Difference between revisions of "Regibox Faq"

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(Created page with "== General FAQ == === Why do I need to sign up a regify account in order to become a regibox member? === Because we want to make sure that people are, at least, basic authent...")
 
 
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−
== General FAQ ==
+
More FAQ on the [http://www.regify.com/index.php?PageID=FAQregibox regify homepage].
  
−
=== Why do I need to sign up a regify account in order to become a regibox member? ===
+
== Technical FAQ ==
−
Because we want to make sure that people are, at least, basic authenticated. By using your regify account, we ensure that you are in possession of the e-mail address the box owner entered during your invitation. We only know about a person if he registered a regify account. Imagine we would not verify the account, either noone or all people with access to this e-mail address would be able to become a member of the box. Both is not the intention of secure communication.
+
 
 +
=== I have problems, can I do some debugging? ===
 +
 
 +
Yes, please take a look at the [[Troubleshoot_regibox|regibox trouble shooting]] pages.
 +
 
 +
=== Is it possible to move the regibox root folder? ===
 +
 
 +
Yes, there is a way to change the location. Follow this guide:
 +
 
 +
# Stop regibox manager (right click on the ToolTray icon and close the program).
 +
# Move the whole regibox root folder to the new location (incl. all subfolders). <u>Do not copy, please move the folder and files.</u>
 +
# Edit the regibox.ini:
 +
## Note: With regibox Manager V2, there is an additional ''lib/'' sub-folder (here in parenthesis).
 +
## The file is located in
 +
##* Windows: ''%APPDATA%\regify\regibox\(lib\)regibox.ini''
 +
##* Linux: ''~/.regify/regibox/(lib/)regibox.ini''
 +
##* Mac OSX: ''~/.regify/regibox/(lib/)regibox.ini''
 +
## Change the "boxRoot" entry to point to the new root. The path needs to end on backslash (Windows) or slash (Linux, OSX).
 +
# Restart regibox manager.
 +
 
 +
There are a few limitations for the location of the new regibox root folder. Please respect.
 +
 
 +
* Do not point to a location where the user does not have full read/write/delete access permissions.
 +
* We do not recommend using a network share as regibox may become slow and syncronization may be not reliable. If you do so, please activate network mode in regibox manager settings.
 +
* regibox only accepts one regibox root folder. You cannot run multiple instances of regibox to get more root folders.
 +
* Multiple regibox managers from one or more computers must never point to the same network share!
 +
 
 +
=== Is it possible to run regibox as a Windows service? ===
 +
 
 +
There is a daemon/service version available as SDK (Software Development Kit). It's named '''regiboxd''' and is available for Linux and Windows (x64). It allows the unattended use of regibox including API for automated processing. This is not to be confused with a desktop version of regibox. It does not offer GUI. Please contact support(at)regify.com for getting access to this SDK.
 +
 
 +
If you like to run the regular regibox GUI version, there is no serviced option available. You may consider software like [https://www.coretechnologies.com/products/AlwaysUp/ AlwaysUp], but we have no experience with it and can't support you on this. It may be needed to make sure that no second instance is ran at any time in the same user context. Eg for running regibox manager to handle the configuration, the service would have to become stopped previously. <span style="color:#8B4513">For sure, you may need to test this carefully before production!</span>
 +
 
 +
If you are willing to auto-login a session on your Server, please note that if Windows starts to the Desktop directly, it normally also auto-starts the regibox Manager by default. At least, the setup already adds it to the users auto-start during installation. If this fails for you, you may want to run regibox manager by yourself on Server startup together with the comand-line switch '''-m''' for a minimized start.
 +
 
 +
By the way, you can find the possible command-line options by running regibox manager executable using '''-h''' (for help).
 +
 
 +
=== How to execute a silent regibox setup? ===
 +
 
 +
Simply call the setup with the '''/silent 2''' switch (Windows only):
 +
 
 +
regibox-1.3.2-4433.exe /silent 2
 +
 
 +
=== How to create a logfile for the installation process? ===
 +
 
 +
You can call the regibox setup file with the '''/logfile''' switch (Windows only):
 +
 
 +
regibox-1.3.2-4433.exe /logfile
 +
 
 +
This will create a file "Logfile_[ProductName]_MSI.txt" in your system&nbsp;%TEMP% folder. You can also combine this with the /silentex switch, if you like to get more information about the silent installation.
 +
 
