2.9 Configuring Mirrored Folders

A mirrored folder is a Novell Teaming folder that uses a server file system directory as its file storage area instead of the normal Novell Teaming repository. Typically the directory is a file share, accessed via normal file sharing mechanisms. Novell Teaming attempts to keep its knowledge about the folder contents in sync with whatever is in the directory. The mirrored folder feature can mirror any WebDAV or local file path into Novell Teaming.

NOTE:This feature mirrors the files, but does not mirror ACLs.

You need to individually configure each mirrored folder. You must provide either a WebDAV path and one user’s credentials to access all the files, or provide a local path via a mount command with one user’s credentials to access all the files.

Because of the way mirrored folders are configured, they are intended to bring common (relatively static) file shares into the Novell Teaming environment. They are not appropriate for individual file shares or mounting a data volume into Novell Teaming. You can use Novell Teaming to add additional metadata around these files, including Novell Teaming access controls.

The Novell Teaming installer allows you to initially add up to three mirrored folders. If you need to add more than three, the installer.xml has a section devoted to specifying mirrored folder resource drivers. These drivers make the files in the specified directory available to the Novell Teaming folders. It is important to note that the Novell Teaming process accesses the directories and that the user ID for Novell Teaming acts as a proxy for all Novell Teaming users.

To create a mirrored folder:

IMPORTANT:If you are a Window’s user, you MUST use forward slashes when specifying path information for mirrored folders. For example, use C:/Documents NOT C:\Documents.

  1. If it is not already present, add a MirroredFolder section to the installer.xml file.

    This creates a mirrored folder resource driver. (Use sample-installer.xml as a template.)

    1. Set the enabled attribute to true and specify a unique ID, title, the path to the directory to share, and the users and groups that can utilize this resource. To prevent accidental modifications to the file share, set the readonly attribute to true.

    2. After updating your installer.xml file, you need to run the Novell Teaming installer with the Apply settings only option, and then restart Novell Teaming to create the resource drivers.

  2. Log into Novell Teaming as admin.

  3. Create a custom entry type representing mirrored files:

    1. In the Teaming Administration portlet, click Form and view designers > Entry designer.

    2. Click Entry definitions.

    3. In the dialog box on the right, click Add a new entry definition.

    4. Type a Caption (for example, Mirrored File entry) and Name (for example, Mirrored File entry), then click OK.

    5. Expand Entry form definition and click Form.

    6. In the dialog box on the right, click Add.

    7. In the Standard form elements dialog box on the right, click File upload.

    8. Type a Caption (for example, Mirrored File) and Name (database name, for example, mirrored_file), select External Resource Adapter (Mirrored folder only) from the Repository system drop-down list, select the Required option, then click OK.

    9. Under Entry form definition > Form, click Attachments - Attachments.

    10. In the dialog box on the right, click Modify.

    11. Select Hide this form element, then click OK.

    12. Under Entry form definition > Form, click Title - Title.

    13. In the dialog box on the right, click Modify.

    14. Select Use file name as entry title, then click OK.

    15. Exit the Teaming Administration portlet.

  4. In Novell Teaming, create a folder of type File folder.

  5. Within the folder, select the Manage > Modify this folder menu item.

  6. Select the Mirror external folders option.

  7. Select the mirrored folder resource driver that you created in Step 1.

  8. (Optional) Specify a subdirectory within the resource driver’s root directory structure that you want this folder to mirror.

  9. Click OK to make the folder a mirrored folder.

    After you make a folder a mirrored folder, you cannot change it back to a regular folder or change the information you provided (that is, the resource driver name and path).

  10. Configure the mirrored folder with the custom entry type that you defined in Step 3 (Mirrored File entry):

    1. Within the mirrored folder, select the Manage > Configure menu item.

    2. In the Default entry types section, select the custom entry type you defined in Step 3 (Mirrored File entry) and deselect all other entry types.

    3. Click Apply.

    4. Click Close.

  11. Perform initial synchronization/loading by selecting the Manage this folder > Synchronize menu item from the folder listing.

    For the current release of Novell Teaming, only synchronous/manual synchronization is supported.