The Cumulus FileSystem Companion is an add-on which listens to file system events and converts these to Cumulus actions in a smart way. This allows Cumulus to automatically catalog assets and to create, update or delete records based on changes in the file system.
Optional feature! May not be available with your Cumulus configuration.
The FileSystem Companion is available for Windows and Linux file servers only (which however may be accessed from any client platform). It runs as a separate service, called an instance, on the respective server machine. Each of the instances of the service has its own configuration xml file specifying the unique name of the instance, the address of the Cumulus Server and the technical user which is used to connect to that Cumulus Server.
Beyond these basic settings, the instances of the Cumulus FileSystem Companion are configured via the FileSystem Companion Manager of the Cumulus Server Console. This comprises the specification of the folder(s) to be watched as well as the catalog, Asset Handling Set and Permission Template to be used, certain time out values and a list of items to be ignored by an instance of the FileSystem Companion. Last but not least, these instances can be activated/deactivated via the FileSystem Companion Manager.
IMPORTANT! The FileSystem Companion and the watched folders must be physically located on the same machine. Do not use the FileSystem Companionwith network shares mounted into the file system because this can result in erroneous behavior.
The following table shows which file system event results in which Cumulus action:
File System Event
Resulting Cumulus Action
CREATE
catalog created asset
UPDATE
update existing record or catalog asset if no record is found
DELETE
delete existing record
RENAME
rename existing record as well
However, there is no one-to-one relation between a file system event and a Cumulus action. Cumulus puts file system events in a queue and processes them with a configurable delay, thus allowing to collect multiple events for a file in a given time and finally applying an appropriate Cumulus action that is the result of a number of file system events. This time out, or delay, is helpful e.g. if an application creates, renames and/or deletes temporary files while processing an asset.
For example, if there a sequence of file system events like: CREATE, UPDATE, UPDATE, DELETE, the resulting Cumulus action would be IGNORE, because it is impossible to create a record before the newly created asset is deleted again.
As a special case, RENAME operations on the file system are always executed immediately in Cumulus, without any delay.
PRECONDITIONS: To use the functions of the FileSystem Companion Manager you must have the appropriate permissions for the Cumulus Server: Create, modify and delete shared FileSystem Companion instances. The create permission always includes the modify and delete permissions. The modify and delete permissions can be granted separately. (ServerPermissions > FileSystem Companion Instances)