New version numbering

File Director version numbering has been changed to reflect the rest of our product portfolio.

One Drive for Business connector scalability

This version introduces several improvements to both the File Director server and Windows client when used with OneDrive for Business connector:

• Handling of SharePoint Online HTTP 429 “Too Many Requests” messages: These messages occur when a process or user exceeds predefined usage limits and as a result are throttled for a brief period. With 2018.1, when the HTTP 429 message indicates that throttling is in effect, the rate of requests is reduced accordingly until the throttling messages cease.
• Multiple Application IDs: Previously, the OneDrive for Business Connector used a single application ID when connecting to the SharePoint Online API. With 2018.1, administrators can specify multiple application IDs. The result is more balanced usage and improved efficiency of the connector when trying to retrieve many folder listings from OneDrive. See OneDrive connector for Home map points.
• Resumable Uploads: Previously when the upload of a file was interrupted by an event such as a user logging off from their device, the file upload would need to be restarted. With 2018.1, the upload of the file is resumed following the interruption.
• Notifications set to Off by Default: File Director can be configured to provide notifications to the client when a file, a map point or policy change occurs. Whilst this mechanism provides value in smaller implementations, it can cause performance problems when used at scale. With 2018.1 the default setting for notifications is now changed to off. Notifications to be set to on when and if required.

Internationalization of the Windows client

With 2018.1 it is now possible to configure the Windows Client to display end-user messages in the following, local languages:

▪ French

▪ German

▪ Dutch

▪ Portuguese Brazilian

▪ Spanish

▪ Japanese

▪ Chinese Simplified

▪ Chinese Traditional

▪ Russian

▪ Italian

Bidirectional OneDrive Synchronization

Updates made to files on map points using any File Director client or the OneDrive for Business web or desktop clients are now synchronized.

Cluster Health Check

File Director now provides information relating to the performance and health of appliances. It is now possible to monitor and report upon a wide range of metrics including:

• Number of threads in use
• CPU Usage
• Memory usage
• Load average
• OneDrive for Business connector performance statistics

This new functionality provides the File Director administrator with the ability - via tools such as Splunk and Graylog - to monitor the health of their appliances and clusters, giving them the insight they need to drive operational performance and ensuring a high level of end user experience.

Improvements to File Delta Synchronization

With this release File Director now synchronizes the changes (or Deltas) that are made to files asynchronously. This means that files are now synchronized in a more robust, scalable and efficient way improving the end user experience whilst reducing the amount of bandwidth and server resources that are required.

This approach also ensures that uploads are not affected by any issues such as infrastructure timeouts, for example.

Smart PST Linking

When opening Outlook on a new endpoint for the first time and the Outlook profile is expecting to find a local PST file, the end user will experience an application hang whilst the file is downloaded. This is a scenario that can be common when a user is migrating to Windows 10 from Windows 7, for example.

File Director now offers the ability to unlink any remote Outlook Data Files (PST) before a user opens Outlook on a new endpoint for the first time. This occurs before the desktop has been loaded, ensuring that the end user experience is not affected whilst potentially large PST files download.

Once PST files are downloaded, File Director then performs a relink in the background, ensuring a smooth onboarding process for the end user throughout.

Removal of the 200 Worker Thread Limit per Server

The introduction of HTTP Persistent Connections also called HTTP keep-alive, or HTTP connection reuse in this release, introduces improved resource management for the File Director server. This has allowed the number of processing threads that are available to each server to be increased from 200 to 400.

The introduction of more threads means that each server can now process more requests at the same time resulting in faster response times to the File Director client.

These changes enhance the user experience when interacting with files that are being managed by File Director.

Storage connector for OneDrive for Business

File Director brokers users access to existing storage infrastructures without the need for administrators to ring-fence storage solely for the service. This unique on-premises server-agent architecture means we can solve problems companies face when trying to utilize the free storage every Office 365 user has. Using cloud storage successfully means its implementation should not impact the user experience or remove the existing enterprise control.

File Director 4.3 is our first release with a cloud storage connector. Customers upgrading to 4.3 can utilize each users 1TB of OneDrive storage for break/fix or Windows migration projects, and in virtual desktop environments.

Watch a related video

For more information, see: OneDrive connector for Home map points

Command Line Interface

The File Director Appliance provides a sealed operating environment for the server application, configuration options for customer environments, and gives the ability to cluster the service. As part of the new OneDrive storage connector we have introduced a lightweight CLI for customers to perform more advanced tasks, such as diagnosing network communication issues.

Watch a related video

For more information, see: Command Line Interface

Product Rename

Over time the features and functionality of DataNow has moved from a file access and sharing product, to a mature synchronization technology uniquely positioned to solve the common IT headaches around migration, break fix and multi-endpoint access.

As part of the Ivanti rebrand we felt it was the right time to take the opportunity to rename DataNow with a more descriptive product name. DataNow has been renamed File Director.

Rebrand

File Director has been updated to reflect the new company name of Ivanti (see here for more details). In addition, components on the endpoint have been updated to reflect these changes.

You may still see references to the ‘AppSense’ name used in certain areas, such as the Registry or Windows Services. This is to make the transition as least disruptive as possible for existing users of File Director.

Kerberos constrained delegation in cross realm environments

Credential Guard was introduced in Windows 10 Enterprise and uses virtualization-based security to isolate NTLM password hashes, Kerberos Ticket Granting Tickets, and credentials stored by applications as domain credentials, all so that only privileged system software can access them.

File Director 4.2 now supports constrained delegation with support for crossing realms for customers who have a requirement to use Kerberos authentication in their environment.

For more information, see Kerberos constrained delegation.

Toggle TLS 1.0

PCI compliance required us to disable SSL v3/TLS 1.0 in File Director. As outlined in this Microsoft support article configuring endpoints to default to a secure protocol (TLS 1.1 or TLS 1.2) requires the implementation of registry settings and potentially an update. Customers that are unable to implement this change can now toggle TLS 1.0 on in File Director 4.2.

In the File Director web admin console, navigate to Configuration > Advanced. TLS 1.0 support can be enabled for endpoints in the TLS 1.0 (for legacy clients) pane. Note that when enabled this is done across the cluster.

Ivanti recommends turning off TLS 1.0 support as soon as all legacy endpoints in the environment are updated or replaced.

For more information, see TLS 1.0.

New Server delta sync mechanism

DataNow 4.1 provides a new delta sync feature, built to reduce the both network traffic and the time to calculate and upload file deltas. Our SMB library supports block copies from the client endpoints.

Every step of the sync request had been optimized from client endpoint to DataNow server and on from DataNow server to the back end storage.

For more information, see File Sync.

Windows PST sync optimizations

In DataNow 4.1 we have heavily optimized the syncing of PST files, leveraging the new delta sync feature in the DataNow server. PST files can now be synchronized from the endpoint based on amount changed or time period.

PST synchronization in 4.1 sends only the local changes to the PST (that is, the delta), significantly reducing the network traffic and the time to complete the sync activity.

For more information, see PST Synchronization.

Windows client sync prioritization

Earlier versions of the Windows client would synchronize content based on discovery. In DataNow 4.1 we have moved to sync content based on age - newest first. The new sync prioritization provides users a better experience when moving from old to new devices but syncing the important content first. This is ideal in migration or break fix IT workloads.

Administrators can actively exclude files from the age priority list. This can be done by file type or size.

For more information, see File Prioritization

Global

Mobile

Policy Global

MobileMap Point Policy

Users and Devices