using a server data base for several computers

Abrinord
Hi,

I would like to use zotero on several computers all connected to a shared local server. Is there a way zotero can be used and the library synced from the data base on the server, without using an online sync/account? That way, we don't need to get online storage.

I hope this is clear,
Thank you
  • adamsmith
    You can't just put the database on a shared server. Best case it's locked for simultaneous access and users can't actually work with it at the same time, worst (and pretty likely) case it corrupts the database.

    It's technically possible, but fairly involved and not officially supported, to run your own instance of Zotero server https://github.com/zotero/dataserver
  • erikberger
    The question is: Do you want to use it in parallel or do you have just one user that uses multiple devices. As I did not want to setup the dataserver and I just need to have the data available on multiple machines for personal usage, I just put the data directory into a git repository and sync my machines that way.
  • adamsmith
    Git should be reasonably safe, but incredibly inefficient for syncing (because you're storing all the version history of the sqlite file _and_ you have to remember to pull--commit--push all the time and conflict resolution won't work if you ever forget...

    Regular sync options, be it Network Drives or synced folders like Dropbox, have a very high likelihood to cause all sorts of issues even when used by an individual user.
  • dstillman
    Right, and there's just no real reason to use git. If you want to do this manually, you can just close Zotero and copy (or, better yet, rsync) the data directory manually to/from a location on a network drive, as explained in Alternative Syncing Solutions. If you do this wrong, you'll corrupt the database, but that'd be no different no matter how you make the copy/snapshot of the file.
  • erikberger
    I admit that using git is inefficient for syncing but it is safe if some error etc. occurs, in contrast to rsyncing files. As I am using git for other stuff anyway I am used to the process in my daily routine. And if you are just syncing the zotero data and have your pdfs etc. linked the amount of data is comparatively small. But I admit a custom dataserver is the much cleaner solution.
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