Portfolio Server 5.x on a mixed Mac and NT Network

Below are collected comments from various users in the (now defunct) Portfolio Server User-to-User forum.

Scenario: Portfolio Server 5.x on a mixed Mac and NT Network. Portfolio Server is on a PC running NT. The Macs are using DAVE to access files over the NT Network.

You may encounter problems with how Portfolio is recording the image paths - when you add images via the Macs this results in recording a different path than when performing the same task on a PC. Best practice is rather than drag and drop is to use the add routine and navigate to the images (even on local disks) via the local network to ensure a UNC path gets used (or one Portfolio can translate to an Os-specific valid UNC path).

Extensis have stated: "Portfolio is not compatible with DAVE or PCtoMACLAN or any of those kinds of products. That isn't to say you couldn't get them to work. We have just never tested with them, nor do we support their use. In order to be able to preview images that are stored on a file server you must map the drive they are on to your local desktop or, on the Mac, have that drive mounted locally via AppleShare. Even if you use the disk based previews feature you would still have to mount the drive that those previews are stored on."

From what I can tell (this is strictly speculation), Portfolio Server's cross-platform functionality requires AppleTalk/FileSharing with TCP/IP functionality activated. This function was added in OS 9 (I think). Based on this requirement, I believe Macintosh Services Must be installed on the NT Server in order to enable the Macs to mount an NT volume.

Mounting a volume is different from accessing a shared folder. This is where the absolute path rendering comes into play. If you mount a drive, the Mac will see the drive as a network volume and map the path correctly. If you mount a shared folder on an NT volume it will generate the path as a local path and not generate the network volume part of the path correctly.

(Setting up Services for the Macintosh on an NT box is described in detail in the book "Windows 2000 Mac Support" by Gene Steinberg. Also go to the website www.macwindows.com)

Here is how you set up Portfolio Server:

• First, Services for Macintosh (SFM) must be installed on the NT or Win2000 box.
• Once SFM is installed restart the server and then share the folder you wish to use as a central image repository.
• Using the MacFile menu share the same folder making sure that the folder’s name is the same on both platforms.
• Now access the folder through the chooser. Because the Macintosh has mounted a volume the path will be generated correctly. The key is getting the Microsoft volume icon to mount on the desktop. Whatever happens behind the scenes, tells the Mac that you have connected to a remote volume and not a mounted folder. Mounted folders behave like local folders and thus, generate paths incorrectly.
• On the PC side, just map the drive.

If you do not own the "Windows 2000 Mac support" part of the Little Black Book series I suggest you get it, because it is far more helpful than any of the Microsoft documentation describing SFM setup and settings.

A side note - you can still run DAVE even with SFM running.

You can also use a third-party AppleShareIP program such as ExtremeZ-IP that runs a very fast AppleShareIP protocol on any Windows NT/2000 system (not just server). It is available from www.grouplogic.com.

Dave and PC MacLan use non-standard (not Apple specified) methods to recurse the paths and folder structures. Since Portfolio relies on the OS to hand it valid standard file paths it does not understand paths that are generated by products such as DAVE.

Question: Portfolio Server 5.x on a mixed Mac and NT Network [FAQ00216.htm]
Last Update:- 31 May 2006

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