1.12. New features and changes in IDERI note Version 3.1

IDERI note Version 3.1 is a major improvement over version 3.0 of IDERI note with respect to server load resulting from the computer account support introduced with version 3.0 (see section 1.13).

The IDERI note service and the IDERI note client in Version 3.1 have been rearchitectured in order to reduce the number of network connections and the server load required for the operation of an IDERI note environment in professional licensing mode to that of the 2.x series of IDERI note releases. This means that with IDERI note Version 3.1, for a client connection in professional licensing mode, there is no more associated computer account connection necessary, that was created under the hood with version 3.0. In addition, with version 3.0 there was a need for cooperative clients in order to properly implement message reception deny semantics for messages that are adressed to both users and computers. This requirement has also gone with version 3.1. As an additional feature in version 3.1, both the IDERI note service and the IDERI note client can be configured in such a way, that messages can be shown in an IDERI note message window or the ticker on the Windows logon screen (see section 7.7) either additionally or exclusively. Note that this feature is only supported with the professional licensing mode of IDERI note and requires messages to be addressed either to computers only or to computers and users. For more information regarding this new feature of version 3.1, see section 7.7. Note also, that the professional licensing mode requires a working Kerberos environment.

The list of major changes in IDERI note version 3.1 at a glance:

  • Server and network load has roughly been reduced to half of the load in version 3.0. This means that network and server load of version 3.1 is now again in the same range as the 2.x versions of IDERI note.
  • New message send options “Show message on the logon screen” and “Show message on the logon screen only”. These send options require the IDERI note server to run in professional licensing mode. See also section 7.7 for the details and limitations of these two new message send options. Note that by default, this product feature is not activated for both the server and the client setup.
  • IDERI note Administrator now has the option to periodically autorefresh its message and reception view. Use this feature with care, as it can have impact on the IDERI note server’s performance when used in excess on many computers simultaneously.
  • IDERI note Administrator can now be configured (Ribbon: “Settings - Miscellaneous Settings - Name Resolution”) in such a way that users, computers and groups are shown with their Active Directory® display name instead of their account name. This makes differentiation between accounts that follow a numbering scheme or something similar much easier if meaningful display names have been specified in Active Directory®.
  • IDERI note Administrator and IDERI note QuickNote have both dropped support for old IDERI note server versions. Both programs now require at least version 2.7 of the IDERI note server.
  • Active Directory® Resynchronization functionality: This feature allows for dynamic changes in Active Directory® to be propagated to IDERI note clients almost instantly. For a description of this product feature, its use cases and limitations, read section 7.11.
  • High DPI awareness for all client components: All client components have been adapted for high DPI awareness. This means that on displays with high pixel density settings (higher than 96 dpi) the client user interface will not anymore be bitmap-stretched by the operating system like legacy applications, resulting in blurryness of text and graphics. Instead, text and graphics will be shown with sharp edges and great clarity. Note that for compatibility reasons with Windows® Vista, Windows® 7 and Windows® 8, the DPI awareness mode is “System DPI awareness”. In this mode, the primary display governs the application’s DPI settings.
  • IDERI note Server and IDERI note Administrator now allow the creation of messages and in particular the specification of message recipients and excludes when connecting from a foreign and untrusted domain (or workgroup computer) via a dedicated TCP port even if at the same time a firewall inbetween these components disallows SMB connections. Note that in this case, browsing for security principals (users, computers, groups) with the builtin dialogs still can not work, as these operating system supplied browsing functionality requires an SMB connection. However, it is possible now to supply recipients and excludes with a-priori knowledge about the names of the principals by simply typing them into the associated edit boxes which can then be resolved by the IDERI note server.
  • A new version of the Software Development Kit (SDK) is part of this release. This SDK brings support for the new functionality that is introduced with IDERI note version 3.1, such as new message flags for addressing Active Directory® computer objects, Active Directory® client synchronization, client logon screen access and much more.

In addition to these feature improvements, a large number of program defects have been fixed as well in version 3.1.

Attention

Recommended update procedure from earlier versions

When updating from a 2.x version of an IDERI note environment, the same considerations as with an update to version 3.0 apply (see section 1.13). In particular note that license keys for version 2.x of IDERI note will not work with version 3.x of the IDERI note server. Therefore make sure that you have received a suitable license key from IDERI prior to upgrading a production environment from version 2.x to version 3.1.

When updating from a version 3.0 environment it is important to know that the IDERI note client in version 3.1 is not able to connect to an earlier version of the IDERI note server than 3.1. However, IDERI note clients in version 3.0 or 2.x can still connect to an IDERI note server running in version 3.1. Therefore, when updating from an IDERI note version 3.0 environment, you should first update the IDERI note server to version 3.1 and afterwards all clients to version 3.1.