Chapter 4 NetFile

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Sun Java System Portal Server Secure Remote Access 6 2005Q1 Administration Guide

Chapter 4
NetFile

This chapter describes NetFile and explains its operation. To configure NetFile, see Chapter 10, "Configuring NetFile".

This chapter covers the following topics:

Overview of NetFile

Supported File Access Protocols

Enable Debugging for NetFile

Enable Debugging for NetFile

Overview of NetFile

NetFile is a file manager application that enables the user to access and operate on remote file systems and directories.

The NetFile component of SRA is available as Java1 and Java2 applets. Users who do not have the Java2 Plugin for their browsers can use the Java1 applet. The Java2 applet has a better interface and increased ease of accessibility.

NetFile provides the following key features:

Facility to add or remove shares or folders

File upload and download

Search for files and folders

File compression using GZIP and ZIP

Mail facility within the NetFile environment

Save the current NetFile session information

Drag and Drop of files

To configure NetFile, see Chapter 10, "Configuring NetFile".

Supported File Access Protocols

NetFile allows you to access remote systems using FTP, NFS, and jCIFS (Microsoft Windows) protocols. It includes the following file access protocol features:

If the user specifies AUTODETECT to add a system, NetFile uses the following sequence to automatically detect which protocol to use:

Checks the host for FTP server on port 21. If the FTP response contains the string "NetWare", this is considered a NETWARE host.

Checks the host for NFS server on port 2049.

Checks the host for Microsoft Windows on port 139.

If all of the above fail, a message saying unable to determine the host type is displayed.

The first file system type that is detected is used to connect to the requested host. The host detection order can be changed in the Access Manager administration console.

Note

The connection fails if the servers are running on non-standard ports.

NetFile enables users to select the file server and protocol of their choice.

For each of these protocols, the platforms that are supported are listed below.

Table 4-1 File Systems and Supported Protocols

File System/Protocol

Platform

FTP

Novell FTP 5.1 Server on Novell Netware

MS FTP Server 4.0 on Win NT 4.0

MS FTP Server 5.0 on Win NT 2000

Solaris FTP Server

WU_FTP 2.6.1

ProFTPD 1.2.8

vsFTPd 1.2.0

NFS

Solaris 2.6 and higher

jCIFS

Windows 95/98/NT/2000/ME/XP

Note

To upload files to a ProFTPD server using NetFile, "AllowStoreRestart" needs to be set to "on" in the proftpd.conf file on the host running ProFTPD server.

Note

Support for Novell Netware is only through FTP server and not through native access.

Note

To access Microsoft Windows (SMB/CIFS) file systems jCIFS must be installed on the Portal Server. jCIFS is an Open Source client library that implements the CIFS/SMB networking protocol.

Create the NetFile policy based on the NetFile service and assign the NetFile policy for organization and role which require access to NetFile.

Assign the NetFile service to each user who requires access to NetFile.

See the Access Manager Administration Guide for more information on creating and assigning policies and services.

Enable Debugging for NetFile

The location of the debug information depends on the setting of the com.iplanet.services.debug.directory attribute in the AMConfig-instance-name.properties file on the Portal Server node.

For example, if the value of the com.iplanet.services.debug.directory attribute is:

/var/opt/SUNWam/debug/

Then the debug information for NetFile is be available in the srapNetFile file in the /var/opt/SUNWam/debug directory.

See the Access Manager Administration Guide for more information.

Enabling Logging for NetFile

Specify the log location using the Access Manager Logging service to enable logging for NetFile. The name of the log file is srapNetFile and by default is located in the /var/opt/SUNWam/logs directory.

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Part No: 817-7693. Copyright 2005 Sun Microsystems, Inc. All rights reserved.


Note	The connection fails if the servers are running on non-standard ports.

File System/Protocol	Platform
FTP	Novell FTP 5.1 Server on Novell Netware MS FTP Server 4.0 on Win NT 4.0 MS FTP Server 5.0 on Win NT 2000 Solaris FTP Server WU_FTP 2.6.1 ProFTPD 1.2.8 vsFTPd 1.2.0
NFS	Solaris 2.6 and higher
jCIFS	Windows 95/98/NT/2000/ME/XP


Note	To upload files to a ProFTPD server using NetFile, "AllowStoreRestart" needs to be set to "on" in the proftpd.conf file on the host running ProFTPD server.


Note	Support for Novell Netware is only through FTP server and not through native access.


Note	To access Microsoft Windows (SMB/CIFS) file systems jCIFS must be installed on the Portal Server. jCIFS is an Open Source client library that implements the CIFS/SMB networking protocol.