NetDocuments Local Document Service

Transcription

1 NetDocuments Local Document Service Overview The NetDocuments Local Document Service allows NetDocuments customers to maintain a complete, up-to-date copy of all their documents and document Profiles on a server that is physically located on the customer s premises. The Local Document Service will regularly communicate with the NetDocuments Service to identify documents that have been created and modified since the last communication. All such documents will be downloaded, along with their Profiledata to the customer s server. The documents are stored on the customer s server in their native format, along with an associated xml data file that contains document Profile data, such as: document name, file format, creator and creation date, last modified user and date, and all other configuration attributes that are defined by the customer. The documents and the associated data fileswil be stored in the customer s local file system using a scheme that dynamically folders the documents in a folder structurethat is based on the documents Profile atributes. This storage scheme is defined by the customer. If at any time the Internet becomes inaccessible and a user needs a document that is not already in the user s workstation local NetDocuments echo folder, an administrator can run the included Document Recovery Utility. Within this utility, the administrator will browse the Local Document Service storage to find the document(s) to be recovered. After selecting the document(s), the Document Recover Utility will generate an message containing the document and its Profile attribute file as attachments. The administrator can send this message to any user(s) to provide immediate access to the documents. The Local Document Service can also be integrated with an external searching application to provide a way of locating documents within the local storage system. There are several components in the Local Document Service software. 1. Synchronization Agent This is a Windows Service that regularly connects to the NetDocuments Service and downloads all new and updated documents from your online Cabinets. Each document will be stored in the local file system, along with a file that contains the Profile attributes of that particular document. The synchronization agent also makes use of a SQL Server database to maintain data about each document that has been downloaded. 2. Configuration Utility. This allows the administrator to configure the Synchronization Agent service and define how often it downloads new and modified documents as well as the filing structure used when the documents are saved to the local file system. 3. Recovery Utility. This program is used to assist in retrieving documents from the local storage and making them accessible for users.

2 Requirements Local Document Service is an add-on service for which your repository must be enabled. If you wish to purchase this add-on service, contact NetDocuments Sales. If you have purchased it and it needs to be enabled, contact NetDocuments Support at You will need to supply the following information for this feature to be enabled: the name of the Repository (e.g. Firm/corporation name) the username of the administrator account for the Repository When this information is supplied to the NetDocuments Support personnel, the Repository will be activated to support the Local Document Service. User Access Requirements The user installing this software must be a member of the Administrators group on the computer where the software is installed. Additionally, the same user account must be an administrator for the SQL Server instance. To complete the installation and configuration of the Local Document Service, you will also need to be able to login to NetDocuments as a Repository administrator. NetDocuments Repository Access Administration access to your NetDocuments Repository admin pages. Administration access to the Cabinet admin page for each Cabinet that will be synchronized by this software. Windows Access Administrator privileges on the computer where this software will be installed. Administrator privileges to the file system location where the document files are to be stored. Administrator privileges to the SQL Server instance. Operating System Requirements NetDocuments Local Document Service is supported on the following Microsoft Windows operating systems: Windows XP Professional Windows Server 2003 Windows Vista Windows Server 2008 Windows 7 Home or consumer editions of any of the above systems are not supported. 64-bit editions of the above systems are supported. Minimum Hardware Requirements CPU and Memory - Minimum required for the Windows OS you are using Sufficient disk space to store all documents in your online Cabinets, plus an additional 15% for the purpose of storing document metadata (profile attributes). As your online storage grows, your local storage space will also need to grow. Other Required Software SQL Server o SQL Server 2008 R2, SQL Server 2008, SQL Server 2005, and are all supported, including the Express editions. o The SQL Server instance can be located on the same server as the Local Document Service, or it can be hosted on a separate server. If your organization does not already have a license for SQL Server, the free SQL Server Express Edition may be used. It is available as a free download from Microsoft.

