1.2 Filr System Requirements

As a Novell Filr site administrator, ensure that your system meets Filr system requirements, so that your Filr site can be set up successfully. After your Filr site is set up, you must also ensure that users’ browsers and office applications meet Filr user requirements, so that they can access the Filr site successfully.

For any known issues related to System Requirements for Filr 1.1, see the Novell Filr 1.1 Readme.

1.2.1 Filr Server Requirements

  • One of the following software virtualization platforms:

    • VMware

      • One of the following VMware host servers for hosting the Filr appliance.

        Installing VMware Tools on the host server is recommended.

        • ESXi 5.5.x with the latest update

        • ESXi 5.1.x with the latest update

        • ESXi 5.0 with the latest update

        • ESX 4.1.x and ESXi 4.1.x with the latest update

        For the most up-to-date compatibility matrix of supported VMware host servers, see the VMware Compatibility Guide provided by VMware.

        To generate the correct chart from the VMware Compatibility Guide:

        1. Ensure that Guest OS is selected in the What are you looking for field.

        2. In the OS Vendor field, select SUSE, then in the OS Family Name field, select SUSE Linux Enterprise 11.

        3. Click Update and View Results, then look at the SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 Service Pack 3 64-bit line of the provided table.

          The versions of ESX and ESXi that are listed in the Supported Releases column of this row are compatible with Filr 1.1.

      • A VMware vSphere client 4.x or VMware vSphere client 5.x for accessing the host server and appliance for initial configuration

        Not all versions of the vSphere client are compatible with versions of VMware ESX and ESXi. For a complete matrix of compatibility, see the VMware Product Interoperability Matrixes provided by VMware.

      • VMware vMotion is supported when running Filr on VMware ESXi 5.1.x or 5.5.x with the latest updates

    • Xen

      • SLES 11 SP2, 64-bit

      • SLES 11 SP3, 64-bit

    • Hyper-V

      • Windows 2012 Server (as a Role)

      • Windows 2008 R2 Server (as a Role)

      • Hyper-V Server 2012 (standalone)

      • Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 (standalone)

  • Memory requirements:

    Small Deployment (Filr Appliance): 12 GB of memory and 4 CPUs. 8 GB of memory should be dedicated to the Java heap.

    A small deployment requires more resources than a large deployment for the Filr appliance, because in a small deployment the database and the search index are also running on the Filr appliance.

    Large Deployment:

    • Filr Appliance: 8 GB of memory and 2 CPUs. At least half of the memory should be dedicated to the Java heap.

    • Database Appliance: 4 GB of memory and 2 CPUs. (More memory is required if there are more than 1,000 users on the system.)

    • Search Index Appliance: 4 GB of memory and 2 CPUs. (More memory is required if there are more than 1,000 users on the system.) About 75 percent of the memory should be dedicated to the Java heap.

  • Database requirements when configuring Filr to use an existing database instead of the database appliance (as described in Section 5.3, Configuring an Existing Database).

    Filr supports the following databases:

    • MySQL 5.0.96 and later

    • Microsoft SQL 2008 R2, 2012, and 2014

  • Storage requirements: For a list of storage requirements for each appliance, as well as information about the types of content in each storage location, see Section 1.2.2, Filr Storage Requirements.

  • A workstation (Windows, Mac, or Linux) capable of running one of the supported browsers.

  • Browser requirements: Mozilla Firefox 9, Mozilla Firefox 10, Microsoft Internet Explorer 8, or Microsoft Internet Explorer 9 for configuring and managing the appliance after the initial setup.

  • IP address information for assigning to the Filr appliance, including:

    • Static IP address

    • Network mask

    • Gateway IP address

    • DNS host name associated with the IP address

    • IP address of a DNS server

    • IP address or DNS name of the same NTP server that your target OES servers use (optional)

      If using VMware, Novell recommends setting up NTP in accordance with the VMware best practices guidelines.

  • Any combination of the following file servers:

    (You can configure Net Folders in Filr to access files on these file servers. File servers are not required when you use Filr for files in the My Files area.)

    • One or more Windows 2003 R2, Windows 2008 R2, Windows 2012, or Windows 2012 R2 file servers with one or more Windows Shares as data targets for the Filr virtual appliance

      DFS for Windows namespace and DFS-R for Windows replication are supported.

