Filr Desktop client deactivates account if access to Net Folder fails

  • 7018063
  • 19-Sep-2016
  • 20-Sep-2016

Environment

Novell Filr 2.0
Novell Filr Desktop client 2.0

Situation

User observes that the Desktop client gets signed out (if the option to save password is not selected) or sync operations start failing (if the option to save password is selected). In reviewing the Filr Desktop client logs, we find that the user account is getting deactivated, as shown in example below.

For example, from filr.log:
2016-05-23 13:11:02,906 [filesync-monitor] [WARNING] Unhandled HTTP error: 401 UNAUTHENTICATED_ACCESS (Cannot execute [isVisible] on the resource [null] - Logon failure) (aca.onprem.apiserver.restapi)
2016-05-23 13:11:02,906 [filesync-monitor] [INFO] Completed request for /self/my_files/library_changes?count=1000&since=2016-05-23T17%3A04%3A17Z REST resource (GET) (aca.onprem.apiserver.restapi)
2016-05-23 13:11:02,906 [filesync-monitor] [INFO] Deactivating account... (aca.apiserver)
2016-05-23 13:11:02,907 [filesync-monitor] [INFO] Logging out... (aca.accounts)

In the above example, the user account was deactivated because the connection between the Filr server and the Net Folder Server that the user has access to was no longer working due to bad proxy credentials (401 Unauthenticated Access).

Resolution

A fix for this issue is available in the Filr 2.0 Hot Patch 3, available via the Novell Patch Finder.

Cause

The Filr 2.0 Desktop client may deactivate a user account for various reasons, some of which can be legitimate. For example:
1. Desktop client loses networking
2. Filr server goes offline
3. SSL Server certificate is not trusted
4. User password changes in backend directory

Some unhandled 401 errors were also causing the account deactivation which have now been fixed.