FileZerver release V04.11.00 is now available for download for
firmware update of Cyclone 2+ boards using the admin "Firmware
Update" web page, ZerverView, or FTP, in file fzi0411.bin.


Major Change for V04.11.00 --

SmartMirror has been enhanced.  Along with "Backup" operation,
in which the share on one system holds the current, live data,
and another system holds the backup, SmartMirror can now support
two systems that are more like equal with an "Update" operation,
in which each file's time-stamp is used to determine which
system has the up-to-date data, and which should be the backup.

The previously available SmartMirror choices are intended for
an environment in which one system has the live data, and the
role of the other system was only as a backup.  The direction
choices "Pull From Remote Server" and "Push to Remote Server"
duplicate exactly the source directory at the destination,
and remove any extraneous files at the destination that did
not exist at the source.

The new direction choices, "Pull From Remote, Newer Files Only,"
and  "Push to Remote, Newer Files Only," will send files that
have a newer timestamp on the source system, or which do not
exist on the destination system.  For these "Update" choices,
a file on the destination system with a newer timestamp is
not overwritten, and no files are removed from the destination
system.


There are some additional choices for "Start Time" hour and
minute.  Instead of picking one of the hours from 00 to 23, you
can choose "ALL", which means that the task will be scheduled
to run during every hour of the day.  Another choice for the
hour value is "DAY", for which the task will be scheduled to
run during every hour from 07 to 19, 7AM to 7PM.

The choice for minute within an hour also has some additional
values.  A task can be scheduled to start at any five-minute
point once within an hour.  The value "15,45" can be selected
so that it will run twice, at 15 minutes and at 45 minutes
after the hour.  The value "0,10,..." can be used to run a
task every ten minutes.


The combination of using an "Update" Task, selecting  "Pull
From Remote, Newer Files Only," or  "Push to Remote, Newer
Files Only," with scheduling once every hour or several times
per hour, can be used to solve some difficult synchronization
and back-up problems.

Two FileZervers with shares linked by a pair of Update Tasks
(a Push and a Pull scheduled on one of them, or a Pull Task
from the other scheduled on both of them) will do automatic
backup in both directions, and will also do some kinds of
automatic restore -- if a file is deleted accidentally, it will
be restored from the other system after the next scheduled task
(the next day or the next hour).

There is a certain amount of load-sharing possible_-- users can
map to either system based on load, speed, or availability,
regardless of which system was the "original" and which the
"back-up".

This is not the same as real-time remote-mirror with
file-locking, however.  If a file is updated, separately, on
both FileZervers during the interval between scheduled Update
Tasks, then the changes made to the file with the earlier
time-stamp will be lost, the file with the later time-stamp
will prevail, and that file will appear on both systems after
the next Update Task.

Also, if a file is deleted deliberately from one system,
it will be automatically restored from the other.  If a
file or directory is renamed deliberately on one system,
another copy with the old name will automatically re-appear.
Removing or renaming must be done on both systems before the
Update Task runs.


October 18, 2004