White Paper

An Enterprise Approach to
Mobile File Access and Sharing

Table of Contents

page

Anywhere, Any Device File Access with IT in Control  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 1Filr Competitive Differentiators  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 2

Filr High-Level Architecture  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 2Other Features  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 5Filr Deployment and Configuration  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 7Users Get the Mobile Access They Want, and You Stay in Control  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 11

OpenText™ Filr offersa better alternativefor end users and IT.

Anywhere, Any Device
File Access withIT in Control

Like it or not, cloud-based file sharing services have opened a new worldof mobile file access and collaborative file sharing users are not about togive up. And why should they?
They can get to the files they need whenever they want from any mobile device. They don’t have to jump

through any bureaucratic hoops to share the files, and this saves time. They collaborate more easily withcolleagues and clients. They get more done.

With these productivity gains and time savings, many users might not care about the risks associated withcopying corporate files to consumer-oriented cloud services. Users see regulatory compliance issues,
loss of file access controls, potential security breaches, increased IT management efforts, and other cloudproblems as issues for IT, not them. Users have a job to do, and no amount of policy creation and enforce-

ment will cause them to subordinate their own productivity to enterprise concerns. To meet the need, youmust give them a solution that’s equal to or better than what they’re using today.

OpenText™ Filr offers a better alternative for end users and IT. May be rephrase it directly—Filr is a better
option for end users and IT. It gives users easy, anywhere, any-device access to corporate files, while

keeping file access and sharing completely under IT control. It gives users the mobile file access andcollaborative file sharing experiences they want, but through an enterprise-ready solution that leverages
your existing, on-premises infrastructure. Filr eliminates the need to manage third-party services or police
users by allowing you to mobilize your existing file servers, existing files, and existing file system rights.

Filr serves as the connection between those file servers and the endpoint devices your organization uses,

including Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android devices. It also offers web access via popular browsers. Filrdelivers easy-to-use, synchronized file mobility, while enabling your organization to retain policy-driven
controls over file access and storage.

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1White Paper
An Enterprise Approach to Mobile File Access and Sharing

Filr Competitive Differentiators
Unlike other mobile file access and collaborative file sharing solutions, Filr has been designed with theenterprise in mind, resulting in less administration, better security, and the ability to leverage existing investments. Some of the key competitive differentiators that Filr provides to the IT departments are:■ Support for multiple identity stores, including Microsoft Active Directory and NetIQ eDirectoryby OpenText™

■ Native file system integration with Microsoft Windows Server and OpenText™ Open EnterpriseServer (using CIFS/NCP). Files remain on existing, on-premises enterprise file servers, eliminating theneed to move or duplicate files.

■ Reuse of the user access controls and quotas that you have already established. The group anduser access rights that govern your organization’s home and network folders also govern user accessfrom mobile devices.

■ Seamless integration with users’ existing folders, including home directories and network shares.

This allows users to get to work on day one of using Filr.

■ Use of users’ real credentials for file access. This ensures authorized access and audit trail support.
■ Granular control over sharing. In addition to the access control already configured in your identity

management system and file systems, Filr lets you determine which files and folders users can shareeither internally or externally.

Filr High-Level Architecture
At a high level, the core technological capabilities of Filr are driven by its integrated virtual appliances.
Also playing key roles are its front-end, user-facing services and its integration with existing back-end
enterprise services .

Filr Virtual Appliances

Filr consists of the following three virtual machines:■ OpenText™ Filr Appliance■ OpenText™ PostgreSQL Database Appliance■ OpenText™ Search Index Appliance■ Content Editor Appliance (available only for OpenText™ Filr advanced edition)

All three appliances are currently certified to run on VMware ESX, Windows Hyper-V, Citrix Xen, and SLES
Xen. We plan to add support for other hypervisors in the future based on customer demand.

2

At a high level, thecore technologicalcapabilities for Filr are
driven by its integrated
virtual appliances.

Regardless of whether
users access their files
through a mobile app,browser, MacBook
or Windows laptop,
Filr always presents
an intuitive, easyto-use interface.

