Working with multiple volumes
Changing additional volumes status to full use
Registering user accounts on other volumesWorking with multiple volumes
Large FirstClass systems may require a post office that spans multiple volumes. You might choose to install post offices on multiple volumes in one of the following situations:
• You want to control the amount of space available to specific users or conferences.
• You have run out of space on your first disk.
Since a multivolume server is more complicated to administer, we recommend that you only use this feature if necessary. There are no performance, reliability, or feature enhancements in using the multivolume feature when it is not needed.
When you register a user, or create a new conference, you can store the user's Mailbox or the conference contents on a volume other than the master volume. The volume status must be full use.
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Changing additional volumes status to full use
To change the status of additional volumes to full use (thus making them secondary volumes):
1 Double-click Volumes on the administrator's Desktop.
Names of browse-only volumes appear in italics in the volume list.
Note
If you mount a new volume on your computer (for example, if you connect to a network drive), close and reopen the Volumes folder to refresh the list.
2 Select the volume you want to make full use.
3 Choose File > Properties (Windows) or Get Info (Mac OS).
4 Select "Full use".
5 Click OK.
Top Registering user accounts on other volumes
If you do this for one user, Mailboxes for all subsequent users you register will also be stored on this volume. To store Mailboxes on a different volume, you must repeat this procedure.
Moving existing users to a new volume
When you move an existing user to a new volume, you can do it in a way that the user's private mail will be either lost or retained.
To move an existing account when you are not concerned about preserving the user's private mail:
1 Delete the existing user account.
2 Recreate the account on the new volume.
To move an existing account while preserving the user's private mail:
1 Switch to the new volume for registering users.
2 Add an account for the user on the new volume.
3 Open the user's Desktop on the old volume.
4 Select the Mailbox.
5 Choose Collaborate > Add to Desktop to put a link to the Mailbox on the administrator's Desktop.
6 Open the user's Desktop on the new volume.
7 Drag the link from the administrator's Desktop to the Desktop on the new volume.
8 Drag all mail from the user's old Mailbox to the new one.
All messages will be marked Unread.
Top Creating conferences on other volumes
When you create a conference, you can store it on a volume other than the master volume. The volume must have a status of full use.
Usually, conferences take up very little space, because the items they contain are actually stored in the Mailboxes of the users who created the items. However, if an item is received from another server through a gateway or from the Internet, it is stored on the conference's volume. Therefore, replicated conferences might use up a significant amount of disk space and you might want to put them on a volume other than the master volume. For example, if you have a gateway to an Internet news server, you would probably put all newsgroups on a separate volume.
Conferences you create in the General Conferences folder are automatically stored on the master volume.
To create a conference on another volume:
1 Double-click MultiVol Conferences on the administrator's Desktop.
2 Open the volume on which you want to create the conference.
3 Choose File > New > New Conference.
A new conference is created in MultiVol Conferences. The underline indicates that this conference is unprotected. To protect this conference, use Choose File > Properties (Windows) or Get Info (Mac OS) and check the Protected box.
4 optional
Change the conference name and icon before protecting the conference.
5 Make a link to the new conference and move this link to the desired location.
6 optional
Grant subscriptions to the appropriate users, if this is a private conference.
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External folders
You can use external folders to give users access to the folders on any storage device available to the server machine. They are useful if you have large numbers of files (for example, on a CD-ROM) that you want to make available to your users. It's easier to drag files into a folder on your hard drive than to upload them all to a conference.
When users open an external folder, they actually see the contents of the folder outside the FirstClass system. Users can do the following with external folders:
• view folder contents
• view text files, preview certain types of picture or sound files, and download files
• search the filenames and content of text documents.
External folders work equally well for remote and network sessions.
External folders are read-only. You cannot upload files to an external folder from within FirstClass.
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Approving volumes for external folders
Before you create external folders, you must approve the volumes containing the external information.
Note
During FirstClass installation, an external folder named Hard Disk is placed on the administrator's Desktop. This folder links to the master volume. We do not recommend that you give all your users access to this external folder because the master volume can contain private or non-relevant information.
To make a volume available for external folders:
1 Double-click Volumes on the administrator's Desktop.
The names of unapproved volumes appear in italics. If you mount a new volume on your computer (for example, if you connect to a network drive), you must close and reopen this folder to refresh the list.
2 Select the volume you want to approve.
3 Choose File > Get Info (Mac OS) or Properties (Windows).
4 Select "Limited use".
5 Click OK.
FirstClass marks this volume as available for external folders.
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Creating external folders
To create an external folder
1 Double-click Volumes on the administrator's Desktop.
2 Double-click the volume containing the folder to which you want to link.
3 Navigate through the volume and select the folder to which you want to link.
4 Choose Collaborate > Add to Desktop to create a link to the folder on the administrator's Desktop.
5 Close the Volumes form.
6 Open the Model Desktop of the user group or individual user who needs access to this folder.
7 Drag the link to the Model Desktop and update the Desktop.
Top Linking external folders to CD-ROMs
If you are considering linking an external folder to a CD-ROM, be aware of the following:
• The link is specific to the disk in the CD-ROM drive at the time you make the link. If you put in another disk, users won't be able to use the link.
• CD-ROM access is slower than access to normal hard disk drives.
Here are some tips to minimize performance problems:
• Avoid multi-CD changers. They generally take several seconds to change disks. If you have two users accessing different disks, the changer shuffles continuously, consuming most of the server's resources, and the server stops running during the time between loading and unloading the CD-ROM.
• Buy the fastest CD-ROM you can afford.
• If you have a very large system, consider purchasing a large hard disk, copying the CD-ROM to the hard disk, then linking to the hard disk. Although this approach is expensive, it gives you the best possible performance. It also allows you to omit any resources on the CD-ROM that are of no interest.
Top Linking external folders to file servers
If you create external folders that link to a file server, be sure the file server is available when your FirstClass Server is running.
If the file server shuts down, a dialog may appear to notify you of a problem. If this happens, click OK to continue.
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