AlfrescoReplacing your Shared Drive

MichaelFarman

www.alfresco.com

The Worlds Most Popular CMS

● is.....The Shared Drive● Familiar to users - just another Windows Explorer drive● “It's on the shared drive”

● Shared drive challenges● Difficult to find – no search● Difficult to capture context

• Project_Deathstar_Functional_Specification_V0.2_Draft_02-08-2008-MF.doc

● It's it the right version?• No version control or history

● Security suits a filesystem not how people work with documents● I want to collaborate on this

• Lock and update• Review and approve• Comments and Discussions• Reuse

• Publish on intranet, website ....

Alfresco Architecture

● It's all about choice...

Striving for Simplicityrather than Complexity

● Address the paradigms that users know best

● Replace shared file drives with Virtual File System

● Office Integration

● Simple rules automate manual processing

● Portal Integration

● Google-like search, Yahoo-like browsing

● Templates to encourage reuse, simplifies use and provides web access

1) File System Emulation

2) Rules Engine

3) Web Client

Simplying Document Management – Mass Deployment

● Replace shared file drives with Virtual File System

● Automatic Metadata Extraction

● Simple Rules Automate Manual Processing

● Folder or task based Workflow

● SmartSpaces● Folders, Content, Rules

● Zero Footprint Client

Smart Spaces -Rules

● Rules are applied to a 'Space'

● Rules make a space 'Smart'

● Rules are triggered by an Event● Inbound – content arriving into a

space● Outbound – content leaving a

space, moved, deleted● Update – content being

modified

● Rules are filtered based on conditions

● All Items (no filter)● Items with a specific MIME

Type (e.g. PDF)● Specific Content Type Applied

to a specific aspect File name pattern (e.g. *-context.xml)

● Falls within a Category (e.g. Region, Language)

● Rule filter can be applied to 'NOT'

● e.g. Not in MIME ype *.pdf

● No limit on the number of conditions that can be applied to each rule

Smart Spaces -Actions

● Items that successfully meet the rule conditions have an 'Action' applied to them

● Actions can be run manually

● No limit on the number of actions per rule

● Rules are used to organise, structure, enrich content in the repository

● Used in conjunction with:● Alfresco Web Client● FTP● WebDAV● CIFS (Shared Network Folder)● Web Services API● Use your imagination!

The Alfresco Virtual File Systems

● Common Internet Filesystem (CIFS)● Also know as Server Message Block (SMB)

● WebDAV● HTTP based file editing and management on

remote servers

● FTP● File Transfer protocol

● NFS● Commonly used with Unix systems

Alfresco CIFS File System

● Provides true file system based access to Alfresco repository● Root path: \\<machinename>A\Alfresco● Can mount as shared drive● Alfresco or NTLM with Passthrough (SSO)● Drag n' drop files into Alfresco● Edit content directly with other applications● Network folders can be Smart Spaces● Virtual Desktop Actions

• Trigger Alfresco actions our launch Web Client

● Supports both DM store and WCM AVM Stores

Alfresco CIFS -The Technology

● 2 Types of Implementations:

● Java – Any platform● Java socket based implementations of the SMB/CIFS protocol that can be

used on any platform

● NetBIOS – Windows Only● Windows specific interface that uses Win32 NetBIOS API calls via JNI

code

● The default configuration will use the NetBIOS based code under Windows and the Java socket based code on other platforms.

CIFS Virtual Desktop Actions

● How can I control behavior if there's no client install?

● Automatic Versioning (optional)

● Trigger server side actions via the client

● Standard Actions● Checkin/Checkout● Display Details● Web Client Browse

● Configured using:● file-servers-custom.xml● file-servers.xml commented out sample actions

● Extended using:● JavaScript● Java – Provides access to the full Alfresco Java API● Desktop Executables

Configuring your File Systems

● Standard config in:● ..WEB-INF/classes/alfresco/file-servers.xml

● Override (always!) using:● ..WEB-INF/classes/alfresco/file-servers-custom.xml● Used to add to or replace config from file-severs.xml● e.g. To replace use replace=”true” in xml tag

• <config evaluator="string-compare" condition="Filesystems" replace="true">

● Supports both:● Protocol specific configuration● Shared configuration

● Troubleshooting● Privileged ports on non Windows platforms● No-network – Install Loopback Adapter● See wiki and forums

Virtual File System

Demonstration

Further Information

● Content Community● http://www.alfresco.com

● Alfresco Wiki● Technical information on configuration, administration and customisation● http://wiki.alfresco.com/wiki/File_Server_Configuration

● Alfresco Forums● Community Postings● Alfresco Staff● http://forums.alfresco.com

● Alfresco Forge● Contributions from the community

• E.g. Metadata extractors, transformations …. ● http://forge.alfresco.com

AlfrescoReplacing your shared drive

Questions?MichaelFarman

www.alfresco.com