AWS Windows User (for share permissions)

[Mark Purdome]

(Running AWS on an internal Windows 2008 Server. Installed the server under-the-gun as a newbie trying to get a project done on a tight deadline about a year ago. Now I have the time to go back and correct a few things.)

One of the functions of our application is viewing uploaded files (PDF, DOC, etc). Right now, those files are stored in folders under the webroot. I'd like to move them off the web server and onto a server dedicated to document management.

I'm comfortable both saving and retrieving files using UNC pathnames, and I constructed the application so that it would only take a single configuration variable change in order to move the base path. However, I'm having permissions problems when I try to access the file shares. It looks like AWS is running as the local admin on the web server. When I debug the app under working preview on my own computer, it appears that I'm running as me (as the logged-in user), and then access happens just as I'd expect, but of course the behavior is different on the web server.

Is it required that AWS be local admin on the server? Can AWS run as a different user so that I can more effectively deal with network share permissions? How do I set up the server to run as a different user?

It is pretty critical that the only access to these files is through the web application (for security and audit trail purposes), but it is a pain to deal with local Administrator permissions across Windows file shares.

Thanks!
-Mark

[Steve Wood]

Re: AWS Windows User (for share permissions)

Please show example code how you attempt to display the file via the web. I most often store PDF files outside of the web root, but it requires writing xbasic.

[Mark Purdome]

Re: AWS Windows User (for share permissions)

The display code is pretty straightforward at the moment: I used Action Javascript to open a window containing the PDF file with tips from video M34. Basically, the button eventually executes this Javascript code:

window['{grid.componentName}_G__UNBOUND_IMAGE_1_1'] = function(rowNum,rowId,objEle,fn) {
window['{Grid.ComponentName}__UNBOUND_IMAGE_1_1'] = {grid.object}.createWindow('{grid.componentName}_WINDOW__UNBOUND_IMAGE_1_1','modeless-url-resizable',{
height: '5in',
width: '8in',
title: {
html: 'Document',
location: 'top'
},
disableMove: false,
theme: '{grid.style}',
body: {
content: {
type: 'url',
url: '__workingMessage.a5w'
}
},
onHide: function() { $(this.getWindowId('body')).src = '__workingMessage.a5w';}
} );
window['{Grid.ComponentName}__UNBOUND_IMAGE_1_1'].show();
$(window['{Grid.ComponentName}__UNBOUND_IMAGE_1_1'].getWindowId('body')).src = fn; //'---'+urlencode(fn)+'---';
}

I'm pretty comfortable with Xbasic and the "plumbing" of Alpha Five -- there's a fair amount of Xbasic, javascript, and component callbacks happening in this app. I'm much more comfortable with the programming side than the Windows administration side to get the permissions right to store documents elsewhere, so I'd really appreciate pointers that you've used both for the code side and the admin side.

Thanks!

[Steve Wood]

Re: AWS Windows User (for share permissions)

I had to review the video M34 to see where you were starting from. Unless you found an override, M34 requires that the PDF reside in the document root.

The method I use opens an A5W page with xbasic that gets the PDF from wherever it resides on your LAN, and pushes it to the browser. What part of your JS code supposed to get the PDF file at a LAN location?

I assume this part, but how would that work:

$(window['{Grid.ComponentName}__UNBOUND_IMAGE_1_1'].getWindowId('body')).src = fn; //'---'+urlencode(fn)+'---';