Accessing Network Drives from Denodo Virtual Dataport

Accessing network drives from Denodo Virtual DataPort

Revision 20200605

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CONTENTS

1 GOAL...... 3

2 CONTENT...... 4 2.1 CREATING A SYMBOLIC LINK TO THE NETWORK LOCATION...... 4 2.2 MAPPING THE NETWORK FOLDER TO A DRIVE (ASSIGNING A LETTER FOR THE NETWORK LOCATION)...... 5 2.3 TROUBLESHOOTING...... 7

3 REFERENCES...... 8 Accessing network drives from Denodo Virtual DataPort 20200605 3 of 8

1 GOAL

This document explains how to access network drives from Denodo Virtual DataPort and how to solve some of the limitations. Accessing network drives from Denodo Virtual DataPort 20200605 4 of 8

2 CONTENT

A network drive is a storage device on a local access network (LAN). The network drive is usually located on a server or a network-attached storage (NAS) device. For several scenarios, Denodo Virtual DataPort (VDP) will need to get resources located in a network drive on Microsoft Windows. In order to be able to access and browse the network drives in VDP we have several alternatives:

2.1 CREATING A SYMBOLIC LINK TO THE NETWORK LOCATION. A symbolic link is a file-system object that points to another file system object. The object being pointed to is called the target. Symbolic links are transparent to users; the links appear as normal files or directories. Symbolic links in Windows are available in NTFS systems starting with Windows Vista.

The recommended approach for accessing network folders using the VDP server is creating a symbolic link pointing to that desired network folder.

For instance, to access a folder located in //my_server/folder the following command can be executed to create a symbolic link in the C:/remoteFolder directory:

mklink /d c:\remoteFolder \\my_server\folder

The command needs to be executed as Administrator.

The symbolic link will be created in the file system and it can be accessed like any other directory from the VDP Administration Tool. Accessing network drives from Denodo Virtual DataPort 20200605 5 of 8

2.2 MAPPING THE NETWORK FOLDER TO A DRIVE (ASSIGNING A LETTER FOR THE NETWORK LOCATION).

Due to Windows limitations, this method should not be used when starting the VDP server as a Windows service. 1. Go to This PC. 2. Click Map network drive. 3. Choose a letter for the drive and the target folder. 4. It is possible to connect using the current user credentials or set different credentials. 5. Click on ‘Finish’. Accessing network drives from Denodo Virtual DataPort 20200605 6 of 8

6. Now it is possible to access from VDP to this network location like any local folder. Accessing network drives from Denodo Virtual DataPort 20200605 7 of 8

2.3 TROUBLESHOOTING

2.3.1 Symbolic link directory not visible or visible as file The permissions of the target location are not correctly configured for the user starting the Denodo VDP server. If the VDP server is started with a domain user, check it the user has permissions for accessing the target location. If the VDP server is started as a Windows service, check if the service has been started with a user having permissions for the target location and not a local system account without permissions for accessing the remote location.

2.3.2 Mapped Drive letter not visible in the List starting the VDP server as Windows service Due to limitations of Windows Services regarding Drive letters, assigning a letter to a network drive is not recommended when starting the VDP server as a Windows service. The symbolic link alternative should be used. A service should not directly access local or network resources through mapped drive letters. Drive letters are not global to the system and cannot be shared between users of different accounts. More information regarding limitations of Windows Services and Drives in the following article: Services and Redirected Drives. Accessing network drives from Denodo Virtual DataPort 20200605 8 of 8

3 REFERENCES

Creating Symbolic Links Symbolic Links