    • One or more OES 2 SP3 or OES 11 or later file servers with one or more NSS volumes as data targets for the Filr virtual appliance

      DFS for OES is supported.

      Domain Services for Windows (DSfW) is not currently supported with Filr.

      NOTE:If you have OES 11 SP1 file servers that host Filr Net Folders or Personal Storage Home folders, you must ensure that all OES 11 SP1 servers have at least the December 2012 Scheduled Maintenance Update applied.

      This updates the NCP server to a newer version that is capable of keeping up with the increased service requests of Filr 1.1.

      Failure to update your OES 11 SP1 servers can cause the configured eDirectory (LDAP) servers to fail.

    • One or more NetWare 6.5.8 or later file servers with one or more NSS volumes as data targets for the Filr virtual appliance.

  • File Storage:

    Net Folders can access files that are being stored through any of the following storage methods:

    • Network Attached Storage (NAS) with NetApp, EMC, and other Microsoft Active Directory joined NAS devices that support the CIFS and SMB version 1 protocols.

    • Storage Area Network (SAN)

  • A directory service: (Not mandatory for simple testing)

    eDirectory running on a Windows file server that contains Windows file shares is not supported.

1.2.2 Filr Storage Requirements

The tables in the following sections outline the storage requirements for the various appliances, as well as the kinds of information that is stored. The storage requirements vary depending on the size of your Filr installation.

Clustered Deployment: All information in the following sections applies to a clustered deployment.

Large Deployment: All information in the following sections applies to a non-clustered large deployment except:

  • All storage recommendations and functions listed under Shared Storage (/vashare) apply instead to Hard Disk 2 (/vastorage), in Filr Appliance Storage.

Small Deployment: Only the information in Filr Appliance Storage applies to a small deployment. All information in Filr Appliance Storage applies to a small deployment except:

  • All storage recommendations and functions listed under Shared Storage (/vashare) apply instead to Hard Disk 2 (/vastorage).

Filr Appliance Storage

Boot Partition (Hard Disk 1)

Recommended Storage: 20 GB of disk space

Function: Stores the operating system and all appliance-specific software (such as Apache Tomcat for the Filr appliance and Lucene for the search index appliance).

VMware/Xen/Hyper-V Hard Disk (Hard Disk 2 - /vastorage)

In a small deployment, all storage recommendations and functions listed under Shared Storage (/vashare) are included in Hard Disk 2 (/vastorage).

Recommended Storage: 25 GB of disk space

/vastorage must have three times as much disk space as the sum of all files that will be uploaded concurrently to personal storage on the Filr site, and two times as much disk space as the sum of all files that will be uploaded concurrently to any Net Folders.

For example, if 10 users each upload a 3GB file to their My Files area (personal storage) at the same time, you must have at least 30GB x 3 (90GB) of disk space allocated to /vastorage. If /vastorage does not have sufficient disk space, an error occurs.

Function: Stores the following types of files:

  • Configuration files that are used for appliance upgrades

  • Ganglia files that are used to store monitoring information

VMware/Xen/Hyper-V Hard Disk (Hard Disk 3 - /var)

Recommended Storage: 40 GB of disk space

Function: Stores the following types of files:

  • System event logs and core dumps

Because log files are continually growing and can consume large amounts of disk space, the Filr administrator should regularly delete old log files.

Shared Storage (/vashare)

Shared storage is used only in large Filr deployments that have been configured with shared storage. (It is always recommended to create shared storage in large deployments, even if the large deployment has only one Filr appliance.)

Large deployments with only one Filr appliance can be set up without shared storage. (This is not recommended because if shared storage is not configured during installation, it is not possible to add additional Filr appliances in the future if the need arises.)

In a small deployment, all storage recommendations and functions listed under Shared Storage (/vashare) are included in Hard Disk 2 (/vastorage).

Recommended Storage: Disk space must be equal to the size of all files that you anticipate users will add to their Personal Storage (My Files area), plus adequate space to account for the storing of HTML renderings and text extractions.

/vashare must have three times as much disk space as the sum of all files that will be uploaded concurrently to personal storage on the Filr site, and two times as much disk space as the sum of all files that will be uploaded concurrently to any Net Folders.

