Question

Storage Over The Internet

Asked by: powerpcman

Here is the problem I face at this point. I will try to make it brief.

My customer lives in Canada, she also has a house in the states. She has a partner overseas as well as in the US. What she wants to be able to do is drag and drop files and share them back and forth with her partners. I have agreed for them to use my servers or nas drives for storage. I would like to know the best way to do this.
I have NAS drives or I can dedicate a computer for it.

Thank you in advance!

This Question has been solved and asker verified All Experts Exchange premium technology solutions are available to subscription members.

Subscribe now for full access to Experts Exchange and get

Instant Access to this Solution

  • Plus...
  • 30 Day FREE access, no risk, no obligation
  • Collaborate with the world's top tech experts
  • Unlimited access to our exclusive solution database
  • Never be left without tech help again

Subscribe Now

Asked On
2009-04-28 at 18:33:45ID24364008
Tags

NAS

,

Storage

,

Internet Storage

Topics

Remote Access Software

,

Backup & Restore Software

Participating Experts
4
Points
500
Comments
8

Trusted by hundreds of thousands everyday for fast, accurate and reliable tech support.

  • "The time we save is the biggest benefit of Experts Exchange to Warner Bros. What could take multiple guys 2 hours or more each to find is accessed in around 15 minutes on Experts Exchange." Mike Kapnisakis, Warner Bros.
  • "Our team likes having a resource that is more secure than just using Google and most experts using this service really know their stuff. It's nice to look here first versus using Google." Dayna Sellner, Lockheed Martin
  • "Anytime that I've been stumped with a problem, 9 out of 10 times Experts Exchange has either the accepted solution or an open discussion of the potential solution to the problem." Kenny Red, eBay Inc.

See what Experts Exchange can do for you.

Got a question?

We've got the answer.

Experts Exchange has been collecting answers to technology questions since 1996…3 million and counting! If you have a question, chances are we already have your answer.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Need individual assistance?

Our experts are ready to help.

If you can't find the exact answer you're looking for, ask our exclusive community of 50,000 experts. You’ll get a personalized answer from a trusted professional.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Want to learn from the best?

Read articles from industry experts.

Thousands of free tech tips, tricks, how-to’s and tutorials are available in our peer reviewed articles section. See for yourself how smart our experts are, no login required.

Screenshot of an Article

Working on a long term project?

Store your work and research.

Save solutions to your questions, answers you’ve discovered through searching plus helpful articles in your personal knowledgebase for easy future access.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Access the answers to your technology questions today.

Subscribe Now

30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.

What Makes Experts Exchange Unique?

Members of the expert community talk about why the experience at Experts Exchange is different than what you will find anywhere else.

Trusted by the world's most respected brands.

image of each brand's logo

Faithfully serving IT professionals since 1996.

Experts Exchange Logo

Try it out and discover for yourself.

Subscribe Now

30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.

Related Solutions

  1. What are clusters - brief overview
    Hi, I have an interview tomorrow and need to have a brief knowledge of what clusters about. Basically they are going to ask me if I have experience with them, which I dont, so I want to be able to give an answer to the likes of "No I have no real experience of what th...
  2. using NAS as the storage sub-system
    I'm interested in learning about using NAS as the storage subsystem for a cluster i'm setting up. I've been looking at using DAS but its not scalable enough and SAN seems out of my price range. my questions are: 1. is NAS a viable option? i.e. whenever i want more storage...

Free Tech Articles

  1. WARNING: 5 Reasons why you should NEVER fix a computer for free.
    It is in our nature to love the puzzle. We are obsessed. The lot of us. We love puzzles. We love the challenge. We thrive on finding the answer. We hate disarray. It bothers us deep in our soul. W...
  2. SCCM OSD Basic troubleshooting
    SCCM 2007 OSD is a fantastic way to deploy operating systems, however, like most things SCCM issues can sometimes be difficult to resolve due to the sheer volume of logs to sift through and the dispe...
  3. Migrate Small Business Server 2003 to Exchange 2010 and Windows 2008 R2
    This guide is intended to provide step by step instructions on how to migrate from Small Business Server 2003 to Windows 2008 R2 with Exchange 2010. For this migration to work you will need the fo...
  4. Create a Win7 Gadget
    This article shows you how to create a simple "Gadget" -- a sort of mini-application supported by Windows 7 and Vista. Gadgets can be dropped anywhere on the desktop to provide instant information, ...
  5. Outlook continually prompting for username and password
    There have been a lot of questions recently regarding Outlook prompting for a username and password whilst using Exchange 2007. There are a few reasons why this would happen and I will try to cover t...
  6. Backup Exchange 2010 Information Store using Windows Backup
    There seems to be quite a lot of confusion around the ability to backup Exchange 2010 using the built in Windows Backup feature. This stems from the omission of this feature prior to Exchange 2007 s...