 +
===Any information about usage in Docker or other containers?===
 +
 
 +
We do not support usage in Docker environment. Neither for the regibox Manager nor the regiboxd solution.
 +
 
 +
We've heard that there are issues with file system events if the root is on the host. They do not come through to the container reliable ([https://stackoverflow.com/questions/59864725/missing-inotify-events-in-git-directory source], [https://william-yeh.net/post/2019/06/inotify-in-containers/ source]). So this is not supported. We suggest to keep both regibox(d) and the root folder on a non-docker environment. Please do not try network mode, as this is only working for a limited number of regiboxes and files/folders. The network mode might be removed in future versions.
 +
 
 +
=== What ports and domains do I need to whitelist? ===
 +
 
 +
Please note that we recommend to NOT restrict outgoing internet access to regify software. If regify settles parts of the infrastructure to new IP addresses or changes the SSL cert vendor, you very likely will have hard to find issues.
 +
 
 +
Anyway, the following connectivity is needed:
 +
# Port 443 TCP to the connected regify provider.
 +
# Port 443 TCP websockets to the connected regify provider.
 +
# Port 443 and 80 to regify infrastructure (eg for updates).
 +
#* You can find all domains by entering your (sub)provider domain to [https://www.regify.com/checkWhitelist.php this tool].
 +
#* If your users sync content from regibox users of other regify (sub)providers, you will also have to allow their (sub)providers domains.
 +
 
 +
== regibox Manager to regiboxd migration ==
 +
Sometimes we are asked about the best way of migration from regibox Manager to regiboxd. The way with the least effort is to stop regibox Manager and assign a regiboxd session to the existing database.
 +
 
 +
=== How to migrate ===
 +
Please note that the path described here only works if you migrate within the same major versions of regibox Manager and regiboxd. The path is described for regibox Manager version 2.1.0 on Windows.
 +
 
 +
# '''Stop''' regibox Manager (Tray icon, ''Exit'').
 +
# '''Uninstall regibox Manager''' using System control or the uninstall option from Windows start menu.
 +
#* Please note that this will not delete the configuration or any data inside of regibox root folder.
 +
# Determine '''regibox configuration folder''':
 +
#* Typically this is ''%APPDATA%\regify\regibox\lib\''.
 +
#* Note the full path!
 +
# '''Rename config files'''. Use file explorer and go to the regibox configuration folder. In there:
 +
#* Ensure there are no files with extension ''.sqlite-shm'' or ''.sqlite-wal''! If you find such, another regibox manager or regiboxd is running on this folder! This is a source of massive errors. Please stop and uninstall any other regibox Managers and regiboxd services.
 +
#* Rename ''regibox.ini'' to ''regibox'''d'''.ini''.
 +
#* Rename ''regibox.sqlite'' to ''regibox'''d'''.sqlite''.
 +
# This is the best moment to '''make backups'''.
 +
#* We suggest you to make a backup of the regibox root folder and the complete folder with regibox configuration.
 +
# '''Download and install regiboxd''' with standard configuration.
 +
#* IMPORTANT: The installation tool adds the regibox tools to your PATH environment. So you can run the tools from any location in the command shell.
 +
#* IMPORTANT: You can [https://manuals.regify.com/docs/regiboxd/current/reference_manual/ find the regiboxd documentation online].
 +
# Open a '''CMD prompt using Administrator permissions'''.
 +
# Type the following to '''register a new instance''' to the existing regibox Manager configuration:
 +
#* The used path for -c is the one gathered above for regibox configuration folder.
 +
#:<pre>regiboxd -c "C:\Users\regify\AppData\Roaming\regify\regibox\lib" -i "instance-1" -d "Migration instance of regiboxd"</pre>
 +
# Get a list of the services for validation using
 +
#:<pre>regiboxd -L</pre>
 +
# Verify the correct functionality using
 +
#:<pre>regiboxctl -c "C:\Users\regify\AppData\Roaming\regify\regibox\lib" -J "{'op':'getBoxInfo'}" -p</pre>
 +
# You're finished
 +
 
 +
We strongly suggest you to verify synchronization now. Place some test file into one of the regiboxes and verify synchronization on the other members of this regibox.
 +
 
