Volumes

Laserfiche volumes are an important component of a Laserfiche repository. They store images, text, and electronic files, as well as thumbnail images and word location data. Volumes provide the structure through which the contents of each document or electronic document are organized by the Laserfiche Server. You can configure the location in which this information is stored on a volume-by-volume basis and by type of file. By default, Laserfiche will create a volume called DEFAULT during repository creation. Additional volumes can also be created.

There are two types of volumes: physical and logical. A physical volume stores information on the hard drive, while a logical volume consists of a set of physical volumes.

A physical volume is where the files that make up the documents in the repository are physically stored, such as on hard drives or removable media. These drives can be located on any computer on the same network as the Laserfiche Server. You can distribute the volumes over several computers to reduce load or to allow the repository to hold more images and text than will fit on a single hard disk. All the image pages, text pages, word location data, electronic files, and thumbnails for a single document must exist in the same physical volume; documents cannot be split among multiple volumes. Documents can be migrated from one physical volume to another. If documents must be readily available, it is a good idea to store them on a hard drive rather than removable media.

A logical volume consists of a set of physical volumes. It also determines the default size limitation of physical volumes. An event called volume rollover occurs when the current physical volume becomes reaches its size limit. In that event, a new physical volume is created and is used for any new documents or electronic documents that are added to the logical volume. This allows users to scan or import into a single logical volume indefinitely, while behind the scenes the Laserfiche Server creates smaller sub-volumes to prevent volumes from becoming unmanageably large.

When a Laserfiche repository is created, the system manager determines the name of the first volume and where it will be located. This volume does not have special properties. It can be modified or deleted at any time. However, you should always make sure that there is a volume in your repository. Otherwise, you will not be allowed to import new content into the repository.

Creating or Modifying a Volume

To create a volume, you will need to name it and specify the location where files will be stored. You can either specify a single location where images, text, and electronic files will be stored or store them in two different paths.

Keep the following in mind when creating a volume:

  • Each volume must be assigned a unique name that does not exceed 63 characters.
  • Only users that have been granted the Manage Volumes privilege can create volumes.
  • The volume rollover feature can only be enabled when creating a volume.

To create or modify a volume

  1. Sign in to the Laserfiche Administration Console as a user who has been granted the Manage Volumes privilege for the specified repository.
  2. Select the Volumes node.
  3. Do one of the following:
    • To create a volume, open the Action menu, select New Volume. The New Volume dialog box will appear.
    • To modify an existing volume, select the volume and select Properties.
  4. In the Volume name option, enter a name for the volume.
  5. Under Path to volume, specify a fixed and/or a removable path. When specifying volume paths, keep in mind that you will need to either use a UNC path, a full path from the computer hosting the Laserfiche Server to the desired location (e.g., C:\Volumes\Volume), or a relative path. Relative paths are relative to the Laserfiche repository location. They may be specified by using the following notation: .\FolderName.
  6. If you specified a fixed and a removable path, determine which path will be used to store images, text, and electronic files.
  7. To create a physical volume, select the Physical Volume node under the Volume Type section. To place a limit on the total size to which the volume can grow, select the Size Limit checkbox and specify (in Megabytes) the limit. This option is only available during repository creation and cannot be changed on existing volumes.
  8. To create a logical volume, select the Logical Volume node. To specify a size limit at which a new physical volume should be created, select the Rollover size limit checkbox and specify (in Megabytes) the limit. To create a schedule for how often a new physical volume should be created, select the Rollover every checkbox and specify the time span in days, weeks, or months. This option is only available during repository creation and cannot be changed on existing volumes.

    Note: Size-based and time-based volume limits can both be used for the same logical volume. The volume will roll over when the first criteria (either maximum size or time schedule) is met.

  9. If you want to create a permanent volume, select the Mark Files as Permanent checkbox. See Permanent Volumes, below, for more information.

    Note: Once a volume has been marked permanent, the images, text, and electronic files contained in the volume cannot be modified.

  10. If you want to set a volume as read-only, select Read-only volume. This option is only available when modifying an existing volume. See Read-Only Volumes, below, for more information.
  11. To enable checksums on your volume, select Calculate Data Checksums.  See Volume Checksums for more information.
  12. Click OK to create the volume.

Attaching, Detaching, and Exporting Volumes

Attaching a Volume

Volumes that have been exported or detached from a Laserfiche repository can be reattached to the same or another repository. This allows you to efficiently transfer large quantities of documents.

