Filr 3.1 Release Notes

February 2017

Micro Focus Filr 3.1 includes new features, enhancements, and bug fixes.

Many of these improvements were made in direct response to suggestions from our customers. We thank you for your time and valuable input. We hope you continue to help us ensure that our products meet all your needs.

The documentation for this product is available on the Documentation Website in HTML and PDF formats on a page that does not require you to log in. If you have suggestions for documentation improvements, click comment on this topic at the bottom of any page in the HTML version of the Filr documentation posted at the Documentation Website.

1.0 About The Release Notes

These release notes only contain information pertinent to the Filr 3.1 update. All the information in the Filr 3.0 release notes also applies to Filr 3.1, except that Filr 3.1 is only available as an update applied to Filr 3.0 and cannot be installed directly or upgraded to from a previous Filr version.

For information about the Filr 3.0 release, see Filr 3.0 Release Notes.

2.0 Filr 3.1 Is an Update That You Apply to Filr 3.0

Filr 3.1 is only available as an update applied to Filr 3.0 appliance. Previous upgrade methods that required service interruption do not apply to Filr 3.1. Note the following:

  • No Separate Hypervisor-specific Downloads: The virtual machine configurations are not impacted.

  • Only Filr Appliances Are Affected: The 3.1 update applies only to the Filr appliances. Filrsearch and MySQL are not affected.

3.0 Applying the Filr 3.1 Update

Filr 3.1 is only available as an update applied to Filr 3.0 appliance and cannot be installed directly. This Filr 3.1 update is applicable only for the Filr appliance and not for the MySQL or the Filrsearch appliances.

3.1 Updating an All-in-One (Small) Deployment

  1. Ensure that all the Filr appliances are running Filr 3.0.

  2. Log in to the Port 9443 Appliance Console (https://appliance_ip_or_dns:9443) and use the Online Update feature to apply the Filr 3.1 update. For more information about using the Online Update feature, see Using the Online Update dialog in the Filr 3: Administrative UI Reference.

    IMPORTANT:

    • This update is an interactive update and requires you to select both the Automatically agree with all license agreements and the Automatically install all interactive patches options before you run the update. If you do not select these options, the upgrade process fails. However, the progress bar incorrectly displays that the upgrade is in progress.

    • The Filr 3.1 update contains changes to the database schema and requires that you reconfigure the Filr server. The Filr Administration Console is not accessible unless you reconfigure the Filr server.

  3. After the update is successful, re-configure the Filr appliance:

    1. Revisit the Port 9443 Appliance Console (https://appliance_ip_or_dns:9443).

    2. Click the Configuration icon.

    3. In the left navigation pane, click Reconfigure Filr Server.

    Post the reconfiguration of the Filr appliance, you will be logged out of the appliance console page if you are still logged in.

3.2 Updating a Large Filr Deployment

  1. Ensure that all the Filr appliances are running Filr 3.0.

  2. Log in to the Port 9443 Appliance Console (https://appliance_ip_or_dns:9443) of each of the appliance and use the Online Update feature to apply the Filr 3.1 update on the appliance. For more information about using the Online Update feature, see Using the Online Update dialog in the Filr 3: Administrative UI Reference.

    IMPORTANT:

    • This update is an interactive update and requires you to select both the Automatically agree with all license agreements and the Automatically install all interactive patches options before you run the update. If you do not select these options, the upgrade process fails. However, the progress bar incorrectly displays that the upgrade is in progress.

    • The Filr 3.1 update contains changes to the database schema and requires that you reconfigure the Filr server. The Filr Administration Console is not accessible unless you reconfigure the Filr server. However, you must not skip to step 3 to reconfigure the Filr server unless you have applied the 3.1 update on all the appliances.

  3. After the update is successful, re-configure every appliance in the same order that you applied the update:

    1. Revisit the Port 9443 Appliance Console (https://appliance_ip_or_dns:9443).

    2. Click the Configuration icon.

    3. In the left navigation pane, click Reconfigure Filr Server.

    4. Ensure that each reconfigured appliance is back in service before you reconfigure the next appliance.

    Post the reconfiguration of the Filr appliance, you will be logged out of the appliance console page if you are still logged in.

4.0 What’s New in Filr 3.1?

Filr 3.1 provides the following enhancements:

4.1 Allowing or Blocking the Types of Files That Users Can Upload

Filr Administrator can now allow or block the type of files that Filr users (desktop, mobile, and web) can upload. This functionality is only available when an Advanced-Edition license is installed on the Filr appliances.

For more information, see Managing File Uploading by Size or Type (Applicable for Filr 3.1) in the Filr 3: Administrative UI Reference.

4.2 Enhancing the Integration of Filr With NAM

With Filr 3.0 and earlier, configuring Filr with NetIQ Access Manager (NAM) enabled only LDAP users to log in through NAM.

Filr 3.1 enhances the integration of Filr with NAM to enable local and external users to also log in to Filr through NAM. With this update, the View and Download File link also works seamlessly when Filr is configured to use NAM.

For more information, see Access Manager (NAM) and Filr Integration in the Filr 3.0 Installation, Deployment, and Upgrade Guide.

4.3 Enabling the Filr Edit-in-Place Functionality To Work With All Browsers

With Filr 3.0, Filr’s edit-in-place functionality required support for the Java browser plug-in. However, some browsers such as Chrome version 45 or later and the Edge browser no longer support the Java plug-in. Micro Focus anticipated that over time, other browsers also might discontinue Java plug-in support, which will further impact support for Filr’s edit-in-place functionality.

In Filr 3.1, the edit-in-place functionality has been enhanced to replace the Java browser plug-in with a new Java Web Start Launcher (do.jnlp). The Java Web Start Launcher automatically downloads when you choose to edit a file in-place.

For more information, see Editing Files with Edit-in-Place (Applicable for Filr 3.1) in the Filr 3: User Access Guide.

4.4 Enabling or Disabling the Desktop Balloon Notifications

Filr 3.1 introduces a new setting that lets Filr administrators enable or disable the balloon notifications on the users’ desktop.

For more information, see Desktop Notifications in the Desktop Access—Default Settings section of the Filr 3: Administrative UI Reference.

5.0 Known Issues in Filr 3.1

5.1 Unable to Upload Microsoft OneNote Files to Filr

If a user chooses to upload .one file, the file fails to upload even if the Filr administrator has whitelisted the .one file.

5.2 External User Share Invitation Link and Confirmation Link Are Valid Only Once

When a file is shared with an external user, the user receives an invitation email with a link to register self and then a confirmation email with a link to sign in and access the shared items. The user cannot use these links to access the file post they have registered and confirmed the registration. To access the file again, they must log in to the site where the file is shared with them. For this, the external users must note the hostname of the site from which they accessed the file for the first time by clicking the Sign in and access shared items link in the confirmation email.

6.0 Filr 3.1 Bug Fixes

For a list of customer and partner reported bugs that were logged against Filr 3.0 and fixed in Filr 3.1, see the following:

For more information about each bug, log in to your account and look up the bug numbers in Bugzilla.