All You Ever Wanted to Know about Domino CCB Licensing and DLAU (v14.5)

Posted August 2025. Updates and supersedes earlier blog posts:

• Unlock More Value: Upgrade to HCL Domino CCB Term Licensing (2024-Oct-23)
• All You Ever Wanted to Know About Domino CCB Licensing and DLAU Tool (2024-Jun-24)
• Product Announcement: HCL Domino License Simplification (2023-Jun-29)
• Licensing Update: Domino V12 and Key CCX Enhancement (2021-Jun-02)

HCLSoftware continually works with our customers and partners to tune the HCL Domino licensing model and our acquisition and renewal processes. We have now taken another significant step in the ongoing simplification journey for Domino licensing through the v14.5 launch of HCL Domino Complete Collaboration Business Edition (CCB) products and licensing.

HCL Domino is the centrepiece of HCLSoftware’s Domino+ family for secure, Sovereign Collaboration and “apps that run your business”.

Our goal for many years has been to simplify all Domino acquisition and maintenance with the transparent and simple CCB licensing model, and – as announced in June 2024 for all of HCLSoftware – consolidate all licensing on a term-based model. Part of this journey included ending support for very old Domino versions, which are exposed due to a lack of modern protocol support, a lack of support for modern operating systems, and outdated hardware releases. We also know we have, by now, refined Domino to a point where code upgrades are non-disruptive and straightforward.

At the time of the v14.5 launch (June 2025), 93% of Domino customers were consolidated on a CCB license, rather than the former HCL and deprecated IBM licensing models, and 74% of these are on term licensing.

We will continue working with customers to transition from the complexity of the former IBM products, taking advantage of v14.5's new features and consolidating on CCB Term licensing. HCLSoftware recognizes that some Government and Regulated Industry accounts can only use Perpetual licensing and will support these customers on a case-by-case basis (see also Section 1 below). 

Based on the above milestones—and with the introduction of Artificial Intelligence features in Domino—v14.5 marks the first Domino CCB version, differentiating between perpetual and term entitlements. The Domino IQ features, which integrate sovereign AI into Domino, are provided as a term license only. We aim to offer the best possible and latest technical capabilities with Domino, and for the rapidly evolving sovereign AI, we want to ensure our customers stay technologically updated. Read more about term licensing advantages in section 3 below.

As of now, HCL Domino is available through:

• Complete Collaboration Business Edition (CCB Term),
• Complete Collaboration Business Edition (CCB Perpetual and CEO) - per special agreement,
• Complete Collaboration eXternal User (CCX) Term license for B2B users,
• Complete Collaboration Solution Partner Edition (CCS) Term license for ISVs/Solution Partners.

What you find in this blog

1. The CCB model - and how to license use of Domino applications and/or sovereign collaboration and what you get with the CCB Term and CCB Perpetual license.
2. Counting the users - The Domino license dashboard and the DLAU tool
3. The basics of Perpetual / Term licensing and Renewals
4. Getting the benefits of the CCB v14.5 Term license
5. Extended Support Prolonged for Older Domino Versions
6. Useful links

1. The CCB Model

CCB is the Simplified, User-based License Model for Domino

• CCB is a simple “Per User everything model” - use any client and any protocol for any server volume to run all applications – including enterprise sovereign e-mail.
• Transparent license compliance management by counting enabled users with the DLAU tool or the new v14.5 License Dashboard for guidance, as detailed below.
• Future new Domino features will always be included with the CCB Term license, and selectively with CCB perpetual – just like Domino IQ is now available with CCB term.
• Same for evolution of Supporting Programs, where CCB Term licensees now have full use of Domino Leap for all users, whereas CCB perpetual still includes a limited entitlement for a maximum of 5 enterprise apps.
• Likewise, unlimited server PVU entitlements are now included with the CCB Term for HEI and SAP Connector.
• A full overview of entitled usage and programs is provided below.

CCB: Covering B2E Users and the Domino Environment

CCB Authorized User (A/U) entitlements are needed for all employees and contractors in your enterprise where you have enabled access by creating unique, individual credentials for each to log into your Domino servers covering B2E (Business-to-Employees) scenarios. Domino servers established under the CCB unlimited server volume entitlement also include unlimited anonymous and external guest web user access as defined below, supporting key B2C (Business-to-Consumer) or G2C (Government-to-Citizen) scenarios:

• Guest: unlimited anonymous browser users can freely access your Domino-based websites/apps for public-facing content/reference information.
• Known Guest: unlimited registered users with login credentials for read-only access to applications. User credentials can be created by the administration or through self-registration, which can be integrated into your apps to manage subscriptions to tailored content or facilitate simple workflow submissions.

