Technical Explanation

Software platform

SentryFile is a web-based document system written as a set of .Net Active Server Pages (ASP.net). The software runs on Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS). IIS is included with Windows. The Microsoft Index Server provides full-text searching capabilities. This software is also included with Windows.

Client computers access the system using Microsoft Internet Explorer. If your client PC's already have Internet Explorer installed then there is no requirement to install additional client software. Simply provide your staff with a URL that points to your SentryFile server. All client workstations can scan documents to the system directly through Internet Explorer with an ActiveX control. This control provides imaging and Twain capabilities that would normally not be available in a web application.

Users, Groups and Integration

SentryFile can authenticate users in numerous ways. The system allows for authentication against a SentryFile internal userlist, Windows Active Directory, POP/IMAP mail servers, FTP Servers, or another SentryFile Server. The flexibility of our authentication module gives you the ability to ensure that "lost passwords" are a thing of the past.

Document Types / Data Storage

Documents that are uploaded to the system are stored in their native format as flat files within the file system. They are not encapsulated within a database. All index data entered is stored in a Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Database. If you don't own Microsoft SQL Server 2005 we include a copy of the Free SQL Server 2005 Express Edition. All data within the database is left in its natural state (no encoding of the data values).

Tiff documents that are uploaded to the system are auto-converted to PDF format. Scanned document can also be recognized by our integrated Optical Character Recognition (OCR) engine. This will allow you to full-text search for documents that have been scanned and OCR'd.

Full-Text Search

Microsoft Index Server provides full-text search. Index Server works in the background with little or no administrative interaction required. Essentially, Index Server "watches" all documents within SentryFile. When new documents arrive they are indexed for full-text searching. Natively supported formats are all Microsoft Office Formats such as Word (DOC), Excel (XLS), and PowerPoint (PPT) etc. Other file types can be supported by installing appropriate IFilters. IFilters are typically provided by third parties free of charge. For instance, Adobe provides a free IFilter for indexing PDF documents with Index Server (We include the PDF iFilter with SentryFile). IFilters are available for a wide range of other products including Corel WordPerfect, XML, MP3 and more.

Backups

SentryFile can integrate within almost any backup system. SentryFile resides within a folder typically called "c:\inetpub\wwwroot\sentryfile" or similar. To backup the system simply include the installation folder within your backup regimen. Many current customers use technologies such as Tape backups, DVD backups, Network Attached Storage (NAS) and removable hard disk technologies to achieve their backup requirements.

Internet Connectivity

Your SentryFile installation can be made available on the Internet if you choose. Many of our clients prefer to have their installation only available on their private LAN. Making your SentryFile installation available over the Internet requires a full-time dedicated Internet Connection. After this, it is necessary to ensure that the IP address is available through any firewalls or gateways installed within your organization. SentryFile supports secure 128-bit encrypted connections, commonly used in e-commerce and online banking applications. In order to achieve this it is necessary to install a digital certificate within IIS, they can be purchased through companies such as Verisign, or you can generate one yourself.

Ask Us!

If you have questions about SentryFile's architecture please feel free to post your question in our support forum: SentryFile Support Forum.