Storage Manager 5.3.2 for eDirectory Released
(Jan 31, 2023)
Storage Manager 5.3.2 for eDirectory has been released as a product update supporting the release of Micro Focus Open Enterprise Server (OES) 2023. The product ISO includes RPMs for both OES 2023 and OES 2018 SP3.
- RPMs versioned 5.3.2 are for OES 2023
- RPMs versioned 5.3.1 are for OES 2018 SP3
Storage Manager 5.3 for eDirectory Released
(June 1, 2020)
Storage Manager 5.3 for eDirectory has been released as a product update supporting the release of Micro Focus Open Enterprise Server 2018 SP2. Additionally, the product includes updates to the Engine, Event Monitor, Agent, and Admin Client, including security updates, as well as a number of bug fixes.
Support for Open Enterprise Server 2018 SP2 Storage Manager 5.3 for eDirectory has been updated and tested to support the storage capabilities and features of Open Enterprise Server 2018 SP2.
Updates to Engine, Agent, and Event Monitor Updates include consolidation of native code, product updates for the current build system, and TLS updates for security.
Updates to the Admin Client Interface Some minor interface changes were made to the Admin Client with the objectives of making the interface more user friendly and more consistent with current product sets. Updates were also made to third-party libraries. In cleaning up the code base, some legacy code was removed.
Bug Fixes This product update includes several bug fixes. For more information, refer to the Storage Manager 5.3 for eDirectory Release Notes.
"Storage Manager for AD" is Now "File Dynamics"
New Product offering addresses dynamic demands for today's organizations
(Sept 16, 2019)
For more than a decade, Storage Manager has evolved as a single product in support of customers in both eDirectory and Active Directory environments. Although a single product offering, Storage Manager has really consisted of two deliverables, one for each environment. However, the need to develop and release new versions and updates to both sets of customers on their own cadence became more and more evident over time.
In order to better support customers, Micro Focus introduced File Dynamics in June of 2018 as the evolution of Storage Manager for Active Directory. File Dynamics focuses solely on the dynamic demands of today.s Active Directory organizations when it comes to data governance, growth, automation, compliance, security, and protection.
Micro Focus remains committed to Storage Manager eDirectory customers in that Storage Manager will continue to evolve on its own path and be supported indefinitely for customers in eDirectory environments. Look for an update soon for that product.
File Dynamics provides all of the Identity-Driven file system management capabilities of Storage Manager for Active Directory, along with a considerable amount of new features enabled through new Target-Driven policies that provide the ability to:
- Copy, move, and groom files located on any location on the network
- Protect files from data loss or corruption such as a ransomware attack
- Handle work processes initiated from other applications
- Notify selected individuals when access permissions to high-value targets change
- Monitor and lockdown changes in access permissions to high-value targets
- Set limits on how access permissions evolve through group inclusion and exclusion lists
- Assign data owners to be notified of access permission changes, perform data recovery, or perform remediation tasks
Upgrading from Storage Manager for Active Directory to File Dynamics
Much like upgrading from one version of Storage Manger to another, the process of upgrading from Storage Manger to File Dynamics is seamless. Existing policy definitions will move to the new product and Storage Manager customers will be right at home in the File Dynamics UI.
Product Pricing and Upgrade Choices with File Dynamics Essentials
File Dynamics, with its extensive product capabilities, has a higher per-user license price than Storage Manager for Active Directory. Upgrade pricing discounts from Storage Manager for Active Directory to File Dynamics may be available. Contact your Micro Focus sales representative for details.
With organizations setting annual budgets months in advance, Micro Focus realizes that a price increase from Storage Manager for Active Directory to File Dynamics might catch some organizations off guard. For this reason, File Dynamics Essentials is being offered as a bridge option.
File Dynamics Essentials offers all of the capabilities of Storage Manager for Active Directory, along with some new features, an updated Event Monitor, updated Agents, and support for Windows Server 2019. For a comparison between Storage Manager for Active Directory, File Dynamics Essentials, and the Full File Dynamics product, see the chart below.