For example, if 10 users each upload a 3GB file to their My Files area (personal storage) at the same time, you must have at least 30GB x 3 (90GB) of disk space allocated to /vashare. If /vashare does not have sufficient disk space, an error occurs.

IMPORTANT:HTML renderings and text extractions have a significant impact on the amount of storage required for a file. For more information about how these factors affect storage, see the IMPORTANT note following this table.

Function: Stores the following types of files:

  • Configuration files that are used for appliance upgrades

  • Personal Storage files (files that are located in users’ My Files area)

  • Temporary files (uploads and conversions that are in progress)

  • Cached files that have been previously rendered as HTML

    Because cached files are not automatically deleted, the Filr administrator should clean up cached files in the /vashare/cachefilestore area on a regular basis. For more information about the amount of space required for HTML renderings, see the IMPORTANT note following this table.

IMPORTANT:HTML renderings and text extractions have a significant impact on the amount of storage required per file for the Filr appliance. In a small deployment, index files and database files also have an impact on the amount of storage required per file for the Filr appliance.

  • HTML Renderings: Each time a user renders a file as HTML (either by clicking View Details on the file from the web interface, by clicking View as HTML from the web interface, or by tapping on a file from the mobile app), that rendering occupies additional disk space.

    HTML renderings for files in both Personal Storage and files in Net Folders are stored in the /vashare directory in a clustered environment and in the /vastorage directory in a non-clustered environment.

    Only one HTML rendering can exist for a single document. If a user views a file as HTML and a rendering already exists, a second rendering is not created.

    The amount of space the HTML rendering occupies differs depending on the type of file that is rendered:

    • Office file renderings (such as Microsoft Office and OpenOffice) require the same amount of disk space as the original file. (For example, a 1 MB file requires an additional 1 MB of disk space for the HTML rendering.)

    • PDF renderings require approximately 10 times the amount of disk space as the original file. (For example, a 1 MB file requires an additional 10 MB of disk space for the HTML rendering.)

    • PowerPoint renderings require approximately 3 times the amount of disk space as the original file. (For example, a 1 MB file requires an additional 3 MB of disk space for the HTML rendering.)

    If HTML renderings are consuming more than 10 GB of disk space on your system, you can delete all HTML renderings by restarting the Filr appliance. (For information about how to restart the Filr appliance, change any configuration option, then click Reconfigure Filr Server, as described in Configuring and Maintaining the Filr Appliance in the Novell Filr 1.1 Administration Guide.)

  • Text Extractions: When a file is added to Filr (either to Personal Storage or to a Net Folder), text from the file is extracted and added to the search index to be used for searching. By default, each text-extracted file is truncated to 1.1 MB.

    If the total space for all text extractions exceeds 20 GB, all text extractions are deleted.

  • Index Files: (Applies only to a small deployment) In a large or clustered deployment, index files are stored in the Lucene search index appliance.

  • Database Files: (Applies only to a small deployment) In a large deployment or clustered deployment, database files are stored in the MySQL database appliance.

On the /vashare or /vastorage hard disks, inodes can be consumed on an ext-3 file system so that space still exists on the disk, but no more files can be added. To learn more about inodes and proper allocation based on the potential number of files that are created on the file system, see The File System in Reality, in the The Linux Documentation Project.

Search Index Appliance Storage

Boot Partition (Hard Disk 1)

Recommended Storage: 20 GB of disk space

Function: Linux operating system, Java, and Lucene search code

Because log files are continually growing and can consume large amounts of disk space, the Filr administrator should regularly delete old log files.

VMware/Xen/Hyper-V Hard Disk (Hard Disk 2 - /vastorage)

Recommended Storage:

20 GB minimum for small systems

50 GB minimum for 2-3 node clustered systems

Or

10 GB of disk space, plus:

  • Allocate 11 KB of disk space per file when indexing is enabled for Net Folders. Lucene optimizes and reclaims unneeded disk space after initial synchronization.

  • Allocate 5 KB of disk space per file if indexing is not enabled for Net Folders.

For more information about file indexing, see Searchability of Data in the Novell Filr 1.1 Administration Guide.

In order to optimize the index (as described in Optimizing the Lucene Index in the Novell Filr 1.1 Administration Guide), at least 51% of /vastorage needs to be free space. Therefore, double the amount that you think you will need.