FILR APPLIANCE

The Filr Appliance provides the logic and services that allow users to easily and securely access andshare files. Since this appliance incorporates both the database and search index services, it can be used

for small deployments or pilot projects. In typical enterprise environments, the PostgreSQL Database
Appliance and the Search Index Appliance should be deployed separately.
POSTGRESQL DATABASE APPLIANCE

The PostgreSQL Database Appliance is a database that stores information about your organization’s Filr

deployment and users, including structural and identification information about folders and files, and user
profile information. You can also use an existing PostgreSQL or Microsoft SQL database from your environment and simply point the Filr appliance to that database during the initial Filr configuration
 .

SEARCH INDEX APPLIANCE

The Search Index Appliance is a high-performance Java search engine built with Lucene technology. To

enable fast searches of files and folders in Filr, the Search Index Appliance scans and indexes, on a sched-

uled basis, all the designated folders (including their sub-folders and files) stored on your back-end filesystems. It provides full-text indexing not only on file contents and file names, but also on the commentsthat Filr users make on specific files.

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White Paper
An Enterprise Approach to Mobile File Access and Sharing

The Search Index Appliance collects all the metadata and user security access rights associated withfiles and folders. The indexing of metadata allows Filr users to search through millions of files and receive
quick results. Separate from the search and index functionality, users can directly access files and fold-ers to which they have rights through a real-time look-up capability provided by the main Filr Appliance.
This ensures that users can always find and see the latest files added to your organization’s back-end filesystems, even if Filr hasn’t yet indexed those files.

Front-End Filr Services

Filr allows users to easily access all their files and folders from their desktop, browser, or mobile device.
It has mobile apps for iPhones and iPads (iOS 14 .x and 15.x), Android phones and tablets (5 Netapp andlater). Filr provides a Windows client and a Mac client for use on desktops or laptops. It also provides web
access through a standard web browser, such as Firefox, Chrome, Edge, or Internet Explorer.

All these mobile apps and clients let users connect to their files from wherever they roam. Additionally, Filruses secure socket layer (SSL) encryption via HTTPS to secure all communications with these different
clients and devices.
USING FILR

Filr enables users to work with files in three main ways:

1. Access. Users can access the files they need in multiple ways, including from a web browser,

their desktop, or a mobile device.

2. Share. If you enable sharing, users can share files with co-workers and grant them specific rights

to those files, such as read-only or editing. Users can also easily see what others have shared withthem. To the extent that your organization allows, users can also easily share with colleagues outsideof your enterprise walls.

3. Collaborate. Users can make comments on any file they have access to or that has been sharedwith them. Other users with access can see those comments and add their own.

EASY-TO-USE INTERFACE

Regardless of whether users access their files through a mobile app, browser, MacBook, or Windows laptop, Filr always presents an intuitive, easy-to-use interface. The Filr user interface provides instant accessto users’ files through a simple click of one of the following main icons or folders:■ My Files. Access to and management of individual users’ personal files, which in most cases will bethose files stored in their network Home Directory.

■ Net Folders. Access to users’ existing NCP or CIFS network shares is based on access rights definedin the file system, as well as whether the IT administrator has allowed Filr to present these shares.

■ Shared with Me. Access to files and folders that others have shared with the user, with access limited

based on the specific privileges the owners have granted.

■ Shared by Me. Management of the files and folders that users have shared with others, including theability to grant additional rights or revoke rights.

4Filr gives you complete
control over how users
can access and sharefiles and which files they
can access and share.

While Filr can easily
handle thousands ofusers, organizations
with several thousand
users can further
increase performanceby deploying multiple
instances of the main
Filr appliance behinda load balancing
L4 switch.

What’s New is another key user interface feature that provides an up-to-date view of the latest changes

happening in the Filr system, such as new files, the latest changes to files, and information on users who

have modified files. The interface also provides a search field that allows a global search of content within
the Filr site, including file content, metadata, and comments. Users can set their own personal preferenceson how Filr displays files and how many files will appear on a given page.

Other Features
Automatically Uploading Photos and Videos to Filr

Users can upload/download files. On iOS and Android devices, you can set the Filr app to automaticallyupload the photos and videos from the local storage to the Filr server. Photos and videos are automaticallyuploaded to the Filr server without any notification to the user.

Performing Collaborative Edits

Users can also edit the files online. Filr allows to perform secure collaborative edits on your documents.

Collaborative edits can be performed on all major file types such as documents, spreadsheet, and so on.
Edits are done by using the Browser, and no Native application is required.

