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OSS Web-based File Management?
breadiu asks: "I work for a department at a university, and we'd love to offer students some type of web-accessible file storage, but, like most educational institutions, money is tight. There are some great closed source solutions out there like Xythos' Digital Locker Suite, but those cost.
I've had trouble finding a really well put together open source solution. I've taken a look at Slide and even Zope, but neither really match up to Xythos' offerings.
What have others done to provide centralized file storage/management? Is there anything OSS that offers WebDAV, Apache support, BSD/Linux support and Active Directory-LDAP authentication with support for Windows and Mac clients?"
1. Never underestimate the power of a plain old FTP server. When I worked for a company with a Citrix machine, it was found that the SMB access to the mainframe would only allow for one connection per IP. (Thanks alot Unisys.) So we setup a go between machine that ran an FTP server mapped to the SMB drive. The Citrix users then used the Netscape FTP support to download and upload files.
O /
:-)
2. Here's precisely how to do what you're looking for on a standard *nix machine: http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Apache-WebDAV-LDAP-HOWT
First Google result, even.
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
What about providing ftp? It really sounds to be exactly like what your looking for, but I might be missing something.
With proper permissions and restrictions, a Unix Box with a (s)FTP server makes a great solution to what you want. Every computer has some form of an FTP client that comes on it, and you could always offer a download of one of the many free GUI FTP clients out there.
Laziness, check. Impatience, check. Hubris, double check!
Wouldn't a friendly, universally available, and simple way for any user to store and retrieve files on a Intranet be the best solution?
The University of Michigan's Web AFS system. Kerberos based authentication, although it can use LDAP as well, using widely available AFS clients as well as a web interface.
http://mfile.umich.edu/
http://kt-dms.sourceforge.net/
I programmed one in PHP for my own website... How hard could it be? I mean, it's even completely opensource!
from a web based system I have not seen anything to match the comercial offerings. The OSS all seem to be very baisc. Not having versioning or any other advanced features.
Evolution or ID?
FTP is not an acceptable alternative to WebDAV. FTP service is not file service, it is file transfer service. This is different. WebDAV aware applications can modify files directly on the WebDAV server without the need for uploading and downloading.
We use Novell and can do this via Netstorage, but this is not Open Source. I'm also interested to see if there are some good Open Source alternatives.
WebDAV, smb, cifs, and all sorts of other nifty goodies (built in LVM) www.openfiler.org Its GPL'd and runs pretty well.
Worst Sig Ever
FTP looks like the popular answer.
I suggest sftp or other slightly more secure options.
Pretty Pictures!
Our school uses WebRFM as basically a web-based file management client. It's ugly, but it works. http://mail.rochester.edu/
The HORDE Gollem is a promising project also. http://www.horde.org/gollem/
Set up machines using Linux/FreeBSD/OpenBSD or whatever. Set up user accounts, jail them, give them whatever disk quota you feel works, mandate only SSH/SCP for file transfers. Windows people can use WinSCP to move stuff, Mac people can use whatever, and Linux/*BSD people can use whatever.
Keep it simple. Why needlessly create extra work and complications? Warn students that onus for backing up data is on them, not on the school. Divest yourselves of any data protection gurantees. Forbid porn/music/warez storage and make all students sign stating they understand.
Why not FTP? This is probably the simplest solution, and one that is most flexible. Unless of course you are concerned about privacy and stuff.
I think for clueless windows users FTP might be the most intuitive thing there is. They simply type a ftp address in explorer and have access to their FTP folders in the same way as they would be accessing the local files.
Furthermore, you can create a shortcut on their desktop, and set Explorer to remember the login - making it a completely transparent interface to the users (as long as they are connected to the internet that is). I was amazed how my dumbest users picked up the notion of storing stuff "on the company server" when I did that for them...
I'm teminally incoherent
FP
I think you meant FTP...
Seems like FTP is going to be the #1 recomendation for this. It's actually what some other universities are using as well.
When I was still in school (1 year ago), we had 50MB of web space provided by the university with access via FTP. We used it for transfering files around that we needed. (Thank you FTP integration in IE) This was especially usefull as the computers we needed access to were generally locked down so we couldn't transfer off files that were larger than floppies. As for the USB memmory sticks? At times they were unavailable (no drivers or hadn't come to market yet/been invented yet), were too small or the machines were locked down to keep anything USB from working.
Another reason, works with any OS, browser and client. How much can be said for other products including open source ones?
Fly me to the moon Let me sing among those stars Let me see what spring is like On jupiter and mars
Zope/Plone offers "WebDAV, Apache support, BSD/Linux support and Active Directory-LDAP authentication with support for Windows and Mac clients"
I've been looking for one of these for ages too. Especially one that handles quicktime movies - with thumbnail support. I often what to deliver test shots to clients (I'm an animator) via the web on a easy to use system. Is there really nothing open source that does this?...
Hi,
I've written a Web based file management solution. It is based on Apache 2 with mod_dav and a bunch of Perl modules to do the auth/authz.
It uses our Active Directory to authenticate users and manages a set of groups and shares (it is called WebShare).
Anybody can create a group, add users to it, create a share and assign R or W or R/W permissions to an existing group.
This is some sort of self-service WebDav repository.
I'd be glad to share it with anybody wanting it.
I use OWL intranet for our repository. I don't believe it supports LDAP yet though. Still, worth a look. http://owl.sourceforge.net
Compared to network file systems. Slow, clunky, inconvenient. In a university, any reason AFS won't do the trick? It can even run encrypted if you don't trust the network you're running over.
Deleted
FTP *is* what you are looking for. You can make an FTP server authenticate against almost anything, and FTP clients are there for every platform - including the web. Set up an FTP server and then set up a Java-based FTP client on a website for your IE users. Your Mozilla users already have one.
