Novell Filr 2.0 Release Notes

1.0 Product Overview

Novell Filr lets you easily access all your files and folders from your desktop, browser, or a mobile device. In addition, you can promote collaboration around your files by sharing files and folders with others. For a detailed overview of Filr, see the Filr 2.0: How Filr Works–Overview Guide.

You can access Filr in the following ways:

2.0 What’s New in Filr 2.0

Novell Filr 2.0 provides the following enhancements:

New Platforms

Administration Enhancements

End User Enhancements

3.0 Upgrade Notes

3.1 Supported Paths

  • Filr 1.1 to Filr 2.0

  • Filr 1.2 to Filr 2.0

3.2 Ganglia Unicast Setting Is Not Retained When Upgrading

If you have changed the monitoring setting on a 1.1 MySQL appliance from Multicast (the default) to Unicast, the setting is not retained during an upgrade and must be reset to Unicast.

3.3 Upgrading from Filr 1.1 Might Require Clearing the Browser Cache

After upgrading from Filr 1.1 to Filr 2.0, the initial configuration page (port 9443) might display an RPC failure and log out.

Clearing the browser cache and then connecting again should resolve the issue.

3.4 Appliance Administration UI Access Restrictions Not Retained

If you have limited administration UI (port 9443) access for Filr, Search, or MySQL appliances to specific IP address or subnet addresses, the limitations are not retained when upgrading from Filr 1.1 or Filr 1.2 to Filr 2.0 and must be re-specified.

For future upgrades from Filr 2.0, the access restrictions will be retained.

3.5 Customized Routing Tables Not Retained

The /etc/hosts file and the /etc/sysconfig/network/routes information are not preserved when upgrading.

If you have customized an appliance’s routing tables, consider backing up these areas before upgrading and restoring the files after the upgrade is complete.

4.0 Installation Notes

4.1 Platform Support

IMPORTANT:SLES11 SP4 and SLES12 must be fully up to date on the kernel-xen & kernel-xen-base packages. For more information, see https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=949005.

  • Supported Hypervisor platforms include:

    • Citrix 6.5 or 6.5 SP1 XenServer

    • XEN on SLES 11 SP3 or SP4, or SLES 12

    • HyperV Core 2008R2, 2012R2

    • VMWare 5.5 or later

  • Supported Desktop platforms include the following with the latest patches and support packs installed:

    • Mac 10.10, 10.11

    • Win 7, 8.1, 10

5.0 Known Issues

5.1 Installation

NFS Mount Point Must Not Point to /var on Target Server

Large installations require shared NFS or CIFS storage for the /vastorage mount point on the Filr server.

If you are using NFS, you must not target the /var mount point or a child directory within it. Doing so will cause /vastorage to fail to mount when the Filr appliance reboots. (See TID 7017379.)

5.2 Upgrade

Rolling Upgrades Are Not Supported in a Clustered Environment

Rolling upgrades (upgrading one Filr or search index server while another continues to serve clients) are not supported when upgrading from Filr 1.1 to Filr 1.2 in a clustered environment.

You must shut down all Filr and search index appliances before you begin the upgrade process. Then restart the appliances after the upgrade is complete.

This issue does not affect small or non-clustered large installations.

For information about how to upgrade Filr, see Upgrading Filr in the Filr 2.0: Installation and Configuration Guide.

OES 11 SP1 Servers Must Be Updated before Upgrading to Filr 1.1 and later

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

Scalability and performance improvements provided in Filr 1.1 and later require that Filr-targeted servers be able to handle increased file service and other requests.

The NCP server that shipped with OES 11 SP1 cannot handle the increased requests.

If you have any OES 11 SP1 servers that match the following criteria, you must update the OES 11 SP1 server before upgrading to Filr 1.1 and later:

  • Host Net Folders or Personal Storage Home folders

    and

  • Do not have the December 2012 Scheduled Maintenance Update applied

To prepare the OES 11 SP1 servers to handle Filr 1.1 and later:

  1. Ensure that all Filr-targeted 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 and later.

  2. Proceed with the upgrade to Filr.

NOTE:OES 11 SP2 contains the updated NCP server by default and is able to meet all Filr service demands.