3 These packages are required and will be installed by the Local Document Service setup program as needed. o Microsoft.net Framework version 2.0 o Windows Installer 3.1

4 Preparing for Installation Create Dedicated User Account for the Local Document Service The NetDocuments Local Document Service requires a dedicated user account for proper operation. This user account will need to be created before the software is installed. When the Local Document Service software is installed and configured, the following rights will be assigned to this dedicated user account: Read/Write access to the SQL Server database. Modify rights to the document storage location. Modify rights to a key that will be defined in the Windows Registry. o (HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\NetDocuments\Local Document Server) Log on as a Service policy right. The Synchronization Agent Windows Service will be configured to run with this identity. If your document storage location and the SQL Server database are both hosted on the same computer as the Local Document Service, then this user account may be an account that is local to the system. If either of the document storage location or the database is located on a remote system, then this user account must be a domain account. As an example: User name: <domain>\ndsyncagent Full name: NetDocuments Synchronization Agent Service Account Note: This user account will be referred to as NDSyncAgent for the remainder of this document. If a domain user account is required, then the user account will need to be created on the Domain Controller. Start->Run type compmgmt.msc OR Right click on My Computer and select Manage Local Users and Groups -> Users and use the Action menu to create a new user.

5 We recommend that this user account should have the following: User must change password at next logon turned off Password never expires option turned on For security reasons, this account should not have administrator privileges and a strong password should be defined for the account. If the password for this user account is changed after the Local Document Service has started, it will be necessary to manually set the password for the Synchronization Agent Service. (Administrative Tools -> Services -> select the NetDocuments Local Storage Synchronization Agent -> select Properties -> set the password on the Log On tab. Specify Cabinets Specify which Cabinets in the Repository should be synchronized by your Local Document Service. Open a web browser and log in to the NetDocuments service with a user account that has administrator rights for the Cabinets. Open Cabinet Administration page for each Cabinet you want to synchronize. A section on the Cabinet Administration page is labeled Local Document Server. In this section, provide the public IP address of the computer where the Local Document Service software will be installed. The Local Document Service computer needs to have a single public IP address. If you do not know the public IP address for the computer, you can find this by using a web browser on that computer and go to the site You should not use the private IP address being used on the Local Document Service. Only connections from this address, with the proper credentials (see Configuration below), will be allowed to access the Cabinet for the purpose of synchronizing the documents in the Cabinet to a local server. Note that the IP address you provide here is the externally visible address of the server where the Local Document Service software is installed. Repeat this process for each Cabinet in the Repository that you want to have processed by the Local Document Service. SQL Server The Synchronization Agent Service requires access to a SQL Server database. The Local Document Service setup program will handle the tasks of creating the required database in the SQL Server instance and configuring that database for use. The SQL Server instance can be located on the same computer as Local Document Service, or it may be hosted on a remote server. If you do not have SQL Server installed, you may use the SQL Server Express Edition that is available from Microsoft.com as a free download. The SQL Server instance must be configured to use Windows Authentication. The Windows user account that will be installing the Local Document Service software should be an administrator on the SQL Server instance. Please refer to the SQL Server documentation for more information about installing and setting up SQL Server.

6 Software Installation As noted previously, this software must be installed by a user with Administrator privileges on the computer where the software is installed. The Local Document Service software is distributed as a self-extracting executable (ndlds.exe) that will extract the setup files and then automatically start the setup program. Using an account with Administrator rights, log on to the computer where the software is to be installed. Run the selfextracting setup package ndlds.exe. The setup software will be extracted to a temporary folder. Default extraction locations: Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 o C:\Documents and Settings\{username}\Local Settings\Temp\Local Document Server Windows Vista, Windows 7, and Windows Server 2008 o C:\Users\{Username}\AppData\Local\Temp\Local Document Server The installer program (setup.exe) will automatically start after the software extraction is complete. The Local Document Service will software will be installed to your local computer. If you are upgrading a previous version of Local Document Service, the setup program will temporarily stop the Synchronization Agent Service before installing the new software. If this is the first time the software has been installed on the computer, after the installer has installed the software, it will launch a setup utility to help you setup and configure the system for use by the Local Document Service (LDServerSetup.exe). First Time Setup One of the components installed as part of the Local Document Service is a tool to help you setup your system after the software has been installed. This setup tool, LDServerSetup.exe, is located in the folder where the software was installed (e.g. c:\program Files\NetDocuments\Local Document Server). Local Document Service User Account Provide the credentials for the dedicated user account that you created for the Local Document Service. Document Storage Location Provide the root path to the file system location where the documents are to be stored. The documents will be stored at this location in a dynamically generated folder structure that you will define later using the Configuration tool. Database Server Select the SQL Server database that is to be used by the Local Document Service. After this information is provided to the setup program, the following steps will be executed: Set the Synchronization Agent Windows Service to run with the identity of the provided user account. Grant the Log on as a Service policy right to the provided user account. Give the provided user account modify rights to the document storage location, creating the folder if needed. Give the provided user account modify rights to a location in the Windows registry. o HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\NetDocuments\Local Document Server Create a database on the selected SQL Server and configure it for use by the Local Document Service. o Create a database named ndlds. o Create a tablenamed Docs. o Create a login for the provided user account. o Create a user in the ndlds database an associate it with the login created in the previous step. o Give that user read and write rights to the ndlds database.

