Home
Securing
This section describes security features, including execution control lists, IDs, and TLS.
TLS security
Transport Layer Security (TLS) is a security protocol that provides communications privacy and authentication for Domino® server tasks that operate over TCP/IP.
Managing TLS certificates with Certificate Manager
HCL Domino® 12 introduces a new server task, Certificate Manager (CertMgr), that works with a new database, Certificate Store (certstore.nsf) to manage TLS certificates in your Domino environment.
Managing certificates with the Let's Encrypt CA
CertMgr simplifies and secures Domino web server operations by providing the ability to automatically request, configure, and renew free, widely trusted TLS certificates from the Let's Encrypt® certificate authority (CA) using the ACME protocol.

Securing
This section describes security features, including execution control lists, IDs, and TLS.
- Overview of Domino security
  Setting up security for your organization is a critical task. Your security infrastructure is critical for protecting your organization's IT resources and assets. As an administrator, you need to give careful consideration to your organization's security requirements before you set up any servers or users. Up-front planning pays off later in minimizing the risks of compromised security.
- Server access for Notes® users, Internet users, and Domino® servers
  To control user and server access to other servers, Domino® uses the settings you specify on the Security tab in the Server document as well as the rules of validation and authentication. If a server validates and authenticates the Notes® user, Internet user, or server, and the settings in the Server document allow access, the user or server is allowed access to the server.
- The database access control list
  Every .NSF database has an access control list (ACL) that specifies the level of access that users and servers have to that database. Although the names of access levels are the same for users and servers, those assigned to users determine the tasks that they can perform in a database, while those assigned to servers determine what information within the database the servers can replicate. Only someone with Manager access can create or modify the ACL.
- Domino® server and Notes® user IDs
  Domino® uses ID files to identify users and to control access to servers. Every Domino server, Notes® certifier, and Notes user must have an ID.
- The execution control list
  You use an execution control list (ECL) to configure workstation data security. An ECL protects user workstations against active content from unknown or suspect sources, and can be configured to limit the action of any active content that does run on workstations.
- Domino® server-based certification authority
  You can set up a Domino® certifier that uses the CA process server task to manage and process certificate requests. The CA process runs as a process on Domino servers that are used to issue certificates. When you set up a Notes® or Internet certifier, you link it to the CA process on the server in order to take advantage of CA process activities. Only one instance of the CA process can run on a server; however, the process can be linked to multiple certifiers.
- TLS security
  Transport Layer Security (TLS) is a security protocol that provides communications privacy and authentication for Domino® server tasks that operate over TCP/IP.
  - Managing TLS certificates with Certificate Manager
    HCL Domino® 12 introduces a new server task, Certificate Manager (CertMgr), that works with a new database, Certificate Store (certstore.nsf) to manage TLS certificates in your Domino environment.
    - Running CertMgr
      Configure CertMgr to start automatically by adding CertMgr to the ServerTasks notes.ini setting or by scheduling it to run in a Program document. The first time it runs, it creates the Certificate Store database (certstore.nsf).
    - Configure the Certificate Store database (certstore.nsf) on Web servers
      Run certmgr on Web servers in the domain to create replicas of certstore.nsf on them.
    - Configuring Global Settings
      Configure Global Settings to set default values to use for certificate management.
    - Managing certificates with the Let's Encrypt CA
      CertMgr simplifies and secures Domino web server operations by providing the ability to automatically request, configure, and renew free, widely trusted TLS certificates from the Let's Encrypt® certificate authority (CA) using the ACME protocol.
      - Let's Encrypt CA certificate request: Quick Start
        If your HCL Domino® server is connected to the internet over outgoing port 443 and incoming port 80/443, you can request a certificate from the Let's Encrypt CA for the server with the CertMgr command.
      - Let's Encrypt CA challenge options
        When you receive a certificate from the Let’s Encrypt CA, their servers use challenges to validate that you control the domain names in the certificate. There are two types of challenges supported, both of which are available to use with Domino.
      - Preparing a Domino server to request certificates from the Let's Encrypt CA
        To prepare a Domino server to request certificates from the Let's Encrypt® CA, follow the procedure that corresponds to the type of challenge to use, either HTTP-01 or DNS-01. HTTP-01 is the challenge most typically used.
      - Configuring the ACME account profiles
        There are two ACME Account profile documents in certstore.nsf to configure before you submit your first certificate request to the Let's Encrypt CA.
      - Requesting a certificate from the Let's Encrypt CA
        Request a certificate from the Let's Encrypt® CA using the certstore.nsf interface.
      - Let's Encrypt certificate request flow for HTTP-01 challenges
        The following diagram illustrates the components and steps involved in a certificate request to the Let's Encrypt® CA when HTTP-01 challenges are used.
    - Requesting and importing a key and certificates from a third-party CA
      Beginning with HCL Domino® 12, the process for configuring internet certificates from third-party certificate authorities (CAs) on a Domino server is made simpler.
    - Upgrading TLS credentials
      If you have TLS credentials on disk that are not yet added to TLS Credentials documents, you can use the certstore.nsf database to import them so that they can be used by CertMgr.
    - Exporting credentials to a file
      You can export the credentials in a TLS Credentials document to a file.
    - Adding trusted root certificates
