Attachments in the cloud

When processing cases, often associated documents and other files need to be attached to the case for review and use by the agents; for example, contracts, legal documents, identity information of the relevant person or organization, or even voice and phone recordings. Traditionally, systems isolated their data on a locally managed server. Up to version 5.1 of Case Manager, attachments were accessed on a Windows shared location on a local server. For access and isolation this may be a very good idea, but it places a greater responsibility on the IT team to ensure backups of these files are regularly done in addition to the database backup processes. Furthermore, when agents access the attachments on a shared Windows location, client-access licenses are required for each agent accessing the server. With the expanse of cloud-based resources on offer in recent years, there may be a better solution.

FTP Attachment Extension

In July 2022 we released a new extension that allows agents to access file attachments to cases by making use of FTP (File transfer protocol). Since this is a web-based technology - and with the Report & Document templates now stored in the database in Case Manager 5.2 - client-access licenses are no longer required, which can save you a vast amount on Windows licensing costs. The extension replaces the file-share attachments (which is now also a separate extension in Case Manager 5.2), and provides the agent with a per-case folder where files associated with the case can be managed in a hierarchical structure. Files can now easily be uploaded and downloaded to the attachment location by an action on a case. FTP, however, is not a secure protocol: access may be authenticated but the file transfer is not encrypted. It works great on a local network, but it is not recommended to allow access to the attachments over the internet using FTP.

SFTP Support and Azure Cloud Storage

Version 2.1 of the Attachment FTP Extension features the addition of a second protocol option: SFTP - File transfer protocol over secure shell. This protocol has the same capabilities as FTP, but files are encrypted in the transfer by making use of the SSH protocol. Recently, Microsoft announced that Azure Cloud Storage now supports the SFTP protocol, which allows you to access case attachments stored in the cloud, leveraging the data redundancy and availability cloud resources provide.

Setting Up Azure Cloud Storage

Azure Cloud Storage provides a very wide variety of options for data in the cloud with different levels of availability and redundancy (and of course price tags). For the use case of file attachments to cases a rather basic setup is necessary, however it is highly recommended that you familiarize yourself with the capabilities, options, and features of Azure Cloud Storage. To set up Azure Cloud storage for SFTP access, review this guide by Microsoft. Here are a few high-level steps:

1. On the Azure Portal, browse to the Storage Accounts, and add a new account.
   1. You may have to create a resource group as well.
   2. The name of the storage account must be unique over all storage accounts on Azure - not just on your account. You will access your account using this name as a subdomain on a windows.net address.
   3. Review all the options in the wizard. It is important to enable Hierarchical Namespaces and SFTP.
2. Once the storage account is created and available, browse to the account and open the File Share settings.
   1. Create a new file share and specify a name for the file share.
3. Browse to the SFTP settings on the storage account, and add a new local user.
   1. Choose a name for the user.
   2. Choose your preferred authentication method.
      1. If you choose password you will get the option to copy the password at the end of this process.
      2. If you choose a private key pair, you will be able to download the private key file at the end of this process.
      3. You are also able to use an existing key if you do not want Microsoft to generate the key pair.
   3. Click on Container Permissions.
   4. Create a new container.
   5. Assign all rights to the users (that is read, write, list, delete, and create).
   6. You may use the root path “/” as home directory.
4. Save the password/private key safely for use when setting up the connection settings in the Attachment FTP Extension.

Configuring for Azure Storage

To set up the Case Manager attachments to access the storage resource created on Azure, ensure that at least version 2.1 of the Attachment FTP Extension is installed by navigating to the Extension Manager in the Configuration Tools. Open the Extension Settings to view the available settings for the extension.

1. Choose SFTP as protocol.
2. The host name is the name of the storage account that you created followed by: .blob.core.windows.net - for example, myaccountname.blob.core.windows.net
3. If the SFTP site is set up to connect to a specific port, you may specify it. Otherwise, leaving it blank or setting it to 0 will make use of the default port for the protocol.
4. The root directory field specifies where on the file share the attachment folders will be created. If you leave it blank, or specify the root “/”, the folders for the different cases will be stored directly in the root of the share. If however you prefer to save these folders in a subfolder you can specify it here.
5. Choose your preferred authentication method by setting the authentication type. SFTP supports both password and private key-pair.
   1. If you choose password, specify the password as received when you set up the local user on Azure.
   2. If you choose Private Key, specify the private key file which you downloaded from Azure.
6. Specify the username to connect to the Azure storage: this is compiled from the name of the storage account, the name of the container, and the name of the local user created on Azure, in that order separated by a dot. For example, myaccountname.mycontainername.myusername

It’s as simple as this! You can verify that the connection details are correct by clicking the verify button on the settings toolbar. If it passes validation, attachments in Case Manager will be saved in Azure Cloud Storage. In Case Manager a new golden paperclip button will appear on the toolbar to access this functionality.

Demonstration