7 Local Document Service Configuration The Configuration program (LDServerConfig.exe) provides the ability to manage the operation of the Local Document Service. You can define the filing system for the documents, the frequency of the document update process, and optional integration with a local searching facility. The Configuration program can be started from the Start Menu (Start->All Programs->NetDocuments->Local Document Service->Configure). This program may also be started at the end of the setup program. When the Configuration program is started, it will request login credentials to your NetDocuments Service. You will need to log in as a user that has administrative rights to your NetDocuments Repository. The Synchronization tab sets the properties relating to the operation of the Synchronization Agent. The Searching tab allows you to optionally integrate an external searching application so that the documents downloaded to your location are searchable. Synchronization settings Repository: This field shows the repository to be processed by the Local Document Service. If multiple repositories are listed, select the one that is to be processed by the Local Document Service. Local Storage Location: Defines the location where the documents will be stored. Replaceable parameters can be used when defining this path to provide a logical structure for the storage of the documents. The attributes that can be specified as a replaceable parameter are listed on the Configuration dialog. In addition, any custom profile attribute definition may be used as a replaceable parameter. Examples: Local Storage Location: \\fs1\ndlocal\%cab%\%alpha%\%client%\%cremonth%\ Possible actual storage paths: \\fs1\ndlocal\finance\a\acme\ \ \\fs1\ndlocal\litigation\t\thriftbank\ \ Local Storage Location: \\fs1\ndlocal\%client%\%matter%\%creator%\ Possible actual storage paths: \\fs1\ndlocal\spacely\0001\tjones\ \\fs1\ndlocal\cogswell\1042\bdarin\ Synchronization frequency: Controls how often the Synchronization Agent will synchronize documents from the Repository. Each time the Agent performs synchronization, it will query the NetDocuments Service for all documents that have been created, modified, or deleted since the last synchronization. If you select a frequency of Daily, you will need to specify in the Synchronization start time field with the time of day that the Agent will run.

8 Synchronization start time: If the Synchronization frequency value is Daily, this field will set the time of day that the Synchronization Agent will download new and updated documents. The time values are defined on a 24 hour clock. Generate new credentials: Generates a new set of credentials that are used to allow the Synchronization Agent Service to authenticate to the online NetDocuments Service at vault.netvoyage.com. The first time the Configuration program runs, this field wil be set to Yes. These credentials wil be encryptedusing Microsoft s Cryptography services and stored in the registry and in the repository object at the NetDocuments datacenter. These credentials are used in combination with the Public IP address of the Local Document Service computer to authenticate the Synchronization Agent with the NetDocuments Service. Generating a new set of credentials is equivalent to changing a password. IP Address changes: Periodically you may change your ISP or the IP range being used by your firm. When this occurs you will need to change the IP address currently used by your LD Server on you cabinet administration page. You will also need to open the LD Service configuration software and generate new credentials by selecting Yes, as shown below and click OK as the bottom of the page.. Search Settings These settings are used to allow you to optionally integrate an external searching application with the local document storage. You will then be able to use the searching application to assist you in locating documents in the local storage system. Download ND user list to: If a file location is specified in this field (e.g. c:\ndlocal\search\users.xml), the Local Document Service will download an updated list of all users in the Repository once a day. This list will be stored in XML format; previously existing files will be overwritten. This user list will include all groups used by any cabinet synchronizing to this server as well the memberships of these groups. Log document updates to: If a file location is specified in this field (e.g. c:\ndlocal\search\docupdatelog.xml), the Local Document Service will create an XML formatted list of all documents downloaded during each synchronization run. If a previous file already exists, an incrementing four digit number will be appended to the filename to make a new, unique name. For each updated document, the file will include the document ID, the relative path to the document, and an indication of whether the document content and/or metadata were updated. User mapping table: The integration with the external search engine may require a mapping between the user IDs used by NetDocuments and the external search engine. You may define these rules and mappings in an XML document. If such a mapping file is created, the full path and filename should be specified in this field (e.g. c:\ndlocal\search\usermap.xml) to allow the external search engine to integrate this security mapping into the search process. The user mapping file must contain a root node named <top>. Each rule is a child node named <rule> that contains two elements, <osname> and <ndname>. The <osname> element may contain multiple single character wildcards (?) and a single multiple character wildcard (*). The <ndname> element may contain a single multiple character wildcard (*). When user mapping is performed, the first matching rule will be used. If a wildcard exists in the <ndname> element, it will be replaced with the current user ID from the search engine. Example: <top> <rule> <osname>john</osname> <ndname>jdoe</ndname> </rule> <rule> <osname>*</osname> <ndname>nd-*</ndname> </rule> </top>