Cloud Class Webinars

  1. Avoiding Bugs in Microsoft Access
    Alison Balter takes and in-depth look at avoiding bugs in Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the immediate window to debug your applications, invoking the debugger, using breakpoints to troubleshoot, stepping through code, setting the next statement to execute, ...
  2. Top 10 Best New Features in Visio 2010
    Scott Helmers gives live demonstrations of the top 10 new features in Visio 2010. This webinar will teach you how to create compelling diagrams by adding shapes to the page with a single click, linking the shapes in a diagram to data in Excel (or SQL Server, or SharePoint), ...
  3. IT Consultant Business Secrets Revealed
    Michael Munger, Experts Exchange tech pro and IT consultant, pulls back the curtain on his very successful businesses and answers question on every IT consultant and business owner should know about. He shares secrets on what he did to solve the 5 most common problems in IT, ...
  4. Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity
    Quest CTO, Mike Billon, gives an overview of the steps involved in building a dunamic disaster recovery plan. Through case studies and an examination of software/hardware tooles for monitoring and testing, you'll gain a better understandin of where you are, where you want ...
  5. Organize Your Visio Diagrams with Containers and Lists
    Scott Helmers uses cross functional flowcharts, wireframe diagrams, data graphic legends and seating charts to teach you: how to ustilize all three new structured diagram components in Visio 2010, the best practices for organizeing shapes in previous version of Visio, how to organize ...
  6. How to Us Objects, Properties, Events and Methods in Microsoft Access
    Alison Dalter gives an in-depbth look at objects, properties, events and methods in Microsoft Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the object browser, referring to objects, working with properties and methods, working with object variables, understanding the ...

Join the Community

Give a Little. Get a Lot.

Join the community of experts here and help other tech pros by answering question in your area of expertise. You can earn FREE access to all Experts Exchange's premium features and resources.

Join the Community

Answers

 

by: stormistPosted on 2009-04-28 at 19:24:29ID: 24256861

A simple FTP server is all you need.
Have them download and install filezilla, a freeware FTP solution that is loaded with features:
http://filezilla-project.org/

How to guides on setting up FTP servers:
http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=1491
http://www.smallbusinesscomputing.com/webmaster/article.php/3077081

 

by: DextertronicPosted on 2009-04-28 at 19:44:58ID: 24256963

If they only have a few gigabytes why not send them to something like Skydrive:
skydrive.live.com
It's free and they can swap and store files in a single location.

 

by: DextertronicPosted on 2009-04-28 at 19:45:50ID: 24256968

25 gb of storage sorry
www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuT3WdkmlMg

 

by: DextertronicPosted on 2009-04-28 at 19:46:34ID: 24256970

Another link describing the service
http://www.windowslive.com/Online/SkyDrive

 

by: Roachy1979Posted on 2009-04-29 at 00:43:18ID: 24258044

What type of files are they?  If they're office documents or similar, have you thought about a collaboration suite such as Sharepoint/Google Docs/Zimbra or Mindquarry....

If it's other file types you would probably want o either set up an ftp server as stormist suggests, or you could consider setting up a VPN using OpenVPN....

 

by: JT92677Posted on 2009-05-02 at 07:38:03ID: 24286280

I use a Network Attached Storage device (Buffalo Terrabyte server) and create accounts for the users.

You can setup a router to do Dynamic DNS (many support this) so the various users do not have to know the public IP address of your network (check to see if your router supports Dynamic DNS, and then check out DynDNS.com and get a memorable name. Your public IP will then be available by using the "name" you use. The router will allow you (if capable) to setup your DynDNS login and user name, and keep their servers up-to-date with the latest IP address your router has been assigned by your ISP.

Using a NAS solution with a timer (non-use timer) means it doesn't have to spinning a drive all the time, and it handles users, passwords, directory access, etc.

Another NAS solution is described here http://www.inoi.com/English/HD363N.asp -- I have one of their enclosures, and it works very nicely. My other NAS is a 2TB Buffalo Linkstation.

Hope this helps.

Jeff

 

by: powerpcmanPosted on 2009-07-17 at 16:06:44ID: 31575758

Awesome Solution, Installed It and deticated a computer and customers are happy.

Thanks

 

by: JT92677Posted on 2009-07-17 at 20:10:34ID: 24884624

I realize this question is closed, but you mentioned that you have a NAS device.

If it supports FTP, why don't you just point your router port forward PORT 21 (2021 and either translate the port with the router if it supports it, or setup the NAS FTP to accept connects to something other than PORT 21).

Setup an account for them, and a directory, and voila, no new software, but more important, they're off your server.

Also, if others want to do this, they may not want to run an FTP server on a computer when a NAS device with FTP support will do, and uses less power. These boxes power down after so many minutes when not being used and wake up when accessed. I set mine to 30 minutes. Nice to see it power down when nobody needs to use it.

http://pc4usa.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=1125

Add this to your list of options.

Jeff

20120131-EE-VQP-002

3 Ways to Join

30-Day Free Trial

The Experts

98% positive feedback on 31,087 answers since March 2000. angeliii is a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional for his work with MS SQL Server & Develoment.

He has also proven his knowledge of Visual Basic Programming, PHP Scripting and Oracle Databases.

The Experts

97% positive feedback on 10,752 answers since July 2000. lrmoore has more than 18 years experience in the networking industry.

The six-time Mircosoft MVPs specialties include firewalls, virtual private networking, and network management.

Testimonials

"...and excellent source for support... Kind of like having your very own IT dept." Electriciansnet

Testimonials

"I was apprehensive at signing up at first. However... it has already made my life as an IT administrator much easier." JaCrews

Testimonials

"WOW! You guys have great, active, and knowledgeable people on here." moore50

Business Clients

Business Clients

In the Press

"If you’ve got a question... Experts Exchange can supply an answer.”

In the Press

"...an invaluable aid for both IT professionals and those who require tech support."

In the Press

"where IT professionals provide quick answers on just about any topic"

Business Account Plans

Loading Advertisement...