 +
=== Some useful regiboxd call examples ===
 +
'''Turn on local copy for all files and folders of given regibox uid:'''
 +
    regiboxctl -c "C:\Users\regify\AppData\Roaming\regify\regibox" -J "{'op':'localOnOff', 'uid':'srp79f915967u3doyd8o7orfikjyn5d8', 'filePart':'','isOn':1}"
 +
 
 +
'''Turn debugging on and off:'''
 +
    regiboxctl -c "C:\Users\regify\AppData\Roaming\regify\regibox" -J "{'op':'diagnostics'}"
 +
 
 +
'''Stop and remove regiboxd service named "instance-1":'''
 +
    regiboxd -u "instance-1"
 +
 
 +
You can find more examples in the [https://manuals.regify.com/docs/regiboxd/current/reference_manual/#_examples regiboxd manual].
 +
 
 +
== Automation rules ==
 +
These rules help you to avoid issues if you are creating files and folders automatically into regibox.
 +
 
 +
# '''Do not use any folder inside of regibox root folder for temporary work'''
 +
#* All disk activity below the regibox root folder is observed and every file/folder you create triggers regibox activity with a lot of work.
 +
#* Compile your temporary files outside of regibox root folder.
 +
# '''Do not store partial file contents in regibox folders'''
 +
#* Sync may start even if your file is not completed. Receivers will get incomplete files.
 +
#* Complete your files at some temporary place and only copy the final version to regibox.
 +
#* If you create incomplete files, it may create multiple versions.
 +
#* If a receiver deletes incomplete files, it may also delete your final file then in reversal (due to delayed sync).
 +
#* If you want the receivers to process partial files, use some timestamp or increasing ID to generate unique filenames.
 +
# '''Do not delete content until receivers had a chance to process your files.'''
 +
#* Give other regibox managers time to sync your files.
 +
#* If you delete to early (for example in seconds), it might happen that the receivers never get the files at all.
 +
# '''Clean-up unused data'''
 +
#* Even deleted files stay in "recovery" folders.
 +
#* Use regiboxd function ''emptyRecovery'' to cleanup this space every now and then for your regiboxes.
 +
#* See [https://manuals.regify.com/docs/regiboxd/current/reference_manual/#_examples regiboxd manual] for an example.
 +
# '''Delete unused regiboxes'''
 +
#* If you no longer need regiboxes or their content, delete them instead of only unsubscribing.
  
−
=== Isn't there a way to do some action on the recipient side without installing some software? ===
 
−
The regibox system provides real end-to-end encryption. Thus, neither the regify provider nor any other storage in the Internet is having access to unencrypted box content or to the keys needed to decrypt. Because of this, no web-server is able to give you access to the content. This is, why you can not access or browse the content using a web-browser.
 
−
The key is delivered to your local machine (PC or mobile) during acceptance of an invitation. This is done in a way that the regify provider is not even able to gather the keys...
 
−
If you are the owner of a box or you got administrator permissions, you may publish a file for temporary access by users without regibox or regify account (right click -> Publish).
 
  
−
=== What are the features and benefits of regibox? ===
 
−
Take a look here: [http://www.regify.com/index.php?PageID=portfolio-regibox regibox pages at www.regify.com]
 
  
−
== Typical usage questions ==
 
  
−
=== I can see the file in regibox manager, but not on my local device? ===
 
−
There are several possible reasons for this:
 
−
# Maybe you turned off the "Local Copy" feature for the file(s)? Right click the file and try to select "Local Copy On".
 
−
# Maybe you turned off the "Local Copy" feature for the whole box? Right click the box on the left tree and select "regibox properties..." to open the properties dialogue. Check, if the "Turn on local file copies by default" check-box is ticked.
 
−
# Maybe the file is not already synchronized? As long as the file list entry is showing a '''↻''' or '''↓''' symbol, the download is not yet complete. You have to wait for synchronization.
 
  
−
=== How do I access older versions? ===
 
−
Select the file inside of the regibox manager. On the lower right pane you can see the version history. Right click the desired version and select "Open temporary copy" to take a look. Important: The file is opened from a temporary folder, not from the original document location!
 
  
−
=== How do I solve conflicts? ===
 
−
Best is to right click the affected versions in the lower right pane of your regibox manager. You can choose to "Open temporary copy" of both affected files to open up both conflicting versions. Now do some merge or decide about the best version to keep. Save this new version using the normal "Save as..." function of your editing program (eg Word, Excel etc) and save it with the same name and on the same location where you have saved the previous versions. This will make this the new current version and the conflict is solved.
 
