FDSA Release 2.1.15

Version: 2.1.15 Date: May 5 2025
Release type: Feature Development - partner support, single sign on support and bug fixes
Audience: FDSA administrators, data providers, and researchers

FDSA 2.1.15 extends the platform to new environments, improves day to day workflows for DAR reviewers and researchers, and resolves a large set of usability and stability issues. This release adds Athena as a supported data source, introduces SSO across FDSA and Query Builder, and delivers a first proof of concept for non tabular voice datasets, while also tightening validation, error handling, and UI behavior across the appliance and QB.

What's New

• Support for Amazon Athena as a Data Source: FDSA can now connect to Amazon Athena as a supported data source. 
  • Admins can register Athena as a data source and expose datasets to researchers through the usual FDSA flows.
  • This support helps partners who rely on AWS based analytics to use FDSA without changing their existing data infrastructure.
• Proxy and Subdomain extensions: FDSA can now be deployed behind institutional proxies and on subdomains in a more flexible way.
  • Configuration has been extended to run FDSA behind their own proxy setups and under required subdomains.
  • This improves alignment with institutional security, network, and DNS policies.
• Non-Tabular Data Support – Voice Dataset Proof of Concept: FDSA now includes a first proof of concept for working with non-tabular datasets, starting with voice data.
  • Voice dataset handling has been piloted with partners so that audio based resources can be represented and managed through the appliance.
  • This work lays the groundwork for future support of other non-tabular data types such as images or video.
• Single-Sign-On Across FDSA and Query Builder (new ADWB IdP): FDSA and Query Builder (QB) now use a shared identity provider from ADWB.
  • Users can sign in once and move between FDSA and QB without separate logins.
  • Administrators have a single place to manage identities and access policies, which simplifies onboarding and account maintenance.

Enhancements

• Data Access Request Improvements: Data Access Request (DAR) handling has been improved to reduce manual refresh and polling. The DAR view now supports auto refresh for incoming requests, so reviewers see new submissions and status changes without reloading the page.
• Health Check Improvements: Platform health checks have been updated to provide additional monitoring status information and accommodate proactive notifications. Health check coverage and behavior are improved so admins can more quickly see whether key services are online and responding as expected.
• Webhook Updates: Secrets for DAR Webhooks: Webhook based integrations for DAR events are now more secure. Webhooks now support a configurable secret so that downstream systems can verify that incoming calls are genuine and not spoofed.
• Query Builder Improvements: Query Builder (QB) has been refined to make it easier to manage and track tasks.
  • A dedicated QB Task Download Controller replaces default browser download handling. This gives more predictable download behavior and better control over errors and timeouts.
  • The Query section got upgraded with improved time display and clearer descriptions, a new “Expired” tab to separate tasks that are no longer active, better filtering behavior when users switch between tabs, and project name listings in the QB task view are now categorized to make it easier for users to locate relevant projects when they have many entries.

Bug Fixes

FDSA

This release fixes multiple issues in the core appliance across DAR flows, validation, and UI.

• DAR & Task Handling
  • Restored “Days in queue” display and fixed task search.
  • Ensured DARs with long titles are validated and delivered correctly.
  • Resolved login loading issues and layout breaks on the DAR details page for long project names.
• Validation & Length Constraints
  • Standardized length limits and messages for datasets, schemas, organizations, appliance names, and ports.
  • Fixed dataset deletion and installation errors caused by overly long names.
  • Improved Add Datasource validation, including mandatory fields and invalid port alerts.
  • Ensured schema names appear immediately after creation.
• User Management & Licensing
  • Corrected “Add administrators” checkbox state and restored temporary credential emails for DAR-created users.
  • Hardened license handling with clear error messages and removed load balancer errors after license update.
• UI & User Experience
  • Data source names now refresh correctly; License and Organization screens now include Cancel options.
  • Clarified task result full-screen behavior and made Test/Update success messages fully visible.
  • Background processing messages now persist when navigating away from Add Datasource/Add Dataset.
  • Updated labels (e.g., Query Builder, product name) and fixed Add Catalogue behavior around optional fields.
  • Improved Remote Queries: cross-user visibility restored, state handling fixed, and project name added to the grid.
  • Rewrote the “delete datasource attached to dataset” error for clarity.
  • Stopped default IPs from being automatically re-added on fdsa_api restarts.
• Browser/ Layout
  • Fixed UI alignment for the Level 2 federated query “Add model” screen in Firefox when accessed via FDSA.

QB

This release fixes several Query Builder issues around task execution, limits, and wording:

• Task naming & execution
  • Task names are now capped at 250 characters to avoid execution errors.
  • Level 2 Project Tasks no longer return

    EXECUTOR_ERROR

    on Build and Run when set up correctly.
• UI text & labels
  • “Done” on the Query page is now a clear submit label (e.g., “Submit Task/Query”).
  • Level 2 helper text now says “Finish your task.”
  • Help center product name updated to “Federated and Distributed data Sharing Appliance.”
• Field limits & navigation
  • Field limit warnings now show the actual selected count.
  • Submit is disabled when selected fields exceed the limit.
  • Dataset Catalogue links now open correctly.
• Downloads & feedback
  • Cancelled downloads now show an info message instead of an error.
  • Async download progress text behaves correctly around 50%.
  • Download results button alignment is fixed.
• Models & browser behavior
  • Sample models in the Level 2 federated “Model upload guide” now work.
  • “Discard this query” text alignment is fixed in Firefox.