MobiLink new features

Following is a list of changes and additions to the software introduced in version 9.0.2.

  • New Redirectors  

  • Protocols can now be configured to ignore specified hosts   A new option, ignore, can be used to specify hosts that should be ignored by the MobiLink server when they connect.

    See ignore in -x option.

  • Prevent clients from waiting to synchronize when the MobiLink server is busy   You can now prevent clients from waiting to synchronize when the server is busy.

    See backlog in -x option.

  • Version stored in the consolidated database   The SQL Anywhere Studio version and build numbers are now stored in the MobiLink system table ml_property. For these entries, the component_name is ML, the property_set_name is server_info, the property_name is release_version, and the property_value is of the form version.build; for example, 9.0.2.1234.

    For more information about the MobiLink system table, see ml_property.

  • MobiLink server supports the new uniqueidentifier data type   The UNIQUEIDENTIFIER data type is now a native data type rather than a domain defined on BINARY(16). As a result, MobiLink remote databases now automatically carry out type conversions as needed, so that the String to UUID and UUID to String conversion functions are not needed to handle UNIQUEIDENTIFIER values.

    For information about the mapping of this data type to the supported consolidated databases, see MobiLink data mappings between remote and consolidated databases.

Security enhancements
  • FIPS-certified security streams   On Windows devices, you can now use secure communication with FIPS 140-2 certified software from Certicom.

    See Starting the MobiLink server with transport-layer security.

  • Connection options now shown in output log   MobiLink now displays the connection string and options in the output log, with passwords replaced with asterisks.

  • Deprecated security features   See MobiLink behavior changes.

MobiLink client enhancements
  • New synchronization setup tool for UltraLite   The UltraLite Schema Painter can now generate MobiLink synchronization scripts, as well as database tables and triggers for Adaptive Server Anywhere consolidated databases.

  • Now easier to delete a remote database and recreate it   The first synchronization of an Adaptive Server Anywhere client subscription now always works.

    See Progress offsets.

  • New dbmlsync hook is called when connections to MobiLink fail   A new event hook has been added, sp_hook_dbmlsync_connect_failed, that allows you to program ways to recover from failed synchronization connections.

    See sp_hook_dbmlsync_ml_connect_failed.

  • Improved integration of MobiLink clients into HTTP infrastructure   You can now synchronize using HTTP when a proxy and/or web server requires RFC 2617 Basic or Digest authentication.

    See:

    In addition, two new client connection parameters allow you to specify custom HTTP headers and custom cookies. In order to respect session cookies, HTTP clients now recognize all Set-Cookie and Set-Cookie2 HTTP headers that they receive in server replies and will send these cookies back up with all future HTTP requests. If the name of a cookie matches an existing cookie, the client will replace its old value with the new one. Cookies are not remembered between synchronizations: they are discarded at the end of the synchronization.

    See custom_header and set_cookie.

  • Assistance in detecting connection errors   MobiLink clients now issue a warning message when invalid connection parameters are specified.

  • Mirror log location   When dbmlsync is run on a different computer from the remote database, or when mirror logs are located in a different directory from mirror transaction logs, dbmlsync is now able to automatically delete old log files when you specify the location of old mirror logs using this new extended option.

    See MirrorLogDirectory (mld) extended option.

Server-initiated synchronization enhancements
  • Enhanced functionality for connection-initiated synchronization   In addition to _BEST_IP_CHANGED_, Windows Listeners now also generate the internal message _IP_CHANGED_ to help you initiate synchronization when there is a change in connectivity.

    See Connection-initiated synchronization.

  • Listener post action enhancements   When you specify Listener post actions, you can now optionally use a Windows message ID to specify the window message, and can optionally use the window title instead of the window class. You can also use single quotes around the window class name or message if your message or title include non-alphanumeric characters such as spaces or punctuation marks.

    See post in Listener syntax.

  • New action variables   There are several new action variables:

    • $request_id
    • $best_ip
    • $best_adapter_name
    • $best_adapter_mac
    • $best_network_name

    See Action variables.

  • More device support   The Palm Listener now supports Kyocera 7135 and Treo 600 smartphones.

    See Listeners for Palm devices.