Double access to VFS structure and folder naming

ATSrl · Jul '21

Hi everyone,
as reported in previous posts we are trying to mount a filesystem on a NAS in order to have such a structure in the VFS:
2021-00xx Name of the project
Sub-Directory 01 (VFS)
Sub-Directory 02 (VFS)
Sub-Directory 03 (NAS) via a VFS link to /NAS/2021-00xx Name of the project.
So we would like to mount the NAS filesystem under the name NFS in the VFS directory “/”. We are encountering some problems in this process.
Problem 01 - we are unable to mount the NAS file system in the “/” directory but only in the /Backup directory. The image shows the result:

Problem 02 - As you can see from the image, all files have protection d----r-x—which cannot be modified via VFS. If the NAS is mounted with a local NAS user using the command

sudo docker exec -it egroupware /usr/share/egroupware/filemanager/cli.php mount --user root_admin --password ‘myrootpassword’ smb://admin:mynaspassword@nas/share/egroupware/filemanager/cli

the mount is performed but the NAS seems to be read only for VFS
We use active directory for authentication to NAS and EGW, so we should mount NAS with a domain user in order to have it in RW for users present and enabled in active directory.
Using the domain account to mount the script

sudo docker exec -it egroupware /usr/share/egroupware/filemanager/cli.php mount --user root_admin --password ‘myrootpassword’ smb://egroupware@mydomain.local:mypassword@nas/share/egroupware/filemanager/cli

After entering the user’s password egroupware@mydomain.local returns the error “permission denied are you root?”, even if the account egroupware@mydomain.local has been added to the egroupware root accounts via the setup panel
The question is: how can you mount a share that resides on the NAS where the users are managed by active directory and therefore are domain users and not local?
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated
Gabriele

ATSrl · Jul '21

Hi All,
no news on this post. I think it would be important for all users to have the possibility to link and use with the same users (and not with a local user of the NAS) of EGW an external NAS !!!
Is there a solution?
Every contribution is welcome
Gabriele

RalfBecker · Jul '21

Having the root directory, home-director or /apps on a NAS (or any other non-EGroupware filesystem) is NOT supported! Reason is that EGroupware need control over the permissions.

If both EGroupware and your SMB fileserver/NAS use the same Active Directory, EGroupware can pass it’s credentials along:

docker exec -it egroupware bash
cd /usr/share/egroupware
filemanger/cli.php mount --user root_admin --password 'secret' 'smb://$user:$password@host/share' /mountpoint

The single quote (or other proper quoting) are essential!

Ralf

ATSrl · Jul '21

Hi Ralf
we are using this instruction

sudo docker exec -it 266522d0ccf7 bash cd usr/share/egroupware/ filemanger/cli.php mount --user root_admin --password ‘xxxxxxxxx’ ‘smb://$user:$password@nas/Work’ /var/lib/egroupware/default/backup/Work

but it returns the error: bash: cd: No such file or directory

if I connect to the container 266522d0ccf7 the path usr/share/egroupware exists, I also tried to delete the slash /usr/share/egroupware and usr/share/egroupware/ but the result does not change.
What’s wrong with the command I run?
Thanks for your help
Gabriele

StefanU · Jul '21

Please take a look here:

You directly rust a script over a complete path. You don’t need to/shouldn’t make a directory change.

Stefan

ATSrl · Jul '21

Hi Stefan and Ralf
a successful but partial step!!! I followed your suggestions and things are going a bit better. I have done mount as indicated with this command:

sudo docker exec -it egroupware /usr/share/egroupware/filemanager/cli.php mount --user root_admin --password ‘xxxxxxxxx’ ‘smb://$user:$password@nas/Work /var/lib/egroupware/default/Work’

this is the output

Root access granted!
sqlfs://$host/ /
links://$host/apps /apps
filesystem://default/var/lib/egroupware/default/backup?group=Admins&mode=070 /backup
atsrl@egroupware:~$

but I don’t see the mount using VFS. I also tried to execute the command changing the mount point:

sudo docker exec -it egroupware /usr/share/egroupware/filemanager/cli.php mount --user root_admin --password ‘#In)EOtxRPIW[8[S’ ‘smb://$user:$password@nas/Work /var/lib/egroupware/default/Work’

sudo docker exec -it egroupware /usr/share/egroupware/filemanager/cli.php mount --user root_admin --password ‘xxxxxxxxx’ ‘smb://$user:$password@nas/Work /Work’

Same result

The directory /var/lib/egroupware/default/Work exists! I think the mount point should be created from the panel

So I tried to create the access point. Once I entered the root credentials and typed the mount name /Work does not allow saving. Where do I am wrong?
Thank you for your help
Gabriele

RalfBecker · Jul '21

You need to mount in the VFS not the physical file system!

Use eg. /Work as mount-point.

Ralf

ATSrl · Oct '21

Hi All,
I am still here. Thanks to the new user-interface to mount WebDAV or SMB shares our nas is now visible and within the VFS.
But now there is a problem. I am unable to create a link to a directory on the nas. The picture shows the structure of our nas (one part) where each project has a directory.

The idea was to add, within each project in EGW, a link to the corresponding project in nas. In this way, users can access the files contained in the project with programs that want direct access (e.g. Autocad) and from EGW for normal access.
So I have created the nas directory Test with the file file.docx inside as shown in the image. The file is correctly visible from the nas.