  
−
== Technical FAQ ==
 
  
−
=== I have problems, can I do some debugging? ===
 
−
Yes, please take a look at the [[Troubleshoot_regibox|regibox trouble shooting]] pages.
 
  
−
=== What ports is regibox using ===
+
-
−
In order to allow regibox to work, you need to allow regibox to access the Internet on TCP/IP ports 443 and 80.
 

Latest revision as of 14:06, 12 July 2022

More FAQ on the regify homepage.

Technical FAQ

I have problems, can I do some debugging?

Yes, please take a look at the regibox trouble shooting pages.

Is it possible to move the regibox root folder?

Yes, there is a way to change the location. Follow this guide:

  1. Stop regibox manager (right click on the ToolTray icon and close the program).
  2. Move the whole regibox root folder to the new location (incl. all subfolders). Do not copy, please move the folder and files.
  3. Edit the regibox.ini:
    1. Note: With regibox Manager V2, there is an additional lib/ sub-folder (here in parenthesis).
    2. The file is located in
      • Windows: %APPDATA%\regify\regibox\(lib\)regibox.ini
      • Linux: ~/.regify/regibox/(lib/)regibox.ini
      • Mac OSX: ~/.regify/regibox/(lib/)regibox.ini
    3. Change the "boxRoot" entry to point to the new root. The path needs to end on backslash (Windows) or slash (Linux, OSX).
  4. Restart regibox manager.

There are a few limitations for the location of the new regibox root folder. Please respect.

  • Do not point to a location where the user does not have full read/write/delete access permissions.
  • We do not recommend using a network share as regibox may become slow and syncronization may be not reliable. If you do so, please activate network mode in regibox manager settings.
  • regibox only accepts one regibox root folder. You cannot run multiple instances of regibox to get more root folders.
  • Multiple regibox managers from one or more computers must never point to the same network share!

Is it possible to run regibox as a Windows service?

There is a daemon/service version available as SDK (Software Development Kit). It's named regiboxd and is available for Linux and Windows (x64). It allows the unattended use of regibox including API for automated processing. This is not to be confused with a desktop version of regibox. It does not offer GUI. Please contact support(at)regify.com for getting access to this SDK.

If you like to run the regular regibox GUI version, there is no serviced option available. You may consider software like AlwaysUp, but we have no experience with it and can't support you on this. It may be needed to make sure that no second instance is ran at any time in the same user context. Eg for running regibox manager to handle the configuration, the service would have to become stopped previously. For sure, you may need to test this carefully before production!

If you are willing to auto-login a session on your Server, please note that if Windows starts to the Desktop directly, it normally also auto-starts the regibox Manager by default. At least, the setup already adds it to the users auto-start during installation. If this fails for you, you may want to run regibox manager by yourself on Server startup together with the comand-line switch -m for a minimized start.

By the way, you can find the possible command-line options by running regibox manager executable using -h (for help).

How to execute a silent regibox setup?

Simply call the setup with the /silent 2 switch (Windows only): 

regibox-1.3.2-4433.exe /silent 2

How to create a logfile for the installation process?

You can call the regibox setup file with the /logfile switch (Windows only): 

regibox-1.3.2-4433.exe /logfile

This will create a file "Logfile_[ProductName]_MSI.txt" in your system %TEMP% folder. You can also combine this with the /silentex switch, if you like to get more information about the silent installation.

Any information about usage in Docker or other containers?

We do not support usage in Docker environment. Neither for the regibox Manager nor the regiboxd solution.

We've heard that there are issues with file system events if the root is on the host. They do not come through to the container reliable (source, source). So this is not supported. We suggest to keep both regibox(d) and the root folder on a non-docker environment. Please do not try network mode, as this is only working for a limited number of regiboxes and files/folders. The network mode might be removed in future versions.

What ports and domains do I need to whitelist?

Please note that we recommend to NOT restrict outgoing internet access to regify software. If regify settles parts of the infrastructure to new IP addresses or changes the SSL cert vendor, you very likely will have hard to find issues.

