Copying files and folders with Parks Authorization Manager
by Stefan Kowski
Comfortably recreate folder structures
When setting up a new folder structure in a server with Parks Authorization Manager (PAM), the files in the old folders will have to be copied into the new structure before the new file system can be handed over to users.
Needless to say the old structure should not be directly taken over when doing this, as otherwise the setting-up of a new structure would not make sense. Admittedly, a restructuring of data increases the time and effort needed during a data migration.
To make this process easier in the future, we have extended - and equipped - PAM with a new function: a special copying function for file structures, which also supports a reorganisation.
The advantages of PAM's copying function
How does this new copying function give support compared to the manual method?
- The permissions of the copied files and folders are replaced in the target folder by the new permissions defined with PAM. The mostly old, sparsely documented permissions are deleted, you receive a consistent status.
- The function copies each file and each folder once only (copy history). See below for further details.
- Files, which are not to be taken over into the new file system, can be eliminated with the help of wildcard patterns.
- All copying steps are registered. The protocol can then be handed over to the users to ensure they find their files in the new structure.
A copying function usually works recursively, i.e. when a folder is copied all subfolders and files contained therein are also copied. However, without the copy history offered by PAM unwanted effects – which necessitate manual reworking - can occur.
Problem: If the folder hierarchy is changed, the recursive copying leads to duplicates. If e.g. data out of the folder E:\Data\Users\Smith is copied into a target folder and later E:\Data into somewhere else, the second copying process will again process the files in E:\Data\Users\Smith: duplicates of the files and folders there will be generated.
However, as a reorganisation of a folder structure is of utmost importance when improving a filing system, we developed the copy history as described under item 2. This ensures that – even during recursive copying - each file is copied only once and you will not have duplicates in the target folders.
Solution when copying with PAM: When copying E:\Data\Users\Smith PAM stores all copied files in the copy history. When subsequently copying the files out of E:\Data the stored files are not copied again. Therefore, no duplicates occur. Outdated folder hierarchies can be easily converted as required.
The copying function can be found in the main menu Actions / Copy Files and Folders. Enjoy yourselves while testing and – as always - we would be very pleased to hear what you think and if you have any ideas for improvement.