Upgrade audit
From £1,000 + VAT
A full audit of your Domino estate with a written report, a risk list and an upgrade plan.
HCL Domino upgrades, planned properly
Upgrading Domino is straightforward once you know what is in your estate. Most of the work, and most of the risk, sits in the audit beforehand. We do that audit first, then run the upgrade in the order HCL recommends, whether we host your servers or not.
Last reviewed:
Why the audit comes first
An upgrade only goes wrong when something in the estate was not known about in advance: an old template, a custom application, a third-party add-on or an operating system the new version does not support. The audit finds those things before anything changes.
The audit covers:
- Every server: version, operating system, hardware and role (administration, hub, mail, application, web, Traveler)
- Notes client versions and how they are deployed, including Nomad
- Templates and design, especially customised mail and directory templates
- Applications and agents that may need testing or changes on the new version
- Third-party add-ons such as backup, anti-virus and archiving, and whether they support the new version
- Certificates, ID vault and security settings
- Licence entitlement: whether your support and licences cover the new version
- Backups and a tested rollback plan
How the upgrade runs
We upgrade servers first and clients after, following HCL's recommended sequence, so each step is tested in production before the next one starts.
- Audit: we document the estate and agree the risks and fixes with you.
- Plan: the order, the timings, the testing and the rollback for each server, scheduled to suit you.
- Servers: the administration server and directory first, then hub, mail, application and web servers.
- Clients: Notes clients are upgraded once the servers have run cleanly, often a few weeks later.
- Templates and databases: mail templates are replaced and databases moved to the latest on-disk format.
- Handover: an updated record of the estate and anything to watch.
Where servers are moving to new hardware or a new operating system at the same time, we can build the new server alongside the old one and move across without a big-bang cutover.
Which versions we upgrade
We upgrade estates running Domino 9.0.1, 10, 11, 12 and 14 to the current release, Domino 2026 (14.5.1). Older estates can be upgraded too but usually need more preparation.
HCL offers extended support for Domino 9 to 11 until 30 June 2030, but extended support is not the same as running a current, fully supported version.
Cost
The upgrade
Fixed price after the audit
Once the audit is done we know exactly what is involved, so we quote a fixed price for the upgrade itself.
Why Blue Sky
Domino specialists
We run Domino estates every day, so we understand how upgrades play out on real systems.
One supplier
Upgrades, licences, hosting and support in one place if you want it, or the upgrade alone if you do not.
Certified and audited
ISO 9001, ISO 27001 and Cyber Essentials, and a G-Cloud 15 supplier.
UK based
With no offshoring.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does a Domino upgrade take?
The audit usually takes longer than the upgrade itself, and costs from £1,000 + VAT depending on the size of the estate. Once the audit is done, most servers can be upgraded in a planned window, with clients following later. We give you a timetable with the audit report.
Do we upgrade servers or clients first?
Servers first. HCL recommends upgrading the administration server and directory, then hub, mail and application servers, and only then the Notes clients. Newer servers work with older clients, so there is no rush to upgrade every desktop on the same day.
Can you upgrade Domino servers you do not host?
Yes. We upgrade estates on your own premises, with other providers or in the cloud, as well as servers we host.
Do we need new licences to upgrade?
You need active support on your licences, or term licences, to be entitled to install a newer version. We check this as part of the audit, and our licence review covers it in detail.
Can we move to new hardware at the same time?
Yes. Building new servers alongside the old ones is often the safest way to upgrade, because the old server stays available until the new one is proven.