Enterprise File Fabric™
We have implemented a new folder sharing feature for Business Cloud / on-site Enterprise File Share and Sync Users. It simply provides the ability to share folders and sub-folders of files with external companies or other users who can receive the link, enter the password and gain access to the files without the need for an SME Account.
The video below shows the feature in action.
by 
WebDav is an acronym for Web Distributed Authoring and Versioning and can also be referred to as just plain old DAV.
WebDav is an extension of the HTTP protocol that was originally designed by Jim Whitehead from the University of California at Santa Cruz in 1996 when he was working at the World Wide Web consortium and it later became an Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) standard.
WebDav was built as an interoperable standard to support remote collaborative authoring of Web sites and individual documents, as well as remote access to document based systems.
Today it It is the most popular network file-system protocol for use across the Internet, and although it has been integrated as a interoperable layer into many existing product implementations it is also notably missing as an interoperable API standard from many, such as DropBox, Google Drive, Amazon S3 and more.
The Storage Made Easy WebDav Gateway
SME provide a way to access any mapped cloud by secure WebDav irrespective of whether the underlying Cloud Supports the WebDav protocol natively. As WebDav is so well supported in many desktop and mobile Apps this means that Cloud Data can easily be integrated and accessible without having to move it to access the features of a particular Application that is WebDav enabled.
Connecting to WebDav Servers and Windows Shares
SME can also be configured to connect to servers that support the WebDav protocol. This use of WebDav from a SME perspective is using WebDav as a back end cloud to store data rather than exposing existing clouds to be accessible using the WebDav protocol.
Many existing NAS or SAN devices such as those as the NetGear ReadyNAS and the Synology devices range already provide WebDav as an access protocol to access data. Also existing web servers such as Apache can also be configured to use WebDav using the Mod Dav extension.
Many users of SME want to expose windows file shares and make them directly available through the SME service to all devices. The most appropriate and secure way to do this is not to expose such shares directly but to configure Microsoft Internet Information Server to expose these shares over WebDav.
Advantages of WebDav for Windows File Sharing
This has the following advantages:
Seamless integration with the IIS Manager
A secondary protocol provides a security DMZ with regards to direct access to windows shares
IIS WebDAV can be enabled at the site level, allowing IT administrators to restrict WebDAV access to specific sites on a server.
IIS WebDAV supports per-URL authoring rules, allowing administrators to specify custom WebDAV security settings on a per-URL basis. This fine-grained control gives administrators the ability to maintain one set of security settings for normal HTTP requests and a separate set of security settings for WebDAV.
IIS WebDAV supports both shared and exclusive locks to prevent lost updates due to overwrites
WebDAV supports secure connection as well. By enabling HTTPS over all WebDAV connections, security is fortified. SSL certificates can also be installed to increases security measures
Why WebDav as a Cloud Connector ?
WebDAV is an optimized protocol for document access over http. It is proven as being latency independent and is efficient over wide area networks especially in contrast to file protocols such as NFS and CIFS.
Using secure WebDAV ensures the data is encrypted during transmission and due to the optimizations that data is stored efficiently and quickly .
Why Not The Common Internet File System (CIFS)
CIFS is the standard way that windows users share files across corporate intranets and the Internet with a secure VPN connection.
To expose such shares directly to the internet or to other none windows PC’s it is needed to use a bridging technology. Samba is often used as such as technology. With Samba, the ports 139/tcp and 445/tcp are exposed over a public IP Address. Once this is done such shares are accessible.
The drawbacks of this are:
– The CIFS protocol used by Windows file sharing does not provide data encryption
The protocol itself is quite chatty.
No level of security indirection
CIFS is is an optimized protocol for access to data over a network that has been extended by VPN and has been used in this context by many companies for a long time. The disadvantage of this is that all devices have to support , be setup, and work with the VPN. preventing access by some devices and Apps and making Adhoc ‘on the fly’ access difficult.
Securing WebDav Servers
It is beyond the scope of this blog post to go into great detail on the steps required to secure WebDav servers but Microsoft has a very good guide on how to secure the IIS WebDav Service. This can be accessed at:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc778809%28v=ws.10%29.aspx
In addition to this you should note the following best practices:
Folder Permissions: Use non-anonymous authentication. Modify the NTFS permissions on the folder to only allow the access necessary to the users who require such access
Prevent File Execution: If you are only using WebDAV as a file store and not using it to display web pages, then execute permissions should be removed from that site or folder.
Apache WebDav servers can be configured to use LDAP authentication and also two factor authentication and any deployments should consider implementing these.
by **This extension is deprecated**
Similar to our Chrome File Explorer extension we blogged about recently, we have now released the same extension for Safari.
