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On the journey to flexibility, the first step is to unclutter. There is no need to run and maintain a whole operating system when the application you are interested in is Domino! Focusing on the top-level application while standardizing interfaces and configuration settings allows Domino to be running in a container. This container can then be ported to different infrastructures regardless of whether this is your computer, your own data center, or your cloud vendor. It all starts with Domino running in a container using runtimes like Docker or Podman. To learn more about containerization the HCL Digital Solutions Academy provides a good starting point for setting up your infrastructure to run Domino in a container. There are two sessions as primers:
Quickly deploying new environments with reproducible configuration settings applied, such as rolling out a new HCL Domino Volt environment or an environment for a specific Domino application
Staying current with version upgrades or patch levels in a multi-server environment and with minimal or no downtime to the service
Running test, integration, and production environments with exactly the same settings for allowing developers to build better apps
While infrastructure costs do play an important role in your TCO calculation, there are challenges that can’t be addressed by adding more hardware. Some of these typical challenges are:
Finding appropriate resources capable of running Domino is the least that customers have to worry about but when the IT industry is talking about cloud, the discussion is not about having to move your sensitive data to from one datacenter to another vendor’s data center. It’s more about how to overcome the day-to-day challenges of an ever-changing IT landscape, while of course maintaining privacy and securing your intellectual property.
There is a lot of attention around cloud-native software and, as a Domino customer, what does this mean? Here, we explore why you’d want to take advantage of this technology. A common perception is that going to the cloud will save a lot of money. Let’s explore whether this holds true and what to be aware of in order to build a sustainable service.
What Does “Cloud-Native” Mean to the HCL Domino Customer?
The Domino Dozen
To Cloud or Not to Cloud…
How to Get Started?
Some questions you should ask yourself include:
Do you have a “perfect” documentation of your environment?
When was the last time you’ve properly and perfectly documented your environment?
Does your documentation include that small change you did in the configuration of that business application or that one small change in file permissions, or the update you did to the performance settings of the server? Are all of those changes reproducible?
Imagine a world where all of the above is possible. Imagine an environment where you adjust a configuration just by updating your documentation and applying it in test and production environments quickly. And imagine an environment that allows upgrading and downgrading product versions in seconds. All this and probably a lot more is why cloud-native technologies are going to be of interest even for die-hard on-prem supporters.
Business users could not care less what an IT system is built on, all that matters is that it works as expected. Performance, ease-of-use, security, and stability all play an important role to IT, but for users they should be a given. Certainly, Domino can provide all of that, but it used to require a specific skillset. With a new set of tools commonly defined as cloud-native technology … well, that changes the game.
1.
Containerize
Domino on Docker: Installation and Configuration (Session 1)
Domino on Docker: Installation and Configuration (Session 2)
2.
Running a server in a container is a first start, but managing its configuration is something nobody wants to do manually. Especially when having to build similar deployments over and over again, lazy admins start being creative by writing scripts to automate day-to-day jobs. HCL business partners who have to set up a new instance of (as an example) their Domino-based CRM system or business application would certainly be interested in automating this work so that a new deployment can be done in seconds — rather than having to spend days on each rollout or upgrade.
Automate
A key element to success is a new feature in Domino V12 that allows you to describe the entire configuration in a text file that can be applied to a new environment at startup. In earlier versions it was only possible to do a silent server setup, but now in Domino v12 it is possible to do a lot more. Now you can:
Create an IDVault
Set Notes.ini variables
Create databases from templates and sign them
Add or change ACL entries, including adding roles and setting permissions/flags
Create or modify server or server configuration settings
Create or modify groups
Create or modify fields in a document in any database
Auto-register additional server.ids
A first glimpse at what this could look like is provided in this example JSON file, a single configuration file that contains all details for a full Domino deployment. This simple but powerful feature allows ISVs and business partners to provide turnkey solutions in the form of a Domino image containing all needed templates and settings. While the common use case is to automate the container world, the feature itself is not limited to containers. The same configuration file can be applied to a virtual machine or even a bare-metal server running to deploy consistent configuration settings.
3.
With your perfect configuration at hand, you now need to describe the characteristics of the environment in which your Domino “workload” is going to reside. While some Domino applications can easily get along with a single CPU core and minimal storage, others require multi-server configurations, high availability, and maybe even third-party components mixed in.
Engage
To do all this, Kubernetes comes to the rescue. It allows the architecture of your environment — including its storage details, network port configurations, routing patterns, security, etc. — to be described in a standardized file format. This format is portable and is accepted by any Kubernetes-flavored container-hosting service such as Amazon EKS, Google’s GKE, or platforms such as Rancher, Platform9, and VMware Tanzu.
HCL business partners like factor-y are leveraging this technology to run Domino on Kubernetes with just minimal deployment effort needed, which means that spinning up a whole new environment for a new customer could not be easier and it can be done in just minutes. Whether you are a partner or ISV wanting to streamline operations, or whether you are a developer wanting to streamline your development pipelines (CI/CD), you’ll benefit from learning more about it.
The best way to engage is to connect with one of the many Domino communities around the globe, e.g. by joining the German Notes User group (DNUG) which is hosting training camps and workshops on this topic.
Our path forward with cloud
HCL Software is cloud-native. Our enterprise software can be installed on any Kubernetes environment — public, private, or hybrid, in minutes — to reduce costs, achieve faster application updates, and improve the flexibility your business needs to scale.
Domino customers can request a demo in HCL SoFy, The Cloud-Native Solution Factory, to see 5 new demo apps in action in the HCL Notes Client, HCL Nomad for mobile, HCL Nomad for web, and in your web browser: travel, vacations and expenses, project management, HCL Nomad responsive app, asset management, and HCL Verse.
In Summary
An organization running Domino must craft a cloud-native strategy that meets its specific business requirements, just assuming that moving existing your servers to the cloud will provide savings is a myth. For Domino customers, the main benefits are going to be around automation, operational savings, and increased flexibility. You should mix your on-prem and distributed workloads with cloud components where it makes sense. Test and development servers are the easiest to start with, with small production servers to follow. You need to proceed cautiously with building large-scale single container deployments. Some useful resources can be found here:
Although HCL Domino by itself is, by the definitions of the cloud-native computing foundation, not a cloud-native product and is not built on microservices on its own, there are good reasons to leverage cloud-native technologies to run Domino as an integrated part of your enterprise IT strategy.
A Q&A with HCL Software’s Chief Platform Architect,
Alex Mulholland
DNUG deep dive workshops
This infographic which shows a cloud-native “trail map”
Learn more about HCL Software’s Cloud Native capabilities
Check back tomorrow for the next Domino Dozen drop!
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Check back tomorrow for the next Domino Dozen drop!
GO TO EVENT