turbo
Gold..... What is it good for? You can't eat it, you can't smoke it, yet everybody wants it.
posted
I have to set up an FTP site for my work. Our product documentation changes on a regular basis and our sales people are spread out all over the world. I want them to be able to access the latest documentation at all times from anywhere, so I've been asked to set up an FTP site. However, tiny little problem: I haven't got a clue how to do this! Is there an easy way to set up an FTP site? Where can I find a good hosting company (doesn't have to be free)? I can do it via the 'mother company' we're a part of but then I'm going to have to spend $300 per month just so my sales people can access a few documents - for that money I can personally bring the documents to them. All tips/info/warnings/suggestions will be gratefully received!!
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It just so happens that the company I work for has just developed an online document manager called DocMonster for exactly the sort of purpose you describe.
It's very lovely to use and can be accessed securely through any web browser.
posted
OK. If you email me what you'd like your monster to be called, and the username you'd like then I'll set you up an account and email your password back.
My Email...
fantata at gmail dot com
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posted
Another option (sorry Bill) is to use an open source 'free' piece of software like http://www.Siteframe.org which basicaly lets you upload documents via the web and then lets people comment on them, or just download them.
Your probably thinking that this might be a pain to install, but a lot of hosting packages come with something called 'fantastico' which lets you install scripts by literally clicking a few links,and guess what, siteframe is one of them.
One company which offers this is www.ukwsd.com which has packages going from £20.99 a year for 100MB of space.
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You could use php-nuke or mambo and do one or both of the following. You could publish your documents via it's article section or/and you could put the files in the included download managers so that the clients can download the files from within a webbrowser.
Or, you could do this. Use Celerondude's Directory Indexer to graphically render the contents of your 'folder' of documents. The benefits of this is that the user can't browse to your parent directory as you can do (unless you know what you are doing about securing a ftp server), and it's grapical so it's just a matter of clicking on the file to download or view it.
If the people who are 'publishing' your content aren't very savvy with uploading and whatnot, you can couple the indexer with Celerondude's Uploader script so that when you need up add files to the site, you just do it through a browser. Similar to Misc's image hosting.
All of these options will mean you need to have a webhost (but, so would setting up an FTP server providing you wouldn't be running it from the corperate network). You could use Web-Mania that gives you: # 500MB of disk space # 6GB of data transfer per month # Frontpage extensions version 2002 # Unlimited POP3 mail@yourdomain.com # Unlimited mail forwarding mail@yourdomain.com # Webmail for POP3 accounts # Email is filtered for Spam and Viruses # Unlimited subdomains of your domain name e.g. http://subdomain.yourdomain.com/ # CGI-BIN directory # Control Panel # Perl 5 # PHP 4 # SSI (server side includes) # MySQL Database # phpMyAdmin for MySQL management # SSH access # Full FTP access # Detailed visitor statistics # Close control downflow air conditioning units. # UPS system and Generator back-up
for £20 a year.
Or, if your boss wants you to set up an FTP server using your corperate network, you can't beat BulletProof. Very simple to set up, very simple to admin, very secure. Downsides are if you don't have a static IP, you'll either have to buy one or use a service like no-ip to get one and the computer that has the files has to be on and accessible to the public 24/7 which isn't always practical in a corperate setting unless you dedicate one box with its own connection.
There are also other scripts that you can use that will provide both you as the 'admin' with good features and usability and your 'clients' with a simple interface, but you still need a webhost and they are commericial scripts and are paid-for.
Doing what I 'do', I know some stuff about FTPs if you get stuck, I may be able to help you if needed.
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posted
Failing that, I'm available for freelance work and can be put on retainer!
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posted
Alternatively, if you're using a windows server just look for the c:\inetpub\ftproot directory on your public web server and stick any files into it.
quote:Originally posted by Bandy: if you're using a windows server
Why on earth would anyone do that?
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turbo
Gold..... What is it good for? You can't eat it, you can't smoke it, yet everybody wants it.
posted
So let me get this straight. I first need to set up an account with a hosting company, for example, Wanadoo or Yahoo. Then I can get an FTP thingie and Bob's my uncle.
It has to be secure - I don't want our competitors getting hold of all our product specifications in one easy move. Also, I can't use our company's website because it has too many firewalls etc to make that possible (others have tried and failed).
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quote:Originally posted by turbo: So let me get this straight. I first need to set up an account with a hosting company, for example, Wanadoo or Yahoo.
quote:Originally posted by turbo: Then I can get an FTP thingie and Bob's my uncle.
With a good featured hosting account, you can assign other ftp logins if you choose not to go via a web-based system.
quote:Originally posted by turbo: It has to be secure - I don't want our competitors getting hold of all our product specifications in one easy move.
If you don't go for a web based delivery system that you can control through registration or .htaccess, then you'll have to know your onions to set up a secure ftp.
quote:Originally posted by turbo: Also, I can't use our company's website because it has too many firewalls etc to make that possible (others have tried and failed).
Then they don't know what they are doing. As long as they forward the necessary ports, anything is possible, no matter how 'secure' the connection is.
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turbo
Gold..... What is it good for? You can't eat it, you can't smoke it, yet everybody wants it.
posted
OK, I willgo for a web-based system. It doesn't need to be super secure, it's not like I work for NASA. Our specs in the wrong hands would be annoying at most, so that's not a must.
So, to summarise: I sign up for a webmania account and then I sign up for an FTP account and then we're done?
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posted
You could use one of the pre-exsisting thinks like Docmonster or whatever, but then you have a re-occuring fee. Whereas if you set it up via a domain, you pay one time a year and yer done.
As to how to go about it. You have to buy a domain first, probably something like www.mycompanydocs.co.uk or whatever. Do that here. Once that is paid for, go to web-mania or where ever you choose to host it and sign up for an account using the domain you just purchased.
24-48 hours later, the internet will 'see' your domain and you will be 'live' and you can start doing what you need doing.
As I said, I have set some of this stuff up before so you if you need help, gimme a shout and I'll see what I can do for you.
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quote: Originally posted by Bandy: Does it have version control and audit trails?
It does have version control, yes.
The system is controlled by user management. The Admin user can set up unlimited user accounts, so you always know who has access to what.
You can also see who's uploaded what, although not who has viewed files quite yet.
DocMonster is still in the Beta test stage at the minute and a number of features are on the way - a more comprehensive audit trail is certainly one of them.
If you can think of any features that we might not have thought of, please let me know & help the 'Get Bill Oddie a pay-rise' campaign
[ 21.01.2005, 11:32: Message edited by: Bill Oddie ]
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