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Sharepoint storage provider by Rclone

Sponsored by: nTier Software Services

By default, Idempiere stores files in a database. It has built-in Storage Providers to use the file system. But what if you want to use remote storage like Google Drive, OneDrive, SharePoint, etc.?

Implementing a new Storage Provider for each remote storage is one option. This guide will help you use Rclone and the built-in file system Storage Providers to utilize remote storage.

In this guide, we will use SharePoint-365 as an example for remote storage. You can find out more about the storage supported by Rclone here.

Install the Latest Version of Rclone​

To install Rclone, run the following commands:

curl https://rclone.org/install.sh | sudo bash
rclone version

Configure Rclone​

For configuring Rclone, I referenced these two documents: link 1 and link 2.

To start the configuration, run:

rclone config

You will see the following options:

e) Edit existing remote
n) New remote
d) Delete remote
r) Rename remote
c) Copy remote
s) Set configuration password
q) Quit config

Step 1: Create a New Remote​

Choose n to create a new remote.

Enter name for new remote.
name> sharepoint365

Step 2: Naming Your Configuration​

You will be prompted to choose the type of storage to configure. Choose the number corresponding to "Microsoft OneDrive" (in my case, it's 36).

Option Storage.
Type of storage to configure.
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value.
...
36 / Microsoft OneDrive
   \ (onedrive)
...
Storage>36

Step 3: Client ID​

For the client_id, client_secret, region, and tenant options, you can leave them empty for default.

Option client_id.
OAuth Client Id.
Leave blank normally.
Enter a value. Press Enter to leave empty.
client_id>

Step 4: Client Secret​

Option client_secret.
OAuth Client Secret.
Leave blank normally.
Enter a value. Press Enter to leave empty.
client_secret>

Step 5: Region​

Option region.
Choose national cloud region for OneDrive.
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value of type string.
Press Enter for the default (global).
 1 / Microsoft Cloud Global
   \ (global)
 2 / Microsoft Cloud for US Government
   \ (us)
 3 / Microsoft Cloud Germany (deprecated - try global region first).
   \ (de)
 4 / Azure and Office 365 operated by Vnet Group in China
   \ (cn)
region>

Step 6: Tenant​

Option tenant.
ID of the service principal's tenant. Also called its directory ID.
Set this if using
- Client Credential flow
Enter a value. Press Enter to leave empty.
tenant>

Step 7: Advanced Config​

Edit advanced config?
y) Yes
n) No (default)
y/n>

Choose n to keep the default settings.

Step 8: Web Browser Authentication​

Use web browser to automatically authenticate rclone with remote?
 * Say Y if the machine running rclone has a web browser you can use
 * Say N if running rclone on a (remote) machine without web browser access
If not sure try Y. If Y failed, try N.

y) Yes (default)
n) No
y/n>N

Input N because I am configuring this for a server through SSH.

Step 9: Config Token​

For this step, you will need to run the following command on a machine that has a web browser:

rclone authorize "onedrive"

end of authenticate process on browse, token generate on terminal like bellow

1747027983362

Then paste the result back into the terminal of server.

{"access_token":
....

"expiry":"2025-05-12T13:46:25.57477855+07:00"}

Step 10: Config Type​

Option config_type.
Type of connection
Choose a number from below, or type in an existing value of type string.
Press Enter for the default (onedrive).
 1 / OneDrive Personal or Business
   \ (onedrive)
 2 / Root Sharepoint site
   \ (sharepoint)
   / Sharepoint site name or URL
 3 | E.g. mysite or https://contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/mysite
   \ (url)
 4 / Search for a Sharepoint site
   \ (search)
 5 / Type in driveID (advanced)
   \ (driveid)
 6 / Type in SiteID (advanced)
   \ (siteid)
   / Sharepoint server-relative path (advanced)
 7 | E.g. /teams/hr
   \ (path)
config_type>4

I chose 4 to search for the site on SharePoint, which I had already prepared.

1747028875036

Step 11: Config Search Term​

Option config_search_term.
Search term
Enter a value.
config_search_term> ERPRepository

Input the site name of SharePoint for the search.

Step 12: Config Site​

Option config_site.
Select the Site you want to use
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value of type string.
Press Enter for the default ([mydomain].sharepoint.com,xxx).
 1 / ERP Repository (https://[mydomain].sharepoint.com/sites/ERPRepository)
   \ ([mydomain].sharepoint.com,xxx)
config_site> 1

Verify the site name to choose the correct site (here I choose 1).

Step 13: Config Drive ID​

Option config_driveid.
Select drive you want to use
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value of type string.
Press Enter for the default (document identify).
 1 / Documents (documentLibrary)
   \ (document identify)
config_driveid>1

Choose the folder to sync (here I choose Documents; the next step will add a subfolder to separate the prod and dev environments).

Step 14: Drive Confirmation​

Drive OK?

Found drive "root" of type "documentLibrary"
URL: https://[my domain].sharepoint.com/sites/ERPRepository/Shared%20Documents

y) Yes (default)
n) No
y/n> y

Confirm the chosen folder.

Step 15: Save Configuration​

Configuration complete.
Options:
- type: onedrive
- token: {"access_token":""}
- drive_id: document identify
- drive_type: documentLibrary
Keep this "sharepoint365" remote?
y) Yes this is OK (default)
e) Edit this remote
d) Delete this remote
y/e/d> y

Yes, save the configuration.

Current remotes:

Name                 Type
====                 ====
sharepoint365        onedrive

e) Edit existing remote
n) New remote
d) Delete remote
r) Rename remote
c) Copy remote
s) Set configuration password
q) Quit config
e/n/d/r/c/s/q>q

Input q to quit the configuration.

The configuration is stored at ~/.config/rclone/rclone.conf; you can refine the configuration by editing this file.

Configure Rclone to Mount Remote Folder Locally and Run on System Start Without User Login​

sudo su -
export idempiereUser=idempiere
export mountPoint=/mnt/sharepoint365
mkdir -p $mountPoint
chown $idempiereUser:$idempiereUser $mountPoint
  1. Create a mount point and set the correct permissions for the Idempiere user.
export serviceFilePath=/etc/systemd/system/rclone-mount.service
export remoteMount=sharepoint365
# configuration name
export configPath=/home/$idempiereUser/.config/rclone/rclone.conf

cat << EOF >> $serviceFilePath
[Unit]
Description=Mount Rclone Remote
After=network-online.target
Wants=network-online.target

[Service]
Type=notify
ExecStart=/usr/bin/rclone mount $remoteMount: $mountPoint \
  --config=$configPath \
  --vfs-cache-mode writes \
  --allow-other \
  --umask 002 \
  --daemon-timeout 5m
Restart=on-failure
User=$idempiereUser
Group=$idempiereUser

[Install]
WantedBy=default.target

EOF

# for --allow-other option
sed -i -r "s|^#user_allow_other|user_allow_other|" /etc/fuse.conf
cat /etc/fuse.conf | grep user_allow_other

systemctl daemon-reexec
systemctl daemon-reload
systemctl enable rclone-mount.service
systemctl start rclone-mount.service

export devMountPoint=$mountPoint/dev
mkdir -p $devMountPoint
chown $idempiereUser:$idempiereUser $devMountPoint


# on server mode for security don't use option --allow-other
# The --allow-other option in rclone mount (and other FUSE-based mounts) allows users other than the one who ran the command to access the mounted filesystem

  1. Create a service for auto-run.
  2. Configure the Storage Provider in Idempiere (this can be done at the Tenant or System level).

1747031721907

1747031787302

  1. Run "Migrate Storage Provider" to move the current files (from the database) to the new Storage Provider.

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