Files App Integration (iOS Only)

The Filr mobile app allows you to view most files within the app. Depending on the size and type of file, theapp might need to be opened in a third-party app, or a warning might be displayed before you can view
it in the Filr app.

Personal files(can be mapped
to your home
directory)

Files and folders
you are currently
sharing withothersGlobal searchsearches everything
on the Filr site for which
you have accessDownload files
or folders onto
your mobile
device to makethem available
when you are
offlineFiles and folders
shared with you
by others

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Shared folders
assigned to youby the IT admin(e.g. G:\Finance)

Files and Folders
that are sharedas Public5

White Paper
An Enterprise Approach to Mobile File Access and Sharing

The Windows and Mac clients for Filr not only give users access to their own files and shared files, but theyalso synchronize those files to the users’ desktops or laptops, so the most up-to-date content is easily
accessible whether users are online or offline. As an added benefit, this ensures that when users workon files stored in Filr from their laptops or desktops, those files will always be backed up to the network.

Organizations can also choose whether they want to enable synchronization. When enabled, Filr will syn-chronize the contents of My Files and Shared with Me by default. Users can also choose to have some, or all
their Net Folders synchronized. Users should use care when configuring which Net Folders to synchronize

so they don’t consume an excessive amount of local storage. When configuring Net Folder synchronization, users will receive a warning if the configured synchronization results in an excessive amount of data

being synchronized. If synchronization is disabled, organizations can rest easy knowing that they can pro-vide access to sensitive data without that data ever being copied to devices that might get lost or stolen.

Back-End Filr Services

One of the main advantages of Filr over cloud-based file sharing solutions is that it leverages your organization’s existing back-end file services and servers. Filr simply serves as the connection between yourexisting file servers and the endpoint devices your users use. This eliminates the need to duplicate yourorganization’s files and file structure onto a third-party hosted solution. It also eliminates the added effortof having to manage that additional hosted file infrastructure.

Since the files remain on your existing file servers, there’s no need to expand, copy or change the filesystem infrastructure. There’s no need to expand or change your existing backup and recovery systems
either. Files stay protected and under your control.

Filr supports both CIFS and NCP, enabling it to support file services provided by either Microsoft Windows
Server or Open Enterprise Server
LDAP INTEGRATIONPart of the power of Filr comes from its ability to integrate with an organization’s existing directory service,

whether it’s Microsoft Active Directory, NetIQ eDirectory or a combination of both. Filr can synchronize
with these directory services to simplify the creation of Filr users, automatically pulling in each user andgroup’s existing access controls and authentication requirements. Whatever group and user access rights
govern your organization’s network folders will also govern access to those resources via Filr mobile apps
or clients .

Additionally, Filr uses your directory service setup as it is. It doesn’t require any schema extensions ordirectory reconfiguration.

6

In all cases of sharing,
you maintain control
over your organization’scontent.

Filr doesn’t require IT
administrators to try to
reinvent all their user
access and file systemrights—rights thatthey’ve taken years to
configure and fine-tune.

IT ADMIN CONTROLS

Leveraging existing back-end file services and LDAP directory services are key to the way Filr allows you

to retain control and security over your organization’s files. Unlike other solutions, Filr doesn’t require IT
administrators to try to reinvent all their user access and file system rights—rights that they’ve taken years

to configure and fine-tune. The directory services and file systems on your enterprise servers dictate who
owns files and who has rights to files. Filr does not change those rights.

Besides using your existing user and file system rights, Filr adds additional IT admin controls. While thesolution can give users anywhere and any device access to their files, you can limit that access if desired.

Perhaps you only want users to be able to access certain folders from a mobile device or via web access.
Maybe you’re okay with users being able to view all their authorized files from any device, but you only want

to allow a subset of files to be downloaded. Or it could be that you let users in one department both viewand download files to their mobile devices from a certain folder, while users from a different department
can only view those files. Filr gives you and your IT administrators very granular control over mobile andweb user access.

It’s important to note that just because users have the right to access and download their files from any

device doesn’t mean that they can share those files. File sharing must be turned on by the IT administrator. IT administrators have direct control over who can share files, to whom those files can be shared, andwhat files can be shared.

