Establish Connectivity to Local Filesystem

This article describes how to fetch CSV, Excel, PDF and PNG/JPEG files from the Local Filesystem.

General instructions on establishing data sources based on plugins can be found in Create a New Plugin Data Source.

1. Access Admin > Collection & Storage > Data Sources

The list page containing all data sources available in the system opens.

Below the grid, click [+ New Data Source].

2. Select Data Source Type

  1. Select Other to configure a plugin-based connection profile
  2. Сhoose Local Filesystem from the drop-down list
  3. [Next Step]

3. Provide Required Parameters

  1. Path: provide path to a folder. This folder can be located:
    • On a Windows server. You should consider an RDP installation on this Windows machine. Plugin will have access to any folder under C:\Program Files (x86)\Metric Insights. Example of the path: C:\Program Files (x86)\Metric Insights\Data Processor\my_folder

Note: To fetch data from another folder, add this folder's path to the access_dirs config parameter. There are two different ways of doing this. Try the UI-based approach first:

  • From the UI:
    1. Access <MI hostname>.com/admin/plugin-config
    2. [+ New Plugin Parameter]
    3. Provide Plugin Parameter Values:
      • Plugin: Local Filesystem
      • Parameter: access_dirs
      • Value: Enter the path(s) to the folder(s) from which you want to fetch data
    4. [Save]
  • From the web container:
    1. Connect to the Linux server via SSH
    2. Access the web container: sudo mi-web
    3. Access the dashboard database: mysql dashboard
    4. Update the folders list: update dp_config set access_dirs='<path(s) to the folder(s)>';
  • On a Linux server where MI app is deployed:
    1. A default folder is /opt/mi/shared
    2. You can mount your Windows folder to Data Processor container directory /opt/mi/shared. Make sure the directory permissions are 755 and folder files permissions are 644. The owner of the directory under Data Processor container should be dataprocessor. If you choose to proceed with this option and face any difficulties, address your issues to [email protected]

Optionally, toggle on Enable On-Demand Element Creation and Enable Content Auto Synchronization.

4. Optional Parameters

  1. CSV Delimiter: choose the delimiter character used in your CSV files
    • "," is the default value
  2. Files filter: collect only files that match the defined filters
    • "*" can be used as a wildcard
  3. Includes headers: choose whether to add default column headers to the CSV
    • Accepts "true"/"false"
    • "True" is the default value

5. Advanced Configuration

Advanced Configuration settings can be set to default values unless Data Source requires more precise tuning. For more details on how to  proceed, refer to Advanced Data Source Configuration.

  1. [Test Connection] in the upper-right corner, this will also save your entries

6. Other Settings

  1. You can create Datasets and view all the elements or Datasets using this Data Source from the respective tabs
  2. Click Permissions to assign Data Source access to Groups or Power Users