Manage sources

In File Analysis Suite, a source defines the initial connection to a specific data platform through a selected agent cluster. A repository defines the subpath on the source, the rules and schedule for processing, and the entities to identify within the data during processing.

You must create at least one agent cluster before you can create sources and associated repositories. Because a repository defines a subpath on a source, you must create a source before you can create an associated repository.

On the Manage Sources page, you can filter the list of sources by source TYPE and AGENT CLUSTER, or search for a source by name.

From the Manage Sources page, you can view additional information about each source.

  • Hover over or click in the row for a source to display action icons to edit (edit icon) and delete (delete icon) the source. For sources with documents, you can go to the data volume chart (data volume chart inlne icon), focused on the source. For file system and SharePoint sources containing data, you can go to the sensitive data heat map (sensitive data heat map inline icon) in Manage, focused on the source.

  • Click anywhere in the row for the desired source and then click the open detail panel icon (open detail panel icon) to display the source details.

    From the detail panel, you can edit and delete the source. For sources with documents, you can go to the data volume chart (data volume chart detail panel icon), focused on the source. For file system and SharePoint sources containing data, you can also go to the sensitive data heat map (sensitive data heat map detail panel icon) in Manage, focused on the source.

The following types of source are supported.

Source type Version or platform supported
File System CIFS/SMB2.0 shares
Exchange 2016, 2019, Office 365
SharePoint 2016, Office 365
Content Manager

9.4

IMPORTANT: Only Microsoft SQL Server RDB datasets are supported at this time.
Google Drive

not applicable

TIP: A source is associated with a Google Workspace for the domain that includes the desired users' drives. Repositories on the source are associated with a single user account Google Drive.

Review the following tasks and considerations for each source type:

  • For all source types, at least one agent cluster must exist prior to creating source. Selection of an agent cluster is required when you create a source.

  • For all source types, keep in mind that processing of data does not occur at the source level, only at the repository level.

  • For all source types, you have the option to limit access in File Analysis Suite by granting only specific users or groups access to the source.

    CAUTION: If limiting access to a source and an underlying repository, users without access will not be able to view workspaces with a data source that includes the repository or view individual items that originated in the repository.

  • For Exchange sources:

    • See Exchange connection to complete additional tasks required for processing data from Exchange.

    • The Exchange source uses an agent to connect to the mail server to process new items, as well as items that already exists on the mail server. This method processes items based on user mailboxes and therefore includes folder information and is subject to user action (such as delete).

    • Exchange processing is based on Active Directory (AD) groups or data subject association with a workspace. Before creating Exchange sources, review your current AD groups. You may need to create more encompassing groups comprised of existing groups in order to apply a default action (at the repository level), such as indexing only metadata or sampling a percentage of data, across a larger portion of your employees.

      Avoid having users in multiple groups defined in repositories.

  • For File System sources,

    • Ensure that your CIFS shares can be accessed by the "System" account.

    • If your file system allows long paths, the machine hosting the processing agent must also be enabled for long paths.

  • For SharePoint sources, only the latest revision of a document is processed. See SharePoint connection to complete the tasks necessary for connection.

  • For Content Manager sources, see Content Manager integration to complete the tasks necessary for connection.

  • For Google Drive sources,

    • A repository connects to a single user's Google Drive. To process items for multiple users, create a Google Drive repository for each desired user. See Google Drive connection to complete the tasks necessary for connection.

      NOTE: File Analysis Suite supports processing of data from Google Workspace's Drive; data from personal Google Drives is not supported.

    • Shortcut files that exist on Google drives are not processed.

  1. From the primary navigation panel, click Sources > Manage Sources.

    The Manage Sources page opens.

  2. Click NEW SOURCE.

    The New Source dialog opens to the General page.

  3. Complete the General options for the new source and then follow the dialog prompts for the remaining options.

    Option Description
    Source name

    Type a meaningful, unique name for the source.