Here's one free for non-commercial use:
http://www.jscape.com/ftpapplet/
Here's an OSS one:
http://j-ftp.sourceforge.net/
Unless I missed something and the submitter made a phylosophical argument about using "closed source" because of soemthing other than "it costs"?
Translation:
Fantastic.
Zope may not have the offerings of commercial products, but it does have FTP and WEBDAV support (I can't recall from the system I've had to work with if zope has it built-in, but it would at least be available through add-on products).
-FL
Plone can be run with an apache or squid server in front, supports WebDAV nicely, has an LDAP based user folder which with some fiddling can be made to work with Active Directory. It works with WebDAV and FTP clients on all major platforms. Plus it has a nice web front end. And if you want it, there's Plone Desktop from Enfold Systems which is a commercial windows based specialized Plone WebDAV client. There are numerous companies and contractors who provide commercial support for Plone, and good free support is available on IRC and mailing lists. Of course a non-Plone solution could also be built on Zope that offers all of these features without too much effort.
It is a LAMP app, and I have been relatively happy with it. http://www.horde.org/gollem/
you should check out subversion.
the problem with just uploading to a web folder is you end up with many versions of the same files and lose track of which is which. also, there are problems with clobbering newer versions of files with older ones.
with version control you always know which is the latest version of your file and can roll back to previous versions if you make a mistake (like super-undo). the windows client tortoisesvn integrates right into te windows explorer and is very simple to use once you have your repository set up. there is also a nice os x client svnx. on linux, of course, you can just use the 'svn' cli.
Get an account for everyone. I have 50 invites for you if you're interested;-)
If brevity is the soul of wit, then how does one explain Twitter?
Clearly, the best option here would be a combo/hybrid of IRC and Bittorrent. Users can distribute files amongst each other without a centralized server thus usurping your sysadmin nonsense
My priorities are just fine. I care just as much as the next guy, but if we let attacks like this disrupt our daily lives, then THE TERRORISTS WIN!
In all sincerity, aside from offering up a prayer, there isn't much most of us can do.
Laziness, check. Impatience, check. Hubris, double check!
Microsoft SharePoint.
It will give you a web site where you can create document libraries. You can put documents in these libraries and open them directly in Office. The documents are locked per user. All communication is done with WebDAV.
Best of all it's free with Windows Server 2003!
... or is there something I'm not getting?
Is there anything OSS that offers WebDAV, Apache support, BSD/Linux support and Active Directory-LDAP authentication with support for Windows and Mac clients?
Doesn't Apache + mod_webdav + auth_ldap support all of this? Can't you just point any webdav client at apache and have web based file storage?
If you want normal people to access it, put up a web page with instructions on how to access it.
-- DrZaius - Minister of Sciences and Protector of the Faith
Gmail http://gmail.google.com/ are currently offering 2Gb of free searchable storage space, which combined with GmailFS, http://www.viksoe.dk/code/gmail.htm provides a useful solution for small groups of students, thoughdue to the problem of aquiring a gmail account, maybe not widespread file storage.
Alas, I told my boss "I have my priorities straight, so I need to stay home and feel sorry for the dead people in London" but he said something about how vacation time has to be approved a week in advance.
I have seen the future, and it is inconvenient.
You can try openafs its mounts a filesystem for you as a network drive and its open source. Its a distributed filesystem product, pioneered at Carnegie Mellon University, this is what we use at the University of Alberta for students, well this and ssh. http://www.openafs.org/
You may be interested in OpenFiler http://www.openfiler.org/about/
http://sourceforge.net/projects/apachebrowser5/
the only permanence in existence, is the impermanence of existence.
http://www.mojoportal.com/ is an open source CMS that runs on mono and has a Shared Files module that stores file securly so they can't be retrieved with simple http request but can easily be downloaded/uploaded by users with permission. It doesn't currently suport ldap authentication but that is a planned feature. It also supports file version history. Lots of other godd feature like blogs, forums etc.
If I recall correctly squiremail has a plugin for allocating some space to users. Check it out. Link to squirrelmail plugin
"Thanks to the remote control I have the attention span of a gerbil."
Don't taint the issue, you don't care that it was a barbaric attack; barbaric attacks have killed tens of thousands of people in Sudan. The only reason people are shocked is because nobody thinks we can be hurt in our protective first world bubble.
It's like calling the fire department when you burn your finger while ignoring the neighbor's house which is burning down.
Go here: http://3sp.com/showSslExplorer.do
Open Source
AD Integration
runs over SSL
If you can wait and/or contribute, the IdeaForge module from the akoria project will do what you're looking for. Although it is more designed for group-developed content management, it will feature version control and WebDAV access to each user's work area.
Take a look at the meager homepage and see if you want to submit some feature requests.
This was me thinking the same as you - where's the open source project for group content management? But, after asking and getting few satisfactory answers, I just decided to go write it.
Any help will be much appreciated! And best of luck in your hunt...
"Adventure? Excitement? A Jedi craves not these things."
Openwebmail http://www.openwebmail.org/
Offer your users webmail and a webdisk with one application. The webdisk is pretty full featured (although it doesn't do versioning).
With one app there will be less to maintain.
People that keep suggesting FTP as an answer
didn't understand the question. You can't do
serious file management with FTP.
Don't want to sound like one of those guys who always go, "If you don't like it, change it." but you're in a good position to do that because of the academic setting. Make it a project for Comp Sci students or grad. students. It'll be good practice for them in managing real world projects and an good intro to open source development/philosophy. OSS seems in line with the open philosophy of academia. Find a project that does almost what you want and extend it.
EvilCON - Made Famous by
If you're using Windows2003 Server, then I suggest using the Windows Sharepoint Services add on; (IT'S FREE). It will give you a webbased solution that is integrated with Active Directory and is very easy to use.... unless of course you're looking to use OSS just for the sake of using OSS.
