The Universal Driver FAQ mentions that

You can hide your .LK and .OV from your users.

Yet I can't find anything about this in the Universal Driver docs. Have I missed something? Does anyone know how to set this up?

Chris,

This is one of those things that is a fantastic feature of the UD, that we just have not had time to document. Thanks to your posting, I'm trying to put together a White Paper on this, but it might be a few days.

In short, the UD allows you to have OI point to data files that can reside elsewhere - where is up to you. This is done via the .ini or .conf files with Novell and Linux installs, or via a registry setting for windows.

Using Novell as an example, in the UD manual, we create share names in the lh3srvc.ini file for where the applications reside, and we put a line in the revparam that names that share for that particular application.

If you created a new share in the .ini file that pointed to an OI data directory on, say, another volume on the same server, that data directory would need a revparam file that matched the share in the .ini file.

Quick example.

Under OI you have a subdirectory called STUDENTS. For whatever reason, you want to put this elsewhere, no longer under OI. You want to put in in the SCHOOLS directory elsewhere on the same volume.

In your lh3srvc.ini, where you had

OI=SYS:Revapps\OI

you add

STUDENTS=SYS:SCHOOLS\STUDENTS

Although you need only one revparam for the OI application, you will need to create another one for the remote STUDENTS directory. It will be the same as the revparam under OI, but you will need to replace the line

ShareName=OI

with

ShareName=STUDENTS

Restart the UD and now when you go into OI, you will be able to see the contents of the STUDENTS directory, although it is no longer underneath OI.

That is the dime tour, but when you start thinking about it, there are some great possibilities with this.

Hope it helps,

Kevin

Kevin,

Does this allow you to place volumes on a share not normally accessible by the user?

Using the Novell example, let's say my base installation is on \\SERVER:DATA1, and all of my users have access to this. My users do not have access to \\SERVER:DATA2. Could I place my LK and OV files on \\SERVER:DATA2, tell the UD about it, and let it handle access, since it is running as an NLM, or do the users still have to have access to the volume/directory?

[email protected]

Greyhound Lines, Inc.

Matt,

Yes to your first question. The Universal Driver will need to have access, but not your users.

Kevin

Thanks Kevin, that sounds great! Any idea when the docs are going to be updated?

I you move your LH files to a different directory, would you need to update your DBT?

Kevin,

What is the Windows method? What registry settings and revparam script?

Richard Bright

Richard,

In Windows, hiding the data is slightly different. Lets say you wish to keep the data on the "c:\student" directory. Go ahead and create that directory with the data. Add a revparam with the contents "ServerOnly=1".

Go to the registry for the UD 30. Under the 3.0 folder, create a new key called "Shares".

Under "Shares", create a new string value - give it a descriptive name, like "OIdata". The value data should be the path to where the data is - in this case, "c:\student".

Stop and restart the Service, and you should be all set.

Don't worry, the White Paper is coming!

Kevin

It is possible to do this with the NLM as well. There are caveats, but if you set it up to use the REVELATION user, then the LK and OV files need be accessible only by the REVELATION user. All other users make requests through the NLM but need not have access to the files themselves.

Thanks for that.

The method looks real easy to impliment. Look forward to white paper.

Richard Bright

BrightIdeas New Zealand

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