Setting up a shared drive for enterprise
September 18, 2017 12:02 PM Subscribe
Looking for suggestions for current best practices and options for setting up a new shared drive in an enterprise setting that is robust and support enterprise level shared growth over time.
Currently the environment is a traditional Microsoft NTFS type share with traditional folders and sub folders. We need to add robust metadata tagging to all files and folders to support efficient search (as in file type x with client names x and y).
Wondering if anyone has recommendations? Sharepoint? Office 365? that are windows based? I've used Box in previous environments which incorporates most of the needed functionality but we'd need to have a compelling argument to move to box.
Thanks in advance.
Currently the environment is a traditional Microsoft NTFS type share with traditional folders and sub folders. We need to add robust metadata tagging to all files and folders to support efficient search (as in file type x with client names x and y).
Wondering if anyone has recommendations? Sharepoint? Office 365? that are windows based? I've used Box in previous environments which incorporates most of the needed functionality but we'd need to have a compelling argument to move to box.
Thanks in advance.
Sharepoint Online (the Office 365 version). It's pretty easy for people to upload files to, has robust searching, and you can add all the metadata you want via columns (fields). Also because it has robust permissioning, you can control who has access to what, and it's easy to shut down people's ability to delete accidentally (which makes it a much more intelligent file storage system than a shared drive). Turn on versioning and people can revision all they want. Can access via any device with proper login.
posted by clone boulevard at 12:48 PM on September 18, 2017
posted by clone boulevard at 12:48 PM on September 18, 2017
Response by poster: Thanks Clone and CNC.
In your experience would indexing of an existing shared drive with sharepoint online be an option? thus keeping the advantages and familiarity of a traditional drive, but gain the additional tagging and searching functionality within the sharepoint online view? or would our team be required migrate all of the content and workflow to sharepoint online?
posted by specialk420 at 12:57 PM on September 18, 2017
In your experience would indexing of an existing shared drive with sharepoint online be an option? thus keeping the advantages and familiarity of a traditional drive, but gain the additional tagging and searching functionality within the sharepoint online view? or would our team be required migrate all of the content and workflow to sharepoint online?
posted by specialk420 at 12:57 PM on September 18, 2017
we're an educational institution and while we do have office365(/sharepoint online) we use box.com and are working on migrating our standard network shares to box.
box has a 'beta' version of box drive out that maps a local drive letter to your box account.
posted by noloveforned at 1:32 PM on September 18, 2017
box has a 'beta' version of box drive out that maps a local drive letter to your box account.
posted by noloveforned at 1:32 PM on September 18, 2017
You might be able to use SharePoint for Enterprise Search, but I wouldn't use it for enterprise file storage. It's not a better file server than a file server. I don't have a recommendation for adding metadata to existing files, other than that I doubt you'll get your average business user to do it, if that's what you're expecting. I would focus on indexing content and making that available via search.
This. Every business I've consulted with says "we want metadata tagging" and then... nobody curates the tags > the inevitable errors and oversights pile up > people just go back to asking Joe in A/R where the file is > They don't have access, so Joe just emails it.
Searchable Tagging already exists in Office and how many ever use that ?
Sharepoint has some notable file size and number limitations, and although the permissions are robust, they are difficult to audit and automate, and again, curation is a problem (John moves from HR to Accounting, who removes and adds rights). Plus, it's slow as molasses compared to local network access.
You can resolve many of those issues by writing and deploying a Sharepoint Application or possibly a workflow. But, the problem with SP is that by the time you're at that point, it's almost entirely less work for better results to just write an app in your favored language.
Fundamentally, what you have a business process problem and not a technical problem. Iron out what the business process will look like, with various levels of accountability and responsibility, and then pursue a technology that most closely mirrors that process.
posted by Pogo_Fuzzybutt at 1:58 PM on September 18, 2017
This. Every business I've consulted with says "we want metadata tagging" and then... nobody curates the tags > the inevitable errors and oversights pile up > people just go back to asking Joe in A/R where the file is > They don't have access, so Joe just emails it.
