Shared folder restructuring can be quite exacting. Shared disks are usually used by a large number of users. The number of files and folders grows rapidly. Searching for data and security management becomes more and more difficult. Often there is no system for giving permissions on folders. In situations like that, it is very difficult to restructure shared disks by hand. Often, it is even impossible. We developed Promigra Server Migrator for complex environments like that.
With Promigra Server Migrator you can prepare a base folder structure. Users can then be given the opportunity to create specific folders on lower levels and fill them with their files.
Intuitive user interface enables you to indicate which data you want to migrate and where in the new folder structure you want to put it. You can also define which colleagues have access to your folders and what they can do with the data.
Based on the collected information project, administrators create scripts which they use to quickly transform the old, messy folder structure to a new, better arrangement.
Get acquainted with the new folder structure
We usually migrate and restructure common folders because the existing folder structure does not enable us to work efficiently. To facilitate the process it is recommended to prepare a base new folder structure which can then be extended by users.
A great amount of attention has to be put to rules for naming folders. Folder names should make it clear what information they contain.
Before you find a new home for your data using Promigra Server Migrator, you have to get acquainted with the base folder structure that was put in place by the project team. You should also get acquainted with the rules for naming folders. This is especially important in multilingual organizations.
Data migration
The main window of Promigra Server Migrator is divided into three panels. On the left panel is the existing folder structure. In the middle panel is the new folder structure. On the right side of the window are displayed properties of the selected folder in the new structure.
You have many options to migrate your data. The easiest option is to migrate whole folders. You can also decide to add folder contents to an already existing folder in the new folder structure.
Also, you can choose to migrate only part of the folder contents and leave the rest or migrate it to some other location.
Migration of whole folders
The most simple is the migration of whole folders. You create a new folder in the new folder structure and transform all files and subfolders from the old location. You can change the folder name to something new or keep the existing name.
To transform a folder to a new location, select the existing folder you want to migrate, then select the location on the new folder structure where you want to add the source folder. When both folders get selected, click on the button for folder mapping.
In addition to clicking a button on the toolbar you can also right click with your mouse and select the option for folder mapping.
After you map a source folder to a target location, a new window will pop up. In this window you can change the name of the new folder and configure permissions for your colleagues. You can find more about security settings in the section below.
You can also use a mouse to migrate a source folder. Click on the folder with a left mouse button, drag it, and then drop it in the new folder structure.
Giving permissions to other users
With regard to permissions you give to your coworkers you can divide them into two groups. In the first group put those that can only read the data in the folder. Those that need to change data, create new files and folders, and also delete them should be put into the second group. Users that do not belong to any of those two groups won’t have any access to the data in the selected folder.
It is recommended that you give others only the permissions they absolutely need to do their work.
The best security systems are simple. Whenever possible, try to avoid a situation where you have certain permission settings on a parent folder and completely different permission settings on a subfolder or even on a contained file. Maintenance of such configuration is very difficult and error prone. Administrators can quickly make a mistake and expose data to unauthorized access and information leaks. It is best to try to configure permissions on one level only and have all the subfolders inherit them.
When you migrate data with Promigra Server Migrator you can specify the owner of the data in each folder. The owner’s name is added as a comment to the security groups that get permissions on the folder. After the migration, when an administrator gets a request to add a user to some of those two groups, he can use that information to ask the owner for a confirmation. Owners of the folders become the ones who decide on whom to give access to data. Administrators merely perform the transaction. This setting does not influence the permissions the owner has on that folder. If you want the owner to have write permission on the folder you have to put him into the appropriate group.
Migration of folder contents
When you migrate folders you often want to consolidate them, too. Sometimes you need to merge two or more folders into a new one. You can merge contents of a source folder with another folder in the new structure by selecting both folders and clicking on a button for mapping folder contents. The same operation will be performed if you right click on a source folder and select the appropriate option in the popup menu.
Exclusion of folders from migration
Some files are temporary by nature, and some have to be kept for three, five, maybe ten years. Only some files have to be saved permanently. Each file has a period after which it is no longer relevant and can be deleted. We rarely purge stale files. Data migration is one of the opportunities when we can take inventory and decide which files we want to migrate to the new system. For some files it might make sense to archive them, instead. Promigra Server Migrator makes it possible to exclude some folders from migration. If you don’t want to migrate some subfolders you can remove them by first migrating the parent folder as described above, then select the folder you would like to remove and click on a button for canceling folder mapping.
You can also remove it by right clicking on the source folder and selecting the appropriate option from the popup menu.
Canceling folder migration
You can cancel folder migration in the same way you remove a subfolder from migration. Click on the source folder and click on the button in the toolbar, or right click on the folder and select the appropriate option from the popup menu.
Visual presentation of source folder migration statuses
When migrating data, special attention has to be given to transparency. In every moment you have to be able to identify which folders are being migrated and which ones are not. Promigra Server Migrator uses colors to visually present a folder’s migration status.
Folders that are not being migrated are displayed gray.
Folders that are being migrated completely with all the files and subfolders are displayed bold black.
If a folder is not completely migrated and some of the subfolders are removed from migration, the folder will be displayed with normal black font.
When subfolders get migrated, but the files directly in the folder are not, the folder is displayed bold gray.
While you and your coworkers indicate new homes for your folders the folder tree that represents the source locations changes appearance. With a quick scan you can get a feel for how much progress has been made.
This visual representation also makes it possible to quickly check if all the important data you need for your work is going to be migrated. If not, you can make appropriate measures while there is still time.
Presentation of the location a folder is being migrated to
For each existing folder that is going to be migrated you can quickly determine the new home. Place the mouse cursor on the selected source folder and wait a second. A hint will pop up with the information about the target location for the folder’s contents.
When you want to have a look at the list of folders that will be migrated to some folder in the new structure, first select the folder, then open the page “Folder Mapping” in the folder properties view. The list will contain all the existing folders that are going to be migrated to that folder. Likewise, the list will also contain the list of source subfolders that are being excluded from the migration.
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