The 3.1 release of FileFly features new, generic support for S3-compatible endpoints as well as numerous performance and UI improvements.

The FileFly download bundle now includes a PDF of the Caringo FileFly FAQ, a collection of recommended How To articles from DataCore Support. All documentation and FAQ content is searchable on the web Help on Caringo Connect. 

For detailed installation guidance, see the FAQ article Walkthrough: How to install FileFly 3.x.

Changes in 3.1

Windows

Fixed DFSR interaction

• DFSR has several race condition cases that cause it to write files into the SVI (System Volume Information) folder. In rare cases, it is possible for DFSR to copy a stub to the SVI folder, access the file (demigrating it), and thus cause the file on secondary storage to become scrubbable. This can lead to the secondary file being scrubbed while leaving an orphaned stub in the case that the real stub in question was not also demigrated. While you are unlikely to encounter it in production, a fix has been put in place to prevent DFSR from affecting the reference count. Running the Post-Restore Revalidate policy after upgrading corrects the reference count on any file that is currently incorrectly marked as scrubbable.

Workaround for Windows 2008R2 sparse file bug

• Under adverse conditions, a large file demigrated on Windows Server 2008R2 can trigger a Windows bug in which clearing a file's sparse flag causes the underlying file system to become corrupted, leading to various errors or even a blue screen during subsequent access to an affected file. The file system can be recovered using a disk check after reboot. This is not a FileFly bug, and it affects this specific Windows version only. As a preventative, FileFly now omits the step of clearing the sparse flag following a demigration on WS2008R2.

Generic S3

• Added generic support for S3-compatible endpoints

Admin Portal

• Standalone Agent Config Tool removed

• Agents are now configured through the Servers page

• Agents are now restarted through the Servers page

• Scrub Policy performance improvements

• Removed unnecessary Policy options: aggressive scrub, fast disconnect (no user action required)

Agent

• Fixed packet overrun assert

• Fixed potential crash in update tool NetApp (cluster-mode)

• Performance improvements

NetApp (7-mode)

• Fixed issue where files with certain bad timestamps cannot be migrated

• Performance improvements

DrTool

• Force WORM flag now applies to demigrated files as well as stubs

Upgrading to 3.1

FileFly Tools must always be upgraded first, followed by all FileFly Agent and FileFly FPolicy Server components. Any installed plugins are upgraded automatically during FileFly Agent upgrade. Upgrade all components to the same version unless otherwise specified.

1. Download the release bundle from Caringo Connect and expand it on your FileFly Tools server.

2. On the Admin Portal 'Overview' tab, click Suspend Scheduler.

3. Run the Caringo FileFly Tools.exe installer.

4. If your licensing has changed (such as from FileFly 2.x), upload your new license file from Caringo.

5. Upgrade all FileFly Agents and FileFly FPolicy Servers:

   • Automated (recommended) — From the Admin Portal 'Servers' tab, click Upgrade Servers. The automated process transfers installers to each server and performs the upgrades in parallel to minimize downtime. If a server fails or is offline during the upgrade, manually upgrade it later. Once the automated upgrade procedure finalizes, the 'Servers' tab updates to display the health of the upgraded servers.

   • Manual — Run the FileFly Agents and FileFly FPolicy Servers executables directly and follow the instructions. Check the Admin Portal 'Servers' tab for warnings.

6. Resolve any warnings displayed on the 'Overview' tab.

7. On the 'Overview' tab, click Start Scheduler.

Upgrading from 2.x

If you are upgrading from FileFly 2.x, you have additional changes to account for:

• New license format

• New product level: Community Edition

• New destinations for cloud storage: Microsoft Azure, Amazon S3, and Google Cloud

License change

With FileFly 2, licenses are tied to the Swarm cluster they use and both quantities need to match; in FileFly 3, the format of the license DataCore sends is changed to a generic capacity-based license, greater or less than the size of your Swarm cluster, and is not backwards compatible.

License activation now requires internet access to service.globalsoftwarelicensing.com, either directly or via a proxy, which you can configure in the Admin Portal. The FileFly 3 Admin server uses an ongoing phone-home mechanism to validate the license in use and the current capacity usage, measured by looking at the amount of data under management (migrated to a destination). Data can be migrated to Swarm, S3, and Azure with no impact on licensing. The same cluster can support various FileFly instances using different licenses, and those FileFly servers can be migrating data both to Swarm and a cloud target.

DataCore Support needs to size the data under management to verify the license covers the current usage and provides room to expand:

1. Run Gather Statistics reports on each of the sources. See How to get reports on FileFly usage in the FileFly FAQ.

2. Start a new support ticket for the licensing, and note the issue number: http://support.caringo.com

3. Upload the reports, which link to the ticket and notifies DataCore Support: https://support.cloud.caringo.com/uploader/uploader

Community Edition

FileFly 3.0 and higher has an additional "Community Edition", which is a subset of the full product:

• Free of charge

• No support

• Up to 25TB of FileFly archiving, measured at source

• No DrTools

• All destinations and sources available

Use Community Edition for Proof of Concepts and situations where FileFly is secondary to your production needs. To change from Community Edition to the supported full edition, the license needs to be updated. All executables, components, and set up are the same.

Cloud destinations

We've also added cloud destinations for popular cloud storage providers:

• S3: Caringo FileFly Amazon S3 Plugin

• Azure: Caringo FileFly Azure Plugin

• Google: Caringo FileFly Google Plugin

Each plugin is an alternate destination for content on Windows or NetApp volumes.