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?"

Comments

Not so hard

[AKAImBatman]

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.

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-HOWTO /

First Google result, even. :-)

Re:Not so hard

[AKAImBatman]

That's the beauty of it though. Users accessed the FTP server through a bookmark in Netscape. As far as they were concerned, they were looking at an ugly web page! Uploads could be done by just dragging the file onto Netscape. :-)

Internet Explorer is even simpler as it provides a "pretty" Explorer interface to the files.

Re:Not so hard

[jdray]

We were wrestling with a similar question recently, and came up with WinSCP as a solution for Windows clients accessing "file shares" on Unix boxen. Our end users are very pleased.

Re:Not so hard

[danheskett]

For windows users, try WebDrive. They dont even have to drag and drop.

It maps DAV or FTP sites to a standard Windows drive letter, and handles everything transparently in the background. Users can use any application to edit files, etc.

I have some users who need to upload photos from a digital camera to a website; it's perfect for them. You can even set Windows to transfer files to that "Drive" anytime they plug in the camera via that little wizard that pop-ups.

MFile

[GPLDAN]

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/

Openfiler is what you want.

[iago]

WebDAV, smb, cifs, and all sorts of other nifty goodies (built in LVM) www.openfiler.org Its GPL'd and runs pretty well.

Re:Knowledge Tree

[pgp4privacy]

Features
KnowledgeTree(TM) Version 2.0.0

General Features

* Fully web-based.
* Powerful document version control
* Support for common file formats (MS Word, MS Excel, PDF, TXT, HTML)
* Subscription agents with push technology for notification of changes to documents or document directories
* Archiving according to expiry date, expiry time period or utilisation for enhanced speed
* Publish documents to websites
* Document-specific discussion forums
* Full-text search of common file formats (MS Word, MS Excel, PDF, TXT, HTML)
* Search in user-defined metadata fields
* Access information according to folder structure, category or document type
* Personalised dashboard to view subscriptions, pending documents, checked-out documents and quick links
* Virtual binders for documents based on certain criteria
* Configurable metadata displayed when document browsing
* Bulk uploads allow multiple files to be uploaded to a folder.
* Supports translation of most of the user interface.

Workflow Features

* Improved management control of documents with ability to create a set process for document creation and publishing
* Flexible document approval routing at the folder level
* Delegate the creation of new documents within a document approval cycle

Security Features

* Access rights for document protection on a per group, role or organisational unit basis
* SSL for encrypted and secure connections
* Authentication integration with common LDAP servers (OpenLDAP, Sun ONE Directory Server and Active Directory)
* Audit trails of user interaction with system including document changes

Zope/Plone

[t482]

Zope/Plone offers "WebDAV, Apache support, BSD/Linux support and Active Directory-LDAP authentication with support for Windows and Mac clients"

OWL Intranet

[CHR1S]

I use OWL intranet for our repository. I don't believe it supports LDAP yet though. Still, worth a look. http://owl.sourceforge.net

Answered own question

[DrZaius]

Maybe I don't understand the problem:

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.

Re:Answered own question

[rhizome]

Doesn't Apache + mod_webdav + auth_ldap support all of this?

Yes it does. This is a stupid article.

Re:Answered own question

[masukomi]

You have to install and configure an ldap server (know how to administer it), recompile apache, and know what the hell mod_webdav (or even webdav) is in the first place.

How many non programmer people do YOU know who can do that?

So NO, it isn't a stupid article. But your response is a great example of one of the underlying problems in the OSS community: developers tend to forget that the rest of the world isn't made up of developers.

Re:Answered own question

[mborland]

I would like to complain about the previous complaint.

I agree that the guy that said 'stupid article' was a little blunt, but I think it's fair for readers of Ask Slashdot to complain when topics are at the level of 'how do I tie my own shoe?' I have no problem with someone asking for help--there are no stupid questions--but this doesn't seem like the forum for this kind of question (front page, etc.).

I didn't get your point about technical complexity. The sysadmin/programmer's job is to understand these technologies (they listed WebDAV, & Apache in the posting after all), and the end users in this case hardly need to know anything (they just map drives or whatever, same as any other solution).

Re:Answered own question

[soward]

not really. Apache+mod_webdav does generally provide that functionality, but not on a per-user basis. Say you've got a school with 20,000 students. To make Apache+mod_dav work you'd need 20,000 entries in the httpd.conf. Plus it all will still run as your www user, so folx couldn't access these files through any method other than WebDAV and keep things like permissions intact.

WebDAV is nifty in that there are client implementations built-in to most common OSes. It's also nice because it runs through most firewalls since it's built on top of HTTP. It's not so great at some things, though...speed can be an issue, resource usage on the server another, metadata concerns come up occasionally.

Hence a nice solution would allow WebDAV access when appropriate, and other types (e.g. SMB, AFP, NFS, local, etc) when needed.

So I don't think it's a stupid question at all -- just not asked very clearly.

We are working on a custom DAV service to accomodate this sort of usage currently, so if there is a way to use mod_dav, have it query an ldap server to log a user in, and have it read and write files to the local filesystem as that particular uid (under unix), and do so with a single config file entry for all users, please post a link to it!

Re:Great

[breadiu]

I'm not looking for people to Google for me, I'm looking for witty replys, such as yours, containing words like "phylosophical."

Write Your Own

[Comatose51]

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.

SCP

[Richard_J_N]

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.

try Apache + Subversion

[borzwazie]

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.

Re:Knowledge Tree

[Anonymous Coward]

You forgot to add a link to the KnowledgeTree's website, but here you go. KT is FLOSS and looks quite good after a quick read.

Re:priorities

[aoteoroa]

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

yet another dupe

[spoonyfork]

Don't forget to check the previous Ask Slashdot discussion on this very topic titled Open Source Web-Based File Management? from 2/17/05.

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.

Re:FTP != WebDAV

[huckleup]

Maybe 'uploading and downloading" is a bit vague, and maybe you were just trying do some semantics policing, but for those don't understand it all, WebDAV works very differently than FTP as far as opening, editing and saving files. It's like saying what is the difference between FTP and SMB/AFP/NFS.

You can kinda edit files on an FTP server through some hackery, but it has a slew of problems. Essentially the entire file is downloaded to a temp file, then the temp file is edited, then the entire thing is uploaded on save.

WebDAV is a networked filesystem like SMB/AFP/NFS. The editing app doesn't have to have any special support, as the file is opened/edited/saved just as if it is a local file using standard file open/read/seek/write APIs. Only the range of data that the app needs to view/edit have to be down/uploaded as the app does reads/writes (just like any networked file system.) The remote WebDAV server also supports true file locking so that someone else can't open/edit the file while it is in use (as well as other meta data like MIME type etc.) .

With FTP someone could download a file, start editing, and meanwhile someone else could download/edit/upload, then the first user uploads changes and overwrites the first edits.

So yeah, in both FTP and remote filesystems data is 'uploaded and downloaded'. But the difference in protocols makes a big difference in how it all works to the end user.

Anytime/Anywhere drive

[mcrbids]

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.

Re:priorities

[Danger Stevens]

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.

iFolder from who? Novell

[cornice]

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