Simple file server advice?

On or about 12/12/06 11:57 AM, thus spake "curtis corlew"
<curtiscorlew.com>:

> All I'm after is a shared space for students to put stories and pages they're
> working on.

Dot-Mac Public Folder?

m.

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On 12-Dec-2006, at 12:57, curtis corlew wrote:

> I'm looking for a cheap (or better yet, free) non- geeky software
> to run a simple file server in my Mac journalism lab.

[snip]

> All I'm after is a shared space for students to put stories and
> pages they're working on. I don't even need separate accounts.

I'd setup a WebDAV space then.

> I would be nice if it were easy to implement and didn't require I
> learn a new OS....or delve into the terminal window....

Ah, well.... that's asking a lot. I don't know of any GUI webDAV
tools, though I'd not be surprised. I set mine up in httpd.conf
something like this:

<VirtualHost *>
    ServerName webdav.mymac.local
    DocumentRoot /Users/me/Public/
    ErrorLog /Users/me/.webdav_error.log
    CustomLog //Users/me/.webdav_access_log combined
    DavLockDB /tmp/DavLock.mewebdav
    <location />
      DAV On
      AuthType basic
      AuthName WebDAV
      AuthUserFile /Users/me/.htdavpass
      Options All
      ForceType text/plain
      <Limit PUT POST DELETE PROPFIND PROPPATCH MKCOL COPY MOVE LOCK
UNLOCK>
         require valid-user
      </Limit>
    </location>
</VirtualHost>


A few notes, the logile and error file are named with a . just to
keep from polluting the finder view of my $HOME directory. You could
also make a log/ folder to put the logs in.

The .htdavpass file has to be created using the htpasswd utility from
the command line, it's very simple:

htpasswd -bc /Users/me/.htdavpass user pass

just replace user and pass with what you want. To add another user,
just do

htpasswd -b /Users/me/.htdavpass user pass

the ForceType text/plain is very important and will not mess up
binary files, but not having it WILL mess up any .php files, if php
is enabled on your webserver, for example.

It's pretty basic security (just HTTP AUTH) but should be good enough
for a LAN where you're just trying to share files.

curtis corlew said:

>Apple's Personal Sharing limits me to 10 users and I have 20.
...
>All I'm after is a shared space for students to put stories and pages
>they're working on. I don't even need separate accounts.


The easiest solution is not to have all 20 logged onto the network at the
same time. If only 10 at a time or logged on, things should be fine.

This free program allows any Mac to push files to anyone or everyone on
the network, but it doesn't allow you to query other Macs and download
from them:

Schick (free)
<http://www.wurst-wasser.net/cgi-bin/wurst-wasser.net/wiki.pl?SoftwareProje
ctSchick>

Check out:

iGet ($50)
http://www.fivespeed.com/iget/

You could also use FTP.

Setting up an FTP server is easy. Put your Mac into FTP Server mode by
going into the Sharing pane in System Preferences and enable the FTP
Access checkbox. The IP address to access your Mac will be shown at the
bottom of the pane.

Other Macs on the network can access the server using their favorite Mac
FTP client. Here is a free one:

OneButton FTP
http://www.onebutton.org/

Randy B. Singer

Co-Author of:
The Macintosh Bible (4th, 5th and 6th editions)

OS X Routine Maintenance
http://www.macattorney.com/ts.html

On Dec 12, 2006, at 1:57 PM, curtis corlew wrote:

> All I'm after is a shared space for students to put stories and
> pages they're working on. I don't even need separate accounts.
>
> I would be nice if it were easy to implement and didn't require I
> learn a new OS....or delve into the terminal window....

The 'simplest', if everyone IS using Mac OS X or WinXP, would be to
get a dotMAC account and use iDisk. It would keep the file space OFF
of your system, and remote, thus somewhat more secure as far as your
own mac is concerned, and it is zero config for the students if they
are given the idisk name/login password to the public folder,
assuming you set a password (it isn't required, actually).
Unfortunately, it's not free, but not too expensive for educators.
And accessibility is good. For sharing of low-sensitivity files, it
works very well. Technically, you would not need to change your G4's
OS to do any of this. IF you were going to change it to Mac OS X
anyway, then there are a myriad of localized solutions for Mac OS X
built right in, but slightly more 'geeky' in implementation. I'd
recommend buying "Take Control of Sharing Files in Tiger" <http://
www.takecontrolbooks.com/tiger-sharing.html?> if you
upgrade to Mac OS X and wish for a home brewed solution.

Jeffrey

curtis corlew said:

>Apple's Personal Sharing limits me to 10 users and I have 20.
...
>All I'm after is a shared space for students to put stories and pages
>they're working on. I don't even need separate accounts.


You might find this program to be suitable for your needs:

Desktop Transporter ($30)
http://www.devon-technologies.com/products/desktoptransporter/index.html

Randy B. Singer

Co-Author of:
The Macintosh Bible (4th, 5th and 6th editions)

OS X Routine Maintenance
http://www.macattorney.com/ts.html

If all you need is file storage, I'd take a look at a low-cost NAS (network
attached storage) product. These are single-function machines which serve
storage on a network. Most have a web-based administration tool, so while
it's a new device, it's hardly learning Linux or something to get them
working.

There's some consumer/prosumer level stuff sold under LaCie, Maxtor and
Buffalo brands, plus some do-it-yourself kits which have a bare bones system
and you just add drives to it. Some offer up to a terabyte or more of
storage.

Most (all?) don't offer an Appleshare/HFS filesystem, so you'll end up using
SMB or NFS, but under OS X, that's all pretty transparent.

Here's a few products you could look at. I don't have much experience in any
of them, but there's plenty of reviews online. Search for "network storage"
or "NAS".

<http://www.lacie.com/se/products/product.htm?pid=10837>
<http://www.maxtorsolutions.com/en/catalog/MSS_II_Dual/>

--Nik

I'm using a Buffalo Linkstation. It supports both AppleShare and SMB, although their AppleShare implementation messes up long file names. I installed OpenLink firmware and I'm now using NFS, which works a lot better than either SMB or AppleShare.

In general, I find NFS to be the most reliable and most transparent file server protocol, since it's supported in the kernel.

--On December 19, 2006 4:25:58 AM -0800 mike cohen <mike3kgmail.com> wrote:

> In general, I find NFS to be the most reliable and most transparent file
> server protocol, since it's supported in the kernel. --

I tried NFS many OS X releases ago (10.2 maybe?) with my Linux server
and just didn't like it. Mainly I had problems with unicode filenames (I
was attempting to use it with iTunes and apparently have a lot of albums
with unicode filenames.)

I switched to AppleShare using the latest version of Netatalk available and
it has been great. It's really fast and all the filenames work fine.
Haven't had any problems using it with iTunes.

<http://netatalk.sourceforge.net/>

Fortunately I have my own server instead of Buffalo station and could
upgrade as needed.

Kevin