Accessing mapped drive from php / iis
Hi,
I am using php on IIS7 to read data from a MSSQL database. One of the fields have a file path in it to an image file which I then need to access.
The problem is that the path has a mapped drive letter in it. I know I can access the file using the UNC name (i.e. "\\server\share\folder\fil
So while I could write a bit of code that took off the W:\ and replaced it with the UNC path, that isn't really bulletproof.
So my question is, does anyone know of a way to get a shared drive mapping into the profile of the php user, and can it be done safely? To be honest, I have got around this problem in the past by making W:\ a "real" drive on the server, so the local and mapped paths were identical, but I can't do this on this server.
Alternatively any other clever suggestions (and no, search and replace the values in the database is not an option).
I am using php on IIS7 to read data from a MSSQL database. One of the fields have a file path in it to an image file which I then need to access.
The problem is that the path has a mapped drive letter in it. I know I can access the file using the UNC name (i.e. "\\server\share\folder\fil
So while I could write a bit of code that took off the W:\ and replaced it with the UNC path, that isn't really bulletproof.
So my question is, does anyone know of a way to get a shared drive mapping into the profile of the php user, and can it be done safely? To be honest, I have got around this problem in the past by making W:\ a "real" drive on the server, so the local and mapped paths were identical, but I can't do this on this server.
Alternatively any other clever suggestions (and no, search and replace the values in the database is not an option).
ASKER
Sorry, as I mentioned, search and replace the values in the database is not an option, and neither is changing the way users already work. I have to use what is in the database, and worse, what might be in the database in the future.
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The user that IIS and PHP operates under (IUSR...) is restricted to the local machine and can't be given permissions on another machine. In another question, someone said that a 'mapped' drive solved the problem for them because it made the drive 'local' but in a different question, someone else never got that to work.
What do you mean "by making W:\ a "real" drive on the server"?
What do you mean "by making W:\ a "real" drive on the server"?
I had a similar probelm on an Intranet site I am developing.
I was not able to find a bullet-proof solution.
My work-around was to schedue a job each night which copies the images I need from my mapped drive to a folder on my web server. That way, I don't need to worry about the mapped drive at all.
I was not able to find a bullet-proof solution.
My work-around was to schedue a job each night which copies the images I need from my mapped drive to a folder on my web server. That way, I don't need to worry about the mapped drive at all.
ASKER
Re "What do you mean "by making W:\ a "real" drive on the server"? ".
On that particular project I set up a dedicated partition for the data, and set the drive letter to be W: I then shared it at the root level (eg \\SERVER\W$), and mapped W:\ to it on the client computers, so as far as the web server was concerned, W was a real drive that it could access.
But I can't do this on this project. :-(
On that particular project I set up a dedicated partition for the data, and set the drive letter to be W: I then shared it at the root level (eg \\SERVER\W$), and mapped W:\ to it on the client computers, so as far as the web server was concerned, W was a real drive that it could access.
But I can't do this on this project. :-(
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ASKER
So the solution is either to use a separate partition for the data that can be given the same local drive letter as the clients use for the mapping, or to use a replacement script. I used an array that allows me multiple entries like "W:" => "\\SERVER\SHARE", and then my script loops through and replaces any matching drive letters with the UNC path. There seems to be short delay in the whole process (~1sec), over accessing local drive, which I assume is caused by going over the network.
This keeps things flexible with relative paths instead of absolute.