Intranet file link change

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Ga Bowen
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Joined: Mon Jun 27, 2016 5:05 pm

Intranet file link change

Unread post by Ga Bowen »

I'm creatingan intranet with H+M.

It's great but I'm having problems with links (in case you're wondering, this is different from my previous post https://helpman.it-authoring.com/viewto ... 433#p67433).

I enter "//er-fs01/intranet/IntranetFiles/Standards/BS EN 1010-1-2004+A1-2010--[2020-01-21--02-16-27 PM].pdf" as an Internet Link and pressing Test shows it works fine.

However, when I Publish the address is changed to http://127.0.0.1/Y:/Intranet2/"//er-fs0 ... andards/BS EN 1010-1-2004+A1-2010--[2020-01-21--02-16-27 PM].pdf" and therefore the link no longer works. (Intranet2 is the location on the server where H+M publishes).

I'm a tech author irl, so IT isn't my strong point, and I'm sure I'm doing something fundamentally wrong.
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Tim Green
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Re: Intranet file link change

Unread post by Tim Green »

Hi Gareth,
I'm a tech author irl, so IT isn't my strong point, and I'm sure I'm doing something fundamentally wrong.
Unfortunately, yes: Your intranet functions in exactly the same way as the Internet, which means no access to anything outside the "web space". Particularly access to anything on local machines is generally strictly taboo, because then any rogue script or user with intranet/Internet access to your web page could also do anything they want anywhere on your network. Preventing that is the foundation of all Internet security, and failure to do so results in things like the Equifax breach... :roll:

Now, it's theoretically possible that your system admins do allow access to your local file system from your intranet. If that is the case you need to use a File Link, not an Internet link, and you will probably need to prefix the link with file:/// (note the three slashes!) instead of http://. However, that is something you must ask them. They may say it's possible. It's more likely that they will threaten to take away your coffee machine for even thinking about trying... :twisted:

Generally, however, any files you want to link to on an intranet must also be stored on the intranet, i.e. in a folder somewhere on the same web server. You would then link to them with a regular http:// or relative URL with an Internet link.
Regards,
Tim (EC Software Documentation & User Support)

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Ga Bowen
Posts: 324
Joined: Mon Jun 27, 2016 5:05 pm

Re: Intranet file link change

Unread post by Ga Bowen »

The intranet is on the same server as the location of the document/link. I could just create a shortcut next to the location of the intranet and no-one would have a problem accessing it.

I'm obviously missing something here. I don't understand the security issue at all or how adding http://127.0.0.1/Y:/Intranet2/ to the start of the address helps. The user can after all just delete this part of the address and they have full access. :?
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Tim Green
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Re: Intranet file link change

Unread post by Tim Green »

Hi Gareth,
The intranet is on the same server as the location of the document/link.
That makes no difference. The intranet is a world of its own, completely separate from everything else on that server. They may be "on" the same machine or even the same hard disk, but they are as separate as if one was in London and the other in Melbourne. For you to be able to access files on the intranet server, they must be inside the intranet server's "webspace".
I don't understand the security issue at all or how adding http://127.0.0.1/Y:/Intranet2/ to the start of the address helps.
That wouldn't help and it also wouldn't work. A web server has one parent folder containing all the files it can access. As far as it is concerned, nothing outside that folder even exists, unless it is on the open Internet, which it can generally also access, or on another local intranet domain, which will look like accessing another address on the Internet in the URLs. The files you can access with links from your web pages must be located in those places.

How this is configured will depend on your system administrators, so you need to ask them where you can put the files for access like this, and how you should write your URLs to access them.
Regards,
Tim (EC Software Documentation & User Support)

Private support:
Please do not email or PM me with private support requests -- post to the forum directly.
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