If this is going to run on a Linux box:
1. Install samba(for Windows), netatalk(for Mac), and ssh servers.
2. On Windows machines, have them use standard Windows file sharing(\\server.schoolname.edu\shareddir). If your institution has locked down the smb port(445), have them download and run OpenSSH, which includes a graphical directory browsing window.
3. On Macs, use the standard AFP protocol.
4. On Linux, using scp would probably be best. You could set up an nfs server, and allow access to the world. I don't recommend this, and you should use some type of authentication.
Otherwise, and I recommend, get a Mac running OS X. It has easy to configure, and use, smb, ssh, and AFP servers. It's a lot more stable than running the servers on a Linux box. If you have the money, I would recommend springing for an Unlimited Client copy of OS X Server. But a standard OS X box would be fine.
I'm doing all of what you referred to using Subversion with the mod_dav_svn frontend on Apache for a content management system.
It works *beautifully*
An easier way would be to avoid the Web entirely. There's a large number of FTP servers out there, many of which support FTP-over-SSL. Both Windows and Mac support accessing folders via FTP just as if they were local or network-shared folders. Configure the FTP server to authenticate against an LDAP directory (this should be trivial if the server OS is set up to authenticate using PAM) and you're ready to go.
Don't forget the middle-class families in downtown Baghdad, who used to have running water, electricity and police protection, but now exchanged these for "freedom", along with the lives of their aunties and and baby sisters.
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
You might want to take a look at ADMS
It's mainly targetted towards document management, especially using the new OpenDocument standard, but it can store all kinds of files. It's highly plugin-based, has some nice search features and allows for flexible permission settings. You can easily write plugins which provide extra support for special file types, like adding webbased viewers and editors and indexing functions.
The only thing it doesn't offer on your list is LDAP authentication, but a plugin could be created for this as well.
Does it really have to be web-based? If you set up an SSH server your users could access it via SFTP. There are plenty of SFTP clients out there, including WinSCP for Windows, CyberDuck for OS X and Konqueror or Nautilus on GNU/Linux. WinSCP can be made to look like Windows Explorer, simplifying the experience for your Windows users.
A few other posts above have mentioned FTP, but this would be a step backward in time. FTP should die, and now. In fact it should have died years ago, aside from its use in its anonymous form, like on download sites. SSH is free and more secure than FTP, and works better through firewalls because you don't have to worry about passive mode as you do with FTP. And you'll have the option of securely offering it outside your firewall (if you have one), since the protocol is entirely encrypted.
How about www.roamdrive.com? It's a free, web based file storage system that uses e-mail accounts as its medium. Probably not exactly what you want, but it's an option.
While Open Exchange is more of a groupware type client, it has document sharing and knowledge sharing with access control. All in a very very tidy web interface. Just the server install can cause a couple of asprin worth of a headache.
"Nimis exaltatus rex sedet in vertice - caveat ruinam!"
Look for it on the Novell Forge
Most cases, you just want something really simple, easy to implement, and understand. So, why not use SCP. It's secure, easy to set up (all you need on the server is Linux + SSH), and easy to access.
In konqueror, type scp:// or fish://.
In Windows, use the free WinSCP program
In MacOsX - you have ssh/scp.
Other advantage: if you give them a linux box to access, then it's easy to control private vs group vs public.
BlueShoes has this interesting app called web file manager. Essentially it creates an explorer like session within your browser. It relies heavily on javascript and stuff...
I'm teminally incoherent
How about DSpace? From their website: "A groundbreaking digital repository system, DSpace captures, stores, indexes, preserves and redistributes an organization's research material in digital formats."
Give me a break! Exactly who let this person post an advertisement on Slashdot. We do have editors on here right?
And please...There are a thousand ways to store documents. SSH/FTP/WEBDAV/SVN (as just a few protocols) and a meriad of apps to support them in either platform.
You might want to look into ipdrum. you use the free mobile-to-mobile feature of any major carrier to call a dedicated cell phone attached to your computer. That call is then connected to Skype, allowing you to make free cell calls just about anywhere. once you have established this connection you can tap out morse code and form a "data network" over the line allowing your users to transmit to each other their files. problem solved.
Using Subversion (subversion.tigris.org) and Apache as a front-end (WebDAV link to Subversion, connection to LDAP) you get versioned documentation, file storage, hook-ins to Active Directory or any other LDAP product, and Windows Web Folders for easy access.
Works very well here for documentation storage. 300+ users.
"We apologize for the inconvenience."
use ftp, scp, etc. They should be learning how to use tools they'll use when they get a job.
-- Programming with boost is like building a house with lego. It's a cool but I wouldn't want to live in it
Opendocman.sourceforge.net is a good one if you want tight, fine fine grained control, with revision mangement. Good for a research situation.
Oh well, what the hell...
We've been diligently searching for something similar with very little success. "All" that we want to achieve is a secure file transfer system with the following, seemingly simple, requirements:
The solution must:
1. Run on a Linux host server
2. Be clientless - require no installation or configuration on the user end
3. Secure login - login names and passwords must not be cleartext
4. Support download and upload - from the client side must save to a specified existing location on the host network
5. Display an existing file structure - files saved to an existing network drive must be displayed to the web
6. Run on a "in house" server
7. Support large files ~ 1gb transferred and uploaded
8. Users must only interact only with pages their group memberships allow
9. Authenticate on an existing LDAP db
It doesn't seem like a lot to ask... If anyone has any suggestions please don't hold back.
Would HyperContent do the trick for you?
http://hypercontent.sourceforge.net/
(Disclaimer: I used an early version of this from a year ago; I don't know how well it currently stacks up against what you're comparing it to...)
"Go to CNN [for a] spell-checked, fact-checked summary" -- CmdrTaco
Having the word "psot" in a /. message that short should set off the lameness filter.
Please, for the good of Humanity, vote Obama.