    Limits: Maximum 50 characters.
    Description

    (Optional) Type a meaningful description of the source.

    Limits: Maximum 250 characters.
    Source type Click the desired source type. The source type cannot be changed after the source is created.
    Agent cluster

    Select the agent cluster that will manage this source.

    For Exchange, SharePoint, and Google Drive sources only, you can select Cloud Cluster to manage a cloud-based source with the built-in cloud-based agent.

    Click NEXT.

  4. Complete the Connection options to define the connection to the selected source type.

    IMPORTANT: Avoid creating more than one source for any single data location in your environment.

    Option Description

    Directory

    [Enter directory UNC]

    Type the UNC path on the source that is your top-level connection point.

    Limits:

    • The source path cannot be more than a single directory beyond the host. For example, \\server01.domain.com\folderA. Further path refinement is defined by repositories.

    • The hostname portion of the source path can contain only the following characters.

      • upper and lowercase alpha-numeric characters

      • . (period)

      • - (dash)

      • _ (underscore)

    • The source path cannot contain any of the following special characters.

      • < (less than)

      • > (greater than)

      • : (colon)

      • " (double quote)

      • | (vertical bar or pipe)

      • ? (question mark)

      • * (asterisk)

      • / (forward slash)

    • The path cannot contain . or .. before, after, or in between slashes (\) with no other characters.

      • Not valid:

        \\company.domain.com\..

        \\company.domain.com\.

      • Valid:

        \\company.domain.com\abc..

        \\company.domain.com\.abc

    Username

    Type the user name of the user that has access to the source directory you want to process data from.

    Limits: Use the format domain\user or machine_name\user.
    Password

    Type the password for user defined.

    Option Description
    [Exchange type]

    Select Exchange server (default).

    IMPORTANT: Once the source is created, the Exchange type cannot be changed.

    Username

    Type the user name of the Exchange mail user account that has access to the mail servers you want to process data from.

    Limits: Use the format domain\user or machine_name\user.
    Password

    Type the password for the user defined.
    Email Address Type the email address for the user defined.

    The values for the following options were generated when Exchange collection for File Analysis Suite was registered in the Exchange admin center during implementation of File Analysis Suite. If you do not have this information, contact the administrator of your File Analysis Suite environment.

    Option Description
    [Exchange type]

    Select Exchange Online (O365).

    IMPORTANT: Once the source is created, the Exchange type cannot be changed.

    Application ID

    		 Type the value for the Application (client) ID as defined in the Exchange admin center.
    Directory ID Type the value for the Directory (tenant) ID as defined in the Exchange admin center.
    Client Secret Type the value for the Client secret as defined in the Exchange admin center.

    IMPORTANT: Avoid creating more than one source for any single data location in your environment.

    Option Description
    [SharePoint type]

    Select SharePoint (default).

    IMPORTANT: Once the source is created, the SharePoint type cannot be changed.
    SharePoint site URL

    Type the fully qualified URL to the base of the SharePoint site.

    Example site collection URL:
    https://company.sharepoint.com/sites/team01

    Example web application URL:
    https://company.sharepoint.com/

    IMPORTANT: SharePoint subsites of the defined site are not processed as part of the site. When defining the source to process from SharePoint site and its subsite, create multiple repositories and define the full sub-URL for each subsite.

    The path cannot contain . or .. before, after, or in between slashes with no other characters.

    • Not valid:

      https://company.domain.com/sites/..

      https://company.domain.com/./sites

    • Valid:

      https://company.domain.com/sites/abc..

      https://company.domain.com/sites/.abc/123

    Username

    Type the user name of the SharePoint user that has access to the SharePoint servers you want to process data from.

    Limits: Use the format domain\user or machine_name\user.
    Password

    Type the password for the user defined.

    IMPORTANT: Avoid creating more than one source for any single data location in your environment.

    Option Description
    [SharePoint type]

    Select SharePoint Online (O365).

