FileFly 4.0 Release Notes

Owned by Rumena Zlatkova (Deactivated)
Last updated: Sept 27, 2022 by Anjali TyagiVersion comment
4 min read

The 4.0 release of FileFly features a new user interface, significant changes to plugins, improvements to AdminCenter, charts and reports, security and performance enhancements.

See the Administration Guide for thorough documentation on the new version.

Upgrade impacts

  • This upgrade is strongly recommended for all clusters.

  • You should NOT update any existing URIs to use the new URI schemes

  • Due to changes in the Global Licensing Service, once the Admin Portal is upgraded to version 4.0, it is NOT be possible to independently roll back to a previous version (e.g. in the case that agents cannot be automatically upgraded). If attempting to perform this, the message "Software version downgrade rejected - contact DataCore Support" is received from the Global Licensing Service.

  • Legacy statistics reports generated by prior versions are removed during this upgrade

  • Legacy logs and task history are moved to logs\AdminCenter_legacy during this upgrade

Changes in 4.0

  • Destination plugins are no longer installed separately.

  • Destination plugin Config Tools and plugin .cfg files are no longer used.
    The Config Tools can be uninstalled completely – plugin selection and configuration is now performed via the Servers page in the Admin Portal.

  • Some scheme/plugin names have changed in this release (see below)

Discontinued Support

The following platforms are no longer supported:

  • Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2

  • NetApp ONTAP 7.x

  • NetApp ONTAP 8.x (7-mode and Cluster-mode)

Changes in AdminCenter

  • Internet Explorer is no longer supported – Use a modern browser such as Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox

  • Removed localhost-only option during install (all installations now use HTTPS)

  • Added LDAP group selection during install

  • New user interface, including:

    • Added mobile and tablet support

    • Added light and dark themes

    • New dashboard with charts

    • Upgraded Gather Statistics reports

    • Added Server Operations charts

  • DrTool files are renamed to Recovery files

  • Added Rule simulation feature to ease policy configuration

  • Improved log file access and display

  • Added more flexible task scheduling options

  • Added savings calculator

  • Added historical graphing of migrated vs non-migrated data

  • Exportable granular file data (CSV and JSON formats)

  • Added server activity view for enhanced operational transparency

  • Logging improvements

  • Extensive server configuration improvements

  • Added support for secure email servers that use STARTTLS

Changes in Agent (General)

  • Logging improvements

Security Improvements

  • Updated OpenSSL libraries

  • Updated TLS cipher suite list

  • TLS connections no longer permit TLS 1.0 and TLS 1.1

  • Corrected a potential DLL hijacking vulnerability

Changes related to the Windows platform

  • Added support for Windows Server 2019

  • Added support for Storage Replica

  • Significant performance improvements for demigration policies

  • SMB gateway installation improvements

  • Automated MSE process exclusion during installation

  • Junctions are now followed during filesystem traversal

Changes related to LinkConnect

  • Link-based migration support for Dell EMC Isilon and Windows NAS sources

Changes related to NetApp

  • Fixed file modified time issue when importing stubs from Windows to NetApp using a Move Policy

Changes related to Azure

  • Fixed 'allow unencrypted filenames' option. Previously, this option cannot be successfully enabled.

Changes related to S3

  • New feature: data may now optionally be migrated to S3 destinations preserving original filename information

  • Updated support for new AWS regions

Changes related to DataCore Swarm

  • DataCore Swarm is now supported by new scheme names:

    • scspdirect:// scheme (swarm:// still works as an alias)

    • scsp:// scheme (cloudscaler:// still works as an alias)

  • Improved handling of index-pending demigrates where the destination is no longer reachable

Upgrading from 3.x

Must to Know
Do not attempt a FileFly upgrade until all running tasks have been completed. The FileFly scheduler (responsible for launching scheduled tasks) must also be disabled before performing an upgrade.

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 the Downloads page and expand it on your FileFly Tools server.

  2. Go to Settings > Scheduler > Suspend Scheduler.

  3. Run the DataCore FileFly Tools.exe installer.

  4. If the license has changed (such as from FileFly 2.x), upload a new license file from Caringo / DataCore.

  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 is finalized, 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 if displayed.

  7. Click Start Scheduler.

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