WorldServer - How to change the location of the DependencyFiles folder

The DependencyFiles folder contains files created by FTS when segmenting an asset. These files are needed as long as a project is active as FTS refers to the files created during segmentation when performing further actions such as saving (generating target files) and importing Return package. Therefore, the deletion of the content of this folder will cause errors for active projects. This article explains the errors caused by the deletion of the relevant content in the DependencyFiles folder:

Error message pointing to the server dependency folder in WorldServer: Could not find a part of the path...

Therefore, it is critical, that the content of the DependencyFiles folder is not cleaned up of files that might still be needed.

The DependencyFiles folder is stored per default under the WorldServer temp folder, for instance under

W:\WorldServer\temp\ftsserver

While we have a process to clean up files directly under the temp folder by applying the steps described in this article:

How can I automatically delete Temp files in WorldServer and is it safe to do so?, 

applying this solution will affect the subdirectories of the temp folder as well. The content of the DependencyFiles folder might get cleaned up of needed files for active projects.

A possible solution would be to change the location of the DependencyFiles folder and place it in a different directory. Assuming we would like to change the directory of the DependencyFiles folder from W:\WorldServer\temp\ftsserver to W:\WorldServer\ftsserver_share (as an example), which steps should we follow to apply this change?
 

The procedure is as follows:

1- On the server where WorldServer is installed, stop the SDL File Type Server Service and the Idiom Service. Note: the WorldServer User Interface will not be available while you apply these steps.

2- On the server, determine the directory where you would like you DependencyFiles folder to be stored. For instance, you can create a dedicated folder called  under W:\WorldServer, resulting in the directory W:\WorldServer\ftsserver_share

3- Now copy the DependencyFiles folder from the previous location (in this example, from W:\WorldServer\temp\ftsserver) to W:\WorldServer\ftsserver_share

4- Once done, change the WorldServer configuration setting specified under %WS_CONFIG\general.properties from  
 

ftsserver_shared_directory=W:/WorldServer/temp/ftsserver
to
ftsserver_shared_directory=W:/WorldServer/ftsserver_share and save your change.

Note: if the %WS_CONFIG\ws-legacy folder also contains a general.properties file with this configuration, apply the change there as well.

5- Change the WorldServer configuration setting specified under %WS_CONFIG\general.properties  from  
 

file_attribute_storage=W:/WorldServer/temp/ftsserver/Attributes
to
file_attribute_storage=W:/WorldServer/ftsserver_share/Attributes

and save your change. Note: if the property file_attribute_storage is commented with a # at the beginning of the line (#property file_attribute_storage), uncomment it and modify it accordingly).

Also note: if the %WS_CONFIG\ws-legacy folder also contains a general.properties file with this configuration, apply the same change there as well.

6- Change the FTS configuration setting specified in the Sdl.WorldServer.FileTypeSupport.Server.HostProcess.exe.config (note: your FileTypeSupportServer directory might vary) to point to the new directory. i.e. from

<add key="ftsserver_shared_directory" value="W:/WorldServer/temp/ftsserver"/> 
to 
<add key="ftsserver_shared_directory" value="W:/WorldServer/ftsserver_share"/>

7- Change the FTS configuration setting specified in Sdl.WorldServer.FileTypeSupport.Server.Tools.exe (note: your FileTypeSupportServer directory might vary) to point to the new directory. i.e. from

<add key="ftsserver_shared_directory" value="W:/WorldServer/temp/ftsserver"/> 
to 
<add key="ftsserver_shared_directory" value="W:/WorldServer/ftsserver_share"/>

8- Restart the SDL File Type Server Service and the Idiom Service for this change to take effect.

Remember to copy the content of the DependencyFiles folder from the old location to the new location (step #3) or you will encounter issues when exporting tasks created before the change as WSXZ package or when importing/saving.

Moreover: while the new configuration will be applied to projects created AFTER the change of directory of the DependencyFiles folder, projects created and segmented before the change will still refer to the old DependencyFiles location in this Database table: BcmDependencyFileProperties. Therefore, the recommendation is to keep the DependencyFiles folder in the old location for some days or weeks until active projects that were created before the change have been completed to avoid any errors at Save or at import of Return packages.

Alternatively, if you want to remove the DependencyFiles folder from the old directory right away, you could apply the resolution or workaround described in this article:

WorldServer - after moving to a new server and updating the "ftsserver_shared_directory" in all general.properties and FTS configuration files, we still get error "Dependency file... cannot be found. The file will be recorded as <external-file>

 

This article is relevant:

WorldServer - after moving to a new server and updating the "ftsserver_shared_directory" in all general.properties and FTS configuration files, we still get error "Dependency file... cannot be found. The file will be recorded as <external-file>