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Using the Avantis Client
The Avantis Client can be installed on a workstation by simply
running the setup.exe program or by using tools such as Windows
2000 group policies, Veritas WinINSTALL, Novell ZenWorks or
MS SMS to roll out the software to the workstations.
Typically, once installed, the user will see new virtual CD-ROM
drives in Windows Explorer – the user can browse the OpenCD
servers to see what CDs are available and can drag and drop
CDs onto virtual CD-ROM drives in order that they can be accessed.
The Avantis CD Installation Wizard can also be used to automate
the selection and mapping of CDs when particular shortcuts or
programs are run.
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Accessing CD/DVD images using the Avantis Client
[Click to enlarge] |
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2. Accessing
CD/DVDs via Microsoft Networking
Using this method, CD/DVD images on OpenCD are immediately available
von the network, with zero client software installation. The
CD/DVD images can be accessed using Microsoft networking in
many ways, some examples of which are:
1 OpenCD appears automatically under Network Neighborhood
2 A single drive letter can be mapped to an OpenCD share
containing all of the CD and DVD images
3 A single drive letter can be mapped to a single CD
or DVD image
4 Files and folders can be accessed directly using UNC
paths
Whichever method is used, normal security controls are observed,
with users only being able to access images that they have been
permitted to.
The Microsoft Networking access methods are discussed in detail
below.
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Accessing CDs in Network
Neighborhood
Network Neighborhood
Network Neighborhood is normally an icon displayed on your desktop
or found under Windows Explorer. Opening Network Neighborhood
will show a list of workstations and servers in your workgroup
or domain. Subsequently, clicking on ‘Entire Network’
will show a list of workgroups and domains, under which you
would see a workgroup (normally called ‘Opencdworkgroup’)
that contains the OpenCD (or in some cases more than one OpenCD).
Clicking on the OpenCD icon will show a folder (normally called
‘Images’) that contains all the CD images. Sometimes,
as well as the Images folder, there may be other folders. These
are CD images made available by the OpenCD administrator for
individual drive mapping.
Mapped Network Drives
You can map all the CD images held in the ‘Images’
folder to a single drive letter.
You can do this in two ways:
• Find the Images folder using Network Neighborhood, right-click
on it, select the drive letter required then click on OK
• Under Windows Explorer, click on Tools > Map Network
Drive, choose the drive letter required, then enter the path
of the images folder, for example:
\\<OpenCD>\<Images>
As well as always being included within the ‘images’
folder, some CD images may also have been enabled for individual
mapping to drive letters. This can be done in exactly the same
way as mapping the ‘Images’ folder.
Universal Naming Convention (UNC)
Files may be accessed from OpenCD using the Universal Naming
Convention (UNC). For example, a file on OpenCD stored on the
image entitled ‘Image Title’, could be opened using:
\\<OpenCD>\<Images>\<Image Title>\<Filename.ext>
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3. Accessing CD/DVDs via a Web Browser
CDs/DVDs on OpenCD can be accessed remotely from anywhere
on the network or World Wide Web using Microsoft Internet
Explorer or Netscape, preferably version 4 or higher.
When OpenCD is accessed via a web browser (by typing in the
OpenCD server name or IP address) a menu is presented giving
a number of options.
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The Main Menu
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OpenCD Web Access – Browsing CD/DVD images
Clicking on the "Browse Images" option will list
the CDs and DVDs that are available to them. Clicking on the
title of a CD will list the files and folders contained on
the CD.
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Browsing CD/DVD images
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OpenCD Web Access –
Browsing files and folders
When exploring files and folders via the web interface, OpenCD
behaves exactly like a normal website following the same rules.
For example, clicking on certain types of file will open the
file, e.g. picture files (.jpg, .gif etc.), text files (.txt,
.doc etc.) or multimedia files (.mov, .avi etc.).
Clicking on an executable file (.exe) will offer the choice
of downloading the file to the local hard drive of the workstation,
or opening the file directly from OpenCD. |
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Browsing files and folders
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