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?"

Not so hard

[AKAImBatman (238306)]

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 / [tldp.org]

First Google result, even. :-)

Re:Not so hard

[millahtime (710421)]

your basic non-geek user can find ftp programs a little complicated to use (don't ask why, I don't get it). Web based does allow for a certain level of comfort and ease for non-tech users.

Re:Not so hard

[AKAImBatman (238306)]

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 (645332)]

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

Re:Not so hard

[pizen (178182)]

You've obviously never worked at a University.

Quite the opposite, actually. If you provide a service and say "we provide a service that allows you to do and here's a link to a tutorial we wrote teaching you how to use it" the students who want to use the service will read the tutorial and learn. The others won't probably because they don't think it's a better solution that what they had been doing (floppies, cd, or emailing to themselves).

Even if it's the most intuitive, user-friendly system in the wo

Re:Not so hard

[danheskett (178529)]

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.

Re:Not so hard

[breadiu (706188)]

1. FTP is great, but there are two problems (as far as our organization is concerned) - it requires a client and credentials are sent unencrypted (FTP over SSL is possible, although it still leaves the client problem). Everyone knows how to go to a webpage, but fewer know how to install and use an FTP client.

2. The article doesn't look like it details how to set up anything comparable to the Xythos solution. It's pretty much shows how to enable WebDAV with Apache, which is not what I was asking. I wa

Re:Not so hard

[EnronHaliburton2004 (815366)]

In my experience, a simple FTP client is too confusing for many tech-novices. In Windows Explorer, they can sometimes do "CTRL+select" to select individual items, and that is about as technical as they want to get.

I hear that Windows Explorer supposedly supports WebDAV, but I haven't seen any examples of it. A WebDAV server that would allow my clients to use Explorer would be ideal.

Re:priorities

[aoteoroa (596031)]

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 [kuro5hin.org] or
Fark [fark.com]

Re:priorities

[Danger Stevens (869074)]

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.

MFile

[GPLDAN (732269)]

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/ [umich.edu]

Re:MFile

[aat (106366)]

But you have at least 1 gig of reliable backed up storage that's web servable. I've been near or over quota for almost 8 years now :-)

Knowledge Tree

[pgp4privacy (656621)]

http://kt-dms.sourceforge.net/ [sourceforge.net]

Re:Knowledge Tree

[pgp4privacy (656621)]

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

Re:Knowledge Tree

[by Anonymous Coward]

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

web based

[millahtime (710421)]

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.

Re:web based

[EnronHaliburton2004 (815366)]

Subversion [tigris.org] works over WebDAV, and it supports versioning.

I'm curious if Subversion could be used as a regular WebDAV server for this sort of use. Not quite sure how the versioning would work, since regular folks don't want to have a check-in comment every time they add a file to the repository ...

Openfiler is what you want.

[iago (4917)]

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

Re:Openfiler is what you want.

[hey (83763)]

According to the "about" page it seems to require "CentOS Linux". Er, maybe I don't want to run that distro.

Dead Horse

[Leroy_Brown242 (683141)]

FTP looks like the popular answer.
I suggest sftp or other slightly more secure options.

WebRFM or the HORDE

[Chalex (71702)]

Our school uses WebRFM as basically a web-based file management client. It's ugly, but it works. http://mail.rochester.edu/ [rochester.edu]

The HORDE Gollem is a promising project also. http://www.horde.org/gollem/ [horde.org]

Zope/Plone

[t482 (193197)]

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

Re:Zope/Plone

[cornice (9801)]

Don't forget:

ATManaged File - http://www.enfoldsystems.com/Products/Open/ATMana g edFile [enfoldsystems.com]
ATManagedFile allows you to store metadata in the database while keeping File assets on the servers file system. Content is treated like a first-class citizen in Plone, it can be transitioned (workflow), edited, copy/pasted. Metadata for content can be described through Archetype schema's. A managed_files tool enables administrators to specify where content is stored, the deletion policy, as well as the stored files

OWL Intranet

[CHR1S (694833)]

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

Web document systems suck

[Colin Smith (2679)]

Compared to network file systems. Slow, clunky, inconvenient. In a university, any reason AFS won't do the trick [openafs.org]? It can even run encrypted if you don't trust the network you're running over.

FTP all the way

[infernalC (51228)]

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/ [jscape.com]

Here's an OSS one:
http://j-ftp.sourceforge.net/ [sourceforge.net]

Gmail.

[Shadow Wrought (586631)]

Get an account for everyone. I have 50 invites for you if you're interested;-)

SharePoint

[wasabii (693236)]

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!

Re:SharePoint

[wasabii (693236)]

It looks a bit weird, but the core funcationlity remains. It is a plain webDAV server at it's heart, and you can access it with open source tools. Some of the special integration that Office offeres doesn't work though.

Answered own question

[DrZaius (6588)]

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 (115711)]

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

Yes it does. This is a stupid article.

Re:Answered own question

[masukomi (229249)]

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 (209597)]

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 (6325)]

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 f

squirelmail has a plugin

[Stone316 (629009)]

If I recall correctly squiremail has a plugin for allocating some space to users. Check it out. Link to squirrelmail plugin [squirrelmail.org]

How long can you wait?

[soren42 (700305)]

If you can wait and/or contribute, the IdeaForge module from the akoria project [sourceforge.net] 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 [sourceforge.net] 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

Write Your Own

[Comatose51 (687974)]

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.

Multiple protocols

[dafz1 (604262)]

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.

Depends upon the projected load...

[Leomania (137289)]

If the server is going to be busy, OS X probably wouldn't be a good choice. AnandTech had a review [anandtech.com] 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.

How about Subversion?

[nvrrobx (71970)]

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*

Re:How about Subversion?

[jungd (223367)]

Here Here. While older versions of subversion didn't support full WebDAV (just a subset needed by the svn client), the lastest versions do.
Subversion will also give you the option of using regular files or a SQL DB for storage and you'll have versioning for 'free'.

SCP

[Richard_J_N (631241)]

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 (101172)]

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.

yet another dupe

[spoonyfork (23307)]

Don't forget to check the previous Ask Slashdot discussion on this very topic titled Open Source Web-Based File Management? [slashdot.org] 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 (148650)]

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 [google.com]

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.

iFolder from who? Novell

[cornice (9801)]

Novell has GPLed their file sharing system and renamed it iFolder:

http://www.ifolder.com/ [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

Great minds think alike

[Ironsides (739422)]

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

Re:Easy...

[chipster (661352)]

"I programmed one in PHP for my own website..."

Neat.

"How hard could it be?"

Umm..."hard" for someone who doesn't know how to script/program perhaps?

"I mean, it's even completely opensource!"

I perused your website, and found no code anywhere. Maybe you are referring to the PHP engine/interpreter itself as "opensource" (sic)?

Please help us out here and tell us what value your comment offers.

Re:Great

[breadiu (706188)]

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

Re:FTP != WebDAV

[huckleup (636485)]

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 upl