Sharing & Synchronizing files and calendars - the private cloud services of the institute A presentation by Stefan Schneider 3/17/16 Motivation for providing an institute cloud ● Enables to work flexible with divers mobile devices ● Working at different offices ( PIK / home / official journeys) ● Easy exchange of files ● Calendars reachable from all-around ● Data stay at the PIK 3/17/16 2/49 Independence from location 3/17/16 3/49 Accessing the cloud services https://cloud.pik-potsdam.de 3/17/16 4/49 Reasons for synchronization ● Greater mobility – Easy access to own and shared files for official trips or expeditions ● Data is available from a wide range of kinds of devices ● Staying up to date with synchronized shared team calendars 3/17/16 5/49 Available clients ● Desktop clients: OS X, Windows, Linux ● Mobile file-sync clients: Apple App, Google Play ● Desktop calendar clients: Thunderbird Lightning ● Calendar synchronization via CalDav-Sync to custom calendar-apps ● Further synchronizing Android apps: OwnCloud Bookmarks, ownNote 3/17/16 6/49 Mobile Clients (Android) 3/17/16 7/49 Means of collaboration ● A place for quick exchange of common office data (for papers, E-books, poster, presentations, pictures) ● Collaborative working with shared documents that are synchronized to the computer one is working with ● Survey of dates- creating of team calendars and synchronization to devices with a CalDAV-client 3/17/16 8/49 Details about the institute's cloud ● Available with PIK standard account ● Synchronization of files for Windows, OS X, Linux and Android- and i.*- devices ● File exchange with externals via links ● E-mail-notifications about activities in the cloud ● Currently 5 GB storage in the cloud 3/17/16 9/49 What the cloud is not meant for ● It is no replacement for proper backups ● It is not meant as replacement for the home- filesystem, which can provide a good deal more space 3/17/16 10/49 Owncloud at PIK Users with more than 10 MB in the cloud (Σ58) Increase of calendar-users (last half year) 70 18 16 60 14 50 s r 12 e s U 40 10 r a d n 8 e 30 l a C 6 f o 20 r 4 e b m 10 2 u N 0 0 <50MB <100MB <500MB <1GB <5GB <10GB ● 19 of more than 1GB ● Calendar user 65 ● 19 of 100 MB to 1GB ● +13 in four months ● 4 of 50 MB to 100 MB ● 40 logins per day 3/17/16 11/49 Desktop Client ● Synchronizes files between a local folder(s) and folder(s) in the cloud ● More than one local folders possible to adapt to synchronization ● Possibility to sync with more than one server ● Client respects rights set by the owner of a share (current version 2.0.2) 3/17/16 12/49 Setting up the desktop client 3/17/16 13/49 Setting up the desktop client 3/17/16 14/49 Define local and remote folders 3/17/16 15/49 Chosing local and remote folders 3/17/16 16/49 Settings view on synchronized folders 3/17/16 17/49 Connect to a second server 3/17/16 18/49 OwnCloud (mobile App) ● Display the overview from Owncloud document root. ● Loads preview when touching a folder ● Downloads a file when touching it ● Multiple server support ● Price 0,79 € 3/17/16 19/49 Possible file actions with OC-Client ● Copy, cut, paste ● Send to other apps ● Share with link (without password) (version1.8.0) 3/17/16 20/49 Owncloud mobile app ● Deleting files needs verification ● Choice of „local only“ or at server, too ● Version 1.9.0 3/17/16 21/49 Calendars ● Informational Calender for a work group ● Joint calendar - A calendar with all permissions granted, so that each member of a group can create and delete events – requires good communication ● Shared calendars cannot be hidden ● For survey use calendar-clients, which can decide which calendars to be seen ● Sharing only via the web interface 3/17/16 22/49 Sharing calendar events ● In the calendar view shared events appear as one calendar, no matter who shared them ● When shared with all rights it can be „stolen“ by moving to one own calendar ● So better share complete calendars 3/17/16 23/49 Calendar Clients When to use which approach ● Creating / Sharing calendars in the web-interface ● Using them locally – for better overview Possible clients ● Thunderbird Lightning extension ● CalDAV-Sync for Android 3/17/16 24/49 Calendaring with Thunderbird and Lightning ● Thunderbird is a widespread mail-client ● As add-on Thunderbird contains Lightning as