Within a project in project manager I have so created a link to /nas/test. When I try to access it:

The link in this case doesn’t apply?
Gabriele

RalfBecker · Oct '21

Only obvious problem is the different case of /nas/Test versus /nas/test.

EGroupware VFS is case-sensitive. Not sure you just mistyped it here in the forum, or also in the symlink.

Ralf

ATSrl · Oct '21

Hi Ralf,
I hope the upper and lower case letters are correct:

nas direcory seen through EGW

image.png1686x445 46.2 KB
the link creation within a project

image.png1570x496 45.5 KB
the test directory does not seem to be available

image.png1478x298 40.6 KB

Any suggestions?
Gabriele

ATSrl · Nov '21

Hi All,
No suggestions? Nobody has the same problem?
To me it would seem useful to link to a project the directory that resides on an external device directly from the project (e.g. right click VFS) and at the same time access the files with applications that cannot be used through EGW.
Gabriele

SvenZ · Jan '22

Hi Gabriele,

I got the same problem. I mounted a NAS to EGW and have access to it by using the dara manager. However, when I link the nas to a project, I 'm not allowed to open the folders anymore and I’m getting the following error:
The requested path /apps/projectmanager/1/test is not available!
Have you found a solution to the problem?

Best regards
Sven

ATSrl · Jan '22

Hi SvenZ,
doesn’t seem to be anything new. I’m sad because it would allow a much more productive use of EGW. We are limited to the NAS mount, we can manage the files but we cannot create a link from a VFS folder to a specific NAS folder.
This feature would be extremely valuable, because you lose a lot of time, if you want an orderly management of projects, to encode them and then go and search in the NAS for the corresponding folder.
Probably not many users intend to use this feature, although it seems extremely important to me.
Let’s wait for
Gabriele

ATSrl · Mar '22

Hi All,
Since April 2021 we have been trying hard to solve the problem of dual access to the NAS from EGW and directly from the file manager.
Currently it is possible to mount the NAS which works fine but it is not possible to establish a link between a NAS folder and an EGW VFS folder.
If this possibility existed, it would be possible to enter the NAS folder from EGW project with a simple enter and independently access the same folder from the windows file manager or an application (e.g. Autocad).
I can’t believe no one is interested in this feature. ?
Is it really not possible?

I hope someone has some useful information
Gabriele

ATSrl · Mar '22

Hi All,
Is no one really interested?
Gabriele

ATSrl · Aug '22

Hi All,
Is no one really interested?
Gabriele

ATSrl · Oct '23

Hi All,
it’s been a long time since the first post on this topic 411 days ! and unfortunately we haven’t been able to find a solution but … the need remains. I will summarise the problem.

EGW has its own filemanager and can mount an external NAS.
Everything OK also works very well.

However the problem is that it does not seem to be possible, within a project, to access the corresponding directory directly.

Let me try to give an example:

NAS directory: \nas\work\test (windows)

NAS is seen by EGW as /NAS (perfect) The project directory is seen by EGW as /NAS/test (wonderful)

EGW direcory : /apps/projectmanager/609 (in EGW, if I understand correctly, project directories are coded with numbers. The project name is displayed but actually the directory is identified with a number))

I thought that within the EGW directory /apps/projectmanager/609 it would be possible to create a link to the NAS for example:

I also tried using the link https://-----------------t/egroupware/webdav.php/nas/test

but nothing. the destination is not found.

Is this really not possible? .

I would remind this proposer that it is important to maintain access to the project files from both EGW and windows as some of it can be opened by programmes such as AUTOCAD, REVIT etc. etc.

Wouldn’t this be a very important function ? do we only have this need ? does anyone have the same problem ?

Thanks, any help is welcome
Gabriele

Yann_Lehmann · Oct '23

If you are using Windows, I would advise you to install a “webdav-helper” app on the clients. The one integrated in Windows sometimes works. We had good success with Mountain Duck, and I can recommend it. It is not free, but hassle free :-).

Yann_Lehmann · Oct '23

May be something is missing in the path. This is how it looks here:

grafik

May be your link should be as follows:

https://-----------------t/egroupware/webdav.php/**home/**nas/test

ATSrl · Oct '23

Hi, first of all thank you for your interest.
However, our requirement is different. If I understend you correctly, you expose a method for mounting an EGW volume in Windows.
In our case it is the other way around. We have a NAS containing directories for each project. EGW has the same structure in its file manager. We would like to create a directory in EGW that is also present in the NAS.

Let me give you an example: In this case we have opened the file manager within a project (in this case the ISO 9001 management). The directory of EGW is as follows: ![image|690x50]
(upload://7JRQgLtNe4M3iYlQtm8uWcxDJwd.png)

This is actually not the case because the directori is actually called:

But this is not important.

The NAS has already been mounted in EGW and I can access it directly as you see in the picture

. I can browse directories, delete, add files etc. etc. In EGW, the corresponding folder of the NAS is seen as:

I thought it was possible to create a link within the folder as

The symbolic link is created

But it does not reach the NAS data to which it appears to be linked ![image|690x114]

Thanks for you help
Gabriele

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