An option is OpenDocMan (my project). It is a simple file management system without a lot of the overhead: http://www.opendocman.com/
People keep saying Novell is dead. I keep on telling them that Netware is little more than glorified policies, and it's questions like this that reenforce my view.
Netware is a great product for controlling users. Netware is a great product (fantastic, in fact) for application role outs over a network, on demand
Netware is also a fantastic 'suite' of programs.
Check out,
http://www.liv.ac.uk/csd/mobile/netstore.html
My uni, clearly, uses Novell.
Sometimes it's easier to user what your vendor supplies than it is to craft your own. I say this, am I am 'the' () foremost interoperativity bloke, hacking qmail, imap courier, apache and sqmail into a bespoke single login system. The problem with my usual apporach, is although it's exactly what I want, it takes time. My time is better spent on other issues, and therefore, I rely on vendors to do the best they can.
Has anyone seem Mandrake/Madrivalyswhatever's server install? Advx, their high-performance apache install is fantastic.
http://www.advx.org/
It does what I would have made myself, but I didnt, and thus, I used my time wisely.
Matt
Here's a free online file sharing tool that I've used before.
W@hen i was in college our storage consisted of two desk drawers... and we didn't complain, and we won a world war....
At the Soviet college, Data stores you.
All your files are belong to us
Where can I store my Icy Hot Stuntaz CD?
1.Find a file that needs to be stored
2.Discover a way to store it
3.???
4. Priceless, er, I mean Profit
Depending on your University's server software, some options might already be available. Someone posted a M*crosoft option already.
t ml
If your school uses Novell-based technologies, then you may want to look at iFolder. The client portion is OSS, but I don't think the server portion is. It works with M*crosoft and Linux clients, although it does say "Novell Linux Desktop" (ie: SuSE).
http://www.novell.com/products/ifolder/overview.h
It's not open source, but it's a nice product, and Novell tends to give educational institutions decent discounts. I believe you can set it up to use any LDAP source for authentication, but even if that's not true, you can sync eDirectory and Active directory to solve that problem.
It might not fit your environment, but it's something to look into.
If the server is going to be busy, OS X probably wouldn't be a good choice. AnandTech had a review of OS X as a server OS and found it couldn't keep up with Linux as the number of connections increased beyond a certain threshold.
Just something to consider; it will undoubtedly improve in the future, but for now a FOSS solution would likely suffice and not have this limitation.
You don't use science to show that you're right, you use science to become right.
http://phpatm.free.fr/
*mutliple users
*automatic account registeration
*highly customizable
*great community
*tons of mods
*restrict file size
*give users own folders
*limit storage per user
*limit file types
*free/open source
*no database required, all flat file
Actaully I thought it was "If Gabriel doesn't get to roller-blade to the Chelsea piers, then the terrorists have won".
Get real mate, hitler, IRA (US sponsored) and now AQ, barbaric yes worthy of off-topic? 'Course not Bring 'em on bring 'em on. Are we scared? Piss off are we
In the end, It's all bovine dung you know
http://www.novell.com/products/ifolder/
This can either have a client based on Mono or web based. This allows for versioning as well.
A barbaric attack has just occurred in London and you guys are blabbing on about OSS Web-based File Management? GET SOME PRIORITIES!
This is a forum for discussing technical issues. If you want to talk about current issues, or popular news items go to
K5 or
Fark
Novell iFolder is the best, most secure I've ever seen. And, it's GPL. Here's the URL:
http://www.ifolder.com/
witty sig goes here
SSL Explorer is exactly what you are looking for and they have just released a new updated verion 0.1.12 with include RADIUS. Hosted on SourceForge.net
It has WebDAV, VNC, Citrix, Rdesktop (Linux), Windows RDP Client, Web Forwarding, SSL Tunnelling and alot more.
You can set the password with RADIUS, Active Directory or a in-buit DB. All been encrypted under SSL with the ability for multiple SSL Cert's
I have been using to for a while now in the big company and it works a dream, plus getting better with each update.All Web base with optional VPN (Java) Client, with some screen keyboard for security from keyloggers and usability e.g. Palm/PocketPC/SmartPhone, Public Kiosk, etc. All you need is a Web Browser and away you go......
Moodle LMS
A problem with just Apache and mod_dav is that apache runs as one user id and all the files have to read/writeable by the web server. If you want to allow people to have access to their existing home directories then you need to have a webdav gateway that know how to interacte with that existing filesystem.
Davenport http://davenport.sourceforge.net/ is a webdav gateway to SMB shares. So that solves the issue of dealing with user permissions that apache/mod_dav can't do.
You might look at OSPI their content repository for the portfolio reminds me a lot of Xythos. I have been trying to get our central storage people to take a look and give me some feedback on whether I am right or wrong.
Programming your own, while not overly difficult, is probably out of the question for his purpose. There are many PHP-based solutions available, all with varying degrees of complexity and functions. Try browsing to:
l e_Manipulation/File_Management/index.html
http://hotscripts.com/PHP/Scripts_and_Programs/Fi
Lots of goodies to choose from...
My mom always said, "Jim, you're 1 in a million." Given the current population, there are 7000 of me. God help us all!
I know it may be a little overkill but back when I implimented sharepoint it was the closest thing I could find to an open source alternative.
Our university is about to roll out a web-accessible file service based on Apache+WebDAV+local patches. Please send me email at (my slashdot username)@ucsd.edu if you're interested and I'll be happy to discuss.
or maybe just say 'i quit' and become a window washer
Well Web file access is nice, as my University uses it, I would be a whole lot more happy if I had VPN access. With the number of people that have laptops in class (heck I am writing this well in class), and the number of people that haul a laptop around campus, and even those that have a computer at home, VPN access to a home directory would be heaven sent. Instead of having to transfer files via web-base application, transfering the files like it was a local drive would be so much more convient. The, other thing that VPN access would provide is shared files which are needed could be made avialable. For example, my school uses the "J" drive for IS majors -- we use this for submitting projects, getting information, etc. Having the J drive available from home would be great.
