Manage Documents With KnowledgeTree

In the past, we have talked a lot on document management software. If you are

looking for a simple document management solution with integrated work flow,

which even a novice can manage then KnowledgeTree (KT) is the one. Given the

simple interface of the updated version and its MS ADS integration, this one is

worth considering.

Installation



KnowledgeTree is available as an installable file for both Windows and Linux.
You also have the option of virtual appliance which can be downloaded from

Jumpbox. The Windows installation file of KT is available with this month's DVD.

Simply double click on the installation file and follow the on-screen

instructions. And you are finished with the installation within minutes.

To configure KT, open up its web management interface from any Web browser.

Provide the username and password as 'admin'. Once you are authenticated, KT

will automatically navigate you to the dashboard which gives an overview of the

system, such as, how much space is left on the storage device, tags, mail server

status, webdav connection information, system folder utilization, etc.

Creating folders and uploading files



Now take a scenario of a number of different users who store document on the

storage server. Now if everyone stores their documents in a single folder it

would result in a real mess. They can lose important documents. So you have to

create folder for every user. To create folder, navigate to 'Browse Document'

tab and click on 'Add a Folder' link found on 'Action on this folder' section.

Provide a folder name (e.g. name of the user) and click on 'Add Folder' button.

Now for uploading files to this folder, click on 'Upload Document' link found on

the 'Action on this folder' section. Browse the document you want to upload, by

clicking on the 'Browse' button. Give a suitable document title, select the type

and click on 'Add' button. We will discuss later on how we can implement

entitling permission to users.

Managing users & ADS Authentication



There are different ways through which you can add users to this solution.

You can simply add users to the KT user database, or you can add users from LDAP

or MS ADS. Creating users within KT is quite simple. Navigate to the 'DMS

Administration' tab, click on 'Manage user' and then click on 'Add new user'

link. Provide necessary details of the user, such as name, username, password

and email address, and then click on 'Create user'.

The dashboard gives you a comprehensive view of KT, such as, how much space is remaining in your storage device, indexing statistics etc.

Now we show you how you can integrate KT to your existing MS ADS. First

navigate to the 'DMS Administration' > 'Authentication' and click on 'Add a new

authentication source' link. Give a suitable name to this authentication source,

and then select authentication provider as 'ActiveDirectory Authentication' and

click on 'Add a new source' button. Now KT will ask for the details that will be

required to connect to the ADS and authenticate users.

Under the client tools settings, you can configure the web DAV, web services and many more.

In the server name field, provide the IP address of the ADS server, mostly

the port 389 is default. In case you have changed it, provide the same in the

server port field. Now on Base DN, provide the appropriate CN and DC, for

example, in our case it was 'CN=Users, DC=domainname1, DC=local'. In the Search

User field, provide user the right to perform searching inside the LDAP

directory. In our test setup, it was administrator, hence the input string is as

follows: CN=administrator, CN=user, DC=domainname1,DC=local. Next specify the

password and let the search attributes be default and click on 'Save'. Finally

you are done with the process.

In the plugins option, you can enable or disable any plugin that is installed on the ICT document management solution.

Now before you login with the credentials of the ADS, you have to add the

users to KT also. For this, navigate to 'DMS Administration' > 'Manage user' and

click on 'Add from Source' link. Now you have two options for importing user,

first to search for a particular user and then import a single user. Or you can

mass import; here we will mass-import the users. For this, check the mass import

check box and the click on 'Search for users'. Next you will get the list of

users who exist on ADS. For importing the users, just check the check box

provided beside the name of user name and click on 'Add' button.

WebDAV on KT



KnowledgeTree also supports WebDAV. It is a protocol that allows users to
create, modify or delete documents on remote web server. By default WebDAV is

enabled, but the write permission in WebDAV is not enabled. For enabling the

write permission, navigate to the 'DMS Administration' > System Configuration'

and then click on client tools. In the WebDAV section, make the safe mode option

off which is by default on, and click on 'Save Config Settings'. And you are

done with it.

In case the clients connecting to WebDAV server are on Windows XP or Vista,

then by default they do not support connection to Web DAV. Hence you have to

download a package called 'Software Update for Web Folders' from the Microsoft

site which will enable Windows access to WebDAV.

For connecting to WebDAV through Windows Vista machine, open up 'My Computer'

and click on 'Map network drive'. Next click on the link 'Connect to a web site

...' and then click on 'Next' button. Now choose 'Choose a custom network

location' and click on 'Next'. Then copy the address for WebDAV provided on the

KT dashboard and paste it. And you are done finally.