Any LAN based dropbox type solutions out there?

[stuckless]

Does anyone know of a dropbox type solutions that isn't in the "cloud". ie, a solution like dropbox, skydrive, etc, but that it runs on your own server and there are clients for Mac, Windows, Linux?

I really like Dropbox... for syncing across my devices... but I'd like to have something similar except running only on my own private network.

Thanks,

[Fuzzy]

A samba share?

[gplasky]

Check this out. It may do what you're looking for.

http://sparkleshare.org/

Why SparkleShare?

The idea of SparkleShare sprouted at the GNOME Usability Hackfest in London, where a couple of designers came to the conclusion that they didn't have a good (Open Source) collaboration tool to share their work (for more background, read “The one where the designers ask for a pony”). They didn't like how the good collaboration tools were proprietary, and that using them meant having to give up privacy, control and other rights. What they needed was something that they could run and control themselves, without having to depend on other companies.

Setting up a host

SparkleShare uses the version control system Git under the hood, so setting up a host yourself is pretty easy. Using your own host gives you more privacy and control, as well as lots of cheap storage space and higher transfer speeds. We've made a simple script that does the hard work for you:

Gerry

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by gplasky

Check this out. It may do what you're looking for.

http://sparkleshare.org/

Why SparkleShare?

The idea of SparkleShare sprouted at the GNOME Usability Hackfest in London, where a couple of designers came to the conclusion that they didn't have a good (Open Source) collaboration tool to share their work (for more background, read “The one where the designers ask for a pony”). They didn't like how the good collaboration tools were proprietary, and that using them meant having to give up privacy, control and other rights. What they needed was something that they could run and control themselves, without having to depend on other companies.

Setting up a host

SparkleShare uses the version control system Git under the hood, so setting up a host yourself is pretty easy. Using your own host gives you more privacy and control, as well as lots of cheap storage space and higher transfer speeds. We've made a simple script that does the hard work for you:

Gerry

The best part is, you get to run a program fabulously called 'SparkleShare'.

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by gplasky

Check this out. It may do what you're looking for.

http://sparkleshare.org/

Why SparkleShare?

The idea of SparkleShare sprouted at the GNOME Usability Hackfest in London, where a couple of designers came to the conclusion that they didn't have a good (Open Source) collaboration tool to share their work (for more background, read “The one where the designers ask for a pony”). They didn't like how the good collaboration tools were proprietary, and that using them meant having to give up privacy, control and other rights. What they needed was something that they could run and control themselves, without having to depend on other companies.

Setting up a host

SparkleShare uses the version control system Git under the hood, so setting up a host yourself is pretty easy. Using your own host gives you more privacy and control, as well as lots of cheap storage space and higher transfer speeds. We've made a simple script that does the hard work for you:

Gerry

That looks promising... and it's actually very similar to how I want to use it

[Carlton Bale]

I just purchased a Synology NAS. It includes a CloudStation app that creates a "private cloud." It works just like dropbox in my experience. There are apps for Windows, Mac, and access via iOS and Android. I'm not sure that it supports Linux yet.

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by Carlton Bale

I just purchased a Synology NAS. It includes a CloudStation app that creates a "private cloud." It works just like dropbox in my experience. There are apps for Windows, Mac, and access via iOS and Android. I'm not sure that it supports Linux yet.

I'll keep that in mind when I'm looking for a new NAS solution as well. From the site it seems to have linux support, but not sure if that means that is has dropbox like support for linux, or just that linux can connect to it.

[bcjenkins]

A quick trip to Google yielded http://owncloud.org

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by bcjenkins

A quick trip to Google yielded http://owncloud.org

That "google" thing is so overrated

Nice find. I think I'll actually start with this one, mainly because it looks easier to setup/install and they have an Android client... which I don't really need, but could come in handy later on.

[bcjenkins]

Originally Posted by stuckless

That "google" thing is so overrated

Nice find. I think I'll actually start with this one, mainly because it looks easier to setup/install and they have an Android client... which I don't really need, but could come in handy later on.

I almost dropped this too: http://lmgtfy.com/?q=roll+your+own+dropbox

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by bcjenkins

I almost dropped this too: http://lmgtfy.com/?q=roll+your+own+dropbox

[stuckless]

So, I tried, ownCloud first since it "looked" easier to setup and I did get it working with Mac and Linux (which are the 2 main goals for me).

What I Liked....
- Nice web ui
- clients for mac, linux (and windows, and android)
- Ability to add additional folders to be synced (ie, Photos, Documents, etc... Everything doesn't need to be in a single "ownCloud" folder
- Ability to turn off versioning

What I didn't like...
- VERY SLOW (I had approximate 4000 files totalling only about 64mb of data, and after about 10 minutes, it still hadn't synced all the files to the server... and as such the other client wasn't fully synced either)
- No "syncing" status as files are being synced. There is a taskbar icon, but it doesn't really show the status... I could only tell that data wasn't fully synced by navigating the synced folder on the other client, and looking for specific files

The speed was big factor for me... since running my own private cloud should be faster than a Drop Box solution (which is pretty fast).

So I then gave sparkleshare a try...

What I liked...
- It was actually pretty easy to setup. I already had "git" installed on my server, but I still used their linux install script, and I had a fully functioning "sparkleshare" server in about 30 seconds.
- Clients for Linux and Mac (and Windows)
- It's REALLY FAST. My 4000 files totally about 64mb were synced to the server and the other client (a Macbook) in seconds. As I made changes to the files, those changes showed up almost immediately on the other client.
- Sparkleshare client for Ubuntu is in the software repository (easy install)
- When you sync, the sparkleshare will tell you the progress in it's indicator.
- Can connect to any git repositor (ie, github) and use that as the server, if you don't want to run your own private cloud... handy if you are working on open source stuff)

What I Didn't Like...
- Everything is versioned. Because it uses git on the backend, every change is versioned. Not a huge deal, but I'd like the option to just sync and not version. Not sure is binary files are versioned as well??
- Client version for linux in the software repository is not current. And it appears when you "download" the client for linux on the main page, you get source, and you have build it...which I didn't want to do... Their might be a PPA for it... I didn't really look too hard, since the client in the repository appears to work fine.
- Adding clients require that you configure them using ssh keys (not a big deal for me, but to some people, could be tedious)
- Adding "projects" requires some knowledge of "git", which for me wasn't a big deal, but could be for some people.
- When you setup the server using the "dazzle" script it creates a new user called "storage", which you NEED to use when you add the server to your client. ie, not YOUR_USERNAME@server, but rather storage@server (took a while to troubleshoot why I couldn't connect )
- All "shared" folders are in the SparkleShare common folder (ie, doesn't appear that you can arbitrarily share other folders)

All in all... SparkleShare is fast, and it meets my requirements, so I'll use it as my private cloud solution.

Thanks everyone!

[Dargason]

Thanks for the reviews. I've been looking around for something as well, but it sounds like neither is quite what I want.