KNIME Server to save Excel file on shared network drive

KNIME Server
1

Hi,

I am trying to use the Excel Writer node to save a file on a shared network drive. It works when I run the workflow locally, however when I run my workflow through KNIME server it looks like shared drive paths are not allowed

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I need to save this file somewhere where other analysts (who don’t use KNIME) can access it. I’ve tried saving it to a relative path and saves successfully. However I’m not sure where the analyst can pick it up.

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Thank you

1 Like
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Is you KNIME Server on LINUX or WIndows?

If windows, you should be able to use network paths, \server\folder as long as the user or service account running the server has write access to the folder/share.

If the server is on LINUX then it gets a little more difficult since the two OSes resolve file paths differently. I’ve had success with mounting the share on the linux machine under the knime server repository which would allow you to use the knime.server url pathing.

3

It is Linux. Does this solution involve working with my KNIME server admin? He feels that it isn’t a good idea opening up the KNIME server to our shared drive.

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It would. Mounting a share on the knime server requires OS level access to mount a drive on the KNIME Server.

If this option isn’t preferable, then you could look into the Erlwood nodes, specifically the Upload with Authentication. https://www.knime.com/community/erlwood

Another option would be using the external command node to us local command to copy the files to a remote directory. Curl for example.
curl --upload-file file-name -u ‘DOMAIN\user’ smb://server-name/share-name

2 Likes
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Hi Lavvan,
I’m also investigating this. Will let you know if I also make any progress.

Leander

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@LeanderQuiring @jeffgullick-knime @lavvanr

Hi all,

My team is also currently exploring methods of copying files from Knime Server (Linux) to a Windows Shared Drive.

Could you please let me know whether you have found a working solution?

Jeff - are you able to provide an example of the Erlwood node in action?

Thanks in advance!

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Hi,
In theory you can mount a windows fileshare via Samba (the smb command I think) on linux, and it should ‘just work.’ I haven’t tried it personally due to data governance concerns.

Leander

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smb_test.knwf (14.8 KB)

Attached is a simple workflow that uses the erlwood nodes to authenticate to a windows share from linux.

Spaces in the path names can cause some issue.