14 Dec 2024 UPDATE: Less than 24 hours from first posting and the technote below has already been updated to include links to the hot fixes for the latest versions of 11, 12, and 14 with additional fixes coming. Note: You must be current on your software support license to obtain the patches. Also updated that patches will be provided for V9 and V10 for customers paying for extended support. HCL is doing a great job handling this.

HCL released this alert regarding all versions of Domino on all platforms.
In short, there is a date/time bug in the code that will cause mail routing to fail if the server is restarted as of 13 December 2024. Read the technote for details:

“CRITICAL ALERT: Mail not routing after Domino restarts beginning 13 December 24”
https://support.hcl-software.com/csm?id=kb_article&sysparm_article=KB0118192

This is the first time I have ever seen such a notice regarding Lotus Notes / Domino ever. To this I will say,
First, impressive that this is the first time in 30 years (including leading up to Y2K) that they have had such a notice and
Second, that by mid day, they had identified the issue and are working on the hot fix.
Third, this is only an issue if you restart Domino, (though I would avoid restarting the router task as well) and Domino is renowned for its reliability, so hopefully you we can all just leave well enough alone and wait for the HF.

NOTICE: if you are one of those companies who quit paying your software and support licensing, you’re about to get a reminder that software isn’t free. You will need to re-instate your licenses to get access to the hot fix. Even if you are running *OLD versions* (9.0 and earlier even), your server will not route mail once it is restarted. An impactful time bomb for sure. (UPDATE: The technote has been updated that a hot fix will also be created for V9.0.1 and V10, provided you are on extended support)

With that in mind, If you need to re-instate your licenses so you can access the hot fix, send an email to me at Info@divergentnw.com . Don’t wait until your server restarts.

My heart goes out to the developers working to generate a hot fix for this. Not the kind of pressure anyone wants going into a weekend. My turn will come in this event. I will be the one installing the hot fix on servers everywhere as soon as it is available.