Anyway, the following connectivity is needed:

  1. Port 443 TCP to the connected regify provider.
  2. Port 443 TCP websockets to the connected regify provider.
  3. Port 443 and 80 to regify infrastructure (eg for updates).
    • You can find all domains by entering your (sub)provider domain to this tool.
    • If your users sync content from regibox users of other regify (sub)providers, you will also have to allow their (sub)providers domains.

regibox Manager to regiboxd migration

Sometimes we are asked about the best way of migration from regibox Manager to regiboxd. The way with the least effort is to stop regibox Manager and assign a regiboxd session to the existing database.

How to migrate

Please note that the path described here only works if you migrate within the same major versions of regibox Manager and regiboxd. The path is described for regibox Manager version 2.1.0 on Windows.

  1. Stop regibox Manager (Tray icon, Exit).
  2. Uninstall regibox Manager using System control or the uninstall option from Windows start menu.
    • Please note that this will not delete the configuration or any data inside of regibox root folder.
  3. Determine regibox configuration folder:
    • Typically this is %APPDATA%\regify\regibox\lib\.
    • Note the full path!
  4. Rename config files. Use file explorer and go to the regibox configuration folder. In there:
    • Ensure there are no files with extension .sqlite-shm or .sqlite-wal! If you find such, another regibox manager or regiboxd is running on this folder! This is a source of massive errors. Please stop and uninstall any other regibox Managers and regiboxd services.
    • Rename regibox.ini to regiboxd.ini.
    • Rename regibox.sqlite to regiboxd.sqlite.
  5. This is the best moment to make backups.
    • We suggest you to make a backup of the regibox root folder and the complete folder with regibox configuration.
  6. Download and install regiboxd with standard configuration.
    • IMPORTANT: The installation tool adds the regibox tools to your PATH environment. So you can run the tools from any location in the command shell.
    • IMPORTANT: You can find the regiboxd documentation online.
  7. Open a CMD prompt using Administrator permissions.
  8. Type the following to register a new instance to the existing regibox Manager configuration:
    • The used path for -c is the one gathered above for regibox configuration folder.
    regiboxd -c "C:\Users\regify\AppData\Roaming\regify\regibox\lib" -i "instance-1" -d "Migration instance of regiboxd"
  9. Get a list of the services for validation using 
    regiboxd -L
  10. Verify the correct functionality using 
    regiboxctl -c "C:\Users\regify\AppData\Roaming\regify\regibox\lib" -J "{'op':'getBoxInfo'}" -p
  11. You're finished

We strongly suggest you to verify synchronization now. Place some test file into one of the regiboxes and verify synchronization on the other members of this regibox.

Some useful regiboxd call examples

Turn on local copy for all files and folders of given regibox uid: 

   regiboxctl -c "C:\Users\regify\AppData\Roaming\regify\regibox" -J "{'op':'localOnOff', 'uid':'srp79f915967u3doyd8o7orfikjyn5d8', 'filePart':,'isOn':1}"

Turn debugging on and off: 

   regiboxctl -c "C:\Users\regify\AppData\Roaming\regify\regibox" -J "{'op':'diagnostics'}"

Stop and remove regiboxd service named "instance-1": 

   regiboxd -u "instance-1"

You can find more examples in the regiboxd manual.

Automation rules

These rules help you to avoid issues if you are creating files and folders automatically into regibox.

  1. Do not use any folder inside of regibox root folder for temporary work
    • All disk activity below the regibox root folder is observed and every file/folder you create triggers regibox activity with a lot of work.
    • Compile your temporary files outside of regibox root folder.
  2. Do not store partial file contents in regibox folders
    • Sync may start even if your file is not completed. Receivers will get incomplete files.
    • Complete your files at some temporary place and only copy the final version to regibox.
    • If you create incomplete files, it may create multiple versions.
    • If a receiver deletes incomplete files, it may also delete your final file then in reversal (due to delayed sync).
    • If you want the receivers to process partial files, use some timestamp or increasing ID to generate unique filenames.
  3. Do not delete content until receivers had a chance to process your files.
    • Give other regibox managers time to sync your files.
    • If you delete to early (for example in seconds), it might happen that the receivers never get the files at all.
  4. Clean-up unused data
    • Even deleted files stay in "recovery" folders.
    • Use regiboxd function emptyRecovery to cleanup this space every now and then for your regiboxes.
    • See regiboxd manual for an example.
  5. Delete unused regiboxes
    • If you no longer need regiboxes or their content, delete them instead of only unsubscribing.





-

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