FastX 3.3 Server Release Notes

Release Channel: 3.3.59

Early Access Channel: 3.3.61

* denotes Release Channel Release

3.3.61
September 8, 2023

  • Case 92656: Detect the failure to start an encoding thread (because the user has reached the maximum number of processes). Fall back to non-threaded execution when this happens.
  • Case 92791, 92821: Fix SELinux permissions and no longer put “fastx_t” into permissive mode.
  • Case 92738: Don’t cache the redirect to the login page, to avoid a re-authentication loop.
  • Case 79968: Remove an unneeded debug log from the “start-menu” plugin

3.3.59*
August 30, 2023

  • Case 92810: Fix the bug introduced in version 3.3.41 that can cause sessions to disappear from the list while still running.
  • Added some minor SELinux permissions.

3.3.57
August 25, 2023

  • Case 92642: Fix to session sharing
  • Case 92795: Don’t load the perl-EV module (because it crashes).
  • Case 92799: Node.JS has been updated to version 16.20.2 (the latest version that works on RedHat 7).

3.3.55
August 18, 2023

  • Case 92722: Explicitly set rejectUnauthorized to true or false
  • Case 92766: UI fix local password
  • Make oidc compatible with fastx4 format

3.3.53
August 9, 2023

  • Case 92752: Upgrading from a previous version to 3.3.51 would keep /usr/bin/fastx-protocol from the old version. (This was only an issue in the RPM package. The Debian package did not have this problem.)
  • Case 92754: Authenticated session starts (when there isn’t a link process running) now work.
  • Case 92753: Session starts via the FastX sshd now work properly.

3.3.51
August 4, 2023

  • Case 92622: Allow session commands with single quotes and other shell meta-characters. 
  • Case 92646: Allow FastX 4 to be installed on the same server by making the “fastx-protocol” script (used for FastX client SSH connections) use the Linux alternatives system.
  • Case 92646: Don’t show SELinux error message
  • Case 92312: Use default profile
  • Upgrade to the latest LTS version of Node.JS
  • Case 92656: Handle problems with failed thread creation better.
  • Case 92724: Installing in an alternate directory using the “–prefix” option to rpm now applies the correct SELinux file contexts to the specified directory, and also the FX_CONFIG_DIR and FX_VAR_DIR.

3.3.49
July 10, 2023

  • Fix abnormal connection exit on local connections.
  • Case 92622: Fix JSON argument to recognize quotes.
  • Case 92628: Fixed SMTP server notifications using Secure (SSL/TLS).
  • Case 92658: Added licensing information and process ID in the info for running sessions.
  • Case 92630: Fixed Desktop sessions not terminating when logging out.

3.3.47
June 21, 2023

  • Case 92492: Don’t make /usr/lib/fastx/latest a symlink to itself.   Don’t remove /usr/lib/fastx/latest
  • Case 92597: Fix old RSA SSH keys
  • Forwards compatibility for fastx4

3.3.43
June 1, 2023

  • Case 92600: Adjust UI for shared users
  • Case 92440: User API payloads limited to 100000 (100kb) bytes
  • Case 92440: Fixed UI error in login page

3.3.41
May 30, 2023

  • Case 92501: Added “Idle Disconnect”, which will automatically disconnect sessions that have been idle longer than the specified number of minutes.
  • Case 92518: Disable prompt for email address
  • Case 92518: Remember session connection type (desktop client/browser)

3.3.39
May 16, 2023

  • Case 92318: Fix profile pop up every time
  • Case 92492: Set fastx.sid session cookie to secure
  • Case 92473: Use cloudcmd as file manager
  • Case 92497: Send proper text in terminate API

3.3.37
May 2, 2023

  • Case 92483: Even if the listenTCP setting is turned on (as is the default), the host part of the DISPLAY will be removed when starting a Gnome desktop. This is a requirement for the newer version of Gnome that is installed on Ubuntu.
  • Miscellaneous fixes in preparation for a version of FastX tuned for cloud services
  • Fixes to clip region issue that was causing parts of a window to not update
  • Case 92459: CopyArea optimization turned off
  • Case 92285: Window focus fix

3.3.35
April 25, 2023

Cluster Manager

  • Case 92334: Fixed race condition in cluster manager preventing cluster manager from fully starting

