binary as a Domino server task.

It's also just one web-kit for all different Domino releases.

I am preparing the Domino container project update right now and will push it out as soon it is tested.

Here is the updated product information in my server's Domino directory.

Here are the links from the document...

What's New
https://help.hcltechsw.com/nomad/1.0_web/nomad_web_new.html

Release Notes
https://support.hcltechsw.com/csm?id=kb_article&sysparm_article=KB0090289

Product Documentation
https://help.hcltechsw.com/nomad/welcome/index.html

-- Daniel

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How to find out what is eating my disk space on Linux?

If you don't know the Linux tool ncdu, this will make your day.

It's available for most distributions out of the box.
But if you are not having it in the distribution (like in a container) you can directly download it from the developer's website https://dev.yorhel.nl.

Distributions mostly have an older version. There is a 2.x version.

To download directly from the home page you can use a single curl command:

curl -sL https://dev.yorhel.nl/download/ncdu-2.5-linux-x86_64.tar.gz |tar -xz

The tool by default scans from where you are or any directory you specify.
Specially when running on WSL you might want to use excludes.

On top there is a delete option, which can be quite helpful when you find large files you don't need.
I am using it for years and it did safe my IT life more than once.  And it is very fast...

See this example (the Domino blog template keeps reformatting it -- I gave up .. ):

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Domino does not shutdown cleanly when Windows is rebooted or shutdown

When stopping the Domino service manually, the Windows service control manager (SCM) waits sufficient time to shutdown Domino cleanly.
But it turns out a Windows shutdown or reboot does not wait sufficient time for service termination.

This is critical because it would kill running Domino processes without notice. Even with transaction log enabled, this isn't a desirable situation.
Here is a detailed description how it works in the backend --> https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/services/service-control-handler-function
The summary of this information is that a service would need to register and handle for SERVICE_CONTROL_PRESHUTDOWN events in addition to a service shutdown event.

It turns out that Windows gives services a very short shutdown of a couple of seconds without this special implementation on shutdown/reboot.
There is an unreliable setting which can extend the time a bit by setting the WaitToKillServiceTimeout registry value. But this would at most limit you to 125 seconds if you are lucky and it still works.


AHA Idea: DOMINO-I-2857 Add SERVICE_CONTROL_PRESHUTDOWN support to Domino Windows Service

There is an enhancement request in the Domino idea portal to get this addressed.

https://domino-ideas.hcltechsw.com/ideas/DOMINO-I-2857

If you are running on Windows and want this to be addressed, please vote.


Helper service to shutdown Windows services cleanly

I wrote a small helper tool to help until Domino supports Windows pre-shutdown.
It provides the following main functionality:

1. Service registers for re-shutdown events
2. On a reboot or shutdown it stops configured services before reporting back the pre-shutdown operations have been finished
3. Wait for a maximum of 10 minutes and terminates as soon all configured services are stopped

The tool is available as Open Source on GitHub --> https://github.com/nashcom/nsh-tools/tree/main/nshshutdown

This might help also for other applications and is a good example how to implement the functionality in existing Windows services.
Some implementation details are not straightforward. I tried to highlight those in the code and the documentation page.

The tool is new and I am still testing it. But it looks good so far.
It comes with some convenient additional functionality like rebooting and also aborting reboots.
Configuration is based on a text file and the logging goes to a log file as well.

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Domino 14.5 EA1 AutoInstall in action

Domino Autoupdate was one of the highlight features in Domino 14.0 and got AUT Notes client integration in 14.0 FP1.
If you have not looked into AutoUpdate the new Domino 14.5 EA1 code drop would be perfectly for you to see the next level in action.

It allows to update Domino in two clicks!

Join the 14.5 Early Access Forum and provide feedback, get implementation details & tips.

https://hclsw.co/domino-14-5-eap-forum

-- Daniel

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Webinar September 4 - Get Ready to Explore Exciting New Features Coming in Domino v14.5

Notes/Domino/Traveler 14.5 EA1 is available for download.

For a jump start of what is new, there is a webinar tomorrow.

https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/4222034931318442589


-- Daniel

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Notes, Domino and Traveler 14.5 EA1 is available -- See what’s new

The first 14.5 Early Access code drop has been release!
You find detailed information of what is new in Early Access product documentation and there is already a 14.5 EAP forum  -> https://hclsw.co/domino-14-5-eap-forum

See the following links:
https://help.hcl-software.com/domino/14.5.0/admin/wn_145_ea1.html
https://help.hcl-software.com/notes/14.5.0/client/whatsnew_notes.html
https://help.hcl-software.com/dom_designer/14.5.0/basic/wn_14.5_ea1.html
https://help.hcl-software.com/dom_designer/14.5.0/basic/wn_generalupdates.html

Release Notes:

https://support.hcltechsw.com/csm?id=kb_article&sysparm_article=KB0115513


Here are my personal highlights and important changes:

Update to OpenJDK 21

Even I am not a big Java fan, I find the update and important and impressive achievement along with other updated packages.