5.3 Appliance

VMware Snapshots and Appliance Backup

Do not use VMware snapshots as a backup method for Filr. Doing so inhibits your ability to upgrade Filr in the future.

If you do use snapshots, you must remove them before upgrading to a new version of Filr.

For more detailed information about how to back up various Filr components, see Backing Up Filr Data in the Filr 2.0: Administration Guide.

Cannot Expand Storage for /var Partition for Xen Running on SLES

When running Filr in Xen environment, storage for the /var partition cannot be expanded after Filr installation.

The process for expanding storage for the /var and /vastorage partitions after installation is described in Managing Storage in the Filr 2.0: Administration Guide.

5.4 Configuration

User Name Character Restrictions for LDAP Synchronization and Login

LDAP user names must contain only valid alphanumeric characters 0 - 9 and upper-case and lower-case letters (A-Z). User names that contain ASCII characters and special characters (for example, / \ * ? " < > : | ) cannot be used as Novell Filr user names. If your LDAP directory includes user names with these characters, they synchronize to Filr, but the associated users cannot log in.

These characters cannot be used in a Filr user name because a Filr user name becomes the user’s workspace title, and the workspace title becomes an element of the hierarchical path that leads to the workspace. These characters are not legal characters in Linux and Windows pathnames.

User Names That Are Synchronized from LDAP Are Not Case Sensitive for Filr Login

User names that are synchronized from an LDAP directory are not case sensitive when users log in to the Filr system.

Local user accounts (user accounts that are created in Filr and not synchronized from an LDAP directory) are case sensitive. Login credentials for local user accounts are stored in the MySQL database.

Distributed File System (DFS) Issues

Access Based Enumeration Is Not Supported When Using DFS Namespace

Filr doesn’t support Microsoft’s Access Based Enumeration (ABE) when the backend Windows server uses the Distributed File System (DFS) namespace.

NSS AD DFS Junction Visibility Requires Net Folder Rights Cache Refreshing

If you have a remote DFS junction on an OES 2015 server that is running NSS for AD, you must ensure that the Refresh Cached Rights interval under Net Folder Settings in the Filr administration console is not set to 0 minutes (meaning that it’s disabled). Otherwise, Filr users will not be able to access files and folders under the DFS target through Filr and the owner of all the files and folders under the target will be displayed as File Sync Agent in Filr.

Access Manager Issues

Cannot Use Multiple Identity Injection Policies Simultaneously

When NetIQ Access Manager is configured to front Filr, you cannot use multiple identity injection policies simultaneously.

5.5 Net Folder

Moving or Renaming a File from the File Server Removes Shares

If a user moves or renames a file directly from the file server (instead of using a Filr client to do the move or rename), any shares that are associated with that file in Filr are removed. This means that users who gained access to a file via a share in Filr no longer have access to the file if the file was moved or renamed from the file server. Additionally, the file is not displayed in users’ Shared by Me and Shared with Me views.

If this situation occurs, files must be re-shared in Filr.

Folder Path in Filr Cannot Exceed 48 Levels

When folders on the file system are synchronized to a Net Folder, the folder path in Filr cannot exceed 48 levels deep (nested sub-folders). The file synchronization code will reject any sub-folder whose depth will cause the corresponding Filr folder path to exceed the sub-folder limit of 48.

When the Filr system encounters the limit of 48 folder levels, the sync code returns the following message and the folder is not created:

The folder xxx has reached the allowed path maximum depth. Its sub-folders will not be added in the system.

Must Restart the FAMT Service after Running “Test Connection” during Net Folder Configuration

After testing the connection of a Net Folder that is referencing an OES Volume, and when Microsoft Windows is selected in the Server type drop-down list, you must restart the FAMT service.

After the FAMT service is restarted, ensure that Novell Open Enterprise Server is selected in the Server type drop-down list before re-testing the connection to the OES Volume.