So the point is, if you are going to offer a web based service, for transfering files, offer a complete package that will be convient and easy to use. If you are going to offer a home directory, then allow them to have access to thing that they would have if they were on campus. Nothing is more frustrating that having the look of being able to get to information and data, but you can't because of some arbitrary restriction.
The views expressed are mine own and do not express the views of my employer.
That said, I would suggest doing some searches on various other sites whose opinion you value. Chances are it has been asked there before as well.
Speak truth to power.
Use SSL to encrypt, a simple web authentication (choose your flavor) and webadmin.
http://wacker-welt.de/webadmin/
You can create individual webadmin upload/download pages for each person and redirect them upon logging in to their own page based on their login creditials using PHP.
I've done it before and it works great. Although I've found my implementation craps out with files over an undetermined size. I haven't researched if this is a webadmin issue or some setting I have on the HTTP/SSL server.
Features in no particular order:
There's more, but I'm tired of typing and you get the picture...
Just ask Linus and GIT will become the bitkeeper of your dreams.
Actually, I remember Linus writing that Linux/GNU really needs a network file system with LDAP like features.
As a card-carrying member of Xythos Software, I feel compelled to point out an important functional distinction between Xythos Digital Locker and Zope.
The two might be very complementary in a hypothetical deployment. Zope could provide the web site view of a lot of content, some of it in Xythos. There's also a new Xythos solution that adds "basic document management" features like document classes, custom metadata, and workflow.
P.S. This is not an advertisement. Since I'm in product management, I'm always interested in how people might want to use Xythos, and I welcome feedback here or privately via e-mail. No salesperson will call you.
This is why I browse with a +5 Troll modifier.
lolz
I worked on this project a little a few years back during a summer one time. Looks like development has died (I think they cancelled the project after all the interns left that summer), but it's OSS and a lot of the buzzwords you dropped match the buzzwords I heard when I was working on it.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/fileangel/
Fine, but if you had used a dissenting voice like this in Iraq, you and your family members would be dead, killed by the Saddams secret police. You get to chose which side you are on, freedom or tyranny, the people of Baghdad had no choice. Which side are you on?
"...and yet, I blame society" Duke - Repo Man
Are you complaining every day of what appen in Irak? No. So why are you complain about Londons?
And you are on slashdot reading this thread because?
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
I haven't used it myself but probaby this is useable for you:
http://www.open-steam.org/
take a look at php filemanager (http://phpfm.sf.net/ it has very good fatures, it's single file and the integration depends only on apache's
\m/
...and yet there was a bit of a to-do made when the same group of idiots flew airplanes into a couple of office buildings in the U.S. a few years back. Funny how priorities can vary like that.
/. postings that day, too.
As I recall, there were, in fact, other
Wer mit Ungeheuern kämpft, mag zusehn, dass er nicht dabei zum Ungeheuer wird. --Nietzsche
You're exactly right! We should all halt daily activity, to send the right message to the attackers..
Here's the problem I had, and how I solved it:
1) We're a small software company, and we're *VERY* mobile. I joke that my office is my laptop, but it's not much of a joke. we can (and do) work almost anywhere we have power + 'net connection.
2) We need to have a common file store primarily for backups, but also so that we can share files and documents easily.
3) WebDAV is close. Windows support for WebDAV falls short of actually mounting the drive. (EG: with a drive letter) This creates lots of little headaches copying files, some programs won't open files directly from a DAV folder, etc...
4) I found a utility put out by Novell, a free download, called "NetDrive" that lets you mount a WebDAV share as a drive on the local system. Google for NetDrive
5) This, combined with Apache/WebDAV/Mod_SSL makes an easy, reliable, secure, mountable drive that mounts anywhere an HTTPS connection is allowed. (which almost *ALL* firewalls allow)
I'm not using LDAP authentication. There are only 5 of us, and we don't hire/fire all that often.
I have no problem with your religion until you decide it's reason to deprive others of the truth.
It's barbaric when it happens in London, but when it happens constantly in Israel you don't even blink.
Bombs in London are barbaric but rape victims having no legal protection in Saudi Arabia doesn't bother you.
There's a Genocide happening in Sudan - what have you done to stop it?
Read tech news, get smart, get power, and use it all to go do some fucking good in this world.
World Changing - News for Humans, Stuff about our planet
It seems to me that this would be a great extension to the capabilities of a Wiki software package, such as Wikipedia's MediaWiki.
In addition to the ability to edit the page, the Wiki would allow you to upload a file. For an example of uploading files to a server in a PHP application (such as MediaWiki), see SquirrelMail.
When you did upload a file, the web page would be modified with a link to the file. Other functions, with appropriately named links, would allow you to delete a file, replace a file, add a link to an already-uploaded file on another page, and so on.
Of course, whatever protection is deemed necessary, such as authorizations and approvals, would also be built in (e.g. for uploading, downloading, renaming, linking, and deleting).
Doing this in a Wiki has a lot of advantages:
1. It works in any browser, and it is fairly intuitive to use.
2. As with Wikipedia, the Wiki pages can include instructions, and links to tutorials, on how to use the file storage.
3. It avoids the need to come up with a one-size-fits-all file hierarchy up front. The real world always seems to resist hierarchical categorization, and the Wiki solves this, since the same file can be linked from various pages. For example, a file that is the result of a collaboration can be linked from the pages for both authors/artists.
4. It allows the creation of other pages that reference the files, such as reviews, best-of lists, and so on.
What about Yahoo Briefcase? 30 megs storage for free with a web interface, pretty simple to use, works from any browser, blah, blah, blah.
