What’s new for OMERO 5

From a sysadmin’s point of view, the introduction of OMERO.fs as part of version 5.0 means that files are now stored on the server in their original format, preserving file names and directory structures. Therefore, the import process does not duplicate pixel data and storage requirements are roughly halved in comparison with a 4.4 import including archiving the original files. Combined with the new file integrity report, you should be confident that once a successful import has taken place, storing the original files outside of OMERO is no longer necessary as your users can always download their data in its original format if they need to.

• OMERO.server upgrade has been updated to explain the server upgrade process from 4.4.x to OMERO 5, and also to describe the introduction of password salting support.
• FS configuration options has been added to explain the server-side FS workflow for importing files.
• OMERO.dropbox has been reworked to clarify the distinction between OMERO.fs and OMERO.dropbox.
• System requirements has been updated to reflect that running OMERO.web on your server now requires Python 2.6.5 or later.
• Troubleshooting OMERO has been updated to guide you through what to do if you are getting search errors, and how to adjust the Configuration properties to take advantage of improvements to the server indexing system for 5.0.0.
• Performance and Monitoring provides further tips for tuning your installation, though now with the automatic memory settings, this may be less necessary.
• Advanced import scenarios and In-place import documentation has been added to explain the new ways of importing data enabled by the change in server-side workflow.
• OMERO.insight webstart security and code-signing has been added to explain the requirement for code-signing the webstart version of OMERO.insight. Official releases of OMERO.server are code-signed, instructions for using OMERO.insight webstart with a custom build are included.