For information about how to restart the FAMT service, see Changing System Services Configuration in the Filr 2.0: Administration Guide.

5.6 Filr Appliance

Reporting Issues

Email Report Is Missing Items from the Last Day of the Report

When running an email report (as described in Email Report in the Filr 2.0: Administration Guide), emails are not displayed for the last day of your report date range.

For example, if you are running an email report between February 3 and April 26, the email report does not show emails from April 26.

License Report Issues

The License Report currently counts Administrator, Guest, and three internal users (_emailPostingAgent, _jobProcessingAgent, and _synchronizationAgent) as local users. The Administrator counts as an active user, but the other four local users do not count against your Filr license usage.

For information about how to generate a license report, see License Report in the Filr 2.0: Administration Guide.

My Files Storage Directory Is Displayed in Search

When Personal Storage is disabled and Home folders have not been configured, users can find a directory called My Files Storage when clicking in the global Search field and pressing the Spacebar. This is normally a hidden directory, but can it be displayed under these special circumstances.

When you click My Files Storage, it can take you to either your My Files area or to the profile of another user (depending on where you are when you do the search).

Sharing Issues

External Users Cannot Browse to a Folder When Moving or Copying a File from a Shared Folder

External users who have Contributor rights in a folder that has been shared with them are not able to browse to a destination folder when moving or copying a file. Instead, external users must specify the name of the folder where they want to move or copy the file in the Destination Folder field, as described in Moving Files and Copying Files in the Filr 2.0: Web Application User Guide.

Shared with Me and Shared by Me Not Visible for Share Point Files

When users share files on Share Point servers, the files do not appear in the Shared by Me or Shared with Me folders. However, the users with whom the files were shared can see the shared files if they are in Net Folders and if the users have access to the Net Folders.

Editing an .rtf File Results in an Editing Conflict Error

After editing an .rtf file from Filr in a text editor (such as Microsoft Word), saving the file results in a message indicating that the file has been changed by another author. In this case, select the option to combine your changes with the other author’s changes, then click OK.

Changes that you make to the file are saved to Filr as expected.

For more information about editing files in Filr using Edit-in-Place functionality, see Editing Files with Edit-in-Place in the Filr 2.0: Web Application User Guide.

LDAP Synchronization Issues

Issues When Deleting Users through LDAP

Novell recommends that you never select the option to delete users that are not in LDAP when configuring your LDAP synchronization. This feature will either be enhanced or removed in future Filr releases. User accounts that are deleted cannot be recovered. As a best practice, select the option to disable the account rather than deleting it.

Issues with Initial Synchronization of Filr Users

The LDAP value of the attribute you specify for the LDAP configuration setting LDAP attribute for the Filr account name must be unique throughout your LDAP directory. For example, if you specify cn, all users in the LDAP directory might not have a unique value.

To resolve this issue, use an attribute whose value is always unique across all containers, such as emailAddress.

Sub-Groups Are Not Included in Group Membership during the Initial Synchronization

When synchronizing groups that contain sub-groups to Filr from an LDAP directory, the sub-groups are not included in their parent group’s membership during the initial synchronization.

Perform an additional LDAP synchronization to ensure that group membership contains all expected sub-groups.

Issues with Renaming and Moving Users in Your LDAP Directory

In order to rename or move users in your LDAP directory, ensure that you have specified a value for the setting LDAP attribute that uniquely identifies a user or group, as described in Configuring User Synchronization Options in the Filr 2.0: Administration Guide. If a value is not specified for this setting, renaming or moving users in your LDAP directory might result in new users being created in Filr or in the existing user account being deleted.

Users Cannot Log in to the Filr Mobile App or Desktop Application with New Name or Password after Changed in LDAP

After a user is renamed in the LDAP directory or after a user’s password is changed in the LDAP directory, the user must use the old user name or password when logging in to the Filr mobile app or the Filr desktop application until one of the following occurs:

  • An LDAP synchronization is run

  • The user logs in to the web client using the new user name or password

A user can use the old or new user name or password when logging in to Filr from the web client.

