How to Export a Project

Home > selected Project > Export

You can use Project export make a Project available to another Organization, or to users on another Reef ECA system. You can also use it to temporarily or permanently archive a Project by removing it from active use. Project export requires a user with Organization Administrator permissions to identify or establish an NFS Connector and Project Data Area (storage location) that together support storage of the exported Project tree and enable subsequent import of the Project. The operation exports all contents of the Project, writing a series of files to the Project Data Area under the subdirectory specified.

Note the following:

  • Project export exports the entire Project and all successfully indexed Data Sets from the Project are exported as is. (Any failed Data Sets or Do Not Index Data Sets are not retained in the Project Export.)
  • Project export includes any Shared Data Sets that reside in the Project at the time of Project Export (that is, those that have been added as Shared Data Sets to the Project previously, or those marked as Shared if the Project is the Originating Project).
  • The Users in a Project are not retained upon Project export.
  • If you include all of the actual files, all of the files from the Data Sets (and the import locations referenced by the Data Sets) are copied. Otherwise, only the Connector information is saved.

Regardless of which option you choose, expanded archives and uploaded files are always included in the Project export.

Consider the following sample use cases:

  • Use the Include Files option to export the Project to some form of storage when you know the source location of the original data will not be accessible from the target location, and the plan is to later import the Project.
  • Use the Connector References Only option to export the Project, then delete the Project and then import the Project into the same Organization at a later time. In this case, the Organization still has its Connectors intact.

To export a Project:

  1. On the Home page, expand an Organization and select Export from a Project's context menu (on the far right).
  2. For Source files, select one of the following options. Regardless of which option you choose, the appropriate expanded archives and uploaded files are included in the export:
    • Include Files — Exports a copy of the actual files with their import locations. Exporting a copy of all actual files is appropriate if the target environment does not provide access to the native import locations.
    • Connector References Only — Exports just references to the files using Connector references. These provide the Connector information as a reference to the Project data areas instead of copying all the files.
  3. For the Project Data Area, select the following:
    • Project Data Area (required) — Select from a list of available Project Data Areas, which then populates the Path area on the right, enabling you to select a path location to use as the source of the import (the Import Directory). A Project Data Area and associated NFS Connector must be configured by a user with Organization Administrator or equivalent permissions. Consult your System Administrator to make sure that you identify the correct Connector and Project Directory for import. Data Areas are identified by the icon.
    • Path — Either browse to select the path (which populates the Path box) or type in the path with the source Project data.

    Note: Bear in mind that to import an exported Project, Reef ECA must be able to access the directory containing it. To ensure this, an importing user in the same Organization from which the Project was exported must identify and specify the project data area to which it was exported, while a user in a different organization or on a different Reef ECA system must obtain from the exporting Organization the mount point and path of the NFS connector and project data area used for the export, recreate them within their own Organization, and specify the project data area when importing.

  1. Click Export Project to start the Project Export, or Cancel to cancel the operation.
  2. To monitor the operation, return to the Project and verify that the Export Project task completes. If you see a Warning icon () in the completed task, one or more files were either excluded from the Project Export or failed to copy as part of the Project Export. You can then download a WARNING_DETAILS_REPORT.csv file that identifies the reason why these files were not part of the Project Export.

While a Project Export is in progress, you can open the Project and examine the Export Project task in the Work Basket, but you cannot perform other operations within the Project.