Have a quick look at http://owl.sourceforge.net/ , it might be just what the doctor ordered.
check out www.ifolder.com
Apache Lenya http://lenya.apache.org/ is an Open Source Java/XML Content Management System and comes with revision control, site management, scheduling, search, WYSIWYG editors, and workflow
Errrr... no it isn't. Last time I checked articles on 9/11 and manga were posted but they certainly weren't technical.
Now I don't have a problem with Slashdot not reporting on the London bombs (I do actually live there) but if significant non-technical American news or Taco's non-technical hobby is posted then I can understand how some people might get a little upset if significant non-American events aren't posted.
What I'm trying to say is this isn't a technical forum at all, its Taco's and he can pretty much post what he wants - technical or not. Trying to justify a lack of some article in this way doesn't work so please don't try to do it.
Avantslash - View Slashdot cleanly on your mobile phone.
Windows support for WebDAV is attrocious.
Believe it or not:
Ignore Iraq
Bomb Iraq
are not the only two options.
Diplomacy was NOT going well, but we should probably put a little more consideration into it before going to war.
Novell has GPLed their file sharing system and renamed it iFolder:
http://www.ifolder.com/
iFolder is a file sharing application for Linux, Windows, and Mac.
Using iFolder workgroup features, you can easily:
* Share files across multiple computers
* Share files with other users
Used with an iFolder server, you can:
* Maintain a backup of your files on an iFolder Enterprise server
* Share files with other users and computers
* Restore deleted files from Backup
There's an article about it just down the front page with 1800+ responses.
(Actually, if you want to discuss technology and disasters, I'd be far more inclined to discuss the Piper Alpha disaster, when a backflow up a pipe caused the oil rig to explode, killing several hundred. Either that, or maybe a good discussion on why a few bazillion security cameras and one of the most sophisticated anti-terrorist computer networks in the world didn't make a damn bit of difference.)
But to get back ON topic, I've never been keen on web-based file management, as web-based tools are crappy at sending files. (HTTP is not elegent when it comes to bulk data, which means you're forced to mix protocols, and often the overheads of mix-n-match systems are higher than the benefits.)
Probably the best you can do is have a secure Java applet (so you get to run the remote machine) that is a GUI wrapper for rsync or fsp. (No, that's not a typo. fsp is a connectionless variant of ftp and tends to have a better reputation for this kind of work.)
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
What does this comment have to do with OSS Web-based file management?
Moderators, do you fucking jobs!!! This in no way deserves to be modded up. It is offtopic, and should be modded accordingly.
terror a state of irrational fear.
terrorism the practice of causing terror to achieve political goals.
So are you allowing the terrorists to have their way with you? People need to realize that the goal of terrorism is to scare people, not to actually kill people. Remember Bill O'Reilly's (I think) intervie with Sami al-Arian? The guy defined "Death to Israel" as death to its ideology, not necessarily to any real people.
We need to let those who can (government, army, police, etc.) handle the problem, and live our life normally. Then we have truly defeated them. GET SOME PRIORITIES!
It's an intrusion resistant, non-repudiable and incorruptible system.
WebDAV to be released the other day.
hmm, Didn't I see your troll on FARK just a few minutes ago?
.LRN is a web based community system for universities that has group based file sharing with a web user interface and WebDAV support. It also supports LDAP authentication. If that's too much, the OpenACS platform .LRN is built on has all the features your are looking for in file sharing, access control and authentication.
Missed that as I'd filtered out politics ... however it does prove my point that Slashdot isn't exclusively technology based :)
Avantslash - View Slashdot cleanly on your mobile phone.
It's ironic that some try to smear you as trolling by replying to a comment which wasn't even modded as a troll.
Besides, if you posted this insightful comment in the thread that was actually discussing the attack on London this morning:
- it would have been buried in the flood of comments (nearly at 2000 now, I think)
- it probably would have been marked as a troll by some jerks who thought it wasn't discussing the issue at hand either (when you were, BTW).
People are afraid to admit the double standard: Israel must shut up and take everything that's thrown, shot, propelled and blown up at her, while everyone else is allowed to defend themselves.
--- Dan
-web accessible storage
-money is tight
Tell all the students to get that you have a special relationship with GMail, and that they all need to sign up for their free storage. Teach them how to use their mail reader to store and retrieve files.
Aah, change is good. -- Rafiki
Yeah, but it ain't easy. -- Simba
You are either against the killing of innocents, or you are against us.
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
GET SOME ORIGINALITY
e nomena
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slashdot_trolling_ph
If you've already got a copy of Windows 2003 server running somewhere, it comes with a 'free' copy of Windows SharePoint Services; it's an aspx-driven set of web pages that's basically a dumbed-down version of SharePoint. It's actually fairly nice.
Or http://politics.slashdot.org/
Pedro
----
The Insomniac Coder
The University of Calgary IT department had a similar task. Not finding any suitable tools to do this, they developed their own called Webdisk. It is a web folder accessible through FTP and the standard methods, but they also tie access to it into all U of C computers through a mapped drive. As well, they offer a program to map this webdisk drive to your home computer.
It's based on WebDAV, and works on Windows, Macs, and Linux. There is a PPT on this website that explains everything quite well (especially how they cam to develop it.) http://www.ucalgary.ca/it/self_help/webdisk/
I have to say that one thing I've generally been pleased with here at the UofC is the IT department, and the Webdisk is one reason why. It's very common to see all types of students making use of it, since it's such an intuitive system, mainly since it ties right into Windows Explorer.
This looks great as a free client and for a workgroup environment. But, if you want to have the server for this, it looks like you will have to cough up at least $995:
e r/pricing.html
http://www.novell.com/products/openenterpriseserv
The dumber people think you are, the more surprised they are when you kill them.
...comments by people who don't know what they're talking about.
Do you even know what a content management system is? Did you bother to look at what the Xythos software actually does before commenting on something else's ability to replace it?