Server

  • Case 92285: Revert the focus to the transient for window when unmapping a “child” window with active focus
  • case 92461: fix profile disable

3.3.33
April 13, 2023

  • Case 92447: If the customer had installed version 3.2.42 or earlier and then upgrades to the current version, and is not running a central RLM license server, then the RLM server will exit after 10 minutes because FastX version 3.2.42 or earlier left a user without a password in the RLM password file. This version will fix that file by invalidating that blank password.
  • Case 92443: No longer calls the remote-exec method, so the fastx_id SSH key will no longer be created.
  • Case 92425: Fix permission error in authorized_keys file
  • Case 92327: Update logging so the customer can choose to log to either systemd or a log file.
  • Case 92416: Prevent local DB files from growing without bound by compressing them on startup.
  • Case 92411: File manager sizing fixed.
  • Case 92411: Allow an admin to hide the links to announcements, clients, and documentation.
  • Case 92390: Update the CSRF token to keep from getting bad token logouts.
  • Case 92437: Fix session sharing
  • Case 92435: Draw certain updates immediately to avoid dragging issues
  • Case 92416: Don’t update the user preferences every time

3.3.31
April 6, 2023

  • Case 92387: Update icon colors
  • Case 92382: Breaking change: The “required” member in the “www.json” file is no longer used. Instead, to prevent a FastX SSH connection in failsafe mode, the file $FX_CONFIG_DIR/web-required must be created. If this file has text, it will be sent to the client.
  • Case 92384: Arguments to the FastX web server can be passed to the run-web script by preceding them with “–“.
  • Case 92375: The broker configuration can be passed with the FX_CONFIG_BROKER or FX_CONFIG_BROKER_JSON variables.
  • The “Admin Login” button can be hidden and shown only by adding ?admin=1 to the URL.
  • The “Admin Login” button is not shown if there are no local admins.
  • Case 92343: tools/reset-admin is now deprecated. Use tools/admin to create a local admin instead.
  • Case 92404: Option “-f” added to tools/admin to write to an alternate file.
  • Case 92402: Browser client: Change cache from 1000 hours to 1 hour
  • Case 92405: Show OpenID connect button whenever it is available.
  • Case 92419: Features added to enable containerization of a FastX session server
  • Case 92425: In a cluster, the “remote-exec” method used to launch a session without a second authorization prompt could create a “.ssh/authorized_keys” file with the wrong mode.
  • Case 92374: Retrieve users’ groups in a way that works with AD.
  • Allow health service to run even without email service.
  • Browser client: Reduce number of resize requests; fix scaling issues

3.3.29
March 21, 2023

Server

  • Case 92239: Fix typos in install.sh. Although this script is no longer required, some customers continue to run it, and this fixes some errors.
  • Case 92350: FastX clients are no longer included in the server package, greatly reducing its download size. The clients are now in a separate package named “fastx-clients”. If the clients are not installed on the server, then the FastX web server will offer the client download directly from www.starnet.com.

3.3.25
February 23, 2023

Cluster Manager

  • Case 92294: Gzip themes.

Server

  • Case 92297: Fix black boxes rendering
  • Add debug for screenshots
  • Case 92301: Cleaned up private key manager.
  • Case 92308: Make VirtualGL log message more understandable
  • Case 92027: Clean up connection to server
  • Remove console.log and move them into debug messages
  • Case 92303: Fixed license server submit form.
  • Fixed auth routing
  • Fix default themes
  • Fixed exception when token missing.
  • Case 92304: Add disable option to user-profiles.
  • Case 92284: add job scheduler default scripts.
  • Case 92228: Changed redirects on logout
  • Case 92294: Set default max_payload to 8MB.
  • Case 92294: Gzip themes.
  • Case 92293: fix zorder of bookmark filter.
  • Case 92291: missing quote in install.sh script

