Linoma Adds Enterprise Features to MFT Offering

February 15, 2011 Alex Woodie

Linoma Software last week unveiled a new release of GoAnywhere Director, its managed file transfer (MFT) solution. Version 3.5 brings a number of enterprise-level capabilities, including support for message queue (MQ) technologies and CIFS file shares, auto resume features, and file locking capabilities. New IBM i-specific command shortcuts were also added.

Transfer Anywhere debuted about three years ago as Linoma’s do-it-all data movement utility for IBM i and other platforms. The Java-based software, which grew out of Linoma’s earlier Transfer Anywhere product, allowed users to do all kinds of things with their data, including distributing it via SFTP and FTPS; translating among different file formats; replicating data among databases; encrypting data via OpenPGP; compressing data via ZIP and TAR; and managing all this from the comfort of Web browser interfaces.

In 2009, Linoma rolled out GoAnywhere Director as it simultaneously introduced a version of the product called GoAnywhere Services that was primarily designed as a “data storefront” to make it easy for customers to share data with their customers or partners over the Web, without requiring a formal client installation of the full MFT product on a supported server.

Organizations that do a lot of heavy lifting with their data movement activities and need a centralized solution for ease of management and compliance are better off with the full GoAnywhere Director product, which installs on IBM i, Windows, Unix, and Linux servers.

Linoma has fleshed out the product with GoAnywhere version 3.5, which features various enterprise-level features. For example, support for fault-tolerant MQ technologies like WebSphere MQ (MQ Series), SonicMQ, and ActiveMQ (via the Java Messaging Service, or JMS, standard) makes the software applicable to these high-volume, business-critical environments.

Small businesses communicating with a lot of Windows servers will be interested in the new support for the common Internet file system (CIFS) protocol. Linoma says support for the SMB/CIFS protocol will enable the software to manage, encrypt, and transfer files to and from network shares in Windows, Linux, and Unix environments.

Customers who have been stumped when large file transfers unexpectedly fail or timeout will be interested in the new auto-resume feature that debuts in version 3.5. This feature is commonly found in more expensive MFT solutions that use proprietary protocols to help ensure delivery. Linoma says the auto re-connect feature works with FTP, FTPS, and SFTP protocols.

Another enterprise-level feature in version 3.5 is support for file locking capabilities. Since GoAnywhere Director has the capability to directly connect to relational database management systems such as DB2/400, SQL Server, MySQL, Oracle, Postgres and others, the capability to lock data files on read and write operations will help to ensure data integrity and minimize any conflicts.

Linoma also added a new high availability feature that ensures GoAnywhere configuration settings can be recovered in the event of unexpected outage. This feature works with DB2/400, MySQL, and SQL Servers, and also stores log data collected by GoAnywhere. rnIBM i customers will also be interested to hear about the new command shortcuts that Linoma added. These shortcuts will streamline access to popular functions from the IBM i command line, including SFTP gets/puts, Open PGP encryption/decryption, ZIP and UNZIP.

File monitors have also been added that constantly scan for new or modified files in certain folders. When GoAnywhere detects a change, it can automatically execute a process workflow against the file. The product’s scheduling and workflow functions have also been adapted with new templates that streamline the setup process for certain functions.

Linoma chief architect Bob Luebbe hopes his customers take advantage of the new functions. “As its feature-set continues to grow, GoAnywhere Director can be used to streamline even more data transfers while providing the audit trails and security needed for compliance,” he states in a press release.

GoAnywhere Director 3.5 is available now. Pricing starts at $3,495. For more information and trial downloads, see the product website at www.goanywheremft.com.