Artec OS 5.3 Software for EMA and VSTOR Appliances

ARTEC IT Solutions AG OS 5.3 (AOS 5.3) provides a software release for EMA and VSTOR appliances, which is distributed to all EMA and VSTOR systems via an automatic update on April 19, 2017.

As a service, the company offers customers the option to switch earlier to the EMA and VSTOR versions on request. They can obtain the update via our customer support.

AOS 5.3 at glance:
With AOS 5.3 you can mainly benefit from two innovations:

WAN synchronization solves the inherent latency problems that thus far could have occurred when large amounts of data have to be synchronized between multiple sites. With the API programming interfaces and a software development kit (SDK) the possibilities connecting third-party applications as well as the import of data have again been expanded.

WAN synchronization
WAN synchronization is a further developed variant of the known AOS function ‘Regular Backup’ of EMA and VSTOR.

Currently, if data is synchronized continuously between two geographically separated locations over a certain distance, the use of conventional protocols often results in a latency problem that can massively escalate: for larger data sets and especially many single, smaller files and documents, the necessary processing and ‘acknowledgment’ for each individual file entails that transfer latency in the range of milliseconds can cause delays of hours or even days in the medium to long term. A backlog, which prevents efficient, near-time synchronization. In the interest of a compliance-safe storage and against the backdrop of keeping both locations in the same state, this is often unacceptable.

WAN Synchronization solves this challenge with its own synchronization protocol developed by the company. The main unit connects directly to the second machine to be synchronized. Data are thus also written directly to the second system by AOS. Larger amounts of data are collected and transmitted as a single data packet.

Further advantages of WAN synchronization:
Stand-alone, fully independent synchronization between sites – without additional use of WAN optimization systems, VPN or other systems.

Secure data exchange through individual certificates, matching the corresponding main unit. Only authorized machines can communicate with each other.

If the primary site fails, the second system provides a standby machine with complete index and database – in the state just before the failure.

SMART API/SDK
With numerous newly developed APIs as well as current SDK, the firm offer almost unlimited possibilities to present portfolios of structured and unstructured company data in any type of business application, to import data from business applications into EMA or VSTOR, and to keep them in a secure, separated system, for instance:

Extensive search and downloads via the domain list
Inclusion filters
File upload and delegation
Unification of the APIs for the export of CSV files (also aggregated)
Automated triggering of a Voice-to-Archive call to a monitoring number

Available APIs:

API for File Upload
Enables to process File-to-Archive documents, including attributes, via API, and thus to incorporate ‘additional sources’ in EMA and VSTOR, for instance receipts from a a self-developed portal.
API for download of e-mails and documents
Allows to download data via API directly access them in other applications.
API for search
Allows searching with the help of stored or individual searches and scrolling in the result.
Syslog support for secure log
Enables transmission of all entries in the secure AOS log to external syslog servers (central collecting point for logs of all programs).
API for PBX integration
Allows, for instance to archive voice calls via CSTA and monitoring functions. Here, EMA or VSTOR are triggered to call a monitoring number via an individual, external program through the API.
API for external reporting solutions
Enables automated download of CSV lists of all documents by date, in order to develop own reporting solutions. EMA/VSTOR delivers everything necessary for analysis in third-party applications.
API for synchronization of delegations
Enables the automated upload of delegates via CSV file.
API for synchronization of local domains and inclusive filter for addresses
Enables uploading and downloading the local domains and the addresses of the inclusive filter via API.

Firegate VPN

Other features:

Extensive set of rules to derive attributes automatically from subject, sender, recipient, and all the headers of e-mails,and to attach them automatically to customer numbers, deletion locks, tags, minimum retention times, specialist archives or much more.
IPMI support, to be able to remotely control appliances based on AOS also when switched off and enable witching them on and off from standard monitoring systems, as well as querying sensors, e.g. of IoT systems. The appliances can be integrated into a separate maintenance VLAN for this.
Indexing of OpenOffice documents
With AOS also OpenOffice documents in OpenDocument format can be indexed. Affected, old documents are automatically re-indexed in the background after the update.
Firegate VPN Is integrated into AOS. The new, optionally available product is based on AOS and has been developed to allow companies and organizations to have a secure access to hosted data and applications. The solution is designed for the secure connection of individual sites and systems in cloud projects with EMA and VSTOR. Firegate VPN captivates with its configurationless connection set-up, easy integration of terminal equipment, as well as with keeping higher security standards than normal VPN solutions. Firegate VPN will be further upgraded with every new AOS release.

Further improvements:

Extended SNMP support (to incorporate AOS devices in monitoring solutions) for sending test notifications to the monitoring system
Adjustment of the column names in the search result from different data sources, for instance, if a search result only provides only file documents instead of a mix of all documents from all sources
Automatic import of unknown or foreign RAIDs when disk sets are exchanged between DAS storage
Faster opening of large mail import enterprise projects with large objects
More improved diagnostic possibilities to quickly identify corrupt Notes documents
Possibilities for the customization of the login image for optimal adaptation of the design to the own corporate identity (scaling and aligning of the image possible)
Improved memory check from boot menu
Performance enhancements for distributed search to ensure faster results
Warning for certain potential configuration errors of the local domain
New code-signing certificates for all Windows add-ons that can be download from the company’s products