You can install it from the SME Clients and Tools page.
by We’ve added a new Storage Made Easy Chrome extension to the Chrome Web Store. The sole function of this extension is to enable auto-login and launch of the SME Web File Manager for quick access.
The SME Web File Manager is a hierarchical file manager which makes it ideal to deal with large data set and also data from different on-premise or public cloud storage, which are unified in the file tree. A Storage Made Easy Account is needed but a free account can be signed up directly from the extension.
The reason for this extension was to make it a lot easier for users to be able to gain access to the Web Cloud File Manager for one of our business customers who had equipped their salesforce with Chromebook Pixel’s.
The Web File Manager enabled them to have a workflow which included editing and commenting of documents directly from the Chromebook on various clouds that they used which includes BaseCamp and Amazon S3.
The extension can also be used for securely sharing files which include setting passwords on files and/or time expiry.
The web file manager, from a single user perspective provides a very nice way to work with data between cloud providers and even collaborate with other people using Business Group WorkSpaces. For business users it provides a complete collaboration environment between user which includes files editing, file commenting, file versioning and file locking.
by Our Windows 8 optimised Surface RT App has been out for a while now but we thought we should formally introduce it on the blog!
The App is optimised for touch and Windows 8 tablets, although it can be used by an Windows 8 OS.
It works with any free, Personal Cloud, or Business Cloud File Server Account, and it is free from the Windows App Store (and to remind those who don’t know the SME Windows Phone App is also available for free from the Windows Phone App Store).
You can see a brief video overview of the App below:
Remember that the full version of our tools is also Windows 8 ready and it includes a native desktop drive, Sync, Microsoft Office Plug In’s and also Microsoft Outlooks secure link sharing. It is available for Personal Cloud and Business Cloud Users.
by We have updated our Android Cloud File Manager application today in Google Play and on our site. The new version adds supports for:
– iCloud
– Google Drive
– BaseCamp
– Office365
It also features a dedicated settings section where the various App settings are now consolidated. The App also now supports copy and paste between Clouds, an often requested feature.
For a brief overview please check out the video below:
by In our previous post we demonstrated how files from one Cloud Storage Provider could be moved or copied to another Cloud Storage provider using Drag and Drop.
We’ve now done some further work to make it easy to also move or copy nested folders from one Cloud Provider to another. Please review the video below for a demonstration:
by For over 2 years now we have had the Public Files page. When users sets a file public from any of the 35+ information Clouds they have mapped to their account then it is displayed on this public files page. Users have always been able to make such files password protected by encrypting the files on upload through our platform, but we have had feedback that what users really wanted was the ability to have any files on this page password protected, whether they were uploaded as encrypted files or not.
We’ve now added this change to the service. To take advantage of it all that needs to be done is to assign a password to the public files page from your Cloud DashBoard after login to the web. This can be set under the “extended options” section (at the bottom of the DashBoard).
Setting files to be public is easy, just right click on the file from the web and choose to make the file public:
Other desktop and mobile clients also enable files to be set as public, as in the Android example below:
Once files are set public they appear on the public files page that each user account has:
These files are also available as an RSS feed that can added to the foot of an email for example, or as a an iPhone App:
Once a file is then accessed when public file sharing is turned on then the user is redirected to a password page when they try to access any file from the public files page:
This feature works across files from any Cloud and indeed Cloud Files from different clouds can be shared and protected from the same page in this way.
Business Cloud File Server users can take advantage of this or turn off file sharing completely for their users.
by We have done a major update of our Web File Manager today. You may have used our File Manager beta over the last few months. This File Manager has gone live and there are shot of new features that business and individual users can take advantage of. The include:
1. Simplified Layout: The whole File Manager has been simplified. Now the two panes of how files are shown works just as it does not the desktop with files being shown in both panes. Also the menu bar has been vastly simplified to concentrate on the options that are used the most, such as sharing, folder creation, and upload.
Also all file and folders function has been consolidated on a right click. Right clicking on a file brings up the options for the file, the same with folders:
2. Improvements in Links sharing and link expiry: We always supported password protecting files on upload via file encryption and link expiry on email generation for file sharing but we have extended this for password protecting any shared link generated with link expiration:
3. Improvements in how to copy and move files between different services: This is as easy as shift and click and then dragging and dropping. Refer to the below video for more details.
This works with folders too, you can drag and drop folders between services easily.
4. Improvements when using a tablet: When using a tablet, the File Manager reacts differently and is optimised for touch screens. Selecting multiple files is just a matter of clicking to the left of the file, and a tick will appear to let you know the file is selected. File options can be done by doing a long touch or press on the file as right click is not applicable on tablets.