Note: Volume names must always be unique. Keep this in mind when attaching a volume to a repository.

Note: Exported volumes do not retain security information. However, tags (including security tags) will remain associated with documents in that exported volume. If the tag does not exist in the repository to which the volume is being attached, it will be created as long as the user who is attaching the volume has the Manage Tags privilege.

To run full-text searches on a repository containing a recently attached volume, it is necessary to reindex the volume. A volume can be reindexed during the attachment process, by selecting either the “Index documents previously flagged as indexed” or the “Index all documents that contain text” from the Indexing option in the Attach Volume dialog box. If the “No Indexing” item is selected and you want full-text searches to include the attached volume, it will be necessary to reindex the volume or the entire repository after it has been attached.

To attach a volume:

  1. Start the Laserfiche Administration Console.
  2. In the console tree, expand the desired Laserfiche Server item.
  3. Select the desired Laserfiche repository.
  4. If security has been enabled on the selected repository, log in as any user who has been granted the Manage Volumes privilege for the specified repository.
  5. Select the Volumes node.
  6. From the Action menu, point to All Tasks, and select Attach Volume. The Attach Volume dialog box will appear.
  7. Under Path to volume, specify the location where the exported or detached volume can be found. This path should point to the folder containing the Volume.ID file for the desired volume. When specifying the location, make sure that you specify a UNC path or a full path from the computer hosting the Laserfiche Server to the desired location (e.g., C:\Volumes\Volume).
  8. After specifying where the exported volume can be found, you will need to determine if you want that path to become the fixed path, the removable path, or if you will specify a new fixed and/or removable path where volume files will be stored.
  1. The Repository location option allows you to select the folder in the repository which will serve as the root folder for the attached volume.  The default is the repository's root folder.
  2. The Folder and Document Merging option determines how conflicting document and folder names will be handled. A document or folder name conflict occurs when the attach process attempts to import a document or folder into a folder that already contains an entry with the same name. Select from the options below for folder conflict and document conflict
    • On folder conflict
      • Rename: This option will rename the folder by appending a number.
      • Merge: This option will merge the new folder and the existing folder into a single folder containing the contents of both.
    • On document conflict
      • Rename: This option will rename the document by appending a number.
      • Overwrite: This option will overwrite the existing document, replacing it with the document from the attached volume.
      • Skip: This option will skip importing the document, leaving only the document already in the repository.
      • Stop attachment process: This option will cause the volume attach to fail if conflicting documents are found.
  3. The Templates merging option allows you to merge templates. Templates on a volume can be merged with the templates in a repository when their definition matches. However, you may also require that the names must match before templates can be merged. If you want templates from the volume and repository to be merged only when template names are identical, select the Template names must match option. Otherwise, this option should be cleared.
  4. The Metadata option determines whether all of the metadata in the volume will be imported into the repository, or just the metadata associated with new documents. Select Include all metadata to include all of the metadata in the volume, not just the metadata associated with documents. Clear this option to import only the metadata associated with documents.
  5. The Indexing option determines the way that indexing will be handled for the volume when it is attached. A full-text search cannot be performed on documents in a newly attached volume until they have been indexed.
    • No indexing:  Documents in the newly attached volume will not be automatically indexed.
    • Index documents previously flagged as indexed:Only documents in the newly attached volume that were previously indexed will be automatically indexed.
    • Index all documents that contain text:All documents in the newly attached volume that contain text will be automatically indexed.
  6. Click OK. The Attach Volume dialog box will appear. If you selected the Copy all data out of path option, enter the fixed and/or removable path where the volume's data files will be stored. Otherwise, the repository will use the original volume path as either the fixed or removable path (depending upon your selection).
  7. Under Volume name, enter a name for the volume.
  8. Click OK to attach the volume.
  9. If the volume was encrypted when it was exported, you will be prompted to provide the encryption password. Type the password and click OK.
  10. Verify that documents and electronic documents associated with the newly attached volume can be viewed.

Detaching a Volume

The process of removing a volume from a repository is called “detaching.” Detaching a volume from a repository is effectively the same as exporting a volume and then deleting the volume from the repository; the exported copy will remain, but the original volume will no longer exist in your repository. In general, it is a good idea to export the volume, verify that it has exported correctly, and delete the volume rather than using detach, as it allows you to verify that the process completed successfully before you delete the files.

