1) Alfresco replaces traditional shared drives with a virtual file system that provides better document management capabilities than a standard file system, including search, version control, metadata, and collaboration tools. 2) It utilizes a rules engine and smart spaces to automate processes like metadata extraction and workflow. Rules can be created to organize, structure, and enrich content. 3) Alfresco provides a virtual file system via several protocols like CIFS, WebDAV, and FTP to emulate a shared drive and allow dragging and dropping of files while also enabling server-side actions.

1. Alfresco
Replacing your Shared Drive
Michael
Farman
www.alfresco.com

2. The Worlds Most Popular CMS
● is.....The Shared Drive
● Familiar to users - just another Windows Explorer drive
● “It's on the shared drive”
● Shared drive challenges
● Difficult to find – no search
● Difficult to capture context
• Project_Deathstar_Functional_Specification_V0.2_Draft_02-08-2008-MF.doc
● It's it the right version?
• No version control or history
● Security suits a filesystem not how people work with documents
● I want to collaborate on this
• Lock and update
• Review and approve
• Comments and Discussions
• Reuse
• Publish on intranet, website ....

3. Alfresco Architecture
● It's all about choice...

4. Striving for Simplicity
rather than Complexity
● Address the paradigms that users
know best
● Replace shared file drives with
Virtual File System
● Office Integration
● Simple rules automate manual
processing
● Portal Integration
● Google-like search, Yahoo-like
browsing
● Templates to encourage reuse,
simplifies use and provides web
access
1) File System
Emulation
2) Rules Engine
3) Web Client

5. Simplying Document Management – Mass
Deployment
● Replace shared file
drives with Virtual File
System
● Automatic Metadata
Extraction
● Simple Rules Automate
Manual Processing
● Folder or task based
Workflow
● SmartSpaces
● Folders, Content, Rules
● Zero Footprint Client

6. Smart Spaces -
Rules
● Rules are applied to a 'Space'
● Rules make a space 'Smart'
● Rules are triggered by an Event
● Inbound – content arriving into a
space
● Outbound – content leaving a
space, moved, deleted
● Update – content being
modified
● Rules are filtered based on
conditions
● All Items (no filter)
● Items with a specific MIME Type
(e.g. PDF)
● Specific Content Type Applied
to a specific aspect File name
pattern (e.g. *-context.xml)
● Falls within a Category (e.g.
Region, Language)
● Rule filter can be applied to
'NOT'
● e.g. Not in MIME ype *.pdf
● No limit on the number of
conditions that can be applied to
each rule

7. Smart Spaces -
Actions
● Items that successfully meet the rule conditions have an 'Action'
applied to them
● Actions can be run manually
● No limit on the number of actions per rule
● Rules are used to organise, structure, enrich content in the repository
● Used in conjunction with:
● Alfresco Web Client
● FTP
● WebDAV
● CIFS (Shared Network Folder)
● Web Services API
● Use your imagination!

8. The Alfresco Virtual File Systems
● Common Internet Filesystem (CIFS)
● Also know as Server Message Block (SMB)
● WebDAV
● HTTP based file editing and management on
remote servers
● FTP
● File Transfer protocol
● NFS
● Commonly used with Unix systems

9. Alfresco CIFS File System
● Provides true file system based access to Alfresco repository
● Root path: <machinename>AAlfresco
● Can mount as shared drive
● Alfresco or NTLM with Passthrough (SSO)
● Drag n' drop files into Alfresco
● Edit content directly with other applications
● Network folders can be Smart Spaces
● Virtual Desktop Actions
• Trigger Alfresco actions our launch Web Client
● Supports both DM store and WCM AVM Stores

10. Alfresco CIFS -
The Technology
● 2 Types of Implementations:
● Java – Any platform
● Java socket based implementations of the SMB/CIFS protocol that can be
used on any platform
● NetBIOS – Windows Only
● Windows specific interface that uses Win32 NetBIOS API calls via JNI
code
● The default configuration will use the NetBIOS based code under
Windows and the Java socket based code on other platforms.

11. CIFS Virtual Desktop Actions
● How can I control behavior if there's no client install?
● Automatic Versioning (optional)
● Trigger server side actions via the client
● Standard Actions
● Checkin/Checkout
● Display Details
● Web Client Browse
● Configured using:
● file-servers-custom.xml
● file-servers.xml commented out sample actions
● Extended using:
● JavaScript
● Java – Provides access to the full Alfresco Java API
● Desktop Executables

12. Configuring your File Systems
● Standard config in:
● ..WEB-INF/classes/alfresco/file-servers.xml
● Override (always!) using:
● ..WEB-INF/classes/alfresco/file-servers-custom.xml
● Used to add to or replace config from file-severs.xml
● e.g. To replace use replace=”true” in xml tag
• <config evaluator="string-compare" condition="Filesystems"
replace="true">
● Supports both:
● Protocol specific configuration
● Shared configuration
● Troubleshooting
● Privileged ports on non Windows platforms
● No-network – Install Loopback Adapter
● See wiki and forums

13. Virtual File System
Demonstration

14. Further Information
● Content Community
● http://www.alfresco.com
● Alfresco Wiki
● Technical information on configuration, administration and customisation
● http://wiki.alfresco.com/wiki/File_Server_Configuration
● Alfresco Forums
● Community Postings
● Alfresco Staff
● http://forums.alfresco.com
● Alfresco Forge
● Contributions from the community
• E.g. Metadata extractors, transformations ….
● http://forge.alfresco.com

15. Alfresco
Replacing your shared drive
Questions?
Michael
Farman
www.alfresco.com