Attachments (DOCLINKS) Configuration

This procedure describes how to set up attached documents in Maximo 7.1 and above with IBM WebSphere Application Server.

In this procedure I will use [IHSDIR] and [DOCLINKSDIR] tags to identify IBM HTTP Server and attachments home directory respectively. Replace those tags according to your environment. Here are the default values.

Windows

• [IHSDIR] - C:\Program Files\IBM\HTTPServer
• [DOCLINKSDIR] - C:\doclinks

UNIX

• [IHSDIR] -  /home/IBMHTTPD
• [DOCLINKSDIR] - /home/doclinks

Attachment repository

First of all you have to create the create the [DOCLINKSDIR] directory to store your attachments. For example: C:\doclinks for Windows or /home/doclinks for UNIX.

This directory must be accessible from both the application servers and from the web servers. If you have a simple environment running on a single system you are done. Otherwise you have to share this directory and mount it on all the involved servers. This article describes several techniques to configure such environment on Windows systems.



IBM HTTP Server configuration

The second step is to publish the [DOCLINKSDIR] directory through the HTTP Server. This will allow to retrieve the attachments stored in it from the users web browser.

1. Locate the configuration directory of the IBM HTTP Server . For example C:\Program Files\IBM\HTTPServer\conf for Windows and /home/IBMHTTPD/conf for UNIX
2. Backup httpd.conf file
3. Open the httpd.conf file with a text editor
4. Find 'DocumentRoot' and change like below
   

   DocumentRoot "[DOCLINKSDIR]"

5. Find '# This should be changed to whatever you set DocumentRoot to.' and change like below
   

   <Directory "[DOCLINKSDIR]">

6. Save and close httpd.conf file
7. Restart the HTTP Server
8. Verify that the HTTP Server is configured correctly
1. Create a test file text.txt into [DOCLINKSDIR] directory
2. Open a web browser and type in address: http://[MXHOSTNAME]/test.txt where [MXHOSTNAME] is the hostname of your server
3. You should be able see your test.txt document in this window. If you cannot open the test file, you must go back and check the configuration steps.

Maximo configuration


The last step is to configure where Maximo will store the attachments and how it will retrieve them.

1. Login to Maximo with administrative rights
2. Go To - System Configuration - Platform Configuration - System Properties
3. Set the following properties according to your configuration
   mxe.doclink.doctypes.defpath = [DOCLINKSDIR]
   mxe.doclink.path01 = [DOCLINKSDIR] = http://[MXHOSTNAME]
   Note: These paths in Windows and Unix are case sensistive.
4. Reload the properties with a ‘Live Refresh’ or restart application server

The mxe.doclink.doctypes.defpath defines where Maximo is storing the attachments locally. The mxe.doclink.path01 allows to translate local paths to the correct HTTP links.

Go To any application which has attachments and select Action > Attachment Library/Folders > Manage folders. Set or check the following:

• Attachments: [DOCLINKSDIR]\attachments
• CAD: [DOCLINKSDIR]\cad
• Diagrams: [DOCLINKSDIR]\diagrams
• Images: [DOCLINKSDIR]\images

Note these Default file paths are case-sensitive and must match the case of directory structure and that of the doclink.properties file.

Finally test that everything is working fine.


References

• Setting up Attached Documents for Maximo 7.1
• Configure the doclink attachment folder in UNC path

Source:http://maximodev.blogspot.com/2014/06/attachments-doclinks-configuration.html