Certainly not. If you had, this wouldn't be Slashdot, would it?
-fred
Sign #11 of Slashdot overdose: You see the phrase 'moderate Republican' and you wonder if that would be a +1 or a -1.
After digging deeper, I found this information about how to set up their "SimpleServer" and avoid having to purchase the whole suite:
s e.php/*checkout*/ifolder/ifolder/HOWTOs/SimpleServ er-Setup-HOWTO.txt
http://forge.novell.com/modules/xfmod/cvs/cvsbrow
The dumber people think you are, the more surprised they are when you kill them.
Why did you leave out the barbaric things happening to the palestenians? For every israeli killed by a palestenian there are two to three palestenians killed by israelis.
For that matter the barbaric things happening in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Just because an army does the killing it doesn't make it right.
evil is as evil does
check this... it is integrated with apache, OWASP php filters, and mod_mysql_auth...
i should try LDAP too... anyway, you can use whatever browser/OS that supports a little of javascript and frames
I didn't mention them because I didn't think the original poster would care about the Palestinians. They fall under the category of 'starving foreign dark-skinned people' for most folks.
I happen to think it's a damn tragedy that they've been pushed as far as they have.
World Changing - News for Humans, Stuff about our planet
No offense to my brothers over in London - but there were a couple more than 50 people dead in the World Trade Center attacks. 50 lives is 50 lives, and my heart goes out to those who are no longer with us and their families. But to compare the two attacks is like comparing my Aunt's 2kb personal address book getting eaten by a failed pen drive to Wikipedia's database getting sacked by a stray patriot missile. Are both horrible attrocities? Absolutely - but it's certainly not fair to compare the two.
Could be because /. was one of the only fringey-mainstream sites still usable that day?
There are a few implementations of Google Mail filesystems. Here is one http://pgd.sourceforge.net/ that is all webbased. Install it and let google handle the space issues.
That sort of attitude would end up with the world under the thumb of anyone willing to hide behind people you deem innocents... I mean, your are just begging someone to force you to be ruled by a ruthless person with that sort of attitude.
War is a horrific thing, but lots of incredibly innocent people died during WWII, and in the end a lot of really bad things were ended because of it. If being militant about not killing a single innocent were a prerequesite, the world would currently be under fascism Nazi style. There would have been nothing would could have done to stop the bad folks, if collateral damage was completely unacceptable.
I'm not saying that the War in Iraq is a good thing. To be blantantly honest, I'm not sure. In the 50-100 year view, I think it will be good, but I think we are doing it for all the wrong reasons. I think the American public was mislead in order to drum up support. I think both of those really undercut any potential goodwill I can summon for the Iraqi effort.
So while I won't argue with you if about if you feel what we did is immoral, and that we attacked a soverign nation with very little legimate need to. I feel that your attitude about "innocents" is more then a bit naive. It's downright stupid in terms of national policy.
Kirby
$995 is pretty cheap. How much do you think you have to pay for other server products? Not to mention the "client access license" fees that many companies wring from your pocketbook.
Liberals call everyone Nazis yet they are the closest thing to it.
www.horde.org - I use it on my server and for a company who's network I manage. Between the users, there are some tech savy and some not - they can all manage with it. Horde itself (version 3.0) can do all sorts - with the framework installed, you add on various modules to perform the functionality needed. There is a 'filemanager' which allows basic and advanced FTP abilities from a simple web page.
Tim (http://tim.igoe.me.uk)
Computers are like Air-con, open windows and they stop working!
This might be quite-the-overkill, but I have to at least suggest it: biocore.ks.uiuc.edu.
This is actually an entire collaborative environment, allowing for group segregation, file sharing, etc., and is great for classroom use. If you take the simple tour (http://www.ks.uiuc.edu/Research/biocore/tour/) you can see what I'm talking about.
That makes me wonder, I've never been moded a decent score for any of my posts. I wonder if /. is programed to boost your karma if the f word is used no matter how relevant/irrelevant your post amy be.
Let me try ... fucking fuck fucked fucker
Honestly, you think you want it, but you don't.
In a university based setting, it will get used for homework and illegal purposes like copyright infringement.
The illegal purposes will require massive bandwidth. The homework will just be a support nightmare when there's file corruption or server downtime. People working on projects overnight, last minute, etc and suddenly they can't get their files anymore
I used Apache mod_dav + a custom Perl authenication module to do something similar to what you are doing.
We allow lecturers at our uni to publish subject materials using WebDAV. Perl auth handler controls who is allowed to upload ie limit POST/ MKCOL verbs (there may be others, I cant remember) to those allowed to write.
Each subject has its own folder, which in your scenario could be one folder per student.
If you use the LDAP authentication features in Apache 2, then your perl auth hander will be pretty simple. Just check Apache username and return based on some simple logic.
Take a look at the Samhita offering at DBSentry Corp. Its a very robust document management system built using Oracle technology. They are not averse to giving out sourcecode to the customers. Most interesting feature is that the product comes as preinstalled, preconfigured appliance.
This is a forum for discussing technical issues.
You must be new here.
Stop the world; I need to get off.
MOD PARENT UP - he swore!
I sorta hope that's not the reason I got good mod points. If it is, well, once everyone finds out about that this whole place might get a lot more fun.
World Changing - News for Humans, Stuff about our planet
... who is dismayed that university students allegedly can't learn to use an FTP client? This isn't rocket science - presumably the thing they are actually *studying* is around 5 or 6 orders of magnitude more complex than just using an FTP program somebody else already wrote.
If they can't pick that up in 60 seconds or so, maybe they don't belong at a university no matter what their actual area of study.
