Novell iFolder 3.7 Readme

December 2008

2.1 Server
2.2 Client
3.1 Server
3.2 Client

1.0 Overview

Novell® iFolder® 3.7 is a simple and secure storage solution that increases your productivity by enabling you to back up, access and manage your personal files from anywhere, at any time. Novell iFolder 3.7 has clients on Linux*, Macintosh*, and Windows* platforms.

You can share files in multiple iFolders, each with a different group of users. You control who can participate in an iFolder and the access level for each member. You can also participate in iFolders that others share with you. iFolder 3.7 provides higher security for your confidential iFolder files, to protect them from intentional or unintentional access by unauthorized people.

This Readme provides a brief overview of new features, and installation and configuration instructions for Novell iFolder3.7 for OES 2 SP1 Linux and for the iFolder client for iFolder 3.7. It also lists the known issues and limitations with this release.

2.0 What’s New

The new features for iFolder 3.7 are as follows:

2.1 Server

The new features for iFolder 3.7 Enterprise server are as follows:

Server Migration

iFolder 3.7 supports migration from both iFolder 2.x and iFolder 3.2 to iFolder 3.7. With the OES 2 SP1 migration tools, you can migrate the iFolder data both from iFolder 2.x on OES 1.x (NetWare® /Linux) and iFolder 3.2 on OES 1.x Linux to iFolder 3.7 on OES 2 Linux SP1.

LDAPGroup Support

iFolder supports LDAPGroups. Members of the LDAPGroup can create, own, and share iFolders with other individual users or other LDAPGroups.

SSL Communication

iFolder 3.7 supports SSL-based communication among iFolder enterprise servers, the iFolder Web Admin Server, the iFolder Web Access server, and the clients. You can use the YaST configuration interface to choose non-SSL communication.

Enhanced Web Administration

Management of all iFolder enterprise servers is centralized through the enhanced iFolder Web Admin Console. You can use the Web Admin console of the master server to perform server management and maintenance activities both for the master server and the slave servers. The new policy settings allow you to limit the number of iFolders per user, and to manage sharing at different levels.

Using a Response File for Auto-Account Creation

With Auto-Account creation, the iFolder client can be distributed to workstations in a network by using a user-friendly XML-based response file named AutoAccount.xml. The file contains the basic information to automatically create and configure an iFolder user account. You can generate the response file by using a script, then use any deployment manager to push it to the respective folders, depending on the client platform. When the user starts the iFolder client for the first time, the account is automatically created based on the information from the response file. This automates and simplifies the iFolder account creation, with little or no user interaction.

2.2 Client

The new features for iFolder 3.7 clients are as follows:

iFolder Client for Macintosh and Vista

The iFolder 3.7 enterprise server supports iFolder clients for both Windows Vista* (32-bit and 64-bit) and Macintosh 10.4 or above.

Improved File Conflict Management

The enhanced GUI for resolving file conflicts in the iFolder client helps you view the details about the file on your local machine and the file on the server. You can determine which version of the file you want to keep. If you want to save the other version locally for later use, you can use the Conflict bin.

iFolder Merge

You can merge the content from an iFolder on the server with the content on a local machine folder if the name of the iFolder and the local folder are identical. When you merge, the iFolder on the server is downloaded to the location of the local folder, and regenerates all the iFolder nodes locally so that the local folder becomes a 3.7 iFolder. If there is any additional content in this folder, it’s synchronized to the iFolder on the server. This merge functionality minimizes the data transfer between the iFolder client and the server.

3.0 System Requirements

Novell iFolder 3.7 for OES 2 SP1supports a system built with the following components of Novell Open Enterprise Server:

3.1 Server

Your server must satisfy the system requirements for OES 2 SP1.

  • Novell eDirectory™ 8.8

  • Novell iManager 2.7

  • Apache 2 Web Server (worker mode)

  • Mono® 1.2.2 (includes mod_mono 1.2.5)

  • XSP 1.2.5

3.2 Client

The iFolder client supports the following operating systems:

  • SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop (SLED) 10 SP1 or above

    The iFolder Linux client requires the Mono framework for Linux and a GNOME* desktop for iFolder Nautilus plug-in support. It also requires XSP 1.2.5.

