TNCS-0033 – ChronoSync 4.6.6 Enhancements and Fixes
Created: March 6, 2016
Although ChronoSync 4.6.6 does not include any new features it does include numerous improvements and fixes with the most notable change being improvements made to security when communicating with our other products. The release of ChronoSync 4.6.6 coincides with the release of ChronoSync Express v1.1.2, ChronoAgent v1.6.0, InterConneX v1.2.1 and ChronoMonitor v1.1.2. The principle reason for the simultaneous release is the upgrade to the security model employed by all these products when establishing secure data communication sessions.
FEATURES
Improved Security
ChronoSync now implements a stronger security model for encrypted communication with ChronoAgent and InterConneX. Improved encryption strength does come at cost — performance. This means the higher the encryption, the slower the transfer of files. If connecting to ChronoAgent you have control over the strength of the encryption; Low, Medium and High. Learn the details of the security improvements and compatibility with our products in the “Enhanced Security Model” Tech Note. Highlights of these security changes include adopting TLS v1.2 when establishing secure connections, choosing stronger encryption ciphers and making these changes compatible with the latest versions of ChronoAgent (1.6.0) and InterConneX (1.2.1).
Improved Resilience
Since it is so important that backups complete successfully, this version contains improvements to identifying and resolving communications issues ChronoSync may encounter. ChronoSync is now able to recover from a wider variety of network disruptions when transferring data to/from ChronoAgent. ChronoSync does a better job picking the optimal WAN settings when connecting to a ChronoAgent over the internet. Also, the ‘Optimal host routing’ feature of each ChronoSync Connection Profile now makes a better and faster decision for what path to take to a remote target. In addition to these agent connection improvements, there is now better integration with the system Power Manager for scheduled synchronizations that occur in the midst of sleep/wake cycles.
Improved Performance
ChronoSync 4.6.0 introduced Smart Scan which greatly reduces the amount of time ChronoSync spends scanning files which is reflected in reduced time for a backup or sync to run. This version builds on Smart Scan by implementing ‘client side queries’ across a ChronoAgent (v1.6.0+ or v1.4.9+) connection. This technique reduces the communication overhead when scanning ChronoAgent targets. Other visible performance changes include more efficient display of entries in the Trial Sync Selector window, more efficient Analysis Report generation and faster launch time.
Improved File Handling
This update contains two improvements to how files are handled before being copied. First ChronoSync handles file systems that are dynamically changing while being scanned better and fixes some issues when dealing with aliases created by the system in the local iCloud Drive storage.
Improved Usability
ChronoSync 4.6.6 includes several visible improvements to feedback and notifications. Specifically, ChronoSync now displays the remote machine icon when connecting to ChronoAgent v1.6.0 or newer. Also, new messages explicitly warns users when security settings may be preventing a connection to a remote target. There is also more accurate updating of readiness messages when a target connection state changes. Finally, there are changes that take into account more types of user activity that cancels the auto-termination after scheduled synchronizations complete.
FIXES
Below is a list of fixes contained in ChronoSync 4.6.6.
- Automatic exclusions at root level of volumes were not working.
- More accurate updating of readiness messages when a target connection state changes and/or failures.
- Any backup that targeted the root level of the boot volume would not reconstruct alias files that get copied.
- Closing a sync document window within 1-2 seconds of sync completion could potentially cause a crash.
- Archive deletion and restore operations did not have their initial log entries bookmarked.
- User/group mapping on a ChronoAgent connection could be temporarily disabled when encountering large folders and updating the the Sync Document UI at the same time.
- The “Saving…” progress indicator at sync completion was not visible on Yosemite & El Capitan systems.
- In rare instances, closing a sync document window while actively editing text in a field could have caused a crash.
- A flaw in the networking logic could have terminated active connections erroneously.
- The Document Organizer was erroneously displaying duplicate entries after performing duplication & rename operations in a certain sequence.
- The Sync Log window could not be opened in the midst of performing a Restore, Delete or Archive Restore operation.
- Each entry in the sync tree was unnecessarily being refreshed twice in the Analysis Report.
- Eliminated some long stalls that could occur when a large number of files were selected on the Analyze Panel and those files changed state in the file system.
- If opening a bootable backup document that could not connect to either target, it was possible the document would spontaneously change to a ‘regular’ (non-bootable) backup.
- A layout problem with the readiness popover window could clip its content.
- If ChronoSync did not formally shut down, unwanted scheduler jobs could run on the next launch.
- Performing an ‘Include’ on an excluded item no longer performs a blanket reset of the sync document’s SmartScan state.
- The Connections preference pane will no longer refresh the status of connections when the window is not visible.
- The ‘verifying’ progress string was sometimes not displayed when copying a file and employing checksum data verification.
- If a sync document window were open with the summary sheet displayed, and it was triggered to run by the scheduler, the sheet would be closed potentially causing ChronoSync to crash.
REVISION HISTORY
March-06-2016 – Created.