Justin James

Application Engineer

iRODS Consortium

June 17-20, 2025

iRODS User Group Meeting 2025

Durham, NC

Overview of Changes

Metalnx is a web application that is a web based file browser for iRODS.
 

Version 3.1.0 of Metalnx was released in June.

• Removal of the irods-ext database.
  • Removal of favorites, templates, user profiles, and bookmarks.
  • Removal of user fields that only exist in the irods-ext database.
• Configuration option added to hide the left sidebar.
• Added support for the 10 level permission model in iRODS.
• Upgraded third party packages.

• New User Form Changes
  • User creation form defaults user type to "rodsuser" (was "rodsadmin")
  • Removed "Personal Information" section
    • Not stored in the iRODS catalog
  • No group assignments at the time of user creation
    • Now must be done via the "Groups" page
• Added configuration option to enable/disable the public link
  • Default is disabled
• Removed admin credentials in configuration file
  • Metalnx now authenticates directly with user credentials (no proxy user)
• Update library dependencies
• Bug fixes 

Overview of Changes (continued)

Metalnx Database (irods-ext)

To give an idea of what has been deleted....

Metalnx Database (irods-ext)

The Metalnx database provided the following additional functionality:

• Additional user information (last name, first name, department, etc.)
• User profiles
• Bookmarks
• Favorites
• Metadata Templates

Rationale for removing the database

• Wanted a generic stateless iRODS GUI.
  • Code is simplified and more maintainable.
• Only wanted a single source of truth.
  • No longer require a background jobs with admin credentials to keep duplicated data in sync.
  • Synchronization was buggy.
• Some features can be implemented in the iRODS server.

Left Sidebar Changes - rodsadmin version

Before 3.0.0

3.0.0

Support for Ten Level Permission Model

Old

New

New User Form Changes

Old

New

Enabling the "Public" Link

• The "Public" link on the left sidebar is now disabled by default.
   
• To enable the public link update /etc/irods-ext/metalnx.properties:

Library Updates

• metalnx-web
  • tomcat docker image - tomcat:jdk11-adoptopenjdk-hotspot -> tomcat:9.0.98-jdk21-temurin-noble
  • spring - 4.3.18 -> 5.3.39
  • spring security - 3.0.10 -> 5.8.16
  • spring batch - 3.0.10 -> 4.3.10
  • servlet api - 3.0.1 -> 4.0.1
  • logging - slf4j 1.7.7 -> log4j 2.24.3
  • jettison - 1.4.0 -> 1.5.2
  • commons-fileupload - 1.3.3 -> 1.5
  • commons-io - 2.7 -> 2.14.0

• jargon-irods-ext
  • spring - 4.3.18 -> 5.3.39
  • spring security - 3.23.10 -> 5.8.16
  • spring batch - 3.0.8 -> 4.3.10

Bugs Fixed

#133 - iRODS connections remain open when CAT_INVALID_USER is returned.  Connection now closed when Jargon throws  InvalidUserException is thrown from Jargon.

#189 - CSV download failure when exporting CSV from a metadata query when only data objects match the query.  Fixed logic around CSV download.

#307 - spring4shell vulnerability.  Remedied with spring version updates.

#327 - Users created outside of Metalnx are not listed in Metalnx.  iRODS is now the single source of truth.

#373 - Uploads fail when Metalnx's default resource is blank.  Now we allow iRODS to determine the resource in this instance.

#392 - Fix calculation for default max total bytes for zip service.  Report download limit violation to client.

jargon #510 - Fix handling of passwords with backslash and semicolon.

Other issues deemed no longer applicable due to the removal of the Metalnx database and templates. 

Future Work

• Migrate from Jargon to irods4j
   
• Update from Spring 5 to Spring 6
  • Some of this work has been completed but this requires a major refactor of the code.

• More bug fixes

Questions and Demo

Thank you.