Tim Watts wrote:

On 05/03/15 22:46, 7 wrote:

Use puppet - it does all that and more.

I copped out and did my own using gambas.
It took me about 3 days to write scripts that do
do file copying automatically across continents with ssh,
email log files with sendemail, etc etc etc.

I'm afraid this doesn't fit what I'm after - which is a proper network
filesystem that is suited to android and chromebook clients


Ok - picture this.

I got ssh server running on SSD
which consumes less power.

From any Linux computer from anywhere in the world,
I can run Ubuntu and in nautilus set a book mark to open
it as if it were a local storage.
I then copy paste as needed.

Linux also has rsync which is better than file copy
because it avoids duplicate file transfer and can compress
files on low bandwidth links.

Also it can be set up with cron jobs to do sync operations
frequently if needed.

Or do it more cleverly if you wrote a script
that checked first for changes to the file system
and did an rsync when there is a need
(which is what the gambas script does).


I think what you are saying is you want to be able
to do the same from Android and Chrome books?

Then that problem is down to writing applications that can do that
surely? Windows can use winscp to transfer files in a similar
way to nautilus. I'm sure android must have.
And so too chrome books.
And I believe they both also have rsync.
Again its all to do with writing applications (which probably
exist any way).

So, in the open source world, the cloud storage solution already exists in
the form of ssh server which you can set up at home.

The next thing are the applications needed to access it
for the various clients that need the access all of which
exist in some form or another.

The last part of the problem is clever applications that only do necessary
and minimal transfers - which is probably the bit
'cloud server solution providers' do differently and better
to differentiate themselves.

The solution with ssh servers is better than dropbox
because the server is not entrusted to third parties.

Dropbox in the USA can be served with secret gagging orders and the data
stolen by NSA trolls which has so far resulted in two thirds
of USA vendors of IT kit being de-listed from governments
around the world - all thanks to NSA trolls.

The system of legalised secret gagging orders and
secret data theft by unsupervised trolls in government means
public cloud storage is not viable for any kind
of sensitive data such as employee records
to commercial engineering informaton. Cloud storage
is good for marketing and web content that is
intended to be seen.