Understanding environment variables

Environment variables are dynamic placeholders that store system or user-specific values. CDM allows admins to use environment variables to create user-specific drive mappings based on defined values, such as their users’ departments, locations, and so on. As an admin, you can define placeholders for environment variables in Iris, assign corresponding values to these placeholders, and deploy them to your users. When Cloud Drive Mapper (CDM) starts, it resolves the placeholder defined in Iris by matching it with its value configured for the user and then applies the resolved value to the user’s mapped drive. For more information, see Deploying environment variables.

The following rules apply when adding an environment variable in Iris:

  • It must be in the following format: [Env:VariableName].

  • Its name must be alphanumeric (a-z, A-Z, 0-9).

  • You may include hyphens (-) or underscores (_) in an environment variable’s name.

  • No other characters are permitted.

  • There is no limit to the number of environment variables you can add.

You can add environment variables to the following boxes on the Mapping groups page in Iris:

Label

You can add environment variables to the Label box to customize a drive’s label to reflect user-specific details such as their department or location. This applies to all drive types.

For example, when you add the environment variable [Env:Location] to the Label box for a drive in Iris, assign it a corresponding value (US), and deploy that to your users, they will see the drive label relevant to their location:

  • Environment variable in the Label box in Iris: [Env:Location]

  • Resolved value applied to the mapped drive: US

Direct path to folder

You can combine environment variables with the Direct path to folder setting to define deep-linked paths that open directly to user-specific folders. This applies to the following drive types only:

For example, when you combine the environment variable [Env:Department] with the Direct path to folder setting in Iris, assign it a corresponding value (Marketing), and deploy that to your users , they will notice that the drive will open directly at the specified folder level:

  • Environment variable in the Direct path to folder box in Iris: X:\Departments\[Env:Department]

  • Resolved value applied to the mapped drive: X:\Departments\Marketing

For more information about deep linking, see Mapping drives directly to folders (deep linking).

URL

You can use environment variables to compose SharePoint paths dynamically. Environment variables can act as placeholders for the entire SharePoint path or specific sections of the path, providing tailored access to sites, subsites, or document libraries. This applies to the following drive types only:

For example, when you include an environment variable [Env:Department] in the URL box in Iris, assign it a corresponding value (Marketing), and deploy that to your users , they will notice that the URL of their SharePoint site, subsite, or document library includes their department’s name.

  • Environment variable in the URL box in Iris: https://YourDomain.sharepoint.com/sites/[Env:Department]

  • Resolved value applied to the URL of the SharePoint site, subsite, or document library: https://YourDomain.sharepoint.com/sites/Marketing