Beyond physical people having received credentials for login, all other created credentials permitting login, e.g. user IDs for code signing, specific job roles, tasks or processes, administrators, test users, etc., are also considered CCB Authorized Users and mandate entitlements as well, and must be included in user counts. 

A CCB A/U is a fixed assignment to a particular user/purpose, irrespective of the type of license (term or perpetual). The CCB A/U has access to all features and the use of enterprise sovereign mail, as well as Domino and Domino Leap applications and workflows – including creating new/own applications, if permitted.

CCX: Covering App Access for External B2B or B2C Users

For B2B (Business-to-Business) or advanced B2C scenarios, where the external users need to fully engage in applications/workflows beyond the read/only access permitted for Known Guests, HCL introduced the CCX entitlement as an add-on to a CCB environment. A stand-alone CCX entitlement is meaningless, as the only way to license a Domino server environment for CCX to access is via CCB entitlements.

CCX users can participate with all functionality (up to ACL level of “editor”) in Domino and Domino Leap apps and workflows, but cannot create applications themselves. CCX users cannot have a personal mailbox, but can use task/functional mail for workflow routing or applications that generate mail. If unrestricted features are needed for an external user, simply include the user within the CCB count.  

Like the CCB A/U entitlement, the CCX A/U entitlement is unique; however, it is only logically allocated for 30 days when used.  Consequently, you need entitlements to cover actual/expected active CCX users in any 30-day period, i.e., needed entitlements are the high-water mark of active CCX users per month. DLAU comes in handy for making this determination, as described further below. 

CCS: Used by Solution Partners/ISVs to Embed Domino With Their Offering

Permitting a partner to include Domino components (from all CCB Term entitlements) in the partner’s solution and deliver to the end customer as SaaS, on-premises, or hosted capability. Actual delivery and royalty payments must be negotiated on a case-by-case basis.  

What Do You Get With a CCB Perpetual or a CCB Term License?

1. See the respective License Information docs for all components and supporting programs.
2. Support available as per any announced End-of-Support for respective versions/products
3. Add-on part available at no charge with concurrent CCB Term and Volt MX B2E licenses (p/n TN101751Y01)
4. Government and Regulated Industry accounts can obtain a Perpetual license on a case-by-case basis, as well as access to CCB Term only features, e.g., Domino IQ
5. CEO license and S&S handled as CCB Perp (p/n D0C1YLL, E08BRLL)
6. Also applies to Domino Messaging Express Term (p/n D18JVLL) for mail-only users – excluding HEI/SAP
7. Full Sametime Chat functions are described here:
   https://help.hcl-software.com/sametime/v1203/admin/sametime_premium.html

Extending Domino Apps Using the Mobile and Digital Transformation Capabilities of HCL Volt MX

The capabilities integrating Domino and Volt MX were formerly only available as the HCL Volt MX Go product, which continues to be available and supported. These integration features are now also available through a more flexible model. You need to have concurrently active CCB Term and Volt MX B2E licensing. Then, all integration features are available via the no-charge HCL Volt MX Go Add-on (TN101751Y01), which enables all Volt MX Go extensions and supports enterprises in their journey toward rapid application development and digital transformation.

Domino Leap – Refocus on the Citizen Developer...

CCB Term now includes full Domino Leap for all users! CCB users can create and use any Domino Leap app and CCX users can use Domino Leap apps. The roots of Lotus Notes and Domino lay in the dramatic ROI provided by enabling business professionals within an enterprise to leverage IT through no- or low-code solutions, supporting key business processes – a precursor to the concept of “Citizen Developers” before it was even described. Domino Leap is the modern approach to achieving the same ROI in today's digital landscape, offering a powerful low-code environment for rapid application development. You should have a look at HCL Domino Leap and some of the key reference stories published here: HCL Domino Leap. Build Enterprise Apps Lightning Fast.

By totally entitling HCL Domino Leap, CCB Term also provides unlimited server entitlement to HCL Enterprise Integrator for Domino and HCL Domino Connector for SAP Solutions, which is a key advantage and benefit for CCB Term. Renewals of combined licenses are now entirely user-based and no longer require server capacity management or reporting, as these costs are completely factored into renewal quotes. 

