VFS Configuration

The Virtual File System is configured primarily by adjusting the "hosts.xml" file and should therefore only be performed by experienced users.

Introduction

The virtual file system is activated by default. You may also disable it.

If you are still working with InDesign in parallel during the migration phase, it is also possible to create a further host entry with VFS disabled. This allows you to log on to a censhare system without activating the virtual file system. Copy the existing Hosts entry and in there, deactivate VFS.

If you update Adobe InDesign, InCopy, or InDesign Server to a new version, this must be supported by the installed censhare Server and the censhare XMLCommand plugin.

You can also find out which version of VFS is currently installed in the splash screen or after the client start under "About censhare Client". The VFS system extension is regularly adapted to new operating system versions. You can obtain the current version via the installer.

Windows - Setting up the host entry

Under Windows, there are several ways to mount the virtual filesystem. For this purpose, you have to edit the "hosts.xml" file. See below.

Configure the VFS name

Generally, you do not need to pay attention to the choice of VFS name. However, in some situations, you must ensure that problems with third-party software do not affect the operation of censhare.

You configure the VFS name in the "hosts.xml" file. The file then contains a proprietary entry for every censhare Server that is allowed to be accessed. This entry is also used for creating the VFS path. It will look like this, as an example:

/Volumes/SYSTEM_NAME/service/assets/asset/id/67485/storage/master/file

This path accesses the Master File of the asset with the ID 67485. The database name of the server entry in the "hosts.xml" file is used as the SYSTEM_NAME. If, for example, the name is "censhare_Tracker", the VFS path is then:

/Volumes/censhare_Tracker/service/assets/asset/id/67485/storage/master/file

If no value exists for the database name, censhare uses the Server name in the associated entry. This name is also shown in the drop-down list if a user wants to log into a system using the Desktop Client. If the name contains special characters, the client might automatically change the VFS name into one that is compatible with a disk drive.

Tip: If a database name exists, the server name in the "hosts.xml" file can be freely given.

You can change the database or server name for a client under the menu option "File→ Preferences->Servers". Go to the desired entry in the dialog and in the "General" section of this entry, enter the database name in the "Database" field and/or enter the server name in the "Name" field.

You can also make your changes to the settings directly in the "hosts.xml" file. For a server entry in the associated tag "<host>", enter the attribute "databasename" for the database name and/or the attribute "name" for the server name. For example:

CODE

<host ... name="SERVER-NAME" databasename="DATABASE-NAME" ...>

Adapt hosts.xml for VFS

The following example shows a section of the configuration file "hosts.xml". The XML node "censhare-vfs" below host defines the VFS behavior of the host "hostname". The following table lists all possible attributes, which can be added to the node "censhare-vfs":

CODE

<host name="hostname"
      authentication-method=""
      compressionlevel="0"
      url="//some/where/corpus.RMIServer">
 <censhare-vfs use="1" />
</host>

The Configuration Parameters

Parameter	Value Range	Default Value	Description:
physicalurl	file:/{mount-point}	Macintosh: file:/Volumes/ {name} / Windows: file://localhost/ {name} /	Specifies the mount point of the VFS
	The value {name} corresponds to the name of the host. If said host has an (optional) database value, this value is used for {name} .
	Windows: Windows offers three options to mount the VFS. Default is a UNC path: physicalurl="file://servername/mountname" - Mount as UNC path physicalurl="file:/W:/" - Mount as Disk Letter physicalurl="file:/C:/existing/path" - Mount as Disk path (only possible for NTFS)
debug-level	0...6	0	Level for Log-Output
	debug-level="0" - Loglevel "Error" debug-level="1" - Loglevel "Warning" debug-level="2" - Loglevel "Notice" debug-level="3" - Loglevel "Info" debug-level="4" - Loglevel "Debug" (Phase 1) debug-level="5" - Loglevel "Debug" (Phase 2 - as of Client Version 4.7.22/4.8.5 debug-level="6" - Loglevel "Debug" (Phase 3 - as of Client Version 4.7.27/4.8.8
	Macintosh: The Logging is written to "/var/log/system.log" or "/var/log/kernel.log"
	Windows: Up to debug-level="3", the Logging is written to the censhare Client protocol. From debug-level="4" the Logging is written to the file "%HOMEPATH%\censhare\vfs_log\yyyy-MM-dd_HH-mm-ss_cbfs.log"
hidden	0,1	0	Hide Mountpoint
	hidden="0" - Shows Mountpoint hidden="1" - Hides Mountpoint
local	0,1	0	Mount as a local disk
	local="0" - Mount as Network Volume local="1" - Mount as local disk
request-timeout	Integer starting with10	130 Seconds	Sets upper limit of the response time of the Client to a request of the kernel extension as seconds
	request-timeout="10" - Smallest possible timeout value in seconds (10 sec) request-timeout="130" - Default for timeout.

REST URL

Whenever an asset is exported from the client with drag-and-drop, a REST URL is created and applied as a directory structure in the VFS. This directory structure allows access to a dummy file that contains the result of the REST query.

Example path: /my_mount_point/service/assets/asset/id/12345/storage/master/file/CsVfs_dummyFile.jpg

Access to this dummy file remains until the censhare Client is terminated. For example, when this URL is stored in an InDesign document, the application must also find the file "CsVfs_dummyFile.jpg" if it was not re-exported after a restart of the client with drag-and-drop.

macOS

On macOS, every application makes a request to the full path. For example:

"/my_mount_point/service/assets/asset/id/12345/storage/master/file/CsVfs_dummyFile.jpg" .

The entire REST URL is available.

Windows

On Windows, the address is only partially requested. This means the first request is:

"\localhost\my_mount_point\service"

The next request is:

"\localhost\my_mount_point\service\assets"

The client uses the partial REST validation to determine whether a request is a partially valid REST URL (for example, "\localhost\my_mount_point\service\assets") or not and responds accordingly with "is file", "is directory", or "does not exist".