To whatever degree you turn on sharing, you will essentially be extending what users can normally do withany given file. To enable sharing without altering existing file rights, Filr lets you create proxy users in Filr tofacilitate secure and authorized file sharing. You can create a proxy user for any network folder and define
what access rights that proxy will have.

So, when a user decides to share a file from her home directory with a co-worker, even though that co-worker doesn’t have access rights to that file, Filr recognizes the file has been shared with the co-worker

and grants access via the proxy user. As mentioned before, it’s entirely up to you whether this functionality
is turned on and to what degree. Filr gives you complete control over how users can access and share files
and which files they can access and share.

Filr Deployment and Configuration
Deployment and configuration of Filr is very straightforward, simple, and fast. The appliances are installedusing a VMware vSphere client. After entering the appropriate authentication information and configuring the basic network setup, you browse to the address of the Filr appliance and click the Filr Server

Configuration icon, which initiates a simple and easy-to-use wizard to perform the necessary configuration operations.

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White Paper
An Enterprise Approach to Mobile File Access and Sharing

The first configuration task will be to specify whether to perform a small or large deployment. Except for
testing or small sites, the large deployment option should be chosen in most cases because it can bescaled upwards while also allowing for high availability and fault tolerance. The next task is to point the Filr

Appliance to the Search Index Appliance and the PostgreSQL Database Appliance (or your organization’s
existing PostgreSQL or Microsoft SQL database). Following that, Filr will automatically configure many of
the settings, but you will have the option to change them as desired.

Once Filr is up and running, the main configuration tasks that need to be completed involve the following:■ User creation and provisioning■ Home directories■ Shared network folders■ Local users and personal storage■ File sharing Security

While Filr can easily handle thousands of users, organizations with several thousand users can further

increase performance by deploying multiple instances of the main Filr appliance behind a load balancing
L4 switch. You can also add additional database and index appliances to your setup as needed.

User Creation and Provisioning

The easiest way to add users to Filr is to set up LDAP synchronization with your organization’s directory
services. You can automatically add users to the Filr. This is done from within the Filr administration console,where Filr gives you various user and group synchronization options, as well as synchronization schedulingoptions. LDAP synchronization allows users to log into Filr using their corporate credentials. Filr does notstore these credentials, but logs users in against your corporate LDAP directory.

You can also manually add users to Filr or import them using profile files. Filr also provides the option toallow external users to access your Filr site either as guest users or registered users or. External user access is not enabled by default.

Home Directories

A major advantage of creating Filr users via LDAP synchronization is that the synchronization process
can automatically populate the My Files section of the Filr user interface with the files from users’ existing
network home directories. This means that the first-time users log into Filr—whether from a mobile device,

web browser, or laptop—they’ll be able to immediately access their personal files without any additional
setup or extensive file copying those other solutions require. Also, by allowing users to work directly fromtheir home directories, Filr enables them to work faster, create files confidently and never have to worry
about duplicating files or reconciling conflicting versions.

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The first-time users log
into Filr—whether froma mobile device, webbrowser, or laptop—
they’ll be able toimmediately accesstheir personal files
without any additional
setup or extensive filecopying those othersolutions require.

Filr gives you granular
control over which files
users can and cannot
share. Sharing is
configurable ona per user, group,or folder basis.

Shared Network Folders

In most organizations, users have authorized access to more than just the files in their home directories.

They will have access to a variety of different network folders or mapped network drives. For example,
members of the marketing department might have access to various shared marketing folders. The files

in these shared locations are where a lot of the collaborative work resides for an organization’s different
teams and departments.

You can have the contents of these shared folders or mapped drives populated for users inside the Net
Folder area of the Filr user interface. To provision these Net Folders, you simply assign the desired network
folders to specific groups or users. When users click on the Net Folder tab, they’ll be able to access thesefiles and folders in accordance with their corporate-defined access rights. Because they’re accessing

and working with the original files, they don’t have to worry about accidentally creating duplicate files orreconciling multiple file versions.

Local Users and Personal Storage

As already mentioned, you have the ability to manually add users to Filr. These are referred to as local us-

ers, who might include temporary workers, contract workers or any guest user that is not stored in yourorganization’s LDAP directory. Since local users do not have any file access rights to your network serv-

ers, they will not have access to any Net Folders in Filr. They will only have access to files that have beenshared with them by internal Filr users.