  • Windows XP 32-bit

  • Windows Vista SP1 32-bit and 64-bit

  • Macintosh v10.4 or above

    Mono 1.2.5 or 1.2.6 is necessary to run the iFolder client for Macintosh. You can download and install Mono for Macintosh from The Mono Download site

3.3 Browser

Novell iFolder supports the following Web browsers:

    • Internet Explorer*

    • Mozilla* Firefox* 2.0.x

    • Safari* 3.0

4.0 Downloading and Installing the Novell iFolder Client

The iFolder client for Novell iFolder 3.7 is available for download on the OES 2 SP1 Welcome page of your iFolder enterprise server. For more information, see Installing the iFolder Client in the OES 2: Novell iFolder 3.7 Cross-Platform User Guide.

5.0 Known Issues for Novell iFolder

This section describes known issues for the iFolder enterprise server, Web Access server, and Web Admin server.

5.1 iFolder Installation Stalls In XEN

When you attempt to configure Novell iFolder on a virtualized OES 2 server, the system hangs at the Saving iFolder Configuration screen and you are forced to kill the iFolder configuration process to complete the installation. This is because the XEN hypervisor is on SLES 10 SP1.

5.2 iFolder Does Not Support Spaces or Dots in the Admin Container Name

iFolder does not support spaces or dots in the admin container name. If the Admin container name has a space or dot in it, iFolder configuration fails.

5.3 Delta Sync Is Not Supported for Encrypted iFolders

Modifying any file in an encrypted iFolder performs a full sync to the iFolder server, instead of synchronizing only the changes.

5.4 iFolder Does Not Support Multibyte Characters in Username

The iFolder user account cannot have multibyte characters in the username. Authentication fails if the user name contains multibyte characters.

5.5 The Migration Utility Enables a Disabled iFolder 2.x User After Migration

The Migration utility enables a disabled iFolder 2.x user after data migration to the iFolder 3.7 store. The iFolder Web Admin shows that the user has been enabled after the successful data migration.

6.0 Known Issues for the iFolder Client For Linux

This section describes known issues for iFolder client for Linux.

6.1 Interrupted Merge Causes Sync Issues and Double Login Prompts

If the merge is interrupted, synchronization slows down and eventually the sync process stalls. When you revert that iFolder to a normal folder, and attempt for another merge, it stops at the same place each time. When you restart the client, you are prompted twice to enter the password and passphrase.

When you attempt to download the printer driver files, the file named dlxziz.hl_ fails to download and synchronize, and throw an incomplete synchronization error message.

7.0 Known Issues for the iFolder Client for Windows

This section describes known issues for the iFolder client for Windows.

7.1 iFolder Does Not Support Auto Upgrade from iFolder 3.6 to 3.7 in SSL-Mandated Servers

When you connect an iFolder 3.6 client to an iFolder 3.7 server, the system throws a System.Web.Services.Protocols.SoapException error instead of prompting the user to log in to the new client.

This is because the iFolder 3.6 Windows client cannot communicate with an SSL-mandated 3.7 server. During the connection attempt, the server responds that the preferred communication is HTTPS; however, the 3.6 client does not support HTTPS. When the client attempts to connect via HTTPS, the connection fails because the certificate validation and acceptance fail.

The workaround for this issue is to perform a manual upgrade or set the iFolder 3.7 server to communicate via only HTTP.

7.2 Name Conflict Gives an Exception

iFolder throws an exception when you open the name conflict dialog box. However, this error does not affect the functionality.

7.3 iFolder Shell Extension Not Supported on Vista 64-Bit

The right-click option to convert to iFolder is not supported in the iFolder client for Vista 64-bit.

8.0 Known Issues for the iFolder Client For Macintosh

This section describes known issues for the iFolder client for Macintosh.

8.1 iFolder Does Not Inform users of File Type Restrictions

When filenames differ only by case, such as files named A.txt and a.txt, iFolder must create a name conflict.

In an iFolder Macintosh client, resolving the name conflict from the GUI is not supported and it gives an exception error. The client does not give any error message on the file type restrictions. You must manually change the name of the files in conflict by using Finder.

8.2 No Auto-Upgrade For iFolder Mac Client

iFolder client for Macintosh doesn’t provide the auto-upgrade feature. When a new version of the client is available for upgrade, iFolder prompts you about the availability of the client for download, and when you click OK, it download to a location on your workstation. You need to go to that location and manually install the new client.

9.0 Documentation Conventions

In this documentation, a greater-than symbol (>) is used to separate actions within a step and items in a cross-reference path.

A trademark symbol (®, ™, etc.) denotes a Novell trademark; an asterisk (*) denotes a third-party trademark