Security information (i.e., entry access rights, field access, and volume access rights) is not included when a volume is detached from a Laserfiche repository. This means that the content of that volume may not be secure when it is re-attached to a Laserfiche repository, because by default it inherits the entry access rights assigned to the root folder of the Laserfiche repository. If you are attaching a volume that contains sensitive documents, it is highly recommended that you immediately configure entry access rights, field access rights, and/or volume access rights. Keep in mind that tags (including security tags) will remain associated with documents in that exported volume. If the tag does not exist in the repository to which the volume is being attached, it will be created. Additionally, folders in the detached volume will not retain their default volume settings.

To detach a volume:

  1. Start the Laserfiche Administration Console.
  2. In the console tree, expand the desired Laserfiche Server item.
  3. Select the desired Laserfiche repository.
  4. If security has been enabled on the selected repository, log in as any user who has been granted the Manage Volumes privilege for the specified repository.
  5. Select the Volumes item.
  6. Select the volume to detach.
  7. From the Action menu, select Detach. The Detach Volume dialog box will appear.
  8. Under Destination, select Volume's fixed path or Volume's removable path.
  9. Under Encryption, perform one of the following:
    • If you do not want to encrypt the detached volume, do not select the Encrypt volume with a password option. The volume will be exported unencrypted, even if the volume was originally encrypted.
    • If the volume is not currently encrypted and you want to encrypt it for detach, or if it is encrypted and you want to detach it with a different password than is currently in use, select the Encrypt volume with a password option and type a password in the Enter a new password option.
    • If the volume is currently encrypted, and you want the detached copy to use the same encryption password as the volume on the Server, select the Encrypt volume with a password option and then select Continue to encrypt the exported volume with the same password. The password currently set on the volume will be necessary to attach the detached volume to a repository.
  10. Click OK to detach the volume.

    Note: If any errors or warnings occur during volume detach, an error message will be displayed and you will be able to open the volume detach log for more information.

Exporting a Volume

When a volume is exported from the repository, a copy of the volume will be created and packaged into a single location. An exported volume can be moved and attached to any Laserfiche repository.

Important: Exporting involves copying the entire volume and is a resource intensive process; you should make sure that you have adequate disk space before exporting.

Warning: Exporting is not designed to be a means of simultaneously sharing volumes between multiple repositories. Two repositories cannot work with the same volume at the same time.

Security information (i.e., entry access rights, field access, and volume access rights) is not included when a volume is exported from a Laserfiche repository, which means that content may not be secure when the volume is reattached to a Laserfiche repository. By default, it will inherit the entry access rights assigned to the root folder of the Laserfiche repository. If you are attaching a volume that contains sensitive documents, it is highly recommended that you immediately configure entry access rights, field access rights, and/or volume access rights. Keep in mind that tags (including security tags) will remain associated with documents in that exported volume. If the tag does not exist in the repository the volume is being attached to, it will be created as long as the user who is attaching the volume has the Manage Tags privilege. Additionally, folders in the exported volume will not retain their default volume settings.

To export a volume:

  1. Start the Laserfiche Administration Console.
  2. In the console tree, expand the desired Laserfiche Server item.
  3. Select the desired Laserfiche repository.
  4. If security has been enabled on the selected repository, log in as any user who has been granted the Manage Volumes privilege for the specified repository.
  5. Select the Volumes item.
  6. Select the volume to export.
  7. From the Action menu, select Export. The Export Volume dialog box will appear.
  8. Under Destination folder, determine where to export the volume. You can provide a path local to the Laserfiche Server computer or a UNC path. The destination folder cannot be on a mapped drive.
  9. Under Format, determine which version of Laserfiche you want your exported volume to be compatible with.
  10. Under Encryption, perform one of the following:
    • If you do not want to encrypt the exported volume, do not select the Encrypt volume with a password option. The volume will be exported unencrypted, even if the volume was originally encrypted.
    • If the volume is not currently encrypted and you want to encrypt it for export, or if it is encrypted and you want to export it with a different password than is currently in use, select the Encrypt volume with a password option and type a password in the Enter a new password option.
    • If the volume is currently encrypted, and you want the exported copy to use the same encryption password as the volume on the Server, select the Encrypt volume with a password option and then select Continue to encrypt the exported volume with the same password. The password currently set on the volume will be necessary to attach the exported volume to a repository.
  11. Click OK to export the volume.

