Domino Runs on IBM i 7.5, But HCL Still Working on Power10
March 15, 2023 Alex Woodie
IBM i shops that use Domino to serve email and drive other forms of communication will be happy to know they can run Domino 12.2 on IBM i 7.5. However, if they want to run the setup on a Power10 server, they will need to wait a little longer for HCL to support it.
Back in 2017, HCL Technologies took over development and maintenance of the Domino and Notes product line from IBM. Two years later, the India-based tech firm pushed out version 10 of Domino and Notes and related products (like Sametime, Traveler, and Verse), the first major update to the product line in 10 years.
Continuing that two-year cadence of IBM i releases, HCL formally rolled out Domino 12 support for IBM i in the summer of 2021. The big features in Domino 12 was the capability to run Notes applications in Web browsers via the Nomad “zero client,” and IBM i shops were able to deploy them on Power9 machines running IBM i 7.4 or lower.
It took a bit longer to get Domino 12 supported on IBM i 7.5, which IBM debuted in May 2022. HCL doesn’t certify new operating system releases outside of its normal Domino upgrade cycle, HCL representative Thomas Hampel said on HCL’s Domino Ideas portal, and so Domino 12.0.1 (which came out before IBM i 7.5) was not going to be officially supported (despite the fact that IBM i users reported running Domino 12.0 on IBM i 7.5 with no problems).
Running Domino on Power10 servers has also been an issue. HCL said back in October 2022 that it was working on Power10 support, and that support for the new IBM hardware would come out shortly after testing was complete for Domino 12 on IBM i 7.5.
That testing was completed last month, and on February 10, HCL’s representative announced that Domino 12.0.2 is now officially supported on IBM i 7.5. You can find IBM i 7.5 and 7.4 running on Power8 and Power9 as supported operating systems for Domino 12.0.2 on the HCL support website.
However, you still can’t run Domino 12.0.2 on IBM i running on Power10 servers, which have been around longer than IBM i 7.5 (the entry-level Power servers shipped in the summer of 2022 but the big Power 1080 machines were available almost a year earlier). Well, you technically can run it, and it supposedly works. But it’s not an officially sanctioned setup.
The wait for Power10 has proved frustrating for some IBM i users.
“Still waiting for HCL to come out with support for Domino on Power 10,” Rob Berendt, an IBM i system admin and an IBM Champion, wrote on the MIDRANGE-L mailing list. “They said it would come out shortly after Domino 12.0.2. My definition of shortly differs from that of a geologist.”
The testing for Power 10 is not done, according to HCL, but it insists it’s still on track. “Testing of Power10 hardware is still in progress,” wrote HCL’s Hampel on the HCL Domino Ideas Portal. “Please expect a Power10 compatibility statement to be available in early Q2/23.”
With IBM’s spring Tech Refresh announcements looming on the horizon, it seems likely that HCL may soon have another operating system to support, in addition to finally delivering support for Power10 servers.
Supporting the latest operating systems and hardware platforms from IBM will definitely help IBM i shops looking to stay current, as well as the IBM business partners trying to get them there.
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