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Installing
Use this documentation to install the HCL Domino® server and subsequently deploy the HCL Notes®client.
Planning your upgrade to Notes and Domino 12.0.2
Use this documentation to upgrade the existing Domino® server and subsequently upgrade the Notes® client to a new release. You can also upgrade additional clients such as Domino Administrator and Domino Designer clients and additional features and plug-ins such as the embedded HCL Sametime® client.
Planning the deployment of a new version of Notes
Understand the things to consider and actions to take before installing a new version of HCL Notes.
Steps to deploy a new version of Notes
The following steps are typical ones to use to deploy a new version of Notes in your environment.
Download and customize the install kit
There are many ways to customize the Notes installation.

Installing
Use this documentation to install the HCL Domino® server and subsequently deploy the HCL Notes®client.
- Installing and upgrading Domino® servers
  Perform a new or upgrade install of one or many Domino® servers.
- Installing and upgrading Notes® clients
- Planning your upgrade to Notes and Domino 12.0.2
  Use this documentation to upgrade the existing Domino® server and subsequently upgrade the Notes® client to a new release. You can also upgrade additional clients such as Domino Administrator and Domino Designer clients and additional features and plug-ins such as the embedded HCL Sametime® client.
  - Security considerations prior to upgrading
    It’s important to review your security practices before upgrading, especially if you are upgrading from an old version.
  - Preparing your environment for the upgrade
    Time spent doing a thorough evaluation of your environment prior to upgrading is time well spent. Capturing baselines of your existing server infrastructure allows you to compare how the upgraded environment is performing.
  - Planning the deployment of the new release
    Depending on the size of your organization and the number of Domino servers involved, an organization upgrade schedule may range from a few hours to a few weeks or months.
  - Upgrading a Domino server
    Before upgrading a Domino server, review the upgrade considerations and choose the upgrade option to use.
  - Upgrading post-V11 AD Password Sync to V12.0.2 or later
    Upgrade Domino AD Password Sync installations that use Domino 12.0 or 12.0.1 to Domino 12.0.2 in order to use the new "AD Password Sync" server install type available in 12.0.2 and later.
  - Planning the deployment of a new version of Notes
    Understand the things to consider and actions to take before installing a new version of HCL Notes.
    - MarvelClient Essentials
      Domino includes MarvelClient Essentials by Panagenda.
    - Automate and standardize
      Before the upgrade, take the opportunity to automate and standardize.
    - Clean, tighten, and fix
      Before the upgrade, clean, tight and fix the current Notes client environment.
    - Notes client install best practices
      Follow these install best practices.
    - Steps to deploy a new version of Notes
      The following steps are typical ones to use to deploy a new version of Notes in your environment.
      - Plan the deployment
        It is important to plan for the deployment of the new version of Notes.
      - Backing up and restoring Notes® client files
        Domino® administrators should periodically back up Notes® applications and files for users.
      - Download and customize the install kit
        There are many ways to customize the Notes installation.
      - Build and test the deployment package
        Follow these guidelines to build and test the deployment package.
      - Pilot the upgraded client
        Test the upgraded Notes version with a pilot deployment.
      - Roll out the deployment
        After certifying the pilot deployment, deploy Notes to the rest of your environment.
      - Manage the desktop
        Consider post-installation requirements.
    - Using Notes® Smart Upgrade and other upgrade tools
      You can push an upgrade to Notes® clients using Notes Smart Upgrade and/or other third party mechanisms, such as Smart Upgrade Run-As wizard (SURUNAS) or Upgrade-by-mail. You can also upgrade Notes clients using the Notes installation executable either silently (command line) or using the installer's graphical user interface. The supplied installation executable is used for an initial install or an upgrade install.
    - Maintaining Notes clients
      Upgrading Notes to the latest maintenance release and Fix Pack is a better choice than applying hotfixes

Download and customize the install kit

There are many ways to customize the Notes installation.

To install translated versions of the Notes Standard client on Windows, download the cascaded Multilingual User Interface (MUI) pack installer kit. This installer is new in V12 and allows you to install any translated version of the Notes client from one kit.
To install translated version of Notes on MacOS, native language (NL) packs are used.
Customize which features to install, add, or remove.
- Edit the install manifest to control which features are available and what the user sees on the installation panel.
- If notes.ini settings must be run before the user initially launches Notes, you can configure a transform file to accomplish this. Otherwise, rely on recommended best practices for standardized notes.ini settings described earlier.
- Remove default components not used by your company. For example, if your company is not integrating Connections or Sametime with the Notes client, remove those components from the install kit.
- Add custom plug-ins used by your company. If your company integrates custom plug-ins with the Notes client, add the plug-ins to install kit.
Set run-time settings for notes.ini, Domino policies, and plugin_customization.ini. Whenever possible, use Domino policies to manage notes.ini settings.
Configure Notes "Scriptable Setup" (or Setup Response file) to limit user intervention during both the install and the initial setup of Notes. During the install, the wizard displays only the panels that users need to set up the Notes client.
Pre-populate cross certificates in deploy.nsf.
- You can prevent users from having to respond to cross-certificate prompts by pre-populating the deploy.nsf with admin-generated cross certificates.
- Admin-generated certificates are copied to users’ address books at first launch.