2 – Counting the Users: Domino License Dashboard and DLAU Tools

Another aspect of simplification is the introduction of the License Dashboard with Domino 14.5 servers.

Until now, HCLSoftware has provided the Domino License Analysis Utility (DLAU) tool to enable customers to perform a baseline count of the required CCB/CCX entitlements for any Domino configuration. DLAU assists you in determining the entitlement volumes required for CCB/CCX (and Messaging Express, if applicable) for a specific Domino Domain. 

DLAU is a non-intrusive tool that supports Notes and Domino back to release 7, and it only requires that the relevant server logging is enabled. DLAU must be run from a Notes client connected to the Domino Domain to be analysed. DLAU scans log files and configurations in the Domain, then generates reports that are under the control of the Administrator and are fully GDPR compliant. The “DLAU report” is normally presented within a few hours, but it is highly dependent on the environmental complexity.

Domino 14.5 servers include the new Domino License Administration (DLA) feature – a.k.a. the License Dashboard – which is continually maintained by the servers in the Domino Domain without requiring any time-consuming environment scans. DLA produces the same reports as DLAU – however, available on demand. HCL plans to backport the DLA License Dashboard to make 12.0.2 Fixpack 7 and 14.0 Fixpack 5 fully DLA compatible with 14.5 when they are released.

When all servers in a Domain are DLA compatible and produce the needed logs, the License Dashboard will show a heading in green saying “Dashboard is complete.” However, if there is an issue in consolidating DLA data, the heading will be a red “Dashboard is incomplete, please create a DLAU report instead.” In this case, DLAU is needed to produce the most accurate license analysis. 

So, until all your servers include DLA, you need to run the “old” DLAU for a full report. DLAU will also be continually available to support reinstatement/restarts of old Domino configurations.

HCLSoftware Support to DLA and DLAU

To facilitate the use of DLAU reports for Domino CCB renewals or restarts, HCLSoftware supports DLAU and DLA via normal channels to help customers obtain a baseline report for CCB licensing.

• Support is now available for using the DLAU tool with all versions from Domino 7 - even for customers without active Support for HCL Domino.
• Support is now available for using DLA for v14.5 – and soon 12.0.2 and 14.0 as described above. The DLAU tool is always a fallback option until all servers in a Domain are DLA compatible.

Understanding DLAU Reports

It is important to note that DLAU and DLA are not conducting a license audit, which is always an in-depth hindsight analysis. Instead, a DLAU report is a baseline to help you and HCLSoftware have a meaningful forward-looking conversation for your renewal or restart/reinstatement or conversion to CCB. The baseline must be augmented by the customer in terms of future deployment plans as the customer is continually responsible for license compliance going forward.

A DLAU report includes an overall Authorized User (A/U) count, which is the total number of credentials found permitting authentication to the observed Domain. The count is further refined into needed CCB and any CCX entitlements for the environment. Due to the difference in metrics, a reported CCX entitlement need (based on the 30-day high-water mark mentioned above) will be less than the total number of scanned external credentials included in the A/U total.

Detailed descriptions are now in the product documentation and also updated on GitHub.

• License Dashboard details are here:
  https://help.hcl-software.com/domino/14.5.0/admin/admn_dla_parent.html
• The DLAU tool and DLAU details can be found on GitHub (including an introduction video):
  https://opensource.hcltechsw.com/domino-license-analysis-utility-DLAU/
• The DLAU tool is also available for download with Domino on the MyHCLSoftware download portal, for any customer with access to the portal and without requiring an active Domino Support subscription to enable restart/reinstate of configurations without active S&S.
  Also, for customers who will not permit the deployment of OpenSource code straight from GitHub.

If you have any further questions about DLAU or the License Dashboard, or how to interpret for a license acquisition, please contact your HCLSoftware Business Partner or Sales Representative.

3 - The Basics of Term Versus Perpetual Licensing and Renewals

There are two elements in ongoing licensing and support:

1. Entitlement to use/deploy the code – and –
2. Support benefits – a.k.a. Subscription and Support (S&S): access to product downloads and updates, and access to product support.

Perpetual licensing means that you acquire the entitlement – normally including S&S for the first year – and then subsequently renew S&S annually. It is important to remember that both the license and the Ts & Cs are indeed perpetual, and you must maintain license compliance; otherwise, the license is void.

You must comply with server capacity (PVU usage), CEO user counts, entitled user volumes, etc, as per the individual license – independent of active S&S or not.

If your S&S expired and you want to have support benefits again, you either convert all licensing to CCB Term licensing or you restart S&S for all entitlements (“reinstate” in IBM terminology.)