All Storage Manager for Active Directory customers with active Maintenance will receive an activation code for File Dynamics Essentials. To activate a license, customers will use the activation code obtained from the Micro Focus Customer Care portal. Customers will use filedynamicssupport.com website to generate the FD Essentials license.
Micro Focus Storage Manager 5.2 Released
(May 16, 2017)
Storage Manager 5.2 for Active Directory delivers new product enhancements that continue to add value to Storage Manager for Active Directory customers. In fact, the new Work Log Reports capability actually details much of that value by reporting on the management tasks that Storage Manager is performing.
The Storage Manager 5.2 Engine is backwards compatible with the Storage Manager 4 and 5 Event Monitor. The Storage Manager 5.2 Engine requires the 5.2 version of the SMAdmin administrative client. We recommend that you update all Storage Manager components at your earliest convenience.
Work Log Reports
The Work Log is a mechanism that maintains a history of Storage Manager events, or in other words, actions that Storage Manager has performed. The Work Log contains summary records for events that have run to completion or have been aborted by administrative action.
Work Log reports are built in SMAdmin using a pivot grid interface. There are four preset options for viewing data, along with a playground option that lets you choose the parameters and presentation of the report.
In the example above, the administrator is using the playground option of the Work Log Report to show Storage Manager events that have taken place. The playground option enables you to specify what fields to include in the report.
Storage Manager enables you to export Work Log reports to the following formats:
- CSV
- HTML
- MHT
- RTF
- TXT
- XLS
- XLSX
The Work Log is an optional component of Storage Manager and requires you to install Apache CouchDB.
Updated Engine Status Page
Information on this page is now presented graphically. Additionally, the event logging is now on a persistent basis.
By holding down the Control key and selecting table cells, you can specify what parameters are graphed over a selected number of days.
Additional Enhancements
There are new Action Blocks for Move Schedule and Target Path.
Nested DFS Namespace Support addresses DFS configurations where a DFS link is configured to point to the root of a DFS namespace.
A new option for groom rules lets you now specify a set number of years that the contents of a user or group folder will be vaulted, based on a specified policy or groom operation. This is particularly useful for archiving files that have not been accessed or modified since a specific year.
Micro Focus Storage Manager 5.1 Released
(December 13, 2016)
Storage Manager 5.1 for Active Directory offers significant feature and performance enhancements that existing Storage Manager for Active Directory customers will want to leverage right away. In addition to upgrading the Engine, you will need to upgrade SMAdmin and all of your Agents to version 5.1. The Storage Manager 5.1 Engine is backwards compatible with the Storage Manager 4 and 5 Event Monitor. However, if you would like to use the new Scope feature, you must upgrade the Event Monitor to 5.1.
Event Monitor Scope
Rather than burdening the Storage Manager Event Monitor in observing all events in the Active Directory forest or domain, this new feature lets you "scope" the segments of the forest or domain that the Event Monitor will monitor. A scoped segment of the forest or domain might include specific containers or groups.
Use the new Scope feature to specify which areas of the Active Directory domain or forest are to be included and excluded from event monitoring.
Managed Path Naming Attribute
No longer dependent on the name of the sAMAccountName attribute value, which might or might not be a descriptive name of the user or group, you can now choose from among multiple attributes for the user or group folder name.
Any single-value AD Attribute can be selected.
Multi-Principal Group Storage Policies
This new policy type allows for multiple groups to access a shared group folder, with each group having different sets of permissions to the group folder.
Storage Manager 5.1 for Active Directory provides the ability to provision and manage folders that can be owned by multiple Active Directory security groups. Each group's access to these folders is dependent on the security group object's security principal.
Cross-Forest Data Management
Once you have established a trust relationship, you now have the ability to manage data in a secondary forest.
When managing data across forests, the User and Group objects must reside in the primary forest, but these objects' data can be managed in the secondary forest's network file system.
Faster Data Copying
Multi-threaded data copying now speeds up any management task involving data movement.
New Action Blocks
There are new Action Blocks for Managed Path Naming Attributes and Multi-Principal Group Storage policies.
