What’s new in Traveler 12.0.0

HCL is launching a new version of Notes, Domino and Traveler 12 yesterday and in the following days. What can you find in the last mentioned Traveler server?

Source: HCL Traveler Documentation

Traveler on Docker

HCL Domino® includes a Docker-compatible Red Hat Universal Base Image (UBI) of Domino that is part of your entitlement and is available for download through the HCL Licensing Portal. A separate UBI that has HCL Domino and HCL Traveler pre-installed on the image is also included, and Traveler is pre-configured to start automatically when Domino starts. This allows you to deploy HCL Traveler servers as containers. Because the Traveler Docker image is built on top of the Domino docker image, all the existing procedures for loading, configuring, managing and maintaining the Docker-based Domino server still apply. In addition, there are a few considerations for configuring and using Traveler.

Removed support for Domino Servers running with Java 6

Starting with HCL Traveler Server 12.0.0, the Traveler server runtime requires Java 8. Traveler utilizes the Java runtime included with the Domino server. Domino server environments running Java 6 are not supported (Domino 9.0.1 fixpack 7 or earlier environments).

SAML authentication for HCL Verse Mobile clients

Starting with release 12.0.0 of the HCL Verse Mobile clients, federated-identity authentication using Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) is supported. This allows mobile users to authenticate to a customer’s SAML 2.0 compatible identity provider prior to accessing the HCL Traveler services.

Time-based one-time password (TOTP) authentication

HCL Domino 12.0.0 introduces support for requiring a Time-based One-Time Password (TOTP), which is in addition to their user names and passwords for http authentication. For more information, see Time-based One-Time Password (TOTP) authentication. The HCL Verse Mobile clients, starting with the 12.0.0 versions, support the Traveler server endpoint configured for TOTP authentication.

Smart Forward and Smart Reply

HCL Traveler now supports SmartForward and SmartReply requests received from HCL Verse mobile clients. A SmartForward/SmartReply (SFSR) request does not include the body or attachments from the original email that is being forwarded or replied to. A SFSR contains just the forward/reply body text and any additional attachments, plus an identifier of the original email. The Traveler server reconstructs the email by appending the original email’s body and attachments to the SFSR body and attachments, before passing the email to the Domino server for routing. This allows the mobile client to forward attachments from a received email without downloading or uploading the attachments over the connection between the Traveler server and the device (saving time and bandwidth).

HCL Traveler Administration support for HCL Verse Android on Android devices version 10 and above

HCL Verse Android implemented Google-required changes to its Device Administration capabilities – this resulted in the removal of device-specific security settings for Android devices version 10 and above for the following capabilities:

• Prohibit Camera
• Password Expiration
• Password History Count

The following set of password type options for Android devices version 10 and above are now available:

• Low
• Medium
• High

The HCL Traveler 12.0 administration application supports these HCL Verse Android changes in its Default Device Security settings for Android. There are now separate password type settings for pre-Android 10 devices and Android 10 and later devices. Additionally, the Device Security settings for Android indicate which settings are no longer applicable for Android 10 and later devices. Support is also included in the HCL Traveler Policy settings in the HCL Domino 12.0 directory template for the HCL Domino administration server. HCL Verse Android 11.0.10 and above include support for these changes.

Web-based administration interface and Traveler administration API management of HTMO Clients

Traveler 12 supports the ability to manage HCL Traveler for Microsoft Outlook Client (HTMO) clients via the web-based administration interface or Traveler administration API. HTMO devices now appear alongside other devices in the web-based administration interface and Traveler administration API.

Removed support for APNS legacy binary protocol

HCL Traveler uses the Apple Push Notification service (APNS) for auto sync support for many applications, including HCL ToDo for iOS and HCL Verse for iOS. Apple is removing support for the legacy binary protocol for the Apple Push Notification service – therefore, support for using the legacy protocol is now removed from the Traveler server. Traveler added support for the HTTP/2-based Apple Push Notification service in Traveler 11.0.0. There is no longer an option to choose the protocol – support for the notes.ini setting NTS_PUSH_APNS_HTTP2 is removed. In addition, there is a set of notes.ini settings that start with NTS_PUSH_APNS_ and contain FEEDBACK that are no longer applicable and are no longer recognized . If any of these settings have been explicitly set in the server’s notes.ini file, a warning is logged in the Domino console and Traveler logs indicating the settings are unknown. Their presence does not affect server operations. If you are using a proxy for APNS messages, ensure the proxy supports the Apple HTTP/2-based protocol.

Updated APNS P12 files

Apple Push Notification Service (APNS) p12 certificates have been updated to expire in April, 2022. These certificates replace the files shipped with 11.0.2, which expire in November, 2021.

Warning status for expiring or expired APNS certificates

If the Traveler server has one or more APNS certificates enabled, the server will validate the expiration date of those certificates. By default, the Traveler status will be set to yellow if a certificate is within 60 days of expiring. A red status will be set if the certificate is expiring within 7 days or has already expired. These values are configurable via NTS_STATUS_APNS_CERTIFICATE_EXPIRATION_YELLOW and NTS_STATUS_APNS_CERTIFICATE_EXPIRATION_RED.

Warning status if the Traveler server system time differs from the enterprise database server time

If the Traveler server is configured to use an enterprise database, the current time of the Traveler server should be very close (within 1 minute) of the enterprise database server time. A warning status has been added to alert the administrator of this time mismatch. The default behavior is a yellow warning status if the difference is larger than 1 minute and a red warning status if larger than 15 minutes. These values are configurable via NTS_STATUS_DB_TIME_DIFFERENCE_YELLOW_THRESHOLD and NTS_STATUS_DB_TIME_DIFFERENCE_RED_THRESHOLD.

Updated Default Logging level

As a serviceability improvement, the default logging level is updated from info to fine for new server installations.

Changed Default Value for NTS_PUSH_READ_CHANGES_IMMEDIATELY

The default value for NTS_PUSH_READ_CHANGES_IMMEDIATELY is updated from false to true. The effect is that devices will be notified immediately in a push message when read/unread changes are detected.

Renamed statistics for the HCL Traveler for Microsoft Outlook client

Traveler server statistics for the HCL Traveler for Microsoft Outlook client are renamed from imsmo to htmo. For example, Traveler.Push.Devices.Total.imsmo is changed to Traveler.Push.Devices.Total.htmo.