MOVEit Sync is a Windows application that can synchronize files in a local folder with a folder on the MOVEit Server. Users can set any local folder to be their Local Sync Folder. The Local Sync Folder supports normal Windows file operations, such as add, modify, delete, rename, copy, and move. Users can set the Remote Sync Folder to be any MOVEit folder to which they have access. (See the notes below on Setting Up Sync Folders and Permissions). When the Sync process runs it will update the two folders so they both contain the same set of files and folders.
You can set up MOVEit Sync to provide the following capabilities to your end users:
Synchronize a folder on a local computer with their MOVEit Home folder, or another personal folder on the MOVEit Server. In this way, the MOVEit folder can also be used as a backup folder for local files.
Synchronize a folder on a local computer with a shared (group) folder on the MOVEit Server. This setup allows users to share files with a workgroup.
Requirements
The Sync client has the following requirements:
MOVEit Server: The Sync client can work with MOVEit DMZ v7.5 or later.
Note: If MOVEit DMZ 7.5 will be used, it must be licensed to use the MOVEit API in order to support the Sync client. MOVEit DMZ 8.0 and later does not have this requirement.
Client computer: The Sync client can be installed on the same Windows systems supported by the Ad Hoc Transfer Plug-in for Outlook client. See the Ipswitch Client Installation Guide (PDF) for detailed requirements.
The Sync client user must be a registered user on the MOVEit server.
Like other MOVEit clients, Sync provides support for English, German, French, and Spanish language versions.
Client Installation and Deployment
You can roll out the Sync client to registered users in two ways:
Run the Ipswitch Client Installer program on the user's computer.
Use silent install and group policy to install the client on multiple computers
Note: A separate license is not required for the Sync client.
The Ipswitch Client Installer can install Sync and the Outlook Plug-in.
The user will need to complete the configuration by entering their MOVEit server information, local Sync folder, and remote Sync folder (their MOVEit folder).
Setting Up the MOVEit Connection
After a silent install or a standard install where the server has not yet been configured, the settings needed to connect to a MOVEit server are configured in the MOVEit Connector (system tray) > Configuration > MOVEit Sync dialog. These settings are described for the end user in the Sync help.
MOVEit Server. The host name or the IP address for your MOVEit server.
Sync uses the MOVEit Connector to connect to a MOVEit Server and upload and download files. The Outlook Plug-in also uses the MOVEit Connector (MOVEit Connector (system tray) > Configuration > Ad Hoc Transfer). If both clients are installed, they will share the configuration information for connecting to the MOVEit server. The two clients must connect to the same MOVEit server.
Username. The user name to access the MOVEit server.
Password. The password to access the MOVEit server.
This information is already populated if the user configures the server during the standard install, or after an upgrade where the data stores are retained.
Setting Up the Sync Folders and Permissions
The folder settings are configured in the MOVEit Connector (system tray) > Configuration > MOVEit Sync > Sync options dialog. These settings are described for the end user in the Sync help.
Local Sync folder. This can be any folder on the user's local system (for example, C:\Documents\Sync). Any files or subfolders placed in the Sync folder will be synchronized with the remote sync folder.
Remote Sync folder. This is the folder on the MOVEit server (for example, the user's home folder (usually /home/username) or a shared group folder). Any files or subfolders placed in the remote folder will be synchronized with the Local sync folder. When setting the remote Sync folder, the user can browse to select from their MOVEit folders.
Note: There are two restrictions on the Sync capabilities: The total size of files in the Sync folder must be less than 1 Gb; the total number of files in the Sync folder must be less than 100.
The Remote Sync folder should have the Allow File Overwrite setting set to No, which is the default setting on MOVEit folders. Sync will overwrite files in the Sync folder (even though the setting is No).
The different Sync user scenarios mentioned at the beginning of the topic are deployed by setting permissions and access to the MOVEit folder and its subfolders.
When a user wants to sync a local folder with their MOVEit folder, so they can have a backup of certain files, you should provide all permissions to the MOVEit folder: List, Read, Write, Delete, Subs.
When you are setting up a shared remote Sync folder on MOVEit, we recommend that each user have their own individual non-shared Sync folder and you set up a virtual subfolder within the user folder that points to the shared folder. In this case, if a Sync user deletes the virtual folder it does not delete the underlying real folder. Also, adding a sub-folder locally does not convey additional permissions to other users.
Note: When you create a sub-folder in MOVEit, the default behavior is that the subfolder inherits the permissions of the parent folder. When a Sync client user renames or moves a folder, Sync does an "add" to the new location, and a "delete" from the old location. This means that any custom permissions on the folder may be lost as the new folder takes on the permissions of the parent folder.
If you want to make the permissions and access settings different for each user, the setup requires more consideration. You should remove "Subs" permission from the shared folder for all users. Users will be unable to delete the shared virtual sub-folder and will also be unable to create new sub-folders.
You may also want some users to have access to only the top-level folder, or to certain subfolders; or you may want to restrict delete or upload permissions. Here are some examples:
To disallow a user or group access to a subfolder: from the permissions settings of the subfolder (virtual folder), remove all permissions for the user or group.