3.3.19
February 14, 2023

Server

  • Case 92211: Eliminate the need to run the “install.sh” script after installing FastX. Instead, scriplets in the package will create the “fastx” user & necessary directories, configure & start the server, initialize Applications, and start the license server (if necessary). Installation behavior can be controlled with environment variables.
  • Case 92168: Text drawing optimizations using the compose operation behind flag.
  • Case 92261: Show all bookmarks on first FastX browser connection.
  • Case 92285: Sort bookmarks by name.
  • Case 92228: Add browser caching for faster page loads.
  • Case 92250: On license error (in the browser) show a link to activate a new license
  • Case 53893: When a license is activated, send a “reread” signal to the license server.
  • Cases 92023, 92257, 92258, 92259: To avoid an additional authorization prompt when starting a session on a cluster member, a connection is made using the “AuthorizedKeysCommand” facility of SSH.
  • Cases 92206, 92227: Example of a “scheduler” script is now copied to /etc/fastx/job-scheduler.d/ named “proxy”. This script, when configured as a job scheduler script, can be used to configure a FastX Session Server as a “proxy”, in which ssh is used to launch the application on a separate application server.
  • Renamed load balancing script “Most Available Memory” from “Most Free Memory” to avoid confusion.
  • Case 92248: Only allow superadmin if authmethod  === ssh
  • Case 92238: Added openapi version of docs
  • Case 92242: Add simple authentication
  • Case 92275: Close and delete session sockets. Fixes error where session count never went down in server data.
  • Case 92228: Support redirects with tailing /.
  • Case 92282: Added session start debugging.
  • Case 92281: Fixed private key hanging on authenticated start.

Cluster Manager

  • Fixed load balancing for custom scripts

3.3.17
January 27, 2023

Server

  • Client 3.3.18 included
  • Case 92195: Show an error if an attempt is made to connect to a session with the desktop client when the desktop client is not installed.
  • Case 92237: Allow a job schedule script to immediately launch a session
  • Case 92096: Sanity check in connect API to make sure xorg is still running
  • Fixes for new “compose” optimization
  • Case 92217: Save complete session command (after VGL and prefix modifications) in the session info
  • Case 92223, 92224, 92228: Optimize browser client load times by using browser cache
  • Case 92221: Make clipboard mode names more user-friendly.
  • Case 92222: Cluster: Filter sessions by removing potentially dead cluster members from list
  • Case 92190: Delete sockets that are closed prematurely, solving the problem of running out of file descriptors
  • Case 92213: A “ps” command now shows “fastx3” as the process name of the web server.
  • Case 92212: Use same “settings” icon for browser and desktop client
  • Case 92196: Ability to test FastX email settings
  • Case 92194: Use the password field in the login screen for custom password prompts
  • Case 92193: When FastX server is starting, refresh the “status” page until it comes up.

3.3.15
January 13, 2023

Server

  • Case 91997: The NATS server is included, to be used in advanced (mostly gateway) installations.
  • Case 92180: Fix double popup on the Safari browser
  • Case 92179: Remove auto-connect from preferences.
  • Add a “link.log” file to help diagnose certain issues
  • Case 92181: Fix for Windows Desktop Client connections from browser client
  • Case 92178: Make performance sliders update correctly
  • Case 92167: Add “experimental” flag to browser client
  • Case 92174, 92168: New “compose” capability
  • Case 92156: Fix order of blocks in browser client
  • Case 92116: Fix params-form/list error

3.3.11
December 21, 2022

Server

  • Text optimizations added
  • Case 92146: Performance settings initialized to default values when server is installed
  • Case 92144: Help links changed
  • Case 92108: Removed shortcut code (since the new UI doesn’t need it).
  • Case 92149: Removed “RFX” and “RFX Progressive”.
  • Case 92132: If connecting from a Linux browser, don’t give the desktop client connection option, because the Linux client isn’t built yet.
  • Case 92130: To prevent the double-launch of a session, disable the “submit” button when it is pushed.
  • Case 92129: Fix the override forms UI.
  • Case 92098: Fix a client crash that could happen when a session was terminated after an SSH session list view was closed.
  • Case 92115: Fix a crash on terminate in an HTTPS connection
  • Case 92142: Allow connection to a server using a self-signed certificate using SSO (e.g. SAML).

3.3.9
December 7, 2022

Server

  • Case 92093: Server can be configured for requested web security enhancements. This is done through “middleware”, in which authentication messages from the user can be filtered.
  • Case 92104: Fix lockup when using a rootless (multiple window mode) session in the browser. This problem was typically demonstrated using xterm scrolling.
  • Case 92109: Fix for session start params over an SSH connection.
  • Case 91549: Stop using the unneeded SSE listener.
  • Case 92094: Make session updates more efficient. Start serial number at 1.
  • Case 92117: Show performance settings from server when connecting with HTTPS.
  • Case 92105: Mac: Allow session forms by giving memory access to QtWebEngineProcess.

