Using Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3) with X Dispatch

Owned by Michelle Cabaya
May 13, 2022

Using Amazon's Simple Storage Service (S3) with X Dispatch provides users with secure off-site data storage that frees up internal database space. Once Amazon S3 Options are set up you can rest assured that your database (DB) is not clogged up with data that is easily stored in the Cloud. Using Amazon S3 not only provides storage of newly attached files, once set up, users can convert all old DB files to their Amazon S3 Bucket to free up even more space!

CXT Software provides cloud customers with their own Amazon S3 Buckets. On premise customers must define their own Amazon S3 Bucket information, including login detail and file locations. CXT Software is not responsible for any assistance with 3rd party application management and will not assist with set up or management of Amazon S3 for our on premise clients.

AWS Security Credentials

Before you begin using Amazon S3 storage with X Dispatch, the correct Security Credentials are required which include: an Access Key, Secret Key, Bucket Name and Region. These requirements are obtained through your Amazon S3 account. For more information on setting up an Amazon S3 account click the following link: Sign Up for Amazon S3.

S3 Settings in Options

How to set up the required Amazon S3 Options in X Dispatch for a user to begin sending attachments to their Amazon S3 Bucket:

  1. In X Dispatch open the Global Options form.
  2. Click on S3 Settings to open the S3 Options form.

  3. Enter all four of the Security Credentials from your Amazon S3 account into their respective fields and press Done. See Sign Up for Amazon S3 for more information on setting up an Amazon S3.

    Please use one of the following regions when creating your bucket:

    - us-east-1 | US East (N. Virginia)
    - us-west-1 | US West (N. California)
    - us-west-2 | US West (Oregon)

  4. Click OK to close the Global Options form.

Convert DB Attachments to S3

Once Amazon S3 Options are set in the Global Options form users can bulk upload any attachments currently stored in your Database with the Amazon S3 Conversion form.

How to bulk upload all attachments:

  1. In X Dispatch navigate to Tools and select Convert DB Attachments to S3.

  2. All attachments in the Database are listed at the top of the Amazon S3 Conversion form.

  3. Click on the Process button to convert all files to your Amazon S3 Bucket.

    Quick Tip

    This can take multiple seconds per file and the overall time depends on the number of attachments you are converting, please be patient. We suggest that you run the Amazon S3 Conversion at the end of the day.  

  4. Once the conversion process is complete, the successfully converted attachments move from the top of the form to the bottom of the form. If the conversion process is canceled while still processing, the status bar reflects what was converted and what was not.

  5. Click the Close button to close the Amazon S3 Conversion form.

  • Accessing Amazon S3 attachments requires internet connectivity.
  • At this time users cannot un-convert files, once converted the attachments are no longer stored in your DB and are instead uploaded to your Amazon S3 Bucket. Ownership of those files is now at your Amazon S3 account. The files are still visible from the X Dispatch record they were originally attached.
  • All files converted to your Amazon S3 account do not disappear when X Dispatch is archived.
  • Currently the following items are not available to upload to Amazon S3. We intend to continue to enhance this feature and include these listings.
    • Signature attachments.
    • Human Resource images.

Troubleshooting

The following scenarios can help you troubleshoot problems that you may encounter.

Q: Convert DB Attachments to S3 is disabled.

A: Before users are able to select Convert DB Attachments to S3 you must enter all four of the Security Credentials from your Amazon S3 account in the S3 Options form.

Q: After adding an attachment I received and Unexpected Error (see below image).

A: If the below Unexpected Error is displayed, it indicates that the S3 Settings entered are incorrect. Navigate to Options > S3 Settings and verify they are entered correctly.