Active Directory Cross Forest Trust Relationship Is Not Supported

Cross Forest Trust relationships in Active Directory are not supported in Filr.

Duplicate User ID Import Attempts Are Logged but Not Reported

If you attempt to import an LDAP user that has the same User ID as a previously imported user, the import fails and is logged, but the failure is not reported in the administrative GUI. The import error is logged in /opt/novell/filr/apache-tomcat/logs/appserver.log.

Subsequently, only the first user imported is able to log in. Other users with the same User ID are not able to log in, but they are given no indication as to why the login request failed. Failed login attempts are logged in /opt/novell/filr/apache-tomcat/logs/appserver.log.

Password-Protected Files Cannot Be Viewed

Files that have been password-protected in the application where they were created cannot be viewed in Filr. This is working as designed.

Folder Nesting Issue

Because of database restrictions, the maximum number of nested folders that Filr allows is 45. For example, you can create a folder within a folder, and then create a folder within that folder, and so forth, until the folder structure is 45 levels deep. You cannot exceed 45 levels in the folder structure.

Email Issues

Test Connection Fails without User Name and Password Even When Authentication Is Not Required

When configuring Filr to use an external outbound mail system (such as Novell GroupWise), the Test Connection button fails when no user name and password is specified, even when the Authentication required option is not selected.

For information about how to configure Filr to use an external outbound mail system, see Configuring Outbound Email Services in the Filr 2.0: Administration Guide.

Cannot Upload Documents Created with Apple iWork (Pages, Keynote, etc.) or .app Documents to the Filr Web Client

When uploading a document that was created with one of the following types of files, you get an error indicating that the file or folder cannot be uploaded when attempting to upload to the Filr web client:

  • iWork document (such as a Pages, Keynote, or Numbers document)

  • Mac application file (a document with the .app extension)

The Filr web client is not able to upload these types of documents because the document architecture for these documents more closely resembles a folder, and you cannot upload folders using the Filr web client.

You can upload these types of documents to Filr by using the Filr desktop application or the Filr mobile app.

For information about how to upload documents using the desktop application or mobile app, see the Novell Filr Desktop Application for Windows Quick Start, the Novell Filr Desktop Application for Mac Quick Start, and the Novell Filr Mobile App Quick Start.

Cannot Extract ZIP File after Downloading on Mac

After downloading a single file or multiple files as a .zip file (as described in Downloading Files in the Filr 2.0: Web Application User Guide), the file can be extracted only when using third-party tools such as iZip Unarchiver.

This issue is due to the fact that OS X does not currently handle ZIP64, the technology that is used to create the .zip file.

Issues When Downloading Multiple Files with Safari on Mac

If you are experiencing issues when downloading multiple files (as described in Downloading Multiple Files and Folders in the Filr 2.0: Web Application User Guide) when using Safari on Mac, ensure that the option Open “safe” files after downloading is not selected.

  1. Click Safari > Preferences.

  2. On the General tab, ensure that Open “safe” files after downloading is not selected.

File Name Should Not Be More Than about 200 Characters

The exact maximum file name length depends on the configuration of the Filr server, but generally it is about 200 characters. If file names are too long, files cannot be added to Filr.

WebDAV Issues

Cannot Edit a File through WebDAV (Edit-in-Place) When the User Password Contains a Space

If you try to edit a file through WebDAV (as described in Editing Files with Edit-in-Place in the Filr 2.0: Web Application User Guide) when your user password contains a space, the authentication fails.

To edit files through WebDAV, ensure that your user password does not contain a space.

Cannot Rename a File When Editing through WebDAV (Edit-in-Place)

When using Edit-in-Place functionality to edit a file (as described in Editing Files with Edit-in-Place in the Filr 2.0: Web Application User Guide), you cannot click Save As and rename the file. Doing so results in an upload error, and changes to the file are not synchronized to Filr.

WebDAV Limitations on Mac

When you use WebDAV functionality in a Mac environment, you encounter the following limitations:

  • Limitations When Editing Files on Mac through WebDAV Edit-in-Place functionality is not supported on a Mac when you use Microsoft Office as your document editor. To use Edit-in-Place functionality on a Mac, you must use OpenOffice or LibreOffice as your document editor.