Silk sounds close. www.silk-project.org. It's an OSS collaborate content management system. It has the WebDAV, and Active Directory/LDAP integration. J2EE based (comes with JBoss), runs on any OS that's on Sun's JVM compatibility list. I don't know if the WebDAV will work when run on a Mac... I don't think that's been tested. Silk still has a few rough edges, but it sounds pretty close to what's being asked for here.
Docmgr looks like it will do what you want. http://sourceforge.net/projects/docmgr/ (from the site) A PHP/Postgresql based document management system (DMS) with pdf and ocr-based indexing, and optional tsearch2 support. It also has access control lists, user permissions assignment, file discussion board, and multi-level file grouping.
I also work for a college, and we're in the process of upgrading our webmail offerings. I have seen that both Horde (PHP) and OpenWebmail (Perl) both have some sort of web-based file access, both can authenticate using LDAP, and both are free open source (I think GNU GPL but I can't remember).
Warning bored Kiwi found playing with trolls under a bridge. Known to be associated with AL quackduck.
Why do you care what happened in London? You are obviously a New Zealander. Do you think no one on slashdot is smart enough to know That your name is the Maori name for New Zealand or "The Land of the Long White Cloud"
You guys are just bored cause nothing happens down there! That's why you have to get involved in everyone else's politics so you don't feel left out.
now that sounds like a good idea
though I think I'd prefer something like a bus driver or ferry driver job
---- Put Sig here:
I have came up with a wonderful solution. I use SCP to transfer files (winSCP on win machines) and it works flawlessly. It's way simpler than any FTP client (don't know why, but FTP clients confuse me). And for my understanding, SCP is much more secure than FTP transfer. Of course you want to run the SSH server on a *nix box.
Content management systems like Knowledge Tree may be great, if that's what you want to do -- complex content management with document metadata and expiry dates, etc. However, keep in mind that it is something extra for your users to figure out and something extra to be monitored or repaired when things go south.
Samba will let your clients connect to the file server in a way they're presumably already familiar with: their desktop's file system. Nothing new to learn except how to connect and, maybe, which folder to put things in if they are to be visible on the web.
Mod_WebDAV can be added to Apache so users have an alternate route to edit their files.
Both Samba and Apache can be tied to LDAP and/or Kerberos so that you can use your existing authentication and directory services.
I've set up a small number of Apache,WebDAV,Samba, Kerberos systems. The main drawback is that once users know how to connect, it's too easy for them compared to the old CMS which was being used as a file management system. That may make them feel they are missing something. They may even forget they have a "file management" system even while they are using it. No joke. So plan on scheduling time at the end of the project to make sure the users know what they have and that the management appreciates how smooth it is to use. And that you get credit for not having to go to heroic effort to fix things every time a student wants to upload a file. Otherwise it may end up like the proverbial walled-in Netware server.
Beta is broken and the link to classic doesn't work. Stop wasting our time or there won't be anybody left here.
You could look at Davenport. It is a webdav to smb gateway. The nice thing with it compared to mod_webdav is that if you run Samba + Davenport the file ownership on the server is not that of the web server, but that of the actual user, meaning that NFS will serve the files with the same ownership as well.
Maybe this is possible with mod_webdav too, but it wasn't obvious to me. With Davenport it was.
http://davenport.sourceforge.net/
SchoolTool is a project to develop a common global school administration infrastructure that is freely available under an Open Source licence. http://www.schooltool.org/ Mike
Apache2/WebDav
I suggest the auth_kerberos module for windows authentication if you can. IIRC the LDAP module can authenticate off of active directory, but I could be wrong. You could also setup an ftp server (authenticate via PAM/kerberos) to access their files.
University of Nebraska at Omaha does this. You can access WebDAV or SMB or (I beleive) FTP. It's done via commercial software, but everything is freely available.
SSL Explorer allows AD-integrated access to SMB files via any web browser, and also allows web folder views for people still using IE. It also allows for limited SSL VPN tunnels. http://www.sslexplorer.com/
I'm posting this so that you (the moderator) have some context to consider twitter and not mod him up whenever he posts his filler preformatted rants about installing Knoppix or whatever that unfortunately get him karma every single time and allow him to continue posting his trademark toxic crap (read on) day in and day out. You may consider this a troll - I consider it community service. And I ain't kidding.
If you're a /. subscriber, I invite you to look through some of his posting history. I guarantee that you'll be hard pressed to find someone that is more "out there" than twitter. You'll also probably notice he's got quite an AC following. Don't just read his posts, make sure you go through the replies.
To get an idea of what I'm talking about, check this post out. I mean, this is an article about email disclaimers, right? The parent of the post is complaining about the ads in the linked page and so on, and twitter actually goes off on a rant to blame it on Microsoft and recommend Lynx. WTF?
Here's another. In this post twitter not only calls the OP a troll but attempts to "tell it like it is" while making some vague argument about "GNU". Yes, if you're confused, you're not alone. The reply (modded +4) proceeds to simply destroy his bogus argument. You will notice he did not reply. This is what some people call "drive-by advocacy". A sort of I'll just leave you with my thoughts here and move on to the next flamebait kind of deal. In fact, he almost never replies because he knows that his fanatical arguments simply do not hold up to any sort of discussion. It's not that he's chosen the wrong cause - he's just going at it in a completely wrong way.
More? Just read though this post and the subsequent replies. I guess this stands on its own. Or these two. Or this one.
Still not convinced? This is what twitter considers "humour" while going about his daily "M$" routine.
More? Bad spelling in astounding conspiracy theories, more offtopic FUD and uninformed "I'm right, look at me" rants, promptly proven wrong. Worse even, twitter wants to be RMS, apparently (that first one is a winner). I mean,
Web-ftp might be a solution. You run it on your web server, and it can connect to multiple ftp servers. The clients can connect of SSL, and you don't have to worry about installing any software on the client machines. Your ftp servers don't even need to be made accessible on the Internet (but they need to be accessible to the web server :-).
What, me worry?