Filerun - Self-Hosted File Sync and Sharing

ctrl

http://www.filerun.com/

nebulon

We had filerun already as a package, even built from the upstream developer, but since it got never updated we had to remove it for the time being.

ctrl

I see.

@nebulon said in Filerun - Self-Hosted File Sync and Sharing:

since it got never updated

Do you refer to the codebase of the app or to the Cloudron package?

nebulon

The app package. The upstream author didn't show much interest in keeping it up-to-date and it wasn't easily possible for us to do so. Which is fine, but disqualifies it to some extent from being supported by Cloudron, as apps sometimes also have to be re-built for critical base system updates for example.

ctrl

Ok, no worries then. Thank you for the clarification.

marcusquinn

Looks interesting as a lightweight Nextcloud / Google Photos alternative:

https://filerun.com/demo

See what you mean about activity though:

subven

@marcusquinn AFAIK FileRun is not open source and the free version is somehow crippled. Free version is limited to 3 users and directory (LDAP) authentication seems to be missing --> https://filerun.com/enterprise. Even if I would prefer a leaner nextcloud that really only takes care of files and sharing, Filerun does not seem to be a good starting point.

yusf

@subven I’m also looking for a leaner Nextcloud. Ping me if you find it, will you?

marcusquinn

@yusf sftp?

Gitea & https://www.sparkleshare.org/ may also be an option.

robi

There seem to be some major updates, including a 10 user free version.

hakunamatata

Anyone up for packaging this? I can sponsor.

girish

@hakunamatata FileRun's owner Vlad took a look at packaging for Cloudron recently. Cloudron's update model and FileRun's update model are at cross roads , so it was decided to revisit publishing this to app store at a later date. For the moment, the best way is to deploy FileRun using the lamp app and manage FileRun updates from inside the app itself.

hakunamatata

@girish Thanks for the info. I will try to install it in the LAMP app, although I fear it is probably above my competency level. Either way, I will give it my best shot.

scooke

@hakunamatata If you're able to install Cloudron, then this should be fine. There is the small step of installing Ioncube, but it's possible. Filerun has actually been one of the easiest to use php apps for me over the years. You can add files through SFTP and Terminal and the software will still see the new files and recatalogue. Updates are automatic and basically seamless. A few versions ago there was some glitch, but ever since, upgrading from within the app (no need to move/replace current files/folders with the new ones, like Moodle or Sendy) is as smooth as butter. I really like it. I do use it on it's own VPS though, just so it can use the whole server.

hakunamatata

@scooke Thanks for the encouragement. I tried following the instructions here (both option 1 and option 2) but without success.

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Regarding Ioncube, the Cloudron docs say it comes installed with the LAMP app... or is this not the case?

scooke

@hakunamatata I just gave it a try and it went smooth as butter.

I used method 1 from https://docs.filerun.com/install_on_php#upload_to_your_server. (I've never used this method, I usually just upload the zip to my server, then move the contents to its webserver directory, but since this is Cloudron and Docker, I thought I'd try this method since it's all through the built-in SFTP and browser.)

I downloaded the Filerun.zip (and renamed it to FileRun.zip), as well as that other file, unzip.php, which, as far as I can tell, is not nefarious.

I uploaded both to the public directory on the LAMP app (/app/data/public), which you can navigate to using the Menu in the apps window in Cloudron:

You will need to delete or rename the existing index.php.

Two spots where you may have gone wrong:

I used a regular domain, as you can see in the screenshot. I did not make a folder in which to place the FileRun zip nor files. So, my FileRun is running in the root of the domain. So when I ran the command to install, it was https://filerun.example.com/unzip.php.

The installation went smooth, using the DB info found First Time Setup, in the apps dashboard:

The second place you may go wrong (as I have plenty of times) is that whereas MySQL DBs are often located at 'localhost', on Cloudron they are usually at "mysql". So, when FileRun is asking for the DB info, replace localhost with mysql.

Everything installed fine, and the final step is a pop-up giving you the superuser name and password. Copy that!!!!

Login, and the app prompts for the first superuser's data directory. I just chose /app/data/filerun, and pressed, "Create" in the dialogue. The 'dialogue' I mention is a series of pop-up walk-throughs, so read them carefully. Once you've made the data directory, you're gold.

Where do you think things didn't work for you?

EDIT: I gotta say, this is super speedy on my server, too!!
EDIT 2: I've turned off the app for now, too.

hakunamatata

@scooke Thanks alot of the guide! I was able to install it successfully this time. The issue seems to be that I was previously trying to install the files in a newly created /my-files/ folder vs in /public/. Things went smoothly thereafter and I have tweaked some of the settings to fit my use case.
Have you been able to get email working? When I try to configure the smtp settings, the admin panel just hangs and the only way out is to restart the app.