  • Cannot Edit a File through WebDAV (Edit-in-Place) When Using LibreOffice on a Mac If you are accessing Filr from a Mac and using LibreOffice as your document editor, you cannot edit files through WebDAV using Edit-in-Place functionality (as described in Editing Files with Edit-in-Place in the Filr 2.0: Web Application User Guide).

    If you are using Apache to front the Filr system, users are able to edit files through WebDAV when accessing Filr from a Mac and using LibreOffice as the document editor.

  • Using WebDAV to Access the Filr folder (via Mac Finder) Is Read Only When using WebDAV to access the Filr desktop application Filr folder via Mac Finder, access is Read Only.

  • Cannot Edit a File through WebDAV (Edit-in-Place) When Using Safari 7.x with OS X 10.9.x When accessing Filr with Safari 7.x and OS X 10.9.x, using Edit-in-Place functionality to edit a file (as described in Editing Files with Edit-in-Place in the Filr 2.0: Web Application User Guide) results in an error and you are not able to edit the file.

    To configure Safari 7.x and OS X 10.9.x to support the Filr Edit-in-Place feature and to support adding files to folders when using a browser that does not support HTML 5:

    1. With Filr open, in Safari, click Menu > Preferences.

    2. Click the Security tab, then click Manage Website Settings.

    3. Select Java, then click the drop-down arrow next to the Filr URL and select Run in Unsafe Mode.

    4. Click Done.

Cannot Log in to Web Client with Long User ID or Password

Users cannot log in to the Filr web client if the user ID exceeds 128 characters or the password exceeds 64 characters.

Display Issues Due to Third-Party Software

Scroll Bars That Serve No Purpose Are Sometimes Displayed

Scroll bars that serve no purpose are sometimes displayed in certain folders and collection views. This issue is only occasionally seen and is not harmful.

Filr Is Not Displayed Correctly When the Ask Toolbar Is Installed on Chrome

When the Ask toolbar is installed on a Chrome browser, it inhibits users from being able to view all of the Filr masthead. The Ask toolbar is not a Chrome-sanctioned toolbar and should not be installed on a Chrome browser.

Cannot View ODP and ODG Files That Contain Charts, Graphs, and Tables When Viewing in HTML Format

ODP and ODG files that contain charts, graphs, or tables are not displayed when viewing files by using the HTML view, as described in the following situations:

User Home Directories Are Not Synchronized until Trustee Cache Information is Updated

When you add a user to your LDAP directory, the user’s Home directory in Filr is not displayed immediately after running the LDAP synchronization.

You must wait for the trustee cache information to be refreshed on the file system before Home directory information is displayed in Filr. (The default rights cache refresh interval is every 5 minutes. You can modify this interval as described in Setting Global Net Folder Configuration Options in the Filr 2.0: Administration Guide.)

Filr Does Not Support Aliases That Have Been Configured in the LDAP Directory

If your users have aliases associated with their user account in the LDAP directory, the alias is not synchronized to Filr during the LDAP synchronization. This means that users are not able to log in to Filr with their alias.

Cannot Use Text Editors Such as Notepad or Wordpad as a Document Editor

Filr allows you to change the default application that is used for editing files (as described in Changing the Default Editor Settings for a Single File Type in the Filr 2.0: Web Application User Guide). However, you cannot use text editors such as Notepad or Wordpad as the default document editor for editing files because these applications do not support WebDAV.

Must Restart All Appliances after a Network Failure with Microsoft SQL

If your Filr deployment includes a Microsoft SQL database, and if your network fails, you must restart all of the appliances in your Filr deployment to restore Filr services.

XML File Rendering Is Inconsistent

XML is not included as a default supported format for HTML viewing, but it can be added (see Configuring Which File Formats Can Be Viewed As HTML in the Filr 2.0: Administration Guide).

If you choose to add XML as a supported HTML-viewing format, be aware that some XML files do not open and will not be displayed in the web client.