We hope you like the new look File Manager. We continue to work on it and have some even further optimisations to come soon !
by We recently updated The Windows Phone Cloud File Manager. Features include:
– Instant access to unified Cloud files anytime, anywhere direct from a WP7 device.
– Assign lengthy tasks and operations to the SME Platform Tasks Engine (PTE). Use your phone while tasks are completed in background. Check progress at anytime in cloud tasks.
– Manage multiple Clouds in a single view. Easily move files between different clouds, done in background.
– Advanced Cloud Search feature that can search for files across multiple clouds.
– Unique Cloud Clipboard feature enables file management from different clouds in batches, without downloading & then uploading.
– Unique Direct Upload uploads files from web directly, no need to download and then upload, just enter file address and our servers will upload it in background.
– Open files in the phone in Microsoft Office, MediaPlayer etc.
– Share and collaborate – share files to social networks (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Windows Live, etc.), over email or with users groups.
– Record audio (even with screen locked), take notes and 2-way sync with chosen Cloud(s). No need for another recording App.
– 2-way sync pictures with different Clouds. Integrated with Pictures hub. Pictures can be uploaded (shared) directly from the hub.
We have seen a recent surge in business customers wanting to use the Windows Phone with our Cloud File Server SaaS and hosted hybrid appliance and expect this to continue with the recently announced windows phone business features.
by We’ve updated our Linux Cloud Tools to 3.0.12. The changes include:
1. Supports deleting of files during sync
If a user deletes files locally and syncs then the files will be deleted on the server. If a user deletes files on the server and then syncs then files will be deleted locally. These 2 options are ‘Off’ by default. and can be turned on in settings of the sync center.
2. In Ubuntu 11.10+ “Hide in tray” works correctly.
3. Fixed Menu duplication
4. Fix for large fonts bug.
5. In Explorer new option to upload folder (previously only individual files were possible to upload).
6. Fixed bug with trash in explorer (not all files from trash were displayed)
7. Sync center works as per other OS sync tooling. The “My syncs” folder concept is not used any more and desktop to different cloud folders can be mapped. ie. any folder can now be nominated for sync. The free version has a restriction of 3 folders that can be sync’d
8. Encryption now supported (only for Personal Cloud or Business Cloud users.). In the Properties window it is possible to set a password for encryption of files during sync.
9. Small fix for Properties window for small screens. Scrolling works correctly now.
The Linux Cloud Tools can be used with the following Clouds:
Google Docs, Google Storage, Google Sites,
Amazon S3, MobileMe, Microsoft Live Mesh (read only),
Microsoft SkyDrive, DropBox, Azure Blob Storage,
Box.net, RackSpace Cloud Files, OpenStack Swift,
Gmail-as-a-Cloud, Email-as-a-Cloud, Mezeo,
HP Object Cloud Storage, S3 compliant Clouds such as (Eucalyptus Walrus),
Ubuntu One Cloud, iKeepinCloud, PogoPlug,
BaseCamp SaaS Service, IBM Connections Files,
EMC Atmos, Office365, SharePoint, CloudMe,
HostingSolutions.it, Scality, Alfresco (on-premise),
Zimbra Briefcase, SafeSync(WebDav enabled),
FilesAnywhere (WebDav enabled), and any WebDav enabled Cloud.
The tools can be downloaded from the Linux Cloud Tools Page.
by We’ve been asked for a while if we would support Google Sites, the blogging and Wiki platform from Google, even though it is not a Cloud in the traditional sense. As we recently rolled out OAuth authentication support for GMail, and Google SItes also supports OAuth, we decided to bite the bullet and introduce the Google Sites Cloud into the SMEStorage Open Cloud Platform
Currently you can only sign up for Google sites via the SMEStorage.com web platform as we have not yet introduced OAuth support into our desktop and mobile clients (although it is coming soon).
To use Google Sites with SMEStorage, you can add it to your existing cloud after login by clicking the My Account link on the sidebar and choosing the Providers tab and then the add new provider link. Alternatively you can sign up for a new account here.
After choosing to add Google Sites you will be asked to authorise access to your account for SMEStorage.
You need to enter your Google username and password with Google Sites and then choose to grant access.
After this is done SMEStorage will interrogate Google Sites and show you your site and you should click ‘continue’ to move onto the next step.
You will then be asked to synchronise the file meta-data (information about the files ie. filenames, type, size) from Google SItes with SMEStorage.
Once this is done you can go to the file manager to view your Google Sites files. The root folder of your site is read-only as the Google SItes Api does not enable you to upload files to the root.
Within the root folder you will see your site structure.
Also, you can now start to use the SMEStorage clients and services with Google Sites. For example you can use Cloud FTP to access/manage Google Sites Files. In the below example we use Cyberduck to do this.
by 