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. :-)

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"

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.

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.

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.

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?

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