Conflict Confirmation

When several users share files, each time a file is opened by one of the users, only the latest version of the file is available. If "Jane" modified a file and then "Dick" opens the same file, "Dick" will get the latest version modified by "Jane."

When an Agent is offline, the following can occur

  1. A file exists on a volume and is mirrored by two Agents X and Y, in two different locations.

  2. Agent X is disconnected from the Vault, and switches automatically to offline mode.

  3. A user on X modifies a file while X is offline.

  4. A user on Y modifies the same file.

  5. The connectivity between Agent X and the Vault resumes.  

At this point, there are two different versions of the file: one on Agent X and the other on the Vault and on Agent Y. This is called a file collision. The action taken to resolve it is called conflict resolution.

What does WAFS do when a file collision is detected?

When an Agent comes online (as in step #5 above), it performs an initial synchronization with the Vault in order to catch file collisions. When a file collision is found, the Agent simply makes its copy of the file the most current. In the example above, X's version of the file becomes the "last version" and thus becomes the "current version" on Y as well.

Since all past versions of all files are kept on the Vault, a user can always restore any past version of the file, including the version that was modified on Y when Agent X was offline.

Can the conflict resolution behavior be altered?

If the Agent is used in an interactive environment, it is possible to alter the default behavior so that when the Agent that was offline comes online and finds a collision, it will prompt the user for an action. The user can chose one of the following options:

  1. Upload the user's version of the file to the Vault, thus making it the current version on all the other Agents.

  2. Download the version from the Vault, overriding the local version.

  3. Save the file locally with a new name, before overwriting the file with the other Agents, allowing the user to compare versions later.

Registry editing is for advanced users only. Incorrectly editing the registry can severely damage your system. You should always back up (export a copy of) the registry before you make any changes to it.

To enable interactive collision resolution, edit on each Agent

  1. Stop the Agent.

  2. Open the Registry Editor. (Click Start > Run, type regedit, and then press ENTER.)

  3. In the registry tree (in the left pane), click the registry key that you want to edit:
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Availl\AvaillClient\Settings\enbCollPrompt
    and set the value to 1. (To restore the automatic conflict resolution, set the value to 0.)

  4. Restart the Agent.

If the enbCollPrompt value does not exist, create it and set its value 1:

  1. Stop the Agent.

  2. Open the Registry Editor. (Click Start > Run, type regedit, and then press ENTER.)

  3. In the registry tree (in the left pane), navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Availl\AvaillClient\Settings

  4. Right-click Settings, then click New > DWORD Value.

  5. In the right pane, change the "new value" key name to enbCollPrompt.

  6. Double-click enbCollPrompt and set its value to 1. (To restore the automatic conflict resolution, set the value to 0.)