Configuring Institutional File Systems

Updated 2 weeks ago by Vaida

The following information is only applicable to an Enterprise instance of RSpace.

First, to enable connecting to external file systems, go to your server properties file and make sure that: netfilestores.enabled=true

Configuring institutional File Systems is a task for system administrators (to see the current File System configuration you need a sysadmin account). As a sysadmin, navigate to the System tab, then click on ‘Configuration’ and ‘Institutional File Systems’ button.

Example File System configuration

Managing File Systems

The ‘institutional File Systems’ page allows you to:

add new File Systems
modify existing File Systems (clicking on ‘Details’ button loads settings of that File System)
delete unused File Systems (that operation fails if users have already created Filestores for that File System)

Adding or modifying a File System

Selecting ‘Details’ of existing File System, or clicking on ‘Add new File System’ button opens new panel, where details of the File System can be set.

Add File System panel

Each File System is a set of a following settings:

Name – that’s the label for the File System that will be displayed to the users
URL – address of the File System server (should start with smb:// for Samba protocol)
Status – whether system is enabled and users can use it
Client type – RSpace supports connecting through SFTP or Samba protocol
Authentication Type – two authentication methods are supported:
a) username/password – user is asked for external system credentials on their first connection to the file system in current session
b) public key authentication – user can generate an SSH key pair with RSpace and register it with local key exchange service. This authentication method is tailored for University of Edinburgh public key infrastructure, so please contact RSpace first if you want to use it in your deployment.

SFTP File System specific options

When configuring SFTP File System you’ll see additional input field for SFTP server public key.

Example File System – SFTP protocol

You need to provide a fingerprint of sftp server public key, so the secure connection can be established by RSpace. The fingerprint has to be in rsa-sha format (not ecdsa), it can be obtained for example by connecting to the server with ssh -oHostKeyAlgorithms='ssh-rsa' command and checking .known_hosts file.

Samba File System specific options

When configuring Samba File System you’ll see additional input field for Samba domain.

You need to provide a Samba domain that users using this File System belong to.

Enabling Filestores Gallery for RSpace users

For Filestores tab to be visible in the Gallery the netfilestores.enabled deployment property has to be set to true.