calendaring feature ● Lightning is integrated within Thunderbirdversion 38.0.1 3/17/16 25/49 What can be done with Lightning ● Having local and remote calendars with day, week and month view ● Managing events, tasks, getting notifications ● Make events and sent them as invitations via email 3/17/16 26/49 Integration of PIK-Cloud calendars in Thunderbird/Lightning 3/17/16 27/49 Integration of PIK-Cloud calendars in Thunderbird/Lightning 3/17/16 28/49 Integration of PIK-Cloud calendars in Thunderbird/Lightning 3/17/16 29/49 Synchronized calendars in Lightning ● Working on an own synchronized calendar ● Moving a calendar entry with insufficient rights leads to a copy and the necessity to restart Lightning 3/17/16 30/49 Calendar view from individual calendar app 3/17/16 31/49 CalDav-Client for Android ● Acts as an inter-connector between a calendar app and the cloud server (Calendar and Tasks) ● Specify a time interval for files to sync (reducing traffic) ● One-Way-Sync possible (i.e., synchronize S2C only) ● Synchronization frequency (least possible 1 min) ● Price 2.49 € (independent developer Marten Gajda) (version 0.4.27) 3/17/16 32/49 Synchronization with CalDAV 3/17/16 33/49 Keep awareness of actions in the Cloud Notification in the web- Notification via Mail interface 3/17/16 34/49 Activity Settings ● Mail for actions in the cloud that need awareness ● Stream for actions that need to be logged ● Depending on urgency decide how often mails are send 3/17/16 35/49 Common symbols in the cloud ● ● Versions Edit ● Delete ● Share ● Downloading 3/17/16 36/49 Versioning ● Everytime a file changes versions are kept in these intervals ● 10 s – 2s interval ● 1 min – 10s interval ● 1 h – 1min interval ● 1 d – 1h interval ● 30 d – 1d interval ● Afterwards every week ● „ 50% of the users currently available free“ (User man) 3/17/16 37/49 Deleted Files ● Files remain at server for 90 days when deleted (like move to trash) ● Restorable from „deleted files“ 3/17/16 38/49 Security feature at desktop sync client for collaborative work ● Situation: Working at the same file via desktop clients ● Case 1: A change is submitted, synchronization happens while one is working at the file => Warning of the Application „Save anyways? Yes“ => See Versions ● Case 2: Each document has been changed before synchronization takes place => the last client keeps its own version and creates a collision file for the sync 3/17/16 39/49 Sharing possibilities ● Sharing with single user ● Sharing with PIK-defined groups ● Sharing with groups managed by a group administrator ● With externals -> using public upload folders 3/17/16 40/49 Sharing folders/files ● Search for share receiver (given name+surname) ● Setting permissions 41/49 One-to-one sharing Share with single user 3/17/16 42/49 Sharing with LDAP-group Share with group (e.g. ITS) 3/17/16 43/49 Upload Folders vs. Shares upload folder: ● who needs the data shares a folder, those who deliver the data stores them in this folder ● Certain destination needed => Upload Folder Simple share Rights remain at those who share (overview) ● Share receiver needs to copy the data where it is needed ● Share overview 3/17/16 44/49 Data exchange with externals ● Share with link (remember to set a password) ● Allow Public Upload ● How do I know, that I've got new data? Unfortunately not at all. With OC8 at activity 3/17/16 45/49 Remote view of folder shared by link 3/17/16 46/49 Collaboration with shared document tree ● A project-leader has a working directory which she/he shares with her/his co-workers ● a) to prevent crucial information to be deleted by happen it is recommended to grant all rights but deleting (disadvantage: files cannot be deleted by creator and folder owner) ● b) grant all rights anyways and in case of accidental lost, „deleted files“ can restore them - to become aware of this activity can be used (deleted files) 3/17/16 47/49 Upload duration from home ● Uploading file from home may take some time depending on the contract with the internet service provider! ● Usual maximum upload rate 1000 kbit/s = 125 kB/s => a 5 MB PDF or JPG would need 40s 3/17/16 48/49 Finishing & time for discussions ● Feel free to ask ● Present own use cases, best practices ● Proposals and wishes ● Having a look at the components (live presentation in the front).