9 Security bypass user: The security bypass user is the NetDocuments user account that the external search engine will use to access the documents on the Local Document Service during its indexing.

10 Recovery Utility Your Local Document Service may contain millions of documents. In the rare case where you are not able to access your documents through the NetDocuments Service, a Recovery Utility has been provided to assist you in the process of retrieving documents from your local storage and delivering them to your users. The Document Recovery Utility (recovery.exe) is installed to the same location as the Local Document Service Configuration program. To run the recovery utility, click Start Programs NetDocuments Local Document Service Recovery. The Recovery Utility will display a window that will allow you to locate one or more documents and then provide those documents to your users. Once one or more documents have been selected, you may choose to save a copy of the selected document(s) to another location, or a copy of the document(s) to a user. For each document that you have selected, the associated.nde file (profile attributes file) will be copied or ed along with the document file itself. Click Next and the action you have selected will be performed for the chosen document(s). The documents that are copied out of your local storage in this manner should be placed in the Echo directory of the workstation where the document is to be used. When the NetDocuments Service becomes available, any document that has been recovered and edited in the echo directory will automatically be uploaded to the NetDocuments Service.

11 Local Document Service Operation Synchronization Agent Service The Synchronization Agent Service is a Windows Service that handles the task of periodically connecting to the NetDocuments Service and synchronizing the local document storage with any changes that have been made to the Repository since the last synchronization run. As a Windows Service, the Synchronization Agent will automatically be started whenever the computer is running, whether or not any users are logged in to that computer. Information and error messages from the Synchronization Agent service are written to the Windows Application Event Log. To view the Event Log, click Start Programs Administrative Tools Event Viewer. In the left pane of the event viewer, select Application. Information type events are written to this log when the Synchronization Agent service starts a sync run and when the run has completed. Errors and warnings that the service encounters are also written to this log. If you select the Action Properties menu item, you can configure the maximum size of this log and how to handle events when the log file has reached its maximum. You should periodically view this Event Log to monitor the operation of the Synchronization Agent. Database Information about each document that is downloaded and stored on the local system is stored in a SQL Server database. The database is used by the Synchronization Agent to track which documents in the Repository have been downloaded and which documents have been created, modified, or deleted in the NetDocuments Service since the last time the Synchronization Agent downloaded changes from the repository. This database must not be modified other than through operations performed by the Synchronization Agent service. Database: ndlds Table: Docs Column Name Description docid Document ID (e.g ) modnum Internal tracking number used by the Synchronization Agent to determine if a document has been updated and needs to be downloaded again. envurl NetDocuments URL of the downloaded document. This URL may be entered into a web browser to access the document through the NetDocuments service. Profile Full path and filename of the downloaded document profile file (*.NDE). Document Profile Files Document Profile data, such as Author, Doc ID, Name, and all custom profile attributes are stored in a document profile file. Each document that is downloaded and stored on the local system has a corresponding document profile. Document profile files have the extension of.nde. These files are stored in the same folders as the documents. The database, outlined above, contains references to these profile files. The profile file is stored in an XML format and contains all the document profile attribute values. These files are identical to the profile files used in the NetDocuments Echo directory, allowing you the ability to move a profile file with its corresponding document file into a user s Echo directory for use by the user if the NetDocuments Service is ever unavailable. (see the section about the Recovery Utility). Last Updated: October 18, , v. 8