RE: Using a receive file adapter with a NFTS shares on UNIX

The first step is to make sure that you can connect to the NTFS file shares
from the BizTalk Server.

1. Make sure Windows Service for Unix is started. I think it is called
Client for NFS.
2. Make sure you can access the UNIX NFS file shares from My Network
Places...Entire network...NFS network...Default LAN. If you can't see them
here than the BizTalk file adapter won't be able to see them either. If you
can't see them here then you need you have problem with the way you have set
your UNIX file shares up or the Windows service for UNIX.

This is the way we set up the above was;

"Windows server"
The password file for Windows service for UNIX on the Windows server looks
something like;

BizTalkUser::1000:1005:::

where 1000 and 1005 are the UID and GID that has access to the share on the
UNIX share.

The group file looks like

nobody::4294967294:nobody
btalk::1005:btalk


The Windows services for UNIX can now be configured once you have your
password file and group files set. Open the Microsoft Service for NFS snap in
on the Windows server. Right click on the user map and select create map.
Select the buttons to list the windows users and then the UNIX users. Create
the map for the Windows user to the UNIX user. do the same for the group map.

"UNIX server"
On the UNIX host a BizTalk user will be set up with a user name of for
example BizTalkUser and with a user id of 1000. A sample passwd file entry is
shown below.

BizTalkUser:x:1000:1005:BizTalk Acceptance:/export/home/BizTalkUser:/bin/sh

Remove the password and so disabling the login ability for the user as a
security measure.

Add a group btalk. The BizTalk user should have this as its primary group.

Add local users that require access to the share as members of this group.
As shown in the group file entry below.

btalk::1005:oradevl,oratest,appltest,appldevl

If possible set up one common directory as a single BizTalk share for each
system. Each ‘shared’ application should have a directory under this
directory.

For each directory under and including the shared directory set the
permissions as follows.
1. Files and directories are all owned by the BizTalk user with group
ownership btalk.
2. Files to have permissions 660.
3. Directories to have permissions 770.

Share the directory as an NFS file system with read/write access only to the
BizTalk server. Set the anon=-1 to disable unknown or root authenticated
users access from remote systems.

The following shows an example /etc/dfs/dfstab file entry if setting up on a
Sun Solaris system.

share –F nfs –o anon=-1,rw=<Windows server> /shared/directory

Or if on a HP Tru64 Unix system an example /etc/exports file entry would be.

/shared/directory –rw:<Windows server> –anon=-1

Ensure the NFS server processes are running for the server and are
configured to start automatically. Refer to the appropriate system
documentation.

Local applications wanting to create files in the shared directory need to
follow these guidelines.

1. As previously mentioned the user running the application must have btalk
as secondary group membership.
2. The file needs to be created outside of the directory where BizTalk is
expecting it. This is to prevent BizTalk from picking up the file part way
through creation. The file does though need to be created in the same file
system as the shared directory so the the move of the files happens as an
uninterruptible system call.
3. The file needs to have group ownership set to btalk.
4. The permissions on the file need to be set to 660.
5. The file is moved into the directory for BizTalk to pick up.
a. May be need to consider moving the file to the folder and then renaming
it with the Unix mv command.

I hope this helps.

The main issues you need to consider carefully with a BizTalk solution using
Windows service for UNIX are;

 File locking and concurrency between Windows and Unix.
 Security between Unix and Windows
 Consistent folder structure between Unix and Windows to facilitate easier
integration and a consistent security model.

Notwithstanding we have found this to be a good solution for us. It was only
with BTS2006 that all our issues were finally resolved.





"CocoaBean" wrote:

I am using Windows Services for UNIX 3.5 as well with the File Adapter to
pick up a file from a remote UNIX server. We are using BizTalk Server 2006.

Would you describe how you are accomplishing this? Or tell me what I am
doing wrong? I used the 'mount' from the command line to map a drive. This
does not work of course, as the file adapter needs the UNC to the shared file
directory. So I am kinda stuck. I have the UNIX admins getting the security
and permissions lined up, but would like some guidance how to best use the
Win Svcs for UNIX to get the file picked up with the receive location of my
file adapter.
.