Custom network drive mappings

If the user-installation uses drive letter mapping like: “U:\” instead of “\\server\path” , all windows services have an issue. They simply do not know what “U:\” means. This mapping is normally done when a user logs in and the mapping is than only known in the interactive user-session. But services have no login and therefore no mapping. To understand this mapping the service has to take care itself. There are two possibilites. Either the service starts an batch file at startup with the usual ‘net use …’ mapping commands or uses a special windows API to map the drives. BCS-Service supports the second option.

At startup BCS service checks for a file in the same folder than the .exe and if there is a a file called ‘mappings.txt’, the mapping information is read and executed. After that, the mapping can be used and works like a normal UNC path. This is crucial in case the digas registry files are not stored locally, but on a network share. Therefore the mapping can't be put it the registry, it must be mapped before everything else and of course stored locally.

The mappings.txt format:

<Drive-Letter>|<network-share>|<domain\user>|<password><CRLF>

The variables are separated ny the '|' (pipe) symbol.

Example:

R:|\\MW-BCS-SERVER\Parameters|david-gmbh.de\qa|MyComplicatedPassword

There can be as many lines in the file, as drive-letters are need to be mapped !.

Example:

K:|\\MW-BCS-SERVER\Parameters1|david-gmbh.de\qa|MyComplicatedPassword

L:|\\MW-BCS-SERVER\Parameters2|david-gmbh.de\qa|MyComplicatedPassword

M:|\\MW-BCS-SERVER\Parameters3|david-gmbh.de\qa|MyComplicatedPassword

If the file isn’t present, no mapping is performed.