Another important challenge with perpetual licensing is to avoid a partial renewal, which would breach license terms and render the configuration illegal. For any Domino component deployed from any combination of licensing in your environment, you cannot have a volume of components on S&S and others not, as the Support benefits would only apply to a subset and not all. Hence, the term “partial renewal” which is prohibited. Generally, for perpetual licensing, you must have either all or no entitlements on S&S. (See also HCLSoftware Support Guide)

Consequently, extending any entitlement volume using any kind of licensing, always mandate that all current entitlements are on active S&S to prevent a partial renewal. So for an environment, where you have decided to not renew S&S, but need to add additional entitlement quantities, you must restart the entire configuration.

Term licensing is much simpler to manage, as you lease the entitlement which always includes S&S, so always synchronized.

What Happens if I Do Not Renew?

For term licensing, your entitlement will no longer be valid, why you need to halt operations and simply delete all installed software components.

For perpetual licensing, you may continue operations; however:

• You must maintain license compliance per above.
• Any newer code since your S&S expired is not legally available for deployment. 
• You run the risk of getting compromised – with no access to product updates & fixes! 
• Failing operations due to operating system updates, changes in security protocols or HW changes.
• No one can really mitigate your risks!

You need to consider renewing your S&S for CCB or other Domino perpetual licensing to keep your investment current and protect business continuity! Or converting all to CCB Term for new entitlements and simpler management. You may not have logged support calls for ages, but you need the insurance policy: Someone to call when a new security vulnerability or long-time hidden bug is discovered.

4 – Getting the Benefits of CCB v14.5 Term Licensing

If you, like most Domino customers, already have all users licensed via CCB Term licensing, you’re all done and all v14.5 features can be downloaded as described here: HCL Domino Portfolio Download Packages Now Available Exclusively on My HCLSoftware.

Continue reading below to learn how to convert your current Domino licensing to enable all new features and capabilities of Domino v14.5 with the CCB v14.5 Term license.

If You Are on CCB (or CEO) Perpetual Licensing

As mentioned, HCLSoftware recognizes that some accounts are only able to acquire Perpetual licensing and will allow these customers to regularly renew their Subscription & Support on a case-by-case basis. For all other CCB Perpetual accounts, we offer a conversion to CCB Term licensing at next renewal or immediately through our license conversion process, which can be executed on customer request out of renewal cycle timing.  Please contact your HCLSoftware Business Partner or Sales Representative.

Customers With Both CCB Perpetual and CCB Term

Some existing customers have extended their original volume of Perpetual entitlements using Term licensing as a temporary measure for M&A and other special projects. The following restrictions will always apply to coresident Term and Perpetual to prevent unentitled access to functions* and “indirect” Partial Renewals**, which are not permitted as described above:

• Any CCB Term must always be co-termed with CCB Perpetual or fully overlapped by Perpetual S&S.
• The entitlements for the combined user volume will always be limited to the components in both types of licenses - i.e. Domino IQ cannot be used for any user in a combined license scenario!
• The rationale for adding CCB Term users to Perpetual prior to v14.5 was always being the most cost-effective increase of user volume and not access to features.
• You can always convert your active inventory of entitlements to all Term licensing – as per above – to secure full feature entitlements for all users.
• CCX entitlements are always Term licenses, irrespective of being added to CCB Term or Perpetual.

* Within a Domino Domain, we can technically not distinguish between Term and Perpetual Authorized Users.
** A partial renewal would result from an entitlement to Support some Domino IQ users, but not all, in a Domino Domain.

Next Steps if You Use Old IBM Domino License Parts and Are Not Yet Fully on CCB

The old IBM Domino license parts originated in an earlier era of technology.

Licensing by server capacity (Processor Value Units) is increasingly meaningless and difficult as processor architectures change and Cloud/SaaS models prevail - and you constantly must watch server configuration changes for needed PVU true-up!
Hence, these products are obsolete (both Term and Perpetual licenses):

• Enterprise Server,
• Messaging Server,
• Utility/Utility Express Server,
• xWork Server.

Traditional client-side licensing is also increasingly meaningless as there is no longer any dependency on a rich client deployment on a laptop/desktop as web clients or mobile use prevails - but Client Access Licenses (CALs) were still needed for the logical access and use of the servers!
Hence, these products are obsolete (both Term and Perpetual licenses):

• Messaging Express***,
• Collaboration Express,
• Enterprise Client Access,
• Messaging Client Access***.

