Just a quick post to let everyone that Filehost has been upgraded to OwnCloud 8. There aren’t very many user facing changes, it is mostly a backend update for our specific instance. Which makes my life easier. 🙂
I do suggest that you double check that your sync client is up to date.
We will be turning SFTP access to media.lanecc.edu files off the first week of January, 2015. After the first week of January, 2015, all media.lanecc.edu files must be managed through Filehost.
The only change to media.lanecc.edu files is that you will add, delete, and update them through Filehost instead of through a ftp client. Everything else stays the same.
To manage your media.lanecc.edu files through Filehost, just navigate into your ‘mediaserver’ folder. That folder is the root of your media.lanecc.edu/users/username account. So a mediaserver/foo.txt file can be viewed at media.lanecc.edu/users/username/foo.txt.
This also applies to media.lanecc.edu/courses/acctname and media.lanecc.edu/acctname accounts. The username/password for these accounts should be the same as when you used to use SFTP.
Remember that there are several ways to manage files. See http://doc.owncloud.org/server/7.0/user_manual/#file-access-and-management
The web interface at https://filehost.lanecc.edu is great for single files or deleting a folder. WebDAV and the sync client are best when dealing with many files.
For more information, see: https://blogs.lanecc.edu/webteam/2014/05/19/announcing-filehost-lanes-very-own-internal-cloud-storage
As with the Media Server, support is provided by the ATC. If you need help, just ask. http://www.lanecc.edu/atc
Filehost has been upgraded to the latest version of OwnCloud. Here’s a very brief overview of some of the changes:
I’d also encourage you to check and update your sync clients if there’s an update available.
As of right now, every single active Lane Community College employee has access to their own https://filehost.lanecc.edu account. They just have to log in with their normal L# and passphrase combination.
Filehost is a Lane specific file syncing and sharing service, running on an application called OwnCloud. It is a service very similar to Dropbox, you could almost call it a clone. OwnCloud is an open source application that we manage ourselves, on our own hardware.
OwnCloud’s sync apps keep your files synced across almost any device you have, Mac, Windows, Android, or iOS. To manage sharing files, and single file uploads, there is a web interface accessible from any modern browser.
Embedding media in Moodle courses and sharing folders with students is something already provided by the media.lanecc.edu server. Thus, a really good question arises. Why not just use the Media Server?
The answer: As soon as we can do so without causing instructors and students a lot of problems, we will be retiring the Media Server from service. Don’t panic, you will not be losing any data, and we will make sure to let you know of any major changes before the changes actually occur.
The main reason we are retiring it, boils down to security. The Media Server runs on software that is not easily upgraded. Thus, when that software releases a security update, it can take a while for us to get that update applied to the Media Server.
So far we have not had any problems. But, prevention is a much better method than having to fix things after we’ve been hit. So, what we need to do is move the Media Server to a platform that is easily updated. That platform is Filehost.
We also want to provide a better user experience. The Media Server is only accessible with a FTP client. FTP clients are not all that easy to use. The ATC frequently has to help users with them.
Even just the initial set up of a Media Server account is a bad experience on both sides of the system. The user has to talk to the ATC, the ATC has to talk to the sysadmin, the sysadmin has to set the account up, and then the ATC has to talk to the user again. The way Filehost just lets you log in if you’re an active employee, is much better.
Password protecting files on the Media Server is so painful, we stopped telling people we could do it.
All in all, retiring the Media Server will give users a better experience, and make maintenance issues simpler. It’s a win-win for both users and supporters.
If you have a current Media Server account, you can already access and manage your files through Filehost. If you log into Filehost, you will see a directory call “mediaserver”. That directory contains the exact same content as you would see in your ftp client. Uploading/deleting files via Filehost does exactly the same thing as if you did so via your FTP client.
At this point in time, you are strongly urged to use Filehost for all Media Server file management. If you have issues, contact the ATC.
Eventually we will turn off FTP client access to Media Server files. Of course, we’ll give you plenty of notice beforehand, and you will always be able to manage your files via Filehost.
We currently plan on keeping your media.lanecc.edu urls working, even after FTP client access is turned off. The complicated part is that we would like to eventually retire the media.lanecc.edu urls and free up media.lanecc.edu for other uses.
Of course, that would mean a bunch of your links would stop working. So we have to figure out how to turn off the urls without causing you a lot of problems. We’re still figuring that out.
Rest assured, if we ever do figure it out, we will give you plenty of notice.
For now, your URLs will keep working the way they always have.
All that said, it would be awesome if you’d start switching all your links to Media Server files over to links from Filehost. In the long run, sharing via Filehost will provide more features than anything the Media Server urls can do.
If you are running a website in your Media Server account, then sharing the mediaserver folder in Filehost, could open up security issues. Specifically, the way Filehost shares folders would enable people to download your site files. Including any dynamic scripts or other files. So, if you have a website on the Media Server, do NOT share the mediaserver folder in Filehost.
If we do retire media.lanecc.edu URLs, then all sites hosted on the Media Server will cease functioning. Filehost only serves files. It cannot serve websites. If you need a website hosted on Lane servers for functionality not provided by Moodle or blogs.lanecc.edu, then come talk to us. We do have a solution for you.
Resources at Lane are not infinite. No matter how much we try to make them so. Thus, we ask that you only store college related files on Filehost. Please do not store personal music, pictures, books, etc.
We’d also ask that you make sure to share all your files with appropriate people. In the event you are unable to work, we don’t want essential files trapped in your account when your backup person needs them.
(Side note: in development is a way to share with groups of people, it’s still buggy right now, so we aren’t releasing it, but in the future you’ll be able to share with your whole department at once, instead of selecting each individual member by name.)
Filehost is an awesome new service that should help increase productivity. We hope you enjoy it!