You enable sync services by specifying the URL by which repositories can communicate
with the IBM® Content
Navigator sync services. After you enable the
sync service, you disable Content Engine subscription cache,
enable sync on the repositories and desktops for which you want users to be able to sync
items, and deploy the IBM Content
Navigator Sync client to users by
installing the client silently or interactively.
Before you begin
To deploy the
IBM Content
Navigator Sync client to your users'
workstations, a supported version of the .NET framework must be installed on their
workstations.
About this task
Syncing files is the most efficient way for end users to work with files because
they do not need to manually check out, check in, and download items that they work with
regularly.
Follow these guidelines to optimize sync service operations:
- Depending on network performance, volume of files to be synced, and size of
the files, sync can take a long time. It is generally recommended that each
user syncs no more than 1000 files at a time.
- Avoid using sync as a tool to import or export large batches of documents or
do system migrations.
- Ideally, use a balanced folder structure that is optimal for the user's file
system. For example, New Technology File System (NTFS) is the recommended
file system for Microsoft Windows client computers.
Procedure
To configure the sync service:
- In the IBM Content
Navigator administration tool, click
Sync Services.
- Specify the URL by which repositories can communicate with the IBM Content
Navigator sync services.
- Disable the Content Engine subscription
cache:
- Log in to IBM Administration Console for Content Engine.
- In the domain navigation pane, select the object store and browse to
the object store properties tab.
- Set the value for subscription cache maximum entries to
0.
Setting this property to zero disables caching subscribed events. You
can view your list of subscribed events for the object store by
clicking in the object store navigation pane.
- Save and restart Content Engine.
- Enable sync on each repository for which you want users to be able to sync
items:
- Open the repository configuration in the IBM Content
Navigator administration tool.
- Click the Configuration Parameters tab.
- In the Optional Features section, click
Enable Sync Services.
- Save your changes to the repository configuration.
- Enable sync on each desktop that contains repositories with which you want
users to be able to sync items:
- In the IBM Content
Navigator administration
tool, click Desktops.
- Open a desktop that contains repositories for which you want to enable
users to sync items.
- In the desktop configuration parameters, for the Sync
services option, click
Enable.
- Save your changes to the desktop configuration.
- Verify that the sync service is operational by accessing the Sync
Server Summary page from a web browser:
- Access the Sync Server Summary page with
authentication by entering the following URL:
http://host:port/sync/api/configurations/secureping
If
you are not prompted for login credentials, you might need to enable
application security in the global security settings in your web
application server. If the page returns a 403
Forbidden error, security role mappings might not be
configured correctly.
- Access the Sync Server Summary page without
authentication by entering the following URL:
http://host:port/sync/api/configurations/ping
If
an HTTP 404 error is returned, the sync web
application is not started. Check the web application server logs to find
and resolve the problem.
If the Sync Server Summary page is displayed, the sync
server is operational.
- Deploy the IBM Content
Navigator Sync client to users by
installing the client on user workstations silently or interactively.
- When the installation is complete, instruct users to enter their desktops and
specify the sync folder.
Important: Provide the following information to users when they
configure the
IBM Content
Navigator Sync client on their
workstations:
- If you configure file tracking and sync services, ensure that the
location of the sync folder is different from the directory that is
used for file tracking. If these two features use a common folder,
documents might be added to the repository more than once.
- Problems can occur if the folder path is too long or if the sync
folder name is too long. Make the sync folder path and folder name
as short as possible.
What to do next
Periodically, check the health of the sync service by running the consistency
checker and the database cleanup tool, which are in the
Sync
Services area of the
IBM Content
Navigator
administration tool:
- Run the consistency checker after interruptions in service, such as after a
power outage. If IBM Content
Navigator experiences an
outage, there could be updates to documents that take place during that outage,
which will be missed. When IBM Content
Navigator service
is restored, run the consistency checker so that any missed updates are caught
and delivered to the sync clients.
- Run the database cleanup tool to create additional space on the sync server by
removing unused data that is associated with inactive devices.