File Sites

HTTP Access to Personal File Sites Private Folder HTML-based Management HTTP-based Management FTP-based Management Special Files Virtual Files CommuniGate Pro Accounts contain a Personal File Site - a set of HTML, JPEG, and other files. This file set is also known as WebFiles. The CommuniGate Pro HTTP module can be used to retrieve files from these Sites. The CommuniGate Pro FTP module can be used to retrieve and update files in Personal File Sites, and the CommuniGate Pro TFTP module can be used to download files from Personal File Sites. Personal File Sites can be managed via the CLI API. The Account owner or an Administrator can add files to the Personal File Site, rename them and remove them. If the Account and its Domain have the WebSite Service enabled, anybody can retrieve Personal File Site files using any HTTP browser. If a file is located inside a "private" Folder, the browser user needs to supply the account password to access the file. A Personal File Site can contain nested folders (file directories). The total number of files and folders and the total size of all Personal File Site files is limited by the special Account Limits settings. Personal File Sites can be used: to store message attachments. to store audio prompts and other files used in Real-Time Applications.

HTTP Access to Personal File Sites

CommuniGate Pro allows each user to be presented on the World Wide Web with a personal File Site. The URL for the accountname@domainname Account File Site is:
<http://domainname:port/~accountname>   where the port is the WebUser port.
For example, the jsmith@client1.com account has the Personal File Site at:
<http://client1.com:8100/~jsmith>

Personal File Sites use the same HTTP port as the WebUser Interface (the port 8100 by default).

In addition to the ~ prefix, an alternative prefix can be specified in the Domain Settings. The alternative prefix can be an empty string.

All Routing Rules discussed in the Access section apply to the Personal File Site URLs, so Account and Domain aliases can be used in the Personal File Site URL.

Personal File Site can be accessed without a prefix, using just the server part of the URL string. When the CommuniGate Pro server receives an HTTP connection on the its WebUser port, it uses the special Domain Routing procedure.

If the domain name user.domain.com has a DNS A-record pointing to the IP address of the CommuniGate Pro server, and the CommuniGate Pro Router has the following record:
<LoginPage@user.domain.com> = userA@domainB.com
and the Account userA exists in the CommuniGate Pro Domain domainB, then the URL http://user.domain.com/ can be used to access the Personal File Site of the userA@domainB.com Account.

Personal File Sites must not contain any index.wssp file. This name is reserved for the File Site Management forms.

The home (default) page of a Personal File Site should have the default.html name. This means that when the file name is not specified explicitly, the default.html name is assumed. If a File Site has folders (subdirectories), then the request with the http://server:port/prefix user/folder/ URL retrieves the default.html file from that subdirectory.

The name of the default page is specified as an Account Setting and it can be modified on the per-Account basis.

Private Folder

If the Personal File Site contains the folder with the name private, then files in that folder are available only to the Account owner and Administrators with the CanAccessWebSites Domain Access right.

The private folder can be used as a repository for any type of documents - the user can access them from anywhere, using any browser.

HTML-based Management

Users can manage their Personal File Sites using any browser. There are two methods to access the Personal File Site adminstration pages:

• By opening a WebUser Session, and using the Files link in the WebUser Interface navigation panel.
• By opening the Index.wssp file in their own Personal File Site:
  http://domain.dom:8100/~username/Index.wssp
  A browser will present a Login dialog box, and the user should enter her Account name and password in order to open the File Site administration page.

Server administrators with the All Domains and Accounts Access Right and Domain administrators with the CanAccessWebSites access right can access File Sites belonging to other users. They can use the same URL, opening the Index.wssp file, but they should provide their own account names and passwords.

Server and Domain administrators can access other users Personal File Site using the WebAdmin Interface: the Account management pages have the Files link in their navigation panels.

All management methods use similar HTML pages for File Site administration:

Subdirectory documents UP

Marker  File Name Size Modified report.txt 488 20:52:49 myDocs --> This Folder: 2 488   Totals: 5 976   Limits: Unlimited 30720

Click the Browse button and select a file you want to upload to the File Site. Click the Upload File button to upload the file. Its name should appear in the list.

Select the checkboxes to mark the files and/or folders you want to remove from the Personal File Site and click the Delete Marked button. The selected files will be removed.

Type in a name and click the Create Folder button to create a folder (sub-directory) in the Personal File Site.

Select exactly one checkbox to mark the file or folder you want to rename, and enter a new name for it in the field next to the Rename Marked button. Click the Rename Marked button to rename the selected file or folder.

Click the file name link to open the file. Click the folder name link to open the subdirectory. When a subdirectory is opened, its name is displayed on the top of the file list. Click the UP link to open the parent subdirectory.

The This Folder line displays the total number of files and folders, and the total size of all files in the opened folder. The Totals line displays the total number of files and folders, and the total size of all files in the Personal File Site. The limits line displays the specified maxmimum number of files and folders and the specified maxmimum total file size for this Personal File Site.

HTTP-based Management

Personal File Sites can be modified using the HTTP 1.1 PUT, DELETE, and MOVE methods. Some HTML design tools (such as Netscape Composer) can use these methods to upload files to the server. These HTTP requests should contain the Authentication information: the Account name of the Personal File Site owner or the Account name of a Server/Domain Administrator, and the password for that Account.

FTP-based Management

Personal File Sites can be modified using the CommuniGate FTP module. When an Account user connects to the FTP module, the FTP "root directory" as well as the "current directory" are set to the topmost directory of the Account Personal File Site.

Special files

Certain Personal File Site files have special meanings.

default.html

This file is retrieved via HTTP when no file name is specified in the URL: http://server:port/~username/ or http://server:port/~username is equivalent to http://server:port/~username/default.html.

The same is true for all Personal File Site subfolders: http://server:port/~username/subfolder/ is the same as http://server:port/~username/subfolder/default.html
The name of the default file can be changed on the per-Account basis, by modifying the Account Settings.

freebusy.vfb

This text file contains the user Free/Busy information. When the Account Main Calendar mailbox is modified with the CommuniGate Pro MAPI module or with the Web User Interface module, the file is deleted. When the file is being accessed and it does not exist, the Server opens the Account, opens its Main Calendar mailbox, builds the Free/Busy information, and stores the information in the freebusy.vfb file.

If the Free/Busy information cannot be built (for example, if no Main Calendar mailbox exists in the Account), the HTTP module generates an empty Free/Busy dataset and sends it to the client.

Virtual Files

Virtual files are the names that can be used in the Personal File Site URLs. They do not specify actual files in the Personal File Sites, but they can be used to retrieve certain information.

index.wssp

This name is used for HTML-based Personal File Site management. Access to this resource requires authentication.

freebusy.wssp

This name is used to retrieve formated Free/Busy information. The actual data is retrieved from the freebusy.vfb file (see above).