8.4.3. Creating a Connection to a Remote File or Folder

Engineering Knowledge Manager

User's Guide | Chapter 8: Managing Repository Data | 8.4. Creating New Objects |

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### 8.4.3. Creating a Connection to a Remote File or Folder

You can create a connection to a file or folder that resides on a file server referenced by EKM. These “remote file servers” can be within the same LAN as the EKM server and accessed through any network file protocol. Remote file servers are objects of type `File Server` that can only be set up by EKM administrators and are saved in the Administration/Remote File Servers folder. See Defining a New Remote File Server in the Administration Guide for details on defining a new remote file server.

There are two built-in remote file servers in EKM: Audit Logs and EKM Base Directory. The server address (or the location that the server points to) for the Audit Logs file server is the `EKM_HOME/logs` directory. The EKM Base Directory server points to the location where the EKM server is set up (`EKM_BASE` directory).

Important:

- The remote file server you want to create a new connection to must already exist as a built-in file server or other file server that has been set up by an EKM administrator. See Adding a New Remote Server and Built-in Remote File Servers in the Administration Guide for more details.

- To be able to connect to a remote file/folder, your OS account name and password must be correctly defined in RSM, and the data management process must be set up on the EKM server. To see how OS account names are determined in EKM, see Configuring Login-related Access Settings in the Installation Guide. For information on server settings that are involved in the data management process, see Specifying Remote Process Policies (<remoteProcess>) in the Administration Guide.

When you create a connection to a remote file or folder, the object is symbolically linked to EKM and metadata are automatically extracted once the remote connection is made. Remote files are assigned the File data type whereas remote folders are defined as Remote Folder types. Because the actual files and folders are stored on the remote file server and are only symbolically linked, they need to be synchronized whenever the data has changed in the file server. EKM automatically synchronizes this data at regular intervals. The frequency and time of synchronization can be configured by the EKM system administrator in `ekm.xml` file. Alternatively you can also manually synchronize the data.

You will be able to create a new connection to a file/folder only if:

1. You have a valid account defined in RSM.

2. You have `Create` permission on the parent folder.

3. The parent folder is checked out to you (if it is under version control).

4. No other user has exclusive control of it.

To create a connection to file/folder on a remote server:

1. Select the folder in the repository where you want the remote object reference to be stored, then select (New) > Connection to a File/Folder on a Remote Server.

   Figure 8.12: Connecting to a File/Folder on a Remote Server

2. Enter a new name for the remote object if you want it to be different than what it is currently named on the remote server. Otherwise, leave it blank and the current name will be used.

3. Choose the File server from the drop-down list. Available remote file servers that have been defined by your system administrator will be listed.

   Note: The built-in `Audit Logs` and `EKM Base Directory` file servers are available only for members of the `admin` group. See Managing Logs for details.

4. Click Browse to specify the location of the object on the remote server. If specifying the object path directly, make sure that the path is absolute for service host file servers, and relative for other file servers that are within the LAN of the EKM server.

   Click OK to create a link to the remote file or folder. EKM will extract metadata from the file. You can monitor extraction status by selecting the Data/Extraction Monitor page. Information about the remote object will be included in the Remote Item Properties that you can view using (More) > Display > Details. You can edit the connection using Edit > Remote Item Properties. See Editing Remote Item Properties.

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