3.18 MAP

NOTE:This is not fully functional for the Novell Client for Linux.

Use MAP to map drives and search drives to network directories or to map to eDirectory objects such as cluster-enabled volumes.

If you use MAP to automate drive map assignments during execution of the login script, users don't need to map drives every time they log in.

If you do not want the result of each mapping to be displayed as it is executed, add the MAP DISPLAY OFF command at the beginning of the login script. When all drive map assignments have been completed, add the line MAP DISPLAY ON and MAP to your login script. This sequence provides a cleaner display for users as they log in.

Instead of specifying drive letters such as F: or G:, you could use an asterisk followed by a number n to represent the nth network drive. For example, if the first network drive is F:, then using MAP *3:= would assign H: {1 2 3 = F G H}. Or, if the first network drive is D:, then using MAP *4:= would assign G: {1 2 3 4 = D E F G}.

This allows drive letters to reorder themselves automatically when local drives are removed or added or when the first network drive is changed. This also allows users to log in from workstations with a different number of local drives than their regular workstation.

You can map a local drive (usually A: through C:) to a network directory, but you cannot access the local drive until you remove the network drive mapping. Do not map over the local drive containing the Windows directory. Do not map a drive to a network drive such as a CD-ROM drive.

You can also map to a UNC path that contains a forward slash at the end or to one that does not contain a forward slash. Or, you can map to a volume without the server information. In Linux, this could be a UNC path, regular mapping, or an eDirectory object name (either a simple eDirectory object name such as .user.company or a fully distinguished name such as .cn=user.o=company).

Command Format

MAP [[options]|[parameter][drive:=path]

Replace drive with any valid network drive letter, local drive letter, or search drive number.

Replace path with either a drive letter, a full directory path, a Directory Map object, or an eDirectory object such as a cluster-enabled volume.

The UNC path should have a backslash and should not have a colons. It may have an optional forward slash at the end. You can also map to an eDirectory object.

More than one command can be on the map line if the commands are separated by a semicolon (;), as shown in the following example:

MAP *1:=SYS:PUBLIC;*2:=SYS:PUBLIC\DOS

When mapping a drive to a directory on an eDirectory server, begin the path with either the Volume object name or server\volume.

When mapping to a directory on a bindery-based server or to an eDirectory server that isn't the current server, begin the path with the server's name.

When mapping to a directory with spaces in its name, put quotation marks (“ “) around the directory name (for example, "Forms and Resources”).

When mapping to an eDirectory object, use the object's fully distinguished name preceded by a leading period (.).

Replace option with one of the following:

  • DISPLAY ON|OFF determines whether drive mappings are displayed on the screen when the user logs in. The default setting is ON. This option is valid only in login scripts.

  • ERRORS ON|OFF determines whether MAP error messages are displayed when the user logs in. MAP ERROR OFF must be placed before MAP commands in the login script. The default setting is ON. This option is valid only in login scripts.

Replace parameter with one of the following:

  • INS inserts a drive mapping between existing search mappings.

    This is not available on the Novell Client for Linux.

  • DEL deletes a drive mapping, making that drive letter available for other mapping assignments.

  • ROOT or R maps a fake root. Windows 2000/XP are always mapped to the root. Some applications require their executable files to be located in a root directory.

    Because you might not want users to have rights at the root directory, you can map a fake root to a subdirectory instead.

    The Windows NT/2000 native environment forces a map root on all drives. To prevent a forced map root in a Windows NT/2000 environment, set the MAPROOTOFF = 1 environment variable. All drives are then mapped as specified, and only explicit map root drives are rooted.

    This is not available on the Novell Client for Linux.

  • C (CHANGE) changes a search drive mapping to a regular mapping or a regular mapping to a search drive mapping.

    This is not available on Novell Client for Linux.

  • P (PHYSICAL) maps a drive to the physical volume of a server rather than to the Volume object's name.

    A Volume object name might conflict with a physical volume name. (For example, object ACCT is an Accounting volume, but there is also a physical volume named ACCT.) Therefore, if you prefer to map a drive to the physical volume name, use MAP P.

    This is not available for Novell Client for Linux.

  • N (NEXT) maps the next available drive when used without specifying a drive number or letter.

3.18.1 MAP Command Differences on Linux

For the most part, the MAP command works the same on both Windows and Linux workstations. However, a few differences do exist.

  • Mapping search drives (MAP s1:=server/vol:) creates symbolic links rather than adding the drives to the path environment.

  • Map physical, map change, map ins are not supported on Linux.

  • When you create a mapped drive, you can also use a descriptive name instead of a drive letter since Linux supports descriptive names in addition to drive letters.

    In this case, Map "mydocuments":=server/vol: would be a valid drive mapping.

    For example, map MyServer:=server/vol: results in a symbolic link as MyServer

    Single Drive letters result in upper case symbolic links. This means that map d:=server/vol: results in a symbolic link as D.