Mounting Alfresco 4 as a CIFS/SMB Hard drive mount

 This notes show how to set up a SMB/CIFS server config to enable mounting the Alfresco system like a hard drive.   The alfresco 4.0 wiki page for CIFS set up is 

http://wiki.alfresco.com/wiki/File_Server_Subsystem_4.0#SMB.2FCIFS_Server_Configuration [1].   

A web site I gleamed some information from http://www.davidbaker.cc/?q=node/3 [2] Although it cover alfresco 3.2 most of the information here is still valid.

Assumption:

• You already have alfresco 4.0 running on a linux system
• Ubuntu 10.04 server

First you need to edit the alfresco-global.properties file.  I am using a tomcat install located at /opt/tomcat on an Ubuntu box.  The location of your alfresco-global.properties file may be different.

If you have not done any customizations of your alfresco install you may not have an alfresco-global.properties file but a alfresco-global.properties.sample.  If so copy this file and name it alfresco-global.properties.

> cd /opt/tomcat/shared/classes         >    sudo cp alfresco-global.properties.sample alfresco-global.properties

Now edit this file

>  sudo pico alfresco-global.properties

At the end of the file I added the following CIFS configurations

cifs.enabled=true cifs.serverName=alfresco cifs.domain=WORKGROUP cifs.hostannounce=true cifs.sessionTimeout=1800 cifs.ipv6.enabled=false cifs.tcpipSMB.port=1445 cifs.netBIOSSMB.namePort=1137 cifs.netBIOSSMB.datagramPort=1138 cifs.netBIOSSMB.sessionPort=1139

This will enable the CIFS server.

I am not a cifs expert so I used the following notes from http://www.davidbaker.cc/?q=node/3 [2] to open ports so that alfresco could be mounted properly.   

These settings are unsafe in a work environment as they are not secure.   They are just meant to get you started with testing then to fix them later.

Edit  /etc/modules

>    sudo pico /etc/modules

Add this to the end of the file

iptable_nat

Now Edit  /etc/ sysctl.conf

>    sudo pico /etc/sysctl.conf

Uncomment the following line

net.ipv4.ip_forward=1

Run the following commands

>    sudo iptables -F         >    sudo iptables -t nat -F         >    sudo iptables -P INPUT ACCEPT         >    sudo iptables -P FORWARD ACCEPT         >    sudo iptables -P OUTPUT ACCEPT         >    sudo iptables -t nat -A PREROUTING -p tcp --dport 445 -j REDIRECT --to-ports 1445         >    sudo iptables -t nat -A PREROUTING -p tcp --dport 139 -j REDIRECT --to-ports 1139         >    sudo iptables -t nat -A PREROUTING -p udp --dport 137 -j REDIRECT --to-ports 1137         >    sudo iptables -t nat -A PREROUTING -p udp --dport 138 -j REDIRECT --to-ports 1138

Save the iptables configuration

>    sudo iptables-save > /etc/iptables.rules

Edit  /etc/modules

>    sudo pico /etc/network/interfaces

Add this to the end of the file

pre-up iptables-restore /etc/iptables.rules

Reboot the server.

Once it is up and running you can now mount it like a hard drive.  Below are a few examples on how to mount it.

OS X

In this example my alfresco has the IP address 192.168.1.13

From the Finder select GoàConnect to Server  or just press apple+K

Enter the smb location in my case it is 192.168.1.13

Click Connect

Enter your alfresco username/password

And click connect

Now it should show up as a mounted hard drive. 

Previews, search, and coverflow work just fine.  You can edit, update, add files. 

Another way to mount the drive is via the command line

>    cd ~/Desktop         >    mkdir mountpoint         >    mount –t smbfs //demo10x13@192.168.1.13/alfresco mountpoint

Windows 7

In this example my alfresco has the IP address 192.168.1.13

Open a window explorer then enter the cifs address in the menu bar like so.

Then hit enter

Enter in your alfresco username/password and click OK.

Now you have mounted the drive.

You may notice a

_CheckInOut.exe

_ShowDetails.exe

These are used only on the windows system.   If you drag a file that is already in the alfresco drive to _CheckInOut.ext it will check out the file.  _ShowDetails.exe if you drag a file onto it and drop it will open a web page showing the details of the files.    There are methods to remove these from the drives if they are a hinderance.

Here is another way to mount the network drive

Select Computer then click on Map Network Drive

Enter the alfresco server information and click finish

Enter your credentials.

References

[1]  SMB/CIFS Server Configuration

       http://wiki.alfresco.com/wiki/File_Server_Subsystem_4.0#SMB.2FCIFS_Server_Configuration

       Visited 2/2012

 [2]  Installing Alfresco Community Edition 3.2 on Ubuntu Server 9.04

       http://www.davidbaker.cc/?q=node/3

       Visited 2/2012