Searchable Tagging already exists in Office and how many ever use that ?
Sharepoint has some notable file size and number limitations, and although the permissions are robust, they are difficult to audit and automate, and again, curation is a problem (John moves from HR to Accounting, who removes and adds rights). Plus, it's slow as molasses compared to local network access.
You can resolve many of those issues by writing and deploying a Sharepoint Application or possibly a workflow. But, the problem with SP is that by the time you're at that point, it's almost entirely less work for better results to just write an app in your favored language.
Fundamentally, what you have a business process problem and not a technical problem. Iron out what the business process will look like, with various levels of accountability and responsibility, and then pursue a technology that most closely mirrors that process.
posted by Pogo_Fuzzybutt at 1:58 PM on September 18, 2017
Sharepoint has some notable file size and number limitations, and although the permissions are robust, they are difficult to audit and automate, and again, curation is a problem (John moves from HR to Accounting, who removes and adds rights). Plus, it's slow as molasses compared to local network access.
All of this. Plus, you can't run a report on SharePoint permissions without a third party tool. It's also harder to backup just files with SharePoint, where it's very easy with a file server. Arguably, you don't need to backup SharePoint files because of Site Recycle Bin and so on, but it's a loss of flexibility compared to a file server.
In your experience would indexing of an existing shared drive with sharepoint online be an option?
I don't know the answer to this, but there's a Microsoft forum that says you need a local SharePoint Server (Hybrid SharePoint Farm) to make the local content crawl work, and this makes sense to me:
https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/lync/en-US/96c342e8-0505-4bd0-b873-110451eaf88d/could-sharepoint-online-search-crawl-the-file-share-content-similar-to-sharepoint-2013?forum=sharepointsearch
You might look at appliances that do enterprise search, rather than or in addition to SharePoint. SharePoint is a great tool for collaboration, and business users definitely take to it, but it's expensive and heavy to administer and shouldn't completely replace a file server, in my opinion. Sorry, I don't have any recommendations on a suitable appliance.
posted by cnc at 2:15 PM on September 18, 2017
All of this. Plus, you can't run a report on SharePoint permissions without a third party tool. It's also harder to backup just files with SharePoint, where it's very easy with a file server. Arguably, you don't need to backup SharePoint files because of Site Recycle Bin and so on, but it's a loss of flexibility compared to a file server.
In your experience would indexing of an existing shared drive with sharepoint online be an option?
I don't know the answer to this, but there's a Microsoft forum that says you need a local SharePoint Server (Hybrid SharePoint Farm) to make the local content crawl work, and this makes sense to me:
https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/lync/en-US/96c342e8-0505-4bd0-b873-110451eaf88d/could-sharepoint-online-search-crawl-the-file-share-content-similar-to-sharepoint-2013?forum=sharepointsearch
You might look at appliances that do enterprise search, rather than or in addition to SharePoint. SharePoint is a great tool for collaboration, and business users definitely take to it, but it's expensive and heavy to administer and shouldn't completely replace a file server, in my opinion. Sorry, I don't have any recommendations on a suitable appliance.
posted by cnc at 2:15 PM on September 18, 2017
Response by poster: Great answers here. Robust tagging and searching is the key functionality we need to add our traditional file server.
Key to the conversation is that the "users" are all information architects and content strategists who will have and understand how to use policies related to tagging their content appropriately.
Agree that indexing the content for keyword searches is essential (and potentially the most valuable) functionality.
posted by specialk420 at 2:23 PM on September 18, 2017
Key to the conversation is that the "users" are all information architects and content strategists who will have and understand how to use policies related to tagging their content appropriately.
Agree that indexing the content for keyword searches is essential (and potentially the most valuable) functionality.
posted by specialk420 at 2:23 PM on September 18, 2017
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posted by cnc at 12:25 PM on September 18, 2017