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  1. #1

    Back-up to server / multi-users Question

    Hello All,

    I'm new to this forum... and actually new to web servers and back-up systems. I have a question that hopefully someone can kindly point me in the right direction. I've searched many forums and can't really find what I need.

    Here is the situation:

    My company is relocating and leaving some employees behind to work from home. We are trying to make this work the best possible way. What I have in mind is, all of us being able to work on our own hard drives then at the end of the day uploading/downloading (mirror backup) everything that has been updated to a main server online. I want to be able to keep that main server synced with all our computers. (Lets say 3 different locations) and many many many files and folders that will be constantly updated. Is this possible?

    This is a head scratcher to someone who doesn't know whats going on. If someone has a good software or online service that can do something like thism, please let me know. Or a whole different working method.

    Thanks in Advance!
    David

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
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    643
    For the software solution I would recommend you check hotscripts. Actually the biggest collection as free as paid scripts
    ASPnix Web Hosting - ASP.NET, MS SQL, AJAX, Hyper-V
    Microsoft Hosting and Virtualization

  3. #3
    What you are trying to achieve or want to do is perhaps "online collaboration" or a spin-off or based on it ... what type of data / remote sync information will you be transferring across?
    Secondly, will multiple remote users be working on the same "data"?

    If you can shed some light on that, I'm sure we / or someone in the forum can give you a recommendation based on that ...

  4. #4
    Quote Originally Posted by CreativHost View Post
    What you are trying to achieve or want to do is perhaps "online collaboration" or a spin-off or based on it ... what type of data / remote sync information will you be transferring across?
    Secondly, will multiple remote users be working on the same "data"?

    If you can shed some light on that, I'm sure we / or someone in the forum can give you a recommendation based on that ...
    Hey CreativHost,
    Well data would be a variety of images, video files, photoshop files, inDesign files... they will add up to GB of storage. We are not going to work on the same file at the same time but yes the same file might be opened by 2 or more users (which is why I'm thinking we need a server and program that can update all modified/new information daily)

    I hope someone can help me. I'll check out hotscripts right now...

    Thanks.

  5. #5

    Anyone?

    Does anyone have an idea? I really need some direction... thanks.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
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    It sounds like you need something like a version control system. Software developers use a similar system to allow multiple people to work with the same data, and keep it all in a central repository.

    Effectively the files now "live" on the server, and someone that needs access to a file checks it out to their local machine. When they are done, they check the file back in. Entire folder structures can be checked in / out at once, and depending upon the file type the files can even be merged back together once they are checked in. You also get full historical versions, so the ability to recover files from prior to a change is great.

    I would look into subversion (http://subversion.tigris.org/), since it's free, can be hosted on a Windows or Linux box, and can also be purchased as a managed service if you don't want to run the servers yourself.

    HTH,
    Rob

  7. #7
    David,
    You could go with the recommendation from hdsrob - however, you will need to configure to your requirements, etc.

    Alternatively, you can look at something like - http://www.praura.com/ - although there are other "possibles" which would allow you to have the application hosted on your own server (for the purposes of security, privacy, etc) - it just depends on how much you want to spend and what your interaction (i.e. management) would be for the application itself ...

  8. #8
    Thanks for your help guys. I'm gonna talk with Praura and see if they can help me. In the meantime I just want to say one more thing to make you better understand what I need.

    Lets say theres 3 computers. Computer A creates a new file "test.txt" and saves it to his hard drive. Then a back-up software will automatically back up that file onto the server AND then automatically back-up computer B and computer C... is that possible? And we need it to work ALL 3 ways, doesn't matter who creates the file. So the actual online server will always contain the data.

    Thanks in advance!

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
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    FL
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    106
    Quote Originally Posted by davidko View Post
    Thanks for your help guys. I'm gonna talk with Praura and see if they can help me. In the meantime I just want to say one more thing to make you better understand what I need.

    Lets say theres 3 computers. Computer A creates a new file "test.txt" and saves it to his hard drive. Then a back-up software will automatically back up that file onto the server AND then automatically back-up computer B and computer C... is that possible? And we need it to work ALL 3 ways, doesn't matter who creates the file. So the actual online server will always contain the data.

    Thanks in advance!
    With a version control like i suggested, the users would have to right click on the folder, and check the file in, or check it out. So it wouldn't be automated the way you want.

  10. #10
    hdsrob, wouldn't that mean we will be working off the server? With large file sizes that might not be a good idea... the only way for a smooth work flow is to download the file. Thanks for your input.

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
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    FL
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    No, you would be working on a local file, but the master files would be on the server.

    I keep software source code, web sites, and raw documentation files in a repository, and my basic workflow is like such (when working with someone else on the same files).

    When I start the day, I right click the folder and "update" the folder from the server. Anything that is different on the server is brought down to my machine.

    At the end of the day (on anytime I am done with a particular task), I right click on the folder, and "commit" the changes back to the server. You also have the ability to add notes to every commit, and to only commit one file that you are done with instead of everything.

    For file types that can't be merged (images, etc) one user can lock the files for use so that others can't change the file while they are working on it. For text based files the system will merge changes back together into a new file as long as there are no conflicts. If there are conflicts, then you can view the differences and decide what to keep.

    Another advantage is that you have "Blame" so that you can see who worked on each file, and even on each line of a file for each version of the file. As I pointed out before, you also have each version of the file in a historical archive so that if someone messes something up, you can easily retrieve a prior version. I use SVN even for projects where I am the only one working, and the prior version feature has saved me on numerous occasions over the years!

  12. #12
    Join Date
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    I should also note that I am using the "right click" reference to how I manage the files in Windows. This is done through a specific client tool.

    SVN is a command line based utility, and runs on Linux and Windows. It is also open source, and has a very active community, so there might be tools that allow you to auto sync with the repository at a certain time.

  13. #13

    hmmmm

    Thats pretty interesting stuff. That seems like the exact thing we need but the problem is the site you linked earlier looks very confusing. I'm not really a script person so I don't even know where to begin. Unfortunately, we are dealing with Macs not PCs.

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Location
    FL
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    There is a Mac version on the SVN site, although it is command line based.

    There is also a GUI based Mac client here: http://versionsapp.com/. You can find others here as well.

    I would recommend a quick read through chapter one (fundamental concepts) of the SVN book here: http://svnbook.red-bean.com/,

    It should give you an idea as to what SVN can do, and let you decide if it is right for you.

    If you don't have, or don't want to get, your own server you might want to look into a hosted version of SVN, there are a bunch out there.

    http://unfuddle.com/ has free accounts that should be enough for you to test the basics to see how it works without much commitment.

  15. #15
    Thanks alot hdsrob!
    I'm going to look into it.

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