3.3.7
November 28, 2022

Server

  • Case 91549: (SSH Connections only) Pass API commands through the link socket instead of making a POST for each request. Receive session update messages through the link socket instead of creating an SSE. Impacts: minor efficiency improvements; possibly more reliable updates.
  • Case 92083: Change “bookmark” to “application” in various places in the browser client
  • Case 92097: Server SSH authentication fix
  • Case 92099: Administration: Change JSON editor
  • Case 92081: Remove RFX image encoding
  • Case 92085: Change “Bookmark” to “Application”
  • Case 92042: Use default forms for non-bookmark (custom) applications
  • Case 90237: Mac: Added “About” dialog to FastX Web Connect
  • Case 91949: Mac: MWM window fixes for gnome-terminal and other applications that use certain window decorations
  • Case 92033: Fixes for “last window closed” prompt

3.3.5
November 15, 2022

Server

  • Ships client 3.3.6
  • Speed up of scrolling large chunks of text
  • Case 92068: Made images more colorful
  • Case 91819: Admin notifications added
  • Case 92072: Set default theme in microservice
  • Case 92053: bookmark.id overwrites bookmark.data.id before sending it
  • Case 91913: Server store in memory in standalone mode
  • Case 91441, 91893: Put FastX Web Connect into Windows client
  • Case 91996: Mac: Properly handle UTF-8 encoded session names

Cluster Manager

  • Case 91819: Sdmin notifications added
  • Case 92072: Set default theme in microservice

3.3.3
November 8, 2022

  • Case 92041: Custom commands take form input
  • Case 92040: Fixed forms for 1 session
  • Case 92043: Changed performance settings on browser client
  • Default settings added
  • Title casing normalized
  • Case 92056: Updated css to increase size of log window
  • Case 91913: Use updated nedb. fix compaction bug
  • Case 89820: Retrieve performance settings option list from server
  • Case 89956: Update diagnostics window with moving charts
  • Case 90356, 90389, 91443: Create a FastX Web Connect URI handler for FastX browser integration

3.3.2
November 4, 2022

  • Server ships client 3.3.5
  • Case 91969: Fixed issue when SSH requests not returning, causing desktop client hang
  • Case 92038: Unset remember my selection

3.3.1
November 3, 2022

New Features

  • New GUI for the web client
    • Sessions and Applications appear on the same page
    • File Manager appears on page
    • Message of the day appears in the page
    • Notifications hidden
  • WebConnect Client
    • Connect to sessions from the web and bring them up in the desktop
  • Added Email Server for notifications
  • Email Notifications
    • Automatically send emails to the users when an event is triggered (e.g session disconnected)​​​​
  • Default Icons for Applications
    • Ship a set of default icons for an admin to choose in addition to uploading custom icons
  • Simple Mode for Load Balancing
    • Basic load balancing operations can be selected via a dropdown list
  • Server Groups
    • Put servers in groups, restricting access to only users who are also in the group
  • Application Groups
    • Publish applications only to users in the group
    • Only allow sessions to start on a system in that is in the group
  • Can Fine Tune Session Events including cron jobs
    • Trigger custom actions with an offset after a session event 
  • SSH Authentication Uses simplified load balancing (Local System, Groups)
    • Redirect users to authentication servers
  • User Profiles
    • Get Full name, email and preferences for users
  • User profile script to autofill profile
    • Automatically generate profile based on username if it is not in the system
  • Banner Notification
    • Add a popup banner (for special notifications) in addition to Message of the Day

Changes from Previous Versions

  • Bookmarks renamed to Applications
  • Admin and Manage Section merged together
  • Host field removed from www UI since it causes confusion (can still enable it in www.json)
  • Licenses moved to Local System Config
  • System Log moved to Local System Config
  • Performance moved to Sessions
  • Login Page Moved to Users
  • [Deprecated] Metrics.  Metrics will now call a user defined script that returns json to get any metrics
  • [Deprecated] Job Scheduler.  Call a job scheduler script from the local system to schedule
  • [Deprecated] Load Balance at Login
  • [Removed] LDAP 
  • [Removed] Bookmark filter, use Application groups instead
  • [Removed] Shortcuts removed from GUI