DAOSTune Estimation Tool

The new servertask replaces the old stand-alone DAOS Estimator.
It's completely rewritten, dramatically faster with easier to understand output.
There are also very flexible configuration options and different output options.
The new estimator is useful for pre-DAOS enablement and also to fine tune DAOS configurations.


Domino SNMP Agent for Linux

SNMP is a quite old technology, but is still in use by some customers for monitoring.
Domino 14.5 now ships with the same SNMP systemd service, the Domino start script provides


Extension Manager Changes

For security reasons, extension managers are only loaded from the Domino binary directory, Windows and Windows system directory. But not the path!
In addition you can add a search directory for Extension Managers.

I would recommend to keep extension managers in the Domino binary directory anyway. User writable directories are not a good idea from security point of view.
But this change might impact existing configurations, so there is a ini to allow alternate and additional search path.


DAOS repair enhancements

There are new repair options for DAOS NLO files.
This finally completes what has been started in Domino 10.x.

• Repairing a single .nlo file
• Repairing all .nlo files for a database
• Dynamic repair of .nlo files

Domino OIDC Server

Now you can use Domino also as a OIDC provider.
I have tested it with a configuration on the same server being an OIDC provider in one internet site and a OIDC client on another internet site including passkey authentication on the OIDC server side.
Of course this was just a test configuration. But it opens the door for many interesting use cases to integrate Domino with 3rd party applications.


Domino AutoInstall for Windows and Linux

Probably one of the most complex and interesting features in Domino 14.5 is the autoinstall functionality.
Currently you can only update from Domino 14.5 EA1 to Domino 14.5 EA1 for testing.
But you can expect to update from EA1 to EA2 in the next code drop.

The functionality is feature complete for Domino release installs.
After distributing the software via autoupdate a manual install will lay down the autoinstall binary.

The autoinstall binary is a separate binary working hand in hand with the autoupdate server task to update servers.

• On Linux it is a SUID enabled binary to acquire root privileges.
• On Windows it is implemented as a new Windows service running with the system account (because since Domino 14.0 the server is usually with an unprivileged user.

Domino 14.0 and 14.0 FP1 did build the base for AutoUpdate and AutoInstall.
Domino 14.5 is bringing the full AutoUpdate & Install functionality.

The autoupdate.nsf software list will be automatically updated and contains the 14.5 EA1 software.
If you have the feature enabled, you can use it to download software directly from MHS portal.

But you will need to first log into https://my.hcltechsw.com/ to accept the beta license.


There are more features...

My post mainly focuses on the Domino server side.

There are many more detailed feature enhancements on the server and also the client side.
And this is just a first code drop...


Domino Container Update

The Domino container community project has been updated to support Domino 14.5 EA1 and also Traveler 14.5 EA1.
Please note that the current Leap Version is not support for Domino 14.5 EA1 and Traveler requires the matching 14.5 EA1 version. Older versions will not work.

The build script contains a new menu item for building the 14.5 EA1 container.

-- Daniel

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Checking Linux , Docker version & status

The Domino Start Script and Domino container script both provide an "about" option to show Linux and machine info.
Usually you should not have Docker and Podman installed at the same time -- In my case I have both installed for testing.

This command will show what is installed and what the status is:

domino about
Using Domino config File [/etc/sysconfig/rc_domino_config]

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hostname      :      volt.domino.lab
Linux OS      :      CentOS Stream 9
Linux Version :      9
Kernel        :      5.14.0-457.el9.x86_64
Virt          :      kvm
Podman        :      5.1.1
Docker        :      27.0.3
DomDownload   :      1.0.4

CPU Info      :      2 Intel Xeon Processor (Skylake, IBRS, no TSX)
CPU MHz       :      2294.608
CPU Cache     :      16384 KB

Linux Uptime  :      69 day, 22 hour 7 min
Load Average  :      0.00  0.00  0.00

MemTotal      :       3.5 GB
MemAvailable  :       2.8 GB  (80.0)
MemCached     :       2.2 GB  (62.4)
MemFree       :       0.8 GB  (22.9)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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