Autodesk 15606-011408-9330 User Guide - Page 48

Planning Your Directory Structure The first step in designing your system is planning the structure of the files and directories you will have on your server. For example, will you have all of your files under one main directory, or will you split them into project directories? Will you have all of your data in one directory, to be used by all projects, or will you have a separate data directory for each project? Part of planning your directory structure comes from your own understanding of how many projects and how much data you have, and a major consideration is setting up the structure so that your files are secure. Note This chapter assumes you are familiar with Windows NT®, Windows® 2000, and Web server administration. If you are not, look up "Windows NT," "Windows 2000," and "Web servers" in the Autodesk MapGuide Help index. Directory Structure Guidelines You will need to create a directory structure for any of the file types you use with Autodesk MapGuide. In some cases you will also have to create virtual directories that map to physical directories. Your main security strategy is to keep your data repositories hidden from the Internet. You do this by placing spatial and attribute data away from the physical directories that are exposed to your server's HTTP processing. Virtual directories provide a mapping between the Web server directory structure and the physical directory structure in your file system. For example, when you install Autodesk MapGuide Server, it creates the virtual directory /MapGuide6/Sample_World/ on your local host, which maps to the physical installation directory c:\Program Files\AutodeskMapGuideServer6 \Projects\Sample_World\web The following illustration shows the physical installation directory: Sample project with recommended directory structure 48 | Chapter 3 Designing Your System