I have a contract with a web hosting service (1&1) and as part of that I get FTP space, I can set-up FTP accounts, etc. My question is this…
Is there some open source software I can install so that clients/customers don’t need an FTP client to upload or download files? I want them to basically be able to go to a website that I brand and upload and download files.
I’ve tried services like YouSendIt that are more email based, but the problem there is that we want a library of documents that clients can access.
Windows has an FTP client built in. You can do it two ways.
One is to use Windows Explorer (you know, it opens up when you click My Documents). There is an address bar on the top (if you you don’t see it, go to the menu for View, Toolbar, and then click on Address Bar), and you can type something like ftp://domain.com and it will prompt you for a login.
The other way is to go to Start, Run, and then type cmd to bring up a command window (looks like DOS). Then type
I guess I wanted to make this as easy on disparate customers as possible. I wanted the instructions to be the same whether they used FireFox, a Windows PC or a Mac, which is why I was hoping there was something browser-based - even if I have to install the software on my web server…
By chance I have just set up a site for someone who is using 1&1 so I am slightly familiar with their FTP interface and it is not so bad although personally I have been using FTPExplorer for years and that is what I am using in this case too.
I am afraid I am not understanding what you want to do.
Unless I am misunderstanding something the software they would use to upload/download files is, be definition, an FTP client.
As has been pointed out, Browsers can be used as FTP clients but IMHO Internet Explorer sucks and I have never really used it having stuck, as I say, with FTP Explorer.
I have found that different versions of IE behave in totally different ways when used as FTP clients so I don’t even bother.
FTPX is a nice, simple, little program which used to be free and I believe has gone to pay but I have the old installer and continue to use the free version. Maybe the pay version has more bells and whistles but the free version 1 does everything I need.
Check to see if your web host allows you to install an FTP service. If they don’t, your web users will need to use one of their own.
The better freeware ones out there are the already mentioned Firefox addon FireFTP and FileZilla. The top five (for Mac and Windows) as voted by LifeHacker recently may be found here.
If your web host allows you to install a FTP server, find out the requirements (if your web host doesn’t already have something installed), and run your own search.
It depends on exactly what functionality you need and how much trouble you want to go thru to get this set up.
There is something like this:
It appears to be a J2EE app so that means you would have to install a J2EE container at your website, if you don’t already. If you do, this should be pretty easy to install.
The functionality seems rudimentary, but essentially it appears to act as an FTP gateway, which means that you will be able to leverage the ftp server (meaning separate accounts/directories/permissions for each individual user, etc.)
If this doesn’t fit the bill you might want to google for other ‘ftp gateway’ solutions.
Again, maybe I’m missing something or maybe we are just making this unnecessarily complicated. The web host provides an FTP server and there is nothing you need to install in the server to use it. It is already there.
The question is regardin the FTP client on the other end. The question seems to be “how can I make all clients behave exactly the same?” and the answer is you can’t. Each client behaves differently and the only way you can make them behave the same is by having everybody use the same client.
And the obvious answer is to use the client provided by the hosting company themselves because it is browser based. You go to their customer interface, open the FTP interface and upload away. Nobody needs to install anything and they all have the same interface. But you can’t make my own program behave like your different program because… well, they are different programs.
I think that the OP has server storage space and ftp accounts for his clients, and wants to give said clients access to the storage space via a browser.
Something like Knowledge Tree. Or Horde (webmail but does File access via FTP)
There are Java container CIFS systems that will allow authenticated access that looks like a network drive (it is, but a bit slower).
Your other option is to set up a webdav interface to the file stores - Mac, PC and Linux users all have built in clients.
Again, the other option is to just use the web FTP interface provided by 1&1, the hosting company. I can’t think of anything simpler. Or, again, am I missing something here?
The OP won’t be able to brand the interface to fit in with the rest of his web site.
Yep, that too. I’ve not seen it, but it looks ok.
I’ve used a couple of web-based file managers - some were ok, some weren’t. It’s a common itch to scratch.
Query for the OP: What are you using to set up the website?
If you use a CMS you should get integrated File Management/Upload/Download tools which will be integrated with the site templates and branding, and User Logins/Access Control if that is what you want.
