Sharing the wealth
Opening up data to individuals, groups eased with Extempo
WHEN I LIVED in a two-story house, it seemed everything I needed was on the other floor. Many people who use more than one computer recognize that feeling — where is that file I need? On the desktop at work? On my computer at home? On my laptop? And what about the e-mail I need to find? And which computer has the latest version of the price list?
TrueDisk’s Extempo family of products aims to end the “where’s the data” and data synchronization games. Good decisions require good data, and whether you are trying to give staff members access to their own data wherever they are or you are enabling them to share their data, Extempo fits the bill.
TrueDisk’s Extempo leverages peer-based technologies to give you, and the people you select, access to your data or files from anywhere on the Internet via secure virtual extranets. To access data, you use a browser to connect to an Extempo Server, which keeps track of what data is available to be shared and who is authorized to access it. The data is served up from the Extempo Server’s cache or from machines running the Extempo Publisher software; the machine’s owner decides which files and folders may be shared and with whom. Because a connection is established between the Publisher and the Server, it is possible to transfer data from Publisher to Server and on to the user through firewalls and similar mechanisms.
The first part of the Extempo package we looked at was Extempo Server, which acts as a central traffic cop, caching frequently used data for speedier access, coordinating the transfer of data to roving users, and reformatting data for display on Web-based client devices.
At the time of review, the Extempo Server ran only on RedHat Linux, and the automated installation ran only on what Linux calls a 686-class processor. Because we were using a 586-class processor, we weren’t able to use the automated installation and instead endured a long manual installation. We were pleased with the patience of the TrueDisk help desk as they walked us through the tedious installation, and we can only hope that Extempo’s server installation will add 586-class processor support. TrueDisk does plan to release a Windows-based server at the end of July and said they will also support Solaris soon.
Once the server was running, we connected to it with Internet Explorer 6.0 but could also have used IE 5.0 or later, Netscape 4.07 or later, or Mozilla 1.0. Through the browser, we created user accounts; each account we set up caused an e-mail to be sent to the new user. The e-mail explains how to connect to the server and points to a Web page on the Extempo Server with instructions on loading the publisher agent and getting the system documentation, as well as a reminder to change the password.
Using the instructions on the Extempo Server Web page, we downloaded and installed Extempo Publisher, which makes the selected data available securely and easily to selected clients; it must run on each computer that has data you want to share. The installation process had us log in to the Extempo Server and then create encryption keys to keep our data secure and the default data shares pointing to the files to be shared. Creating more data shares was as simple as dragging and dropping a folder onto Extempo Publisher.
After setting up data to share, we connected to the Extempo Server with a browser from another PC (if you want to access data from a PDA device, you would also need the Extempo Mobile add-on). Once logged in, we were in an SSL (Secure Sockets Layer)-protected Web environment and found the mail and folders we had elected to publish available. We were curious about how the mail-sharing capabilities worked and whether they would allow us to access mail in real time. Indeed, after opening the mail share, we were able to read and reply to mail, as well as create and send new mail.
Interestingly, we found that when we read an e-mail through the browser, it was immediately marked as read in our Outlook Express (Netscape and Eudora are also supported). When we left our e-mail client running and set to fetch mail every few minutes on the PC running Extempo Publisher, we were able to stay on top of our e-mail from the Web browser.
When we viewed a file or document from the PC on which Extempo Publisher was running, Extempo Server reformatted it as HTML, and it looked just like it would in Microsoft Word. The Server connects to the Publishers and picks up data from them as needed; so if you always access the Publisher PC copy, what you see will be as up-to-date as what’s on the Publisher. If you download a document and it’s changed later, you’ll have to make sure to fetch an updated copy.
By default, Extempo creates shares for individual users, which worked simply and well. To share data in a workgroup, the system manager has to create a public group and assign members to it; users in the group have to activate their membership before adding data shares.
Although Extempo successfully allowed files to be shared among several people at once, it wasn’t much fun because the Web-based menus seemed counterintuitive and made the process tedious. Once the system manager sets up a group, the users will like the sharing functionality, but the system manager who has to set up the groups won’t be at all happy.
We hope TrueDisk will take a hard look at its menu interface and simplify it or add a wizard front end to it. Although it is slightly awkward, the interface did its job. Between Extempo Publisher and the Web interfaces, we were able to control our own shares and define who could access which data once the group was created.
Extempo also offers a variety of logs covering user activity, failed log-ins, SQL status, error logs, debug messages, and mail status, as well as Java and Apache server information. But they are the sort of logs that only a born-and-bred propeller-head Linux freak could love: overwhelming detail, not immediately obvious usefulness.
At the end of the day, Extempo is painless to use for those who want to access their data from anywhere on the Internet or who need to share data with their co-workers. In our test, Extempo was as stable as a rock and performed well, delivering our data and keeping us in touch with our e-mail wherever we were. Despite some quibbles with the installation and management, Extempo delighted us.