To disallow a user or group's ability to delete a subfolder: from the permissions settings of the parent folder of the subfolder, remove the Subs permission for the user or group. The user or group cannot delete or add a subfolder in the parent folder.
To disallow a user or group's ability to delete files from a subfolder: from the permissions settings of the subfolder, remove the Delete permission for the user or group.
To disallow a user or group's ability to upload files to a subfolder: from the permissions setting of the subfolder, remove Write permission for the user or group.
See Notes on the Sync Process and Known Issues below for important notes on folder settings and user access.
Error messages
The Sync client will display error messages for the following types of problems:
Connection errors: If the MOVEit server name is incorrect or the MOVEit server is not available, the user will see a connection error. If the user credentials are invalid or the improperly specified, the user will see a connection error.
Permission errors on the MOVEit folder:
To complete file operations such as list, add, and delete, the user must have the appropriate permissions set for their remote Sync folder (MOVEit folder).
If Sync cannot complete a file operation because of a permission issue, it displays the User does not have permission error, then Sync will be disabled to avoid any data loss. To enable Sync again, the user should back out the file operation that caused the error. For example, if the user adds a file to a subfolder of the local Sync folder, but they do not have write permission for the older, Sync will display a write permission error. The user must remove the file from the local folder, otherwise the error will occur again. After correcting the error, the user can enable Sync (right-click the MOVEit Connector and click Enable Sync.)
If the user gets a User does not have Delete permission error, this means the file the user deleted in the local Sync folder cannot be deleted in the remote Sync folder. The Sync client will restore the file to the local folder. In this case, the user does not need to enable Sync again.
The MOVEit administrator can change permissions on the MOVEit folders; Sync users cannot.
Notes on the Sync Process and Known Issues
If Ignore deletes is enabled (in the MOVEit Connector (system tray) > Configuration > MOVEit Sync > Sync options dialog), then only add, rename, and copy operations will be reflected after a Sync.
If Ignore deletes is enabled, a local move actually leaves a copy in the original location on the MOVEit folder. Thus, if you move a file from subfolder A to subfolder B in the Sync folder, you will see the file listed in subfolder B on the local system, but on the MOVEit folder, a copy remains in subfolder A. This is also true when moving folders. A copy of the folder remains in the original location in the MOVEit folder. Files within the moved folder also remain.
If Ignore deletes is enabled, a remote move will not leave a copy in the original location on the local folder. Thus, if you move a file from subfolder A to subfolder B in the MOVEit folder, you will see the file listed in subfolder B on the MOVEit folder, and you will see the same change on the local Sync folder. When moving folders, a copy of the folder remains in the original location on the local Sync folder, although any files within the moved folder are deleted from the original location.
If Ignore deletes is enabled, if a user creates a new folder in the local Sync folder, when the new folder is created in the remote Sync folder, a duplicate folder named "New Folder" may also be created. The user can delete this empty new folder.
When multiple users add (or modify) a file with the same filename at the same time (within a relatively short time interval, less than 30 seconds), a conflict will occur. The Sync client resolves the conflict by renaming the file that gets synchronized last. The renamed file has the original file name appended with the user's MOVEit username.
When multiple users move the same folder at the same time, the Sync client resolves the conflict by moving the folder to the location specified by the last move request. An empty folder may remain in the previously named locations. This folder should be deleted.
An Administrator or FileAdmin user cannot sync with a remote Sync folder that is a virtual folder or that contains virtual folders, even if they are in standard folders to which the user has list, read, write, and subs permissions. MOVEit assigns Admin permissions to this type of user; there is not a way to grant the user additional permissions to the virtual folder.
If a user moves or renames a folder within the local Sync folder, the folder on the remote Sync folder may lose the original permissions. This is because Sync does a "delete" from the original location (or name) and an "add" to the new location (or name). MOVEit folders inherit the permissions of the parent folder, so any custom settings for the folder may be lost.
When multiple users use Sync on the same machine, users other than the user that Sync was installed under may see a "Cannot connect to the server" message after entering their configuration information. To correct this, the user needs to close the MOVEit Connector (right-click the system tray icon, then select Exit). Then, restart the MOVEit Connector from the Start menu, and right-click the icon again and select Reconnect.
Data loss is possible in the following rare situations and can be avoided as noted:
If the user changes any configuration information (local Sync folder, remote Sync folder, username, MOVEit server location), Sync will clear the "states" information. When the next Sync occurs, there will be file conflicts because without the states information, Sync cannot tell if the file with the same name on the local and remote is the same. To fix this issue, the user should Disable Sync, then delete all local Sync content, then Enable Sync and let it synchronize to the remote folder.
By default, on the remote Sync (MOVEit) folder, the Allow File Overwrite setting is set to No. If it is set to Yes, the scenario described above, where multiple users add (or modify) a file and a conflict occurs, could result in the loss of changes made to one of the files. Make sure the Allow File Overwrite setting remains set to No.
The Sync client does not have file locking capabilities. File locking prevents multiple users from editing the same file at the same time and should be handled by the file editing application. If the application does not handle file locking, then data loss is possible as Sync cannot know that multiple users have a file open.
