Novell Documentation: iFolder 2.1

D.3 iChain 2.1 and 2.2

There are several iChain® and iFolder compatibility issues, which severely limit the use of iChain services for an iFolder system.

Caching of iFolder Content

We recommend disabling iChain caching of iFolder content. Because iFolder data is private and encrypted, caching might slow, rather than speed, access.

Using HTTP Instead of HTTPS

When encryption is enabled, the iFolder client encrypts data with 128-bit Blowfish encryption for data transmission and storage on the iFolder server. Thus, iFolder sends all communications between workstations and the iFolder server securely, using http (rather than https).

iChain with Secure Exchange will try to redirect http traffic to https. Because iFolder uses http POSTs, and http POSTs cannot be redirected, these connections will fail with an http 409 error. For this reason, iChain Secure Exchange will work for HTML access only.

Disabling Secure Exchange

If the iFolder server is behind the proxy server with Secure Exchange disabled, then iFolder Management, Applet, and HTML (PDA) access methods, which require https, will not work. In addition, NetDrive cannot connect to iFolder through iChain if Secure Exchange is enabled. Only iFolder client access will work.

iFolder 2.1 and iChain 2.1 Interoperability Summary

iChain 2.1 Configuration	iFolder 2.1 Client	iFolder 2.1 Applet	iFolder 2.1 HTML/PDA	NetDrive 4.1	iFolder 2.1 Management Console
Authentication = Off Secure Exchange = Off	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No
Authentication = Off Secure Exchange = On	No	No	Yes	No	Yes
Authentication = On Secure Exchange = Off	No	No	No	No	No
Authentication = On Secure Exchange = On	No	No	Yes	No	Yes

iFolder 2.1 and iChain 2.2 Interoperability Summary

iChain 2.2 Configuration	iFolder 2.1 Client	iFolder 2.1 Applet	iFolder 2.1 HTML/PDA Access	NetDrive 4.1	iFolder 2.1 Management Console
Authentication = Off Secure Exchange = Off	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No
Authentication = Off Secure Exchange = On	No	No	Yes	No	Yes
Authentication = On Authentication Header = Off Secure Exchange = Off	No	No	No	No	No
Authentication = On Authentication Header = Off Secure Exchange = On	No	No	Yes	No	Yes
Authentication = On Authentication Header = On Secure Exchange = Off	Yes	No	No	No	No
Authentication = On Authentication Header = On Secure Exchange = On	No	No	Yes	No	Yes

Performance

If you are using an iChain proxy server to redirect requests to your iFolder server, be advised that uploads to the iFolder server are very slow, even with caching disabled.

This problem can be alleviated by entering the following at the iChain server console:

set tcp delayed ack=off