However, you have the option to turn on personal storage for local users, which allows them to upload andstore files in their personal My Files area of Filr. This personal storage resides in and is managed by Filrrather than on your back-end file systems. While you also have the option to turn on personal storage foryour internal users as well, it’s rarely needed due to the home directory integration.

File Sharing

Filr gives you granular control over which files users can and cannot share. Sharing is configurable on a

per user, group, or folder basis. You can limit sharing to internal users within your organization or open it
up to external users. Filr provides two main levels of external sharing.

When enabled, the first method of external sharing requires external users to create an account and authenticate with Filr. A typical scenario for external sharing would be when an internal user wants to share afile or folder with a specific individual outside the organization. The internal user would enter the person’s

email address in the sharing dialog for a specific file or folder. Filr would then send an invitation email tothat person, prompting the person to create an account on Filr. Once the account is created, the externaluser can log in to access the shared item and any other items that have been shared with the external user.

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9White Paper
An Enterprise Approach to Mobile File Access and Sharing

External users can collaborate on files based on the permissions they receive from people who haveshared items with them. External sharing makes working with contractors and other companies much
more efficient. Filr provides mechanisms to allow you to monitor external user sharing.

The second method of external sharing is public sharing. Public sharing does not require any authentication, nor does it provide any file collaboration capability. When a user shares a file publicly, Filr generates

a URL link that points to the file, which internal users can provide to outsiders to allow them to access thefile. For example, the link for a marketing flyer or presentation file could be posted on the web or Twitter.
When that link is clicked, it will take people directly to the file. This type of sharing greatly simplifies yourorganization’s ability to push out public-facing files to targeted customers or partners, eliminating the needfor users to involve you, the web development team or other groups in your organization.

In all cases of sharing, you maintain control over your organization’s content. You can establish tight con-trols that ensure that all files are not shared outside your organization, or you can establish looser controlsthat allow different degrees of external access and sharing.

Security

Filr is backed by a strong security infrastructure. All encryption is done with industry-leading SHA and AES

algorithms using strong keys (2048 bits). Communication between the suite of appliances is authenticatedand secured using different credentials for each unique instance of every appliance.

While Filr uses SSL encryption for all communication between the Filr site and users’ mobile devices, theFilr apps do not encrypt files downloaded to the devices. The main reason for this is that the mobile devices
themselves would negate any encryption by Filr once a downloaded file is allowed to be used within any
other app on the mobile device.

One way to deal with this is to configure Filr to prevent users from downloading files to their devices. They
could still view files; they just couldn’t edit them.

If you want to allow downloading, there are ways to make sure that all files downloaded to users’ mobile
devices are encrypted. The best way to accomplish this is to configure the mobile devices to encrypt all
downloaded data.

For iOS devices with hardware encryption, this is done by creating a passcode lock. For Android 4

and later devices, this is done by turning on data encryption in the security settings. It’s recommended
that you enforce this data encryption using a mobile device management solution to ensure consistentpolicy adherence.

10

Filr is backed bya strong security
infrastructure.
All encryption isdone with industryleading SHA and AES
algorithms using strong
keys (2048 bits).

Filr gives users the
productivity gains
and time savings thatmobile file access andcollaborative sharing
offer without exposing
your organization
to the risks andadditional management
requirements ofcloud and third-party
hosted solutions.

Filr also allows you to manage the Filr app on mobile devices. This can provide an alternative method ofmonitoring or protecting data on mobile devices. Administrators can see what devices have accessed theFilr system and can wipe Filr data from specific devices. This allows you to remove sensitive informationfrom lost or stolen devices.

Users Get the Mobile Access They Want,and You Stay in Control
Filr gives users the productivity gains and time savings that mobile file access and collaborative sharing
offer without exposing your organization to the risks and additional management requirements of cloud andthird-party hosted solutions. It lets you maintain enterprise files on-premises and keeps you in complete

control over file access and sharing. Filr enables your organization to stay in compliance and continue toenforce your established security and data protection measures, while users enjoy the easy, anywhere,
any device file access they demand.
Learn more at

www.microfocus.com/en-us/products/filr/overview
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11Connect with Us
OpenText CEO Mark Barrenechea’s blog

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