5.7 Database Appliance

Filr Installation Program Cannot Create the Filr Database in Microsoft SQL When the Database Name Begins with a Number

In the configuration wizard when configuring a large deployment (as described in Configuring a Large Deployment for the First Time in the Filr 2.0: Installation and Configuration Guide), the database name that you specify in the Database Name field cannot begin with a number when using a Microsoft SQL database. If the name does begin with a number, the configuration wizard does not allow the database to be created. For example, 1Filr is not accepted, but Filr1 is.

5.8 Filrsearch Appliance

RMI Exception When IP Address Has Changed

Changing IP address settings in the Network Settings dialog of YaST is not supported.

Either the vaconfig command or the Port 9443 Console > Appliance Configuration > Network Settings must be used and the specified hostname and IP address must match.

Additionally, when Filrsearch parameters change, the Filr configuration must change to match, and if clustering is used, the affected clustering settings must also be changed.

5.9 Desktop Application

The Novell Filr desktop application includes new files on demand functionality.

For a list of issues related to the Filr desktop application (for Windows and Mac clients), see the Filr Desktop Application Readme.

5.10 Mobile Apps

For information about how to install and run the Filr mobile app, see the Novell Filr Mobile App Quick Start.

Following are known issues in the Filr mobile app:

Files in Downloads Area Are Not Synchronized with Just-in-Time Synchronization

Accessing a file from the Downloads area from the mobile app does not trigger Just-in-Time synchronization.

If you have configured only Just-in-Time synchronization (scheduled synchronization is not enabled), files that are located in a Net Folder that have been added to the Downloads area on the mobile app are not automatically updated with changes made from the file system. The file is updated in the Downloads area only after a user uses one of the Filr clients to browse to the Net Folder that contains the file.

Files from the Home Folder in the Downloads Area Are Removed after Personal Storage Is Enabled

If users have added files from their Home folder to the Downloads area on the mobile app, and then the Filr administrator enables personal storage (as described in Setting Up Personal Storage in the in the Filr 2.0: Administration Guide), files from the Home folder are removed from the Downloads area on the mobile app.

Files from Net Folders Are Removed from the Downloads Area after Being Renamed or Moved

If users have added files from a Net Folder to the Downloads area on the mobile app, and then the file is renamed or moved on the OES or Windows file system, the file is removed from the Downloads area on the mobile app.

Windows Phone Users See an Authentication Error When Filr Has a Self-Signed Certificate

If Filr is configured with a self-signed certificate, Windows Phone users see an authentication error when attempting to access Filr by using the Windows Filr mobile app.

You can resolve this issue in either of the following ways:

  • (Recommended) Configure Filr to use an official certificate, as described in Replacing the Self-Signed Digital Certificate for an Official Certificate in the Filr 2.0: Administration Guide.

  • Send a copy of the self-signed certificate via email to each Windows Phone in your system. Users must then open the email and click the certificate attachment. After users click the attachment, the self-signed certificate is installed on the phone. When the certificate is installed, users are able to log in to the Filr app without seeing the authentication error.

Email Addresses in Share Dialog Cannot Contain Extended Characters

When specifying an email address in the Share dialog, if the email address contains extended characters (such as an apostrophe), an error message is displayed indicating that the item cannot be shared with the specified user.

5.11 Logout Does Not Happen When Filr Is Accessed Directly and Is Fronted by Access Manager

When Filr is fronted by NetIQ Access Manager, only the Filr administrator is able to access Filr directly. When Filr is accessed directly in this configuration, simultaneous logout for the Filr system is not successful.

After the Filr administrator logs in directly to Filr (and Filr is configured with Access Manager), all browser sessions should be immediately closed to ensure logout.

6.0 Filr 2.0 Bug Fixes

For a list of customer- and partner-reported bugs that were logged against Filr 1.2 and fixed in Filr 2.0, see the Novell Filr 2.0 Bug List. For more information about each bug, log in to your account and look up the bug numbers in Bugzilla.

7.0 Documentation