File

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 HTTP, FTP, 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.

Select Type
Select File.

Files To Be Distributed
An expandable tree structure showing target paths to the files to be distributed.

Modify the Distribution’s content as needed, then either click Apply to save the updated Distribution contents list, or click OK to save the changes and exit the Distribution’s properties.

New Target
If you are not using the default variable %DEST_VOLUME%, replace it with a target location 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 Enter to accept the variable. You can also replace it with a different variable.

IMPORTANT: Do not use a UNC path or all Distributions will be sent to only that one location. Instead, use 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 file system on a Linux or Solaris server, such as /user/file_distribution/files

You must press Enter 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.

Add Directory
Builds the target path. If you did not provide the full path using the New Targret option, replace “New Directory” with a directory name.

IMPORTANT: When entering a directory name, if it 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 the indicator of a variable name.

You can add multiple directories with this option to create the full path. You can also add sibling directories, as determined by which subdirectory you select before clicking Add Directory, to create additional paths.

You must press Enter each time to add the target directory change to the path.

Add Files
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 that it has 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 New Target and Add Directory buttons, including any directories that you select with the Add Files 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: Both the directories that you select for the Distribution and any target directories cannot be Read-Only. This causes file-writing to such target directories to fail.

When you are finished adding files and target locations, either click Apply to save the updated Distribution contents list, or click OK to save the changes and exit the Distribution's properties.

Delete
Deletes whatever you have selected:

• Root Location: Removes all directories and files below it from the tree structure.
• Directory: Removes the directory and any of its files and subdirectories from the tree structure.
• File: Removes the file from the tree structure, but not from its hard disk location on the server.

Synchronize/Desynchronize
This causes the directories on the target Subscriber server to be synchronized with the directories contained in the Distribution (which link to locations on the Distributor server). When you specify a directory to be synchronized, it includes all files and subdirectories under the synchronized directory.

Directory synchronization does not affect the adding of directories and files by 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 and all files and subdirectories 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. Only enable directory synchronization for directories where you are certain you want to allow existing directories and files to be deleted if they are not contained in the Distribution.

Also, if the Distributor whose files system you are using for this Distribution is also a Subscriber that is subscribed to the Distribution, the Distributor's file system is treated the same as the other target Subscribers' file systems and can be deleted.

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 and click Synchronize. A synchronization icon is added before the entry's graphic symbol. The source location on the Distributor server determines what is kept in the sychnronized directory on the Subscriber server, as depicted in the Distribution's Files To Be Distributed box. 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 Unsynchronize button removes the synchronization icon, so that the 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 placed into effect so that it rebuilds the Distribution with synchronization enabled.

Verify Distributions
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, Subscribes 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 when the Send schedule starts, if there is no new version of the Distribution to send, the Distributor should send a request for the Subscriber to re-extract the current version to ensure that the files are installed.

Maintain Trustees
Maintains the source file's trustee attributes on the target NetWare^® file system to be as they are on the source file system. The trustee information is obtained when the Distribution is built.

This is additive, meaning it does not remove trustees on the target file system.

Extract Error Handling
Select one:

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 that as many files as possible are successfully extracted. You can avoid locked open file errors by selecting Kill Connection on Open Files.

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 Conn 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^TM connections cannot be killed.

Error messages are written to the Subscriber log file.

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