User-friendly FTP-ish program/service?

[ddrueding]

The new project I've been given (at 4PM on a Sunday) is to put together a system for providing plans/contracts to our subcontractors. Each job should have it's own subfolder. Users should be easy to create and assign read-only or read/write on a per-folder basis.

So far this is a brain-dead FTP system. But I need two complicated bits.

1. User-management system so easy that my users can add/remove accounts with little training
2. HTTP access to the site so I don't have to talk our subs through installing an FTP client.
3. Needs to be hosted somewhere; our internet connection is getting tortured already.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

 

[CougTek]

You dream you can teach construction folks how to manage access and user accounts on any computer system? Seriously?

I'm an administrator too for a construction-conglomerate and I can assure you that you are completely delusional. There are simple systems, but there are none construction-folks-friendly-enough systems.

 

[Chewy509]

I shiver as I type this, but will DropBox (or similar service) work?

 

[ddrueding]

You dream you can teach construction folks how to manage access and user accounts on any computer system? Seriously?

I'm an administrator too for a construction-conglomerate and I can assure you that you are completely delusional. There are simple systems, but there are none construction-folks-friendly-enough systems.

I'm hoping that just the estimators will need to manage users. They are not IT personnel, but they have degrees and work on computers every day. Most of them are under 40 as well, so have less fear of tech than most. (No offense intended. In my experience those that grew up with tech are more comfortable even if they have not chosen it as a hobby/interest)

I shiver as I type this, but will DropBox (or similar service) work?

'Fraid not. I need to be able to brand it and tie it in with our site somehow.

 

[Chewy509]

'Fraid not. I need to be able to brand it and tie it in with our site somehow.

http://www.gladinet.com/serviceprovider/selfhosteddropbox.aspx
http://web.appstorm.net/reviews/file-management/owncloud-your-self-hosted-dropbox-alternative/

Not recommendations, but DropBox like services that can be self-hosted and themed...

 

[Chewy509]

http://www.gladinet.com/serviceprovider/selfhosteddropbox.aspx
http://web.appstorm.net/reviews/file-management/owncloud-your-self-hosted-dropbox-alternative/

Not recommendations, but DropBox like services that can be self-hosted and themed...

OwnCloud seems to be very well liked as well (lot's of positive reviews)... (OwnCloud was/is written by one of the KDE maintainers).

 

[Mercutio]

Couldn't you just set up WebDAV and let them manage the folders through Windows Explorer?

 

[Howell]

1. User-management system so easy that my users can add/remove accounts with little training
2. HTTP access to the site so I don't have to talk our subs through installing an FTP client.
3. Needs to be hosted somewhere; our internet connection is getting tortured already.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

What kind of restrictions do you have for #3?

Honestly, iis7 is really easy to administrate. You just create a local user, create a folder for them and you're done. You could probably even give the admins a simpler, scripted interface.

Users type FTP:// into windows explorer as a client.

Otherwise, FileZilla client is very user friendly. I would expect the server to be so also but I haven't used it.

 

[Howell]

Is it just a matter of providing the documents? What about utilizing email or google drive?

 

[ddrueding]

Documents are most often PDF, but DWG, XLS(X), DOC(X), and TIFF also happen. File size can occasionally exceed 100MB. The only reason I wanted it hosted elsewhere is that internet connectivity to our site is very expensive due to it's location, and I don't want to incur that expense for hosting files elsewhere.

I contacted our website admin (the website is run by our ad firm) and he says he has a product that would work. I'm skeptical, but have a test-drive scheduled for tomorrow afternoon.

 

[Mercutio]

I really, truly wince at the idea, but Sharepoint is kind of made for this sort of thing. You can also share folders in Google Docs, but that might not be the most natural workflow in the world for a lot of people, especially if a lot of random folks might be uploading to any one folder.

The falling down for any system I cank think of off the top of my head - including configuring a server someplace with FTP or WebDAV - is going to be user and security management. People will forget how because they don't do it often, or else they'll just set everything to "Everyone - Full Control" so they don't have to be bothered with it. Nothing I can think of will legitimately be on auotpilot from an administrator standpoint.

 

[Mercutio]

For what it's worth, I pay $50/month for a 1U server on an unmetered 50Mbit connection in a Colo that's 45 minutes from my apartment. If you have serious bandwidth constraints, it might be productive to move some of your crap off-site.

 

[ddrueding]

For what it's worth, I pay $50/month for a 1U server on an unmetered 50Mbit connection in a Colo that's 45 minutes from my apartment. If you have serious bandwidth constraints, it might be productive to move some of your crap off-site.

I've been playing with the idea of doing that for quite a while (just for personal stuff), but it is an excellent idea. There might be a couple places in San Jose that are competitive in this regard. Thanks!