MetaServer > Help > Server > Network Folders

MetaServer runs as a service. As a consequence, you can run MetaServer unattended and it does not require a login with a user account.

Being a service, MetaServer actually runs under a special system account. A system account has full access to the local resources of the server itself but it does not have access rights to shared folders on the network. Only user accounts have such rights.

The Network Folders setup in the Server tab of the MetaServer Administration Client, makes it possible to define user credentials for shared network folders. This gives MetaServer access to import and export to these shared network folders.

After you have defined access to a network folder, that network folder and all its subfolders are automatically accessible from any Import from Folder or Export to Folder action.

Step 1: Open the MetaServer Administration Client and go to the Server tab

Step 2: Press the Network Folders button

Step 3: Press Add to define a Network Folder

01 – Folder: Enter the UNC path of the network folder that you want to access with MetaServer. Don’t use mapped drive letters but direct UNC paths,  like \\\\MACHINE_NAME\\PATH. Easiest is to navigate to the path using Windows explorer. Then, copy and paste the path in the Folder field.

02 – User Name & Password: Enter the User name. If you are not sure what the user name is, run Netplwiz on the machine you want to get access to and lookup the correct user name in the user name properties.

A Microsoft Access database is contained in a single file with a *.mdb or *.accdb extension. This file can be placed on a network folder to give multiple users access to the database.

If you define an ODBC lookup in MetaServer or if you want to export metadata to a Microsoft Access database, you will also need to define the network folder where the *.mdb or *.accdb is located. Otherwise, MetaServer will not be able to connect to that database.

When you’re done setting up your network folder, press the Test button to check the connection.

If the connection was successful, it will show up as green.

If the connection was unsuccesful, it will show up as red.

NOTE: In case any issues occur with the Network Folder’s connection during runtime, you can always check your Import from Folder and/or Export to Folder actions’ health in the Server tab.

Green = running & healthy
Yellow = paused
Orange = recoverable non-blocking error, e.g. network folder offline. MetaServer will automatically retry the connection every 10 seconds.
Red = blocking error, a server or action restart is required

TIP: if the connection was unsuccessful, hover over the red to see more details to help you pinpoint the connection problem.

01 Send warning when folder is not available for [x] minutes: Enable this option to send a message to the specified email address(es) in the Email Alert settings of the affected workflow(s) if the connection to any of the specified network folders is not available for a certain amount of time.

This alert email is only sent once. However, MetaServer will continue to retry to connect to the network folder every 10 seconds.