Thanks everyone for all the replies - there have been some good links. To clarify my needs:
[ul]
[li]I am helping a company that has a group of 12 designers that create landscape designs.[/li][li]These designers need to share files with sub-contractors and vendors across the country.[/li][li]Many of these other sub-contractors do not use ftp on a regular basis, so to ease the support questions of “what do I need to do?” instead of instructing them to go and download a particular ftp client, and give them detailed instructions of how to use it, I was hoping I could direct them to a web site with some Java or ActiveX control where they could perhaps drag and drop the files to and from their desktop.[/li][li]To increase the professionalism, I ideally wanted the web site to have the company logo, and some other branding elements.[/li][li]The company web site was built using DreamWeaver, but I’m open to suggestions of what to use for the ftp portion. Mambo is used for the company’s intranet, but I’m not that familiar with it, so maybe there is functionality there I can use. Otherwise if someone knows of an open-source CMS that has browser-based ftp-like functionality, that would work.[/li][li]The PHP File Manager functionality and platform sounds good in concept, but the interface looks fat too techy for my audience.[/li]
[/ul]
If there isn’t a good browser-based ftp client that I can tailor, we can write some instructions for people to download a popular, free ftp client but I was hoping to explore the browser-based approach first.
Well what you want is a “web based file manager”. I’m afraid searching for a “browser-based ftp client” will yield you browser extensions/plug-ins that do FTP and looking for a “web based ftp client” will most likely yield you a web based FTP client – something like a Java applet/CGI application that implements a File Transport Protocol client with the ugliness of connecting to a specific FTP host (which you’d have to hardcode back to yourself), transferring files with permissions, passive vs active modes, anonymous vs. logged in access, etc.
This is most certainly not something you want – you already have a web server so you need an application that lets you view, upload and download files on the same server. No reason to throw FTP in the mix.
What about the fact that without using the FTP server, you have to roll your own way of managing the different users’ accounts and home directories? Granted, the applications you linked to have done this to some extent, but none of them are free.
A simple webapp-based ftp gateway will take care of all the FTP-related details you mentioned such as passive/active mode but at the same time you get to administer users the standard unix way (or windows, depending on the server obviously). Permissions, space quotas, logging, etc. all leverage the underlying OS’s built-in mechanisms.
The apps you mention do look kind of nice tho and don’t seem to be prohibitively expensive. So I’m not saying they’re not good options as well. It also depends on the needs, e.g., some of them allow the end user to register themselves, something which is obviously impossible with an ftp server.
I’ve never dealt with that sort of management at the FTP server end. In the systems I have dealt with, things like accounts, permissions, quotas, folders, (other than bandwidth restrictions and anonymous access) was always configured on the OS level. I haven’t used any of the products I linked to, but I also do not know the particular configuration of the OP. I would choose something that can handle all those things using pam.
It’s not clear from the OP if he can even change mappings, set up quotas, etc. It seems to be a web hosting account with the ability to add users, so depending on what that actually means different solutions will be more or less feasible.
Another issue is that running a CGI FTP client may very well be against the TOS of the host, and running a Java FTP client might be impossible based on client security configuration for Java network access and FTP server domain/IP.
Well the OP said he has ftp space and the ability to create accounts, etc. What you said is true – accounts etc. are handled by the OS. At least in unix, the OS users are the same as the FTP users (by default – there are some exceptions). So there is no additional maintenance for FTP users.
It may be against the TOS, I agree, but client security should not come into play if I understand the OP. The webserver should be on the same machine as the FTP server, so as long as a user can ftp to localhost on the server, so can a java app.
According to Sun, the domain name originating the applet must be the same as the one you connect to. As long as that name resolves to an IP that can be used to access the FTP server – this can also be a problem if a SOCKS proxy is required. Applet’s inability to use anything but passive-mode (due to ban on listening sockets) can also be a concern.
I don’t know enough about Flash, but there also might be Flash FTP clients around.
Well, I’m talking about a J2EE webapp, not an applet. So it runs on the server, not in the client’s browser. There wouldn’t be any access issues there.