    IMPORTANT: Once the source is created, the SharePoint type cannot be changed.
    SharePoint site URL

    Type the fully qualified URL to the base of the SharePoint site.

    Example site collection URL:
    https://company.sharepoint.com/sites/team01

    Example web application URL:
    https://company.sharepoint.com/

    IMPORTANT: SharePoint subsites of the defined site are not processed as part of the site. When defining the source to process from SharePoint site and its subsite, create multiple repositories and define the full sub-URL for each subsite.

    Limits: The path cannot contain . or .. before, after, or in between slashes with no other characters.

    • Not valid:

      https://company.domain.com/sites/..

      https://company.domain.com/./sites

    • Valid:

      https://company.domain.com/sites/abc..

      https://company.domain.com/sites/.abc/123

    Email address

    Type the email address of the SharePoint user that has access to the SharePoint servers you want to process data from.
    Password

    Type the password for the user defined.

    Option Description
    Dataset URL Type the fully qualified URL of the Content Manager dataset to be accessed.

    Username

    Type the user name of the Content Manager user that was created to access to the Content Manager data you want to process.

    Limits: Use the format domain\user or machine_name\user.
    Password

    Type the password for the user defined.

    Option Description

    Application Name

    Type the application name for the desired project as defined in your Google Cloud Platform.
    Certificate Upload (JSON) File

    Click Choose File. Browse to and select the JSON file with the connection details for the project.

    NOTE: This file was created as part of the Google Drive connection tasks and contains pertinent connection information.

    There are no connection options. Source Options defined when you created the custom adapter will be defined when you create repositories associated with this source. For more information about custom adapters, see Custom adapters.

  5. Complete the Security options to define whether you want to limit access to the source to specific users and groups.

    CAUTION: If limiting access to a source and an underlying repository, users without access will not be able to view workspaces with a data source that includes the repository or view individual items that originated in the repository.

    Option Description
    Grant access to all users Select to not limit access to this source (default).

    Specify the users and groups that will have access

    		 Select to limit access to the source to only the defined users and groups.
    List of Users/Groups

    Define the users and groups that will have access to items originating from this source.

    1. In the Enter name or email address box, begin typing a name or email address of a user. As you enter a string in the field, the interface displays names or email addresses matching the string.

    2. Click Add to add the selected user or group to the source access list.

      To remove a user or group from the source access, hover over the name in the User/Group column and then click the corresponding remove icon (remove ion).

  6. Click FINISH.

    The new source is created.

  1. On the Manage Sources page, click the name of the source you want to edit.

    TIP: You can also do one of the following:

    • Click or hover over the row for the desired source and then click the edit icon (edit icon).

    • Click the row for the desired source, click the open detail panel icon (open detail panel icon), and then click EDIT.

    The Edit Source dialog opens.

  2. Make the necessary changes.

    • If items exist in associated repositories, you cannot change the agent cluster type from a cloud-based cluster to an on-premises cluster, or from an on-premises cluster to a cloud-based cluster.

    • If you change any of the credentials, you are required to re-enter the password for the defined user.

    CAUTION: Do not change the source location—File System directory, SharePoint site URL, or Content Manager dataset—unless the location has actually changed. The physical location (or Exchange group name) must have changed (or be changed) prior to updating the location in this source.

    Do not change an Exchange group name unless the name of the group has changed. The group name in Exchange must be changed prior to updating the group name in this source. Changes to group names may affect tracking of delete activities.

  3. Click FINISH.

    The source information is edited.

You can remove the connection to a source ("delete" the source) if there are no repositories associated with the source.

  1. On the Manage Sources page, click or hover over the row for the desired source. Icons display in the right column.

    Click the delete icon (delete icon).

    TIP: You can also click in the row for the desired source, open the detail panel (open detail panel icon) and then click DELETE.

  2. In the confirmation dialog, click YES to confirm the action.

    The connection to the source is deleted.