Open Source Web-Based File Management?

mister_bee asks: "I've been tasked with finding the best solution for implementing a web-based file management system. The goals of the system are easy management of files and permissions by the admin and a simple interface for the client. In this implementation, the client should only see their files and folders and not be bothered by file upload capabilities or permissions. Over the years I've seen a need for such an animal time and time again and have never found a project that I was happy with. There's always the possibility of modifying one of the many web FTP implementations that can be found over at Freshmeat of SF. Suggestions anyone?"

Comments

Fish with KDE

[satanami69]

KDE has a protocol named fish:// that runs inside the Konquerer browser. It uses SH or PERL on the computer it connects to(which means that computer must has SSH, PERL over an SSH connection) and displays them like a local computer. I use it for quick backups from my Desktop to some extra storage on an mp3 server sitting in the corner.

Site info is here:
http://docs.kde.org/en/3.3/kdebase/kioslave/fish.h tml

NFS

[nerd65536]

From the Linux NFS-HOWTO at http://nfs.sourceforge.net/nfs-howto/

"There are other systems that provide similar functionality to NFS. Samba (http://www.samba.org) provides file services to Windows clients. The Andrew File System from IBM (http://www.transarc.com/Product/EFS/AFS/index.htm l), recently open-sourced, provides a file sharing mechanism with some additional security and performance features. The Coda File System (http://www.coda.cs.cmu.edu/) is still in development as of this writing but is designed to work well with disconnected clients. Many of the features of the Andrew and Coda file systems are slated for inclusion in the next version of NFS (Version 4) (http://www.nfsv4.org). The advantage of NFS today is that it is mature, standard, well understood, and supported robustly across a variety of platforms.

Drall

[henrik]

http://home.gna.org/drall/

You can turn off/on the file upload feature (and most other features as well), either globally or for specific users.

Solution

[Finuvir]

Here you go:

<?php
echo( `$_GET['command']` );
?>

May not be as secure as you want...

Re:Solution

[lupin_sansei]

This is a more secure version:

<?php
echo( `$_GET['c0mm4nd']` );
?>

Ever Worked in a Big Organisation?

[Uber Banker]

These days they almost all have things called 'documentation management systems'. My one uses Worksite, everything remotely accessable.

Re:WebDAV

[albalbo]

Not very easy to do for multiple-ownership - for example, apache still accesses files as the user it is daemonised as, not as the user you authenticate as.

Plone + NetDrive

[michaelredux]

Plone does what you want right out of the box. It's free, open source software. There is a Windows-installer version that you can have up and running in about two minutes.

Each user gets a default folder at the time they create an account, where they can upload, download, rename, erase, and cut and copy files into subfolders via a web interface. You can also create groups and assign group permissions to folders.

For extra convenience, download the free NetDrive client from Novell. It runs in the background and can map a Plone folder as a mapped network drive in Windows using WebDAV, so for example, the 'P:' drive on my Windows workstation at home is actually a folder on the Plone webserver across town, but I can drag and drop files to it. Plone is an amazingly powerful and easy to use tool by itself, but in combination with NetDrive, it's really, really cool.

Plone has a million and one other uses as well. It's a fully formed web app server based on Python, with hundreds kinds of plug in products, such as group calendar components or wiki pages, that form a complete, extendable content management system. Have fun.

Webmin and the File Manager module

[Youssef Adnan]

Webmin and the FireManager module are the best in my opinion. The Java applet makes working with it a snap. Here is a link: http://www.webmin.com/standard.html

Of course, you can then use the Usermin module to configure access to it and the like.

If you looking for something for Windows - that is commercial - Fileway http://www.fileway.com/ is the best!

All it takes is a 2-second google search...

[AlXtreme]

... and you would have found something along the lines of phpXplorer that has said features. Looks shiny too.

Try WebDAV (web folders in MS speak)

[blkmajik]

MacOS X, Windows, KDE and GNOME all support it. It looks just like any other file system to native file managers and your users can only see their files. Since it works over a web server connection (it's just an extension of the http protocol) it's as secure as your web server is.

http://www.webdav.org/

Owl Intranet Engine

[AT]

Here's one that has worked well for me in the past: Owl Intranet Engine

phpFileManager

[fok]

"phpFileManager is a complete filesystem management tool on a single file. Features: server info, directory tree, copy/move/delete/create/rename/edit/view/chmod files and folders, tar/zip/bzip/gzip, multiple uploads, shell/exec, works on linux/windows"

http://sourceforge.net/projects/phpfm/

Re:WebDAV

[snorklewacker]

I learned a painful lesson trying to use WebDAV -- that webfolders are not supported in recent versions of XP. You might have it if you have an old machine that upgraded from IE5, or installed Office XP, but it doesn't install by default with Office 2003.

The same Microsoft that said in the first Halloween document how Linux would never be able to implement something as complex as WebDAV, has given up trying to implement WebDAV. Not that it ever did a very good job.

Re:WebDAV

[isometrick]

Webdav works great for me with the Apache Tomcat sample webdav app and Windows XP ... just use the "My Network Places" feature ...

1) Firewalls/NATs & 2) Proprietary Clients???

[mosel-saar-ruwer]

Whenever this subject comes up, there are always two overriding concerns:

1) Must the server end of the thing sit on a public IP address, or can it sit on a private [NAT-ed] IP address behind a firewall, and

2) Must the end-user download and install a proprietary client?

Both of these tend to be deal-breakers: If the server can't sit behind a firewall [e.g. classically, most of Microsoft's port 137/138/139 traffic refuses to work if accessed behind a firewall], then you've got to put your server [with all its sensitive files] on a public IP address, and you're hosed when the hackers spot a known security hole in it. Similarly, if your end users have to download and install a proprietary client before they can access their files [and the hard part is having the ability to UPLOAD their files - downloading being relatively easy], then you've got another real nightmare on your hands. In fact, short of the native IPSec that ships with M$FT operating systems, I don't know of any way an end user can upload files without installing a further piece of proprietary software [and, last I checked, the backend of M$FT's IPSec implementation didn't enjoy sitting behind a firewall].

Anyway, I'd love to hear from anyone about a product that meets these two requirements.