*** For e-mail only users converting from former IBM configurations, the HCL Domino Messaging Express Term (p/n D18JVLL) is still an available and renewable option. Messaging Express Term is based on same metric as CCB Term and will cover any former deployment of Messaging CAL and Messaging Server (including HA/DR clustering).

No Domino v14.5 or any future Domino updates are or will be available for these deprecated products, which are no longer available for purchase or renewal. When your current subscription/support expires or to restart or reinstate an expired set-up, your old configuration can be converted to CCB Term at an attractive price by contacting your HCLSoftware Business Partner or Sales Representative.

Note also that the rules discussed above for CCB Perpetual co-residing with CCB Term licensing also apply to former IBM perpetual entitlements.

As CCB covers all use cases and entitlements for past licensing, the conversion can be executed “in-place” with no changes to an existing configuration. You can convert immediately and then gradually take advantage of v14.5 features at your own pace. To avail yourself of the world-class HCLSoftware support, you can now ensure that your deployed components are all at a supported level.

Getting a Quote for CCB v14.5 Term License

As mentioned, you can reach out to your HCLSoftware Business Partner, HCLSoftware Renewal Manager, or other Sales representatives to obtain a quote for Domino v14.5 CCB Term licensing. Likewise, you will be contacted prior to your next renewal to start a conversion discussion, including how your Business Partner or HCLSoftware Services can facilitate a conversion project with no disruption to your operations.

At your next renewal (or for reinstatement of active maintenance) you will be asked to provide a baseline count of users (see further above about DLAU) which your HCLSoftware Business Partner or Sales Representative need to build an attractive quote for the conversion.

5 - Extended Support Prolonged for Older Domino Versions

Most HCL Domino customers have converted their licensing to HCL Domino CCB (93%) and mostly CCB Term licensing (74%). Also, they are deploying the newest versions of Domino (12.02, 14 and 14.5).

HCLSoftware recognizes that a few customers still deploy older versions (9, 10 and 11) for many reasons and their dedication to Domino and continued partnership inspires us to provide the best possible experience to these customers. Whereas you're continually entitled to all versions through valid, maintained Domino licenses, we did announce the End-of-Support for the old versions (9, 10 and 11) and an Extended Support program for same.

To demonstrate our commitment, we are postponing the ultimate end date of Extended Support until June 30, 2030 to better serve our customers’ needs. This date is now reflected in the Domino Product Lifecycle Page and described here:

• What is Extended Support: HCL Extended Support Overview
• Extended Support for Domino and Notes v9.0.x and v10.0.x will now end June 30, 2030
• Extended Support for HCL Domino and Notes v11.0.x and HCL Enterprise Integrator v11.0.x will now end on June 30, 2030

We are dedicated to fostering strong and lasting relationships with all our HCL Domino customers and partners - by extending our support, we aim to provide more flexibility to maximize your investment.

Standard support (S&S for Perpetual licensing and/or active Term licensing) is a prerequisite for any Extended Support. Extended Support is contracted via a Statement of Work with HCLSoftware Services. You will need to contact the appropriate HCL sales person or your business partner to obtain an Extended Support agreement.

6 - Useful Links

If you have any questions about this blog post and announcements or have any licensing questions, please contact your HCLSoftware Business Partner or HCLSoftware sales representative.

Useful Links:

• HCL Domino+ home page
• HCLSoftware License Information Documents
  • CCB/CCX Term License Information
  • CCB/CCX Perpetual License Information
  • CCS Term License Information
  • Domino Messaging Express Term License Information
• Learn about Domino Access Control Lists (ACL)
• DLAU on GitHub:  Learn about DLAU, including introduction video
• DLA product documentation:  Administering Domino licenses
• HCLSoftware Renewal Pricing Policy Update (August 2024)
• HCLSoftware Renewal Pricing Policy Update (August 2025)

Related Blog Posts:

• HCL Domino 14.5: Secure AI & Rapid Application Development
• HCL Domino Portfolio Download Packages Now Available Exclusively on My HCLSoftware
• HCL Sametime Premium 12.0.2 FP1 – Meeting add-on to CCB entitlements
• All You Ever Wanted to Know About Domino CCB Licensing and DLAU Tool  (June 2024)
• Explore the Power of Domino V14
• 122 Security Reasons to Upgrade
• A Fresh Look and Smarter Features: The Latest Leap Releases  (Leap v9.3.9 and Domino Leap v1.1.7)