Share Cloud Fileserver

[Paul Kelly ICHYB]

A friend of mine wants to move their office file server (with 1.5tb!) online and I am having trouble finding a provider who can offer a simple service, like a remote windows compatible file server.

There are lots of services that offer per user accounts, but I cannot see why this is necessary. They only want to use a remote 'hard disk'.

Does anyone have any ideas/suggestions?

Note 1 - He will probably be moving to MS online services, so will be able to access Onedrive & Sharpoint (One driver is per account storage and I do not know enough about Sharepoint)
Note 2 - I am starting to look at a bespoke open source option using something like NextCloud, OwnCloud, assuming they can operate as remote drives.

 

[intheTRADE]

What about Dropbox?

 

[Paul Kelly ICHYB]

That is an option - I was thinking a single user business account and then share the folders/files across the team?

 

[ffox]

Note 1 - He will probably be moving to MS online services, so will be able to access Onedrive & Sharpoint (One driver is per account storage and I do not know enough about Sharepoint)

What MS online services is he planning to use?

If he's going to Office 365 it will be on a per user basis. Each user gets 1TB of one drive storage, plus 1TB SharePoint shared file space across all users. This is increased for higher cost O365 plans.

 

[Paul Kelly ICHYB]

@Ansh Singh - Thanks - I had missed the Amazon offering -- it looks great, but, again, it is per user!!!

@ffox - they are looking at Office 365 Business Premium. So, using Sharepoint and some extra storage, this could be used as a shared storage facility. Via WebDAV?

 

[ffox]

@ffox - they are looking at Office 365 Business Premium. So, using Sharepoint and some extra storage, this could be used as a shared storage facility. Via WebDAV?

Two questions -
1. is the 1.5Tb made up of a relatively small number of very large files, or is it made up a relatively large number of small files? - There is a 10GB file size limit on SharePoint.
2. How deep is the file system folder structure. There is a maximum path length for files stored in any SharePoint storage. Provide path lengths are generally 250 chr or less there is no issue. Also have a check of characters used in paths and file name s - " # % & * : < > ? \ / { | } ~ are not acceptable in SharePoint

If the answer to 1. is a large number of small files I would question the need to retain such a large number of documents.

Other than that, O365 Business Premium is fine. WebDAV is an unnecessary complication. Simply buy sufficient Business Premium licences for the users, then add a couple of lower level licences and name them S.Drive and T.Drive. Make the One Drive folders of these available to all users and you have added 2TB of fast secure storage at very low cost.

Your client would be better to spend a little time learning how to use SharePoint Libraries though as the solution is infinitely more elegant.

 

[Craig Bird]

Google G Suite might be worth looking into, the business plan is up to 1TB of cloud storage... if there are 5 user accounts in the platform instance then this is increased to Unlimited cloud storage!!!! If you reach out to local partners you may also be able to get support in setting this up and a discount on the direct Google price, via a voucher or resell!

 

[Paul Kelly ICHYB]

Chris,

thanks for taking the time to respond.

1.5tb is a mix of small and larger files (CAD drawings). I have questioned the keeping of the files (5-6 years old max), but they want to keep everything in one place (just in case.....).

The path lengths are not that deep 3-4 levels, but there is an issue on file names, which is being resolved.

When you say lower level licenses, do you mean the standard product, with less team features?

 

[ffox]

When you say lower level licenses, do you mean the standard product, with less team features?

You can mix licences on any tenant. So, licences for the S.Drive and T.Drive 'users' could be Business Essentials licences. Business Essential delivers SharePoint, Exchange, OneDrive and Teams, but no client installable Office apps.

Check this out here - https://products.office.com/en-GB/compare-all-microsoft-office-products?activetab=tab:primaryr2

 

[Paul Kelly ICHYB]

Excellent!

 

[Craig Bird]

HI @consultant if you do decide to use Microsoft365 (prevously Office365) (which would be a great idea) and want the low down on migration tools, let me know we have used and reviewed quite a few, saves a lot of time over email and data transfers!

 

[Paul Kelly ICHYB]

@Craig Bird - Thanks.

 

[Nico Albrecht]

You could install own cloud on a Webserver for testing. If you want full control and an in house solution done a wd ext2 nas drive and a draytek router that creates vpn tunnels would be the cheapest solution for easy remote access. Based on his low requirements 365 might be cheaper. An on site setup you look at around £550 for the hardware and some setup hours but after that no more ongoing costs but electrity.

 

[Paul Kelly ICHYB]

@Nico Albrecht - thanks

 

[Renars-SharkServers]

We can assist with ownCloud setup and ongoing operations. Please get in touch if you'd like more info.