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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 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.
Piloting the upgrade in the production environment with a small set of users
Pilot the upgrade in the production environment, considering the following as you do:

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.
    - Deployment best practices
      Here are deployment best practices, many of which are particularly important in enterprise environments that have many thousands of users.
    - Creating a Domino server test Environment
      If you do not have a test environment, it is highly recommended that you create one.
    - Testing application upgrades
      In general, application upgrades occur seamlessly without issue. To test Domino application upgrades, follow these best practices.
    - Piloting the upgrade in the production environment with a small set of users
      Pilot the upgrade in the production environment, considering the following as you do:
    - Deployment sequence for small and medium businesses
      Small and medium businesses (SMBs) are generally defined as ones having 10,000 users or less and 50 Domino servers or less.
    - Deployment sequence for enterprise businesses
      An enterprise business is generally defined as one having more than 10,000 users and more than 50 servers. It can take many weeks or even months to upgrade all servers in an enterprise environment.
  - 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.

Piloting the upgrade in the production environment with a small set of users

Pilot the upgrade in the production environment, considering the following as you do:

About this task

Document everything during your pilot upgrade. For example, record in detail the operations, commands, the hours required to perform the upgrade, and any error messages you encounter.
Imaging: Because some testing should focus on sets of steps that are to be executed, imaging saves time by enabling you to reset your environment to a known position. For example, VMWare with its snapshot capability can be a useful tool for this purpose. If VMWare is not ideal for your specific platform, implementing a robust backup and restore program is another way to achieve this.
Determine the feedback needed from pilot users and determine success criteria.
Choose pilot groups carefully. Start with immediate IT staff, then add lowest risk user populations. Grow the pilot population over time, adopting new audiences. Target diverse roles: technical, power user, assistants, application users.
Perform the upgrades necessary for the pilot. Start with administration servers, hubs and SMTP gateways with no users. Begin your pilot with one Domino mail server. Once working properly, continue to add/upgrade more mail servers.
Run a steady state environment for a defined pilot duration.
Review and update procedures after pilot feedback.
Leverage clustering. If there are any issues during upgrading, your users can fail back over to the "down-level" server