This option distributes files from the Distributor’s file system. Files cannot be gathered from locations accessed by way of mapped drives or UNC paths. Files from other servers can be distributed using the FTP, HTTP, and RPM types of Distribution.
With this type you can select files and directories for the Distribution and select a destination path for extraction on the Subscriber.
Use the following fields and buttons to configure a File Distribution:
An expandable tree structure showing target paths to the files to be distributed.
Modify the Distribution’s content as needed, then either click to save the updated Distribution contents list, or click to save the changes and exit the Distribution’s properties.
If you do not want to use the default variable %DEST_VOLUME%, replace it with a target location indicating where you want the files to be distributed; for example:
A volume on a NetWare® server, such as data:\
A drive on a Windows server, such as D:\
A file system on a Linux or Solaris server, such as /
Otherwise, press to accept the variable. You can also replace it with a different variable.
IMPORTANT:If you use a UNC path, all Distributions are sent to only that one location. Instead, use variables. For more information, see Section 9.0, Variables.
The target can also be a full or partial path, not just the root designation of volume, drive, or root. For example:
A volume on a NetWare server, such as data:\file_distribution\files
A drive on a Windows server, such as d:\file_distribution\files
A shared folder on a Windows server, such as \\myserver\files
A file system on a Linux or Solaris server, such as /user/file_distribution/files
You must press to add the target location change to the Distribution contents list.
Any target entries that do not exist in the target location are automatically created by the Distribution.
This option builds the target path. If you did not provide the full path using the option, replace with a directory name.
IMPORTANT:If a directory has a % character as part of its name, you must enter two consecutive % characters (%%) so that the second character is recognized as a literal % character and not a variable indicator.
You can use this option to add multiple directories to create the full path. You can also add sibling directories to create additional paths, as determined by the subdirectory you select before clicking .
You must press each time to add the target directory change to the path.
Use this option to browse for directories or files on the Distributor’s file system that you want copied to the target Subscriber’s file system.
Each directory or file you select is displayed with the full path on the source file system. This path identifies where to obtain the directory or file for copying to the target file system. The only path that is created on the target file system is the one you create using the and buttons, including any directories that you select with the button.
If you select a directory, all files and subdirectories under it are also selected for copying. Unlike the Copy File component in the Server Software Package, you cannot prune files and subdirectories from a selected directory. Any directory you browse for and add is not expandable in this view.
You can create multiple paths (sibling directories) at any point in a particular path, but you can only have one root location.
IMPORTANT:The directories that you select for the Distribution and any target directories cannot be Read-Only. File-writing to or from such directories will fail.
When you are finished adding files and target locations, either click to save the updated Distribution contents list, or click to save the changes and exit the Distribution’s properties.
Deletes whatever you have selected:
Root Location: Removes all directories and files below it from the tree.
Directory: Removes the directory and any of its files and subdirectories from the tree.
File: Removes the file from the tree, but not from its hard disk location on the server.
Click to save your changes, or click to save the changes and exit the Distribution’s properties.
This option causes the directories on the target server to be synchronized with the directories contained in the Distribution, or you can desynchronize them. When you specify a directory to be synchronized, it includes all files and subdirectories under the synchronized directory.
Directory synchronization does not affect adding of directories and files through a File Distribution. Synchronization’s purpose is to delete files and directories on the Subscriber servers. In other words, if the directories and files on the target Subscriber server are not contained in the File Distribution, they are deleted if synchronization is enabled.
WARNING:If the target server contains directories not contained in the Distribution, those directories, subdirectories, and files are deleted from the target server’s file system when the Distribution is extracted.
This can be very destructive, especially if the target directory is a root directory. Enable directory synchronization only where you are certain you want to allow existing directories that are not contained in the Distribution to be deleted.
Also, if the Distributor whose file system you are using for this Distribution is also a Subscriber that is subscribed to the Distribution, the Distributor’s file system is treated like the other target Subscribers’ file systems and can be deleted.
For more information on synchronization, see Section 3.11.1, Directory Sync Granularity for File Distributions.
Directory synchronization provides granularity, where you can specify synchronization at any directory level in the Distribution to provide synchronization “from here down.”
To synchronize directories, click either the target directory or the Distributor’s source entry, then click . A synchronization icon is added before the entry’s graphic symbol.
The source location on the Distributor server determines what is kept in the synchronized directory on the Subscriber server, as depicted in the Distribution’s list. Thus, you are synchronizing the Subscriber’s file system with the Distributor’s, but only for the synchronized directory, with all its files and subdirectories.
The button turns synchronization off (removing the icon), so that the specified directory is no longer synchronized.
If you enable synchronization, make sure that you refresh the Distributor before you make any changes to the directory being synchronized. This allows the Distributor to recognize that synchronization has been turned on, so that it rebuilds the Distribution with synchronization enabled.
Each time a Distribution changes, such as when files are modified or added, a new version is built and subsequently sent to the Subscribers. However, Subscribers might need to verify that the files contained in a Distribution have been extracted and installed to all Subscribers, even when there is no new version to send.
The verification option allows you to specify that if there is no new version of the Distribution to send, when the Send schedule starts the Distributor should send a request for the Subscriber to re‑extract the current version to ensure that the files are installed.
This option maintains each file’s trustee attributes for the target NetWare file system so that they are the same as the source file system. The trustee information is obtained when the Distribution is built.
This is additive, meaning that it does not remove trustees on the target file system.
If synchronization is enabled for directories in a Distribution, the trustees of those directories are also synchronized.
You have four options:
Fail on error: Extraction of the Distribution stops. This results in a partial distribution. Correct the error and resend the Distribution.
Continue on error: The extraction continues with an error written to the Subscriber’s log file concerning the part of the extraction that failed.
By default, the Subscriber continues past error conditions, so as many files as possible are successfully extracted. You can avoid locked open file errors by selecting .
Retry ___ times: By default, open files on the Subscriber server are not overwritten when the Distribution is extracted because the open files are locked by the operating system. As result, updated files in the Distribution are not replaced on the Subscriber server if they are open when the Distribution is extracted.
If you want the Subscriber to try multiple times to overwrite an open, locked file during extraction of the Distribution, specify the number of times the Subscriber should check the open file before failing to replace it because it is locked.
Kill connection on open files: (NetWare only) Kills the connection that is holding the file open so that the file can be overwritten and the extraction can continue. (This applies only to files on the Subscriber server during extraction, not to files being accessed to build the Distribution.)
Server and NLM™ connections cannot be killed.
Error messages are written to the Subscriber log file.