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Configuring Beyond Compare

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Beyond Compare is a tool developed by Scooter Software that allows you to compare the contents of files and folders. VC/m can collaborate with Beyond Compare, enabling you to diff the contents of two object versions. For more information, see the article on Comparing Two Object Versions.

Preparing to Use Beyond Compare

Installing the Client

If you do not already have a Beyond Compare installed on your system, visit http://www.scootersoftware.com/ to download the installer.

Each VC/m license you purchase comes bundled with a license for a copy of Beyond Compare. If you do not have a license, or you are using the 30-day evaluation version of VC/m, you can use Beyond Compare for a trial period of 30 days.

Starting the service for the first time

VC/m collaborates with Beyond Compare by sending it files by FTP. To start the VC/m ftp server, open a Caché/M terminal, change to the VC/m namespace and run the following command: d ^%vc830. When prompted, choose a port it will listen on. The default is 21 (the standard FTP port), but if the server hosting VC/m is running another FTP service you will have to choose a different port. In addition, on AIX servers a security restriction typically prevents the VC/m ftp server from listening on any port number lower than 1024. Choose a higher one, such as 2121 or 8021.

Starting the service automatically on Caché or Ensemble restart

On Caché or Ensemble if the %SYS namespace contains a routine called %ZSTART with a subroutine called SYSTEM, that code will be run on startup. Here is an example %ZSTART routine that will start VC/m's Beyond Compare server:

                        		%ZSTART ;

                        		 q

                        		SYSTEM ;

                        		 n $et,$es

                        		 s $et="i '$es d $zu(9,"""",""SYSTEM^%ZSTART error: ""_$ze) s $ec="""""

                        		 j StartUp^%vc830|"VCM"|

                        		 q

The code above assumes VC/m was installed in a namespace called VCM. It is deliberately written using commands that are available on all versions of Caché and Ensemble that VC/m is supported on. Any startup error is written to cconsole.log. The example code can be copied and pasted into an editor window.

If your server already has a %ZSTART routine (either a MAC or an INT) that was created for other purposes, add extra code to launch StartUp^%vc830 in VC/m's namespace. Take care not to affect other things your %ZSTART does.

Security Settings

Integrating Beyond Compare with InterSystems Security

When connecting to the Beyond Compare server with FTP or FTPS, credentials can be checked against the InterSystems security database.

Open a Caché/Ensemble Terminal, change to namespace where VC/m is installed and enter the following:

s ^%vcvc("authenticateInCache")=1

Note: If the VC/m service is started manually (see above) when Beyond Compare is integrated with InterSystems security, the user that starts the service will need to have the %Service_Login:Use right. However, if the VC/m FTP server is started from %ZSTART, this shouldn't be an issue because it is typically run as the %System pseudo-user.

Securing Beyond Compare traffic with FTPS

Note: FTPS require Caché 5.1+ or Ensemble, and Beyond Compare 3 Professional Edition, which is shipped as standard with VC/m.

1. In Caché/Ensemble System Manager Portal [Home] > [Security Management] > [SSL/TLS Configurations], define a configuration named "VC/m:ftps".

2. Set its Type to "Server". Provide an X.509 certificate file and a private key file for the server. Make sure the TLSv1 protocol is enabled.

Note: See Caché documentation for more information about SSL/TLS Configurations.

3. Test the connection by connecting from Beyond Compare using ftps:// address instead of ftp:// one.

4. Optional: To disable unencrypted FTP support in the Beyond Compare server, open a Caché/Ensemble terminal and enter the following:

s ^%vcvc("ftpServer","requireSecure")=1