Function: Stores the following types of files:

  • Configuration files that are used for appliance upgrades

  • Ganglia files that are used to store monitoring information

  • Search indexes

VMware/Xen/Hyper-V Hard Disk (Hard Disk 3 - /var)

Recommended Storage: 40 GB of disk space

Function: Stores the following types of files:

  • System event logs and core dumps

MySQL Database Appliance Storage

Boot Partition (Hard Disk 1)

Recommended Storage: 20 GB of disk space

Function: Stores log files

Log files are automatically deleted after they consume 1GB of disk space.

You can delete log files before they reach the 1 GB threshold, as described in Section 7.2, Maintaining the MySQL Database Appliance.

VMware/Xen/Hyper-V Hard Disk (Hard Disk 2 - /vastorage)

Recommended Storage:

25 GB of disk space, plus:

  • Allocate 30 KB per file when indexing is enabled for Net Folders.

  • Allocate 20 KB per file when indexing is not enabled for Net Folders.

For more information about file indexing, see Searchability of Data in the Novell Filr 1.1 Administration Guide.

Allocate 10 KB per user.

Function: Stores the following types of files:

  • Configuration files that are used for appliance upgrades

  • Ganglia files that are used to store monitoring information

  • MySQL database files

VMware/Xen/Hyper-V Hard Disk (Hard Disk 3 - /var)

Recommended Storage: 40 GB of disk space

Function: Stores the following types of files:

  • System event logs and core dumps

1.2.3 Filr User Requirements

  • Web browser (for accessing Filr through a browser on your user workstation):

    • Linux: Mozilla Firefox 3 or later; Google Chrome (latest version)

    • Windows: Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 or later (must not have the Google Chrome Frame plug-in installed); Mozilla Firefox 3 or later; Google Chrome (latest version)

    • Mac: Safari 4 or later; Mozilla Firefox 3 or later

    Accessing Filr through a web browser on a mobile device is not supported. Instead, download the Filr mobile app that is compatible with your mobile device. For more information, see Section 1.2.4, Mobile App Requirements.

  • Office applications (for editing documents on your workstation, as described in Editing Files with Edit-in-Place in the Novell Filr 1.1 Web Application User Guide):

    • Linux: OpenOffice.org/LibreOffice 3.1.1 or later

    • Windows: Microsoft Office 2007 or later; OpenOffice.org/LibreOffice 3.1.1 or later

    • Mac: OpenOffice.org/LibreOffice 3.1.1 or later

    NOTE:OpenOffice and LibreOffice are used synonymously throughout the Novell Filr documentation. Functionality and issues that apply to OpenOffice also apply to LibreOffice.

1.2.4 Mobile App Requirements

The Novell Filr mobile app is supported on the following mobile devices:

  • iOS phones and tablets for iOS 6.x or later

    The native app is available as a free download in the Apple App Store.

  • Android phones and tablets for Android 2.3 or later

    The native app is available as a free download in the Google Play App Store, the Amazon Appstore for Android, and the Samsung Knox Apps store.

  • Windows phones version 8.0 and 8.1

    Windows tablets are not currently supported.

    Supported only with a Filr 1.1 server or later.

  • The BlackBerry PlayBook and Z10

    The native application is available in the BlackBerry World app store.

    In this document, the BlackBerry steps are the same as for Android devices.

For more information about the Filr mobile app, see the Novell Filr Mobile App Quick Start.

1.2.5 Desktop Application Requirements

The Filr desktop application is supported on the following client operating systems:

  • Windows XP, 7, 8, and 8.1

  • Mac OS X 10.7 and later

For more information about the Filr desktop application, see the Novell Filr Desktop Application for Windows Quick Start or the Novell Filr Desktop Application for Mac Quick Start.

1.2.6 File Viewer Information

In Novell Filr, file viewing capabilities are provided by Oracle Outside In viewer technology. See Oracle Outside In Technology 8.3 Supported Formats for a list of the supported file formats. See Oracle Outside In Technology for background information about the Oracle viewer technology included in Filr.

The file viewers also support data indexing by the search index.

1.2.7 Linux File System

Filr supports the following file systems on Linux: ext3, btrfs, and xfs.