    Note: If any errors or warnings occur during volume export, an error message will be displayed and you will be able to open the volume export log for more information.

Read-Only and Permanent Volumes

A volume can be assigned read-only status, which prevents any changes from being performed on the volume, or permanent status, which prevents modification or removal of existing files in the volume but allows users to add files to the volume or modify metadata on entries stored in the volume.

Read-Only Volumes

Read-only status ensures the following:

  • Changes cannot be made to existing data in a volume. For example, an electronic file stored on a read-only volume cannot be updated, nor can text.
  • Pages cannot be added to a document or electronic document.
  • New or existing documents or electronic documents cannot be assigned to the volume.
  • Documents already assigned to the volume cannot be deleted, or migrated to another volume.
  • If the volume's fixed path is changed, the files associated with the volume will not be automatically moved to the new location; instead, you must move them manually.
  • Changes cannot be made to metadata (i.e., fields, links, versions, tags, and digital signatures) assigned to a document or electronic document, if the change is made through the Laserfiche web or Windows client.

Note: A volume's read-only status can be toggled at any time.

Permanent Volumes

A volume can be assigned permanent status, which will prevent changes from being made to images, text, or electronic files associated with the volume, but still allow you to add information and modify metadata (i.e., fields, versions, links, and tags).

Once a volume has been granted permanent status, it cannot be revoked. This means that the images, text, or electronic files associated with the volume can never be modified in Laserfiche. As an additional protection, the physical files (i.e., images, text, and electronic files) will be assigned Windows read-only status.

When a file within a document that is under version control is modified, a new copy of that file is created in the volume and the original file remains untouched in the version history (and, by extension, in the volume). This means that documents under version control can be modified even if they are within permanent volumes, because the actual files stored in the volumes remain unaltered and permanent. This extends to removing pages or electronic files from documents: since the pages or electronic files remain within the version history and the volume, the removal is permitted. However, you cannot delete a version for a document stored in the permanent volume, as that would alter the volume contents.

Disabling or Deleting a Volume

Disabling a Volume

Disabling a volume makes the volume inaccessible from the Laserfiche Server and should be used as a temporary measure, for use during volume backup or maintenance. When a volume is disabled, its contents will not be accessible—users will not be able to view images or open electronic documents stored in that volume—and the volume also cannot be exported or modified in any way except to re-enable it. For instance, to copy a repository's volume files to another hard drive for backup purposes, you could disable the volume, copy the volume files on the hard drive, and re-enable the volume.

Since changes cannot be made to the volume or its contents when it is disabled, this allows you to ensure that a volume's contents will remain consistent for backup purposes without having to take the entire repository offline.

Note: Metadata such as fields, tags, links, and versions can still be modified for documents in the volume when the volume is disabled. Disabling a volume prevents the physical files in the volume—the images, text, electronic documents, etc.—from being opened or modified, but does not affect the document's metadata.

To disable or re-enable a volume

  1. Start the Laserfiche Administration Console.
  2. In the console tree, expand the Laserfiche Server.
  3. Select the desired Laserfiche repository.
  4. If security has been enabled on the selected repository, log in as any user who has been granted the Manage Volumes privilege for the specified repository.
  5. Select the Volumes node.
  6. Double-click the volume you wish to disable.
  7. Select or clear the Disable volume check box to disable the volume or enable it.
  8. Click OK to save your changes to the volume.

Deleting a Volume

A volume can be deleted from a repository, causing all documents or electronic documents associated with the volume to be permanently deleted. Deleting a volume removes the physical files and folders associated with it, including the images, text, and electronic files associated with the volume.

Warning!  There is no easy way to undo the deleting of physical files associated with a volume. The only way to recover a deleted volume is to restore from backup.

To delete a volume

  1. Start the Laserfiche Administration Console.
  2. In the console tree, expand the Laserfiche Server.
  3. Select the desired Laserfiche repository.
  4. If security has been enabled on the selected repository, log in as any user who has been granted the Manage Volumes privilege for the specified repository.
  5. Select the Volumes node.
  6. Select the volume to delete.
  7. From the Action menu, select Delete.
  8. When prompted to delete the physical files associated with the volume, click Yes to delete the physical files or No to keep them in their current location.