      Trusted root certificates allow web servers to accept the trusted root certificates from connecting clients. Trusted root certificates are also useful for automatically completing partial certificate chains presented by CAs.
    - Creating certificates from a micro CA
      You can create web server TLS certificates from a micro CA.
    - ECDSA cryptography support for ACME accounts and for host keys
      CertMgr supports Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm (ECDSA) using the NIST P-256 and NIST P-384 curves for ACME accounts and for TLS 1.2 host keys (keyring files) generated from either the Let's Encrypt® CA or a third-party CA.
    - Requesting a key rollover
      You can request a TLS host key rollover (more typical) or an ACME account key rollover.
    - CertMgr command line parameters
      The load certmgr command can be run with the following parameters.
    - CertMgr tell commands
      The following CertMgr tell commands are available.
    - CertMgr notes.ini settings
      CertMgr includes the following notes.ini settings. Some have command-line parameter equivalents and are so noted.
    - Certificate health check
      The CertMgr task checks the health of imported keys and certificates at the time of import and every 30 minutes thereafter.
    - Certificate URL health check
      CertMgr supports validation of a TLS certificate on target URL endpoints specified in the TLS Credentials document. This validation checks for certification expiration and notifies the administrator if the certificate has expired.
    - Internet CA root certificates updated
      The Internet CA root certificates in the Domino directory and in Certificate Store have been updated to include additional fields.
    - CertMgr Debug logging
      The load certmgr -d command used to enable CertMgr debug logging also includes normal message logging to provide a single location for troubleshooting information. This logging pertains to certificates from the Let's Encrypt certificate authority and from third-party CAs.
  - TLS port configuration
    The TLS protocol always provides an encrypted, integrity-checked, communications channel and authenticated server identity. TLS servers can be optionally configured to request various forms of client identity authentication.
  - Requiring a TLS connection to a server
    Require TLS connections when you want to make sure that clients use a secure connection to access databases on the server. You do this by redirecting connection requests that come in over the TCP/IP port to the TLS port. If you do not require an TLS connection, clients can use either TLS or TCP/IP to connect to the server.
  - Creating an Internet cross-certificate for server-to-server TLS
    One server can obtain an Internet cross-certificate from another server for the purposes of establishing trust. For example, if one server needs to access Directory Assistance on another server.
  - Setting up database access for TLS clients
    After you set up TLS on a Domino® server, you must give the clients access to databases on the server.
  - Modifying TLS cipher restrictions
    TLS uses public, private, and negotiated session keys. Every set of TLS credentials has one pair of keys -- a public key and private key -- and an X.509 certificate that enable certificate owners to identify themselves over the network and to use S/MIME to encrypt and sign messages. Certificates contain only the public half of the key pair. The private key is kept in the ID file for the Notes® client, and is kept in the key ring file or cerstore.nsf database in the case of the TLS server. Starting with Domino 12, Domino supports both RSA and ECDSA keys. For more information, see wn_ECDSA_cryptography.html.
  - Authenticating Web TLS clients in secondary Domino® and LDAP directories
    When a Web client authenticates with a server, by default, the server checks the primary HCL Domino® Directory to see if the client certificate exists in the Person document. If your organization uses a secondary Domino Directory and/or an LDAP directory to verify client certificates, you can set up Domino to check those additional directories. To do so, you set up the secondary Domino and LDAP directories as trusted domains in the Directory Assistance database.
  - TLS session resumption
    TLS session resumption greatly improves performance when using TLS by recalling information from a previous successful TLS session negotiation to bypass the most computationally intensive parts of the TLS session key negotiation. HTTP is the protocol that benefits the most from TLS session resumption, but other Internet protocols may benefit as well.
  - Managing TLS certificates without Certificate Manager
    If you do not manage certificates with Certificate Manager (CertMgr) and the Certificate Store (certstore.nsf) database, you generate and manage certificates manually, as described in this section.
- TLS and S/MIME for clients
  Clients can use a Domino® certificate authority (CA) application or a third-party CA to obtain certificates for secure TLS and S/MIME communication.
- Encryption
  Encryption protects data from unauthorized access.
- Web-based authentication
  Define and set up authentication methods for web users, for example through basic password authentication, passkeys, time-based one-time password, or single sign-on.
- Using a credential store to store credentials
  A Domino® server can use a credential store application as a secure artifact repository. Examples of secure artifacts include authentication credentials and security keys.
- History of supported key sizes in Notes and Domino
  Understand the RSA key sizes supported by Notes® and Domino® from past releases to the current release.

Managing certificates with the Let's Encrypt CA

CertMgr simplifies and secures Domino web server operations by providing the ability to automatically request, configure, and renew free, widely trusted TLS certificates from the Let's Encrypt® certificate authority (CA) using the ACME protocol.

For more details on the Let's Encrypt® CA, see their web site.

Certificate signing requests are configured and generated through a domain-wide database called Certificate Store (certstore.nsf). CertMgr creates this database on a server the first time it runs.

Note: Before using the Let's Encrypt® certificate authority, you must accept the terms of their Subscriber Agreement. This step is done as part of creating a certificate request, either through an option in the account document in Certificate Store (certstore.nsf) or through a command line option.