But overall the product is looking really good and lightning fast as you say!

Thanks again!

scooke

@hakunamatata Good to hear. Are you using an email address whose domain is hosted on Cloudron, in which case I think you should be able to use the Email notifications box and enter your Cloudron-based email. Or something else, in which case you need to check the box for Use a SMTP server.

scooke

@hakunamatata I just discovered that setting a Rule for email notifications is available only in the Enterprise Edition. Is that what you are running?

scooke

@hakunamatata One last reply... I filled in the SMPT settings, and tested it, and it worked with my Cloudron settings, and I could save it, no hanging, BUT, it seems like it's useless anyway since I can't setup Notifications since I don't have the Enterprise edition. Sorry I can't help you with why your admin email panel hangs.

micmc

@girish said in Filerun - Self-Hosted File Sync and Sharing:

@hakunamatata FileRun's owner Vlad took a look at packaging for Cloudron recently. Cloudron's update model and FileRun's update model are at cross roads , so it was decided to revisit publishing this to app store at a later date. For the moment, the best way is to deploy FileRun using the lamp app and manage FileRun updates from inside the app itself.

Great, though I believe it should be reminded that this package is not open source and, AFAIK, seems to be running encrypted files on the server, plus the 'free' version runs only with limitations in number of users, which is only 3 plus 10 if you somehow ask for it, and features.

I think it would also be a good idea to 'mark' in a way or another these type of apps from the repository so one knows in advance the software is not open source, and even when it uses encrypted files set.

All IMHO, of course. Cheers!

hakunamatata

@scooke Silly me had entered the wrong port and the admin panel freezes instead of displaying an error. Seems like it may be a bug in Filerun. But everything is working for me now.
I don't have an enterprise license, I am just evaluating the product.

While I am overall quite impressed with Filerun, it is not open source as pointed out by @micmc so I am hesitant to committing to it just yet. My preference is always to put my money towards the development of FOSS projects when possible. I recently hired a developer full-time to work on some projects for me and I am considering having him help out with the development of Cubby during his "down time" or a certain number of hours per week, assuming he has the skillset. We shall see how this unfolds.

Thanks again for your assistance with getting Filerun set-up!

murgero

I gave this a shot in the LAMP app as well and have replaced my need for Nextcloud with Filerun.

Since I don't have a need for any of Nextcloud's apps using Filerun just makes more sense. Filerun is compatible with the nextcloud mobile and desktop apps for file sync as well!

So far it's much faster for that too - however there are no Nextcloud apps / plugins. (But I don't need them, like I said above so it's not a big deal to me.)

If you need Nextcloud but only need to do file sync, and don't need apps, Filerun is really worthy of recommendation and consideration.

Not sure how to package this for cloudron, but in the LAMP app it works as expected.

robi

@murgero said in Filerun - Self-Hosted File Sync and Sharing:

Filerun is compatible with the nextcloud mobile and desktop apps for file sync as well!

How so? What do you do in the app?

murgero

@robi The webdav server that filerun uses is compatible with Nextcloud's desktop and mobile apps (as in the sync tool for nextcloud, not the apps you install in nextcloud)

robi

@murgero Got it, thanks, had a feeling that was webdav related!

That also means it should be easily mountable as a network drive in Windows/MacOS.

marcusquinn

@robi Hopefully easier than Nextcloud for WebDav mounting too, as I still have an issue that makes it useless with Windows:

https://forum.cloudron.io/topic/6514/windows-can-connect-to-nextcloud-webdav-but-then-loses-the-connection-and-can-t-reconnect

robi

@marcusquinn oh right, try it out! If you don't have Filerun installed, I can offer mine for you to test with. Ping me off forum.

murgero

@marcusquinn So far it has not given me that issue (webdav issue you are having) - seems fine so far.

WiseMetalhead

Does the OnlyOffice plugin work on the free version of Filerun?

murgero

@WiseMetalhead No. Filerun does not support Nextcloud plugins

WiseMetalhead

@murgero said in Filerun - Self-Hosted File Sync and Sharing:

@WiseMetalhead No. Filerun does not support Nextcloud plugins

I'm sorry, I meant the integrations built into Filerun.

hakunamatata

@WiseMetalhead It is working fine on my instance.

murgero

@WiseMetalhead Oh I didn't even see those! I'd assume it works if you can install it

necrevistonnezr

Damn, this app is fast, even as a web app....

robi

@necrevistonnezr Yes, I noticed the same. Very snappy and a joy to use compared to similar interfaces.

I wondered if the dev used some neat tricks more devs could learn to use too.

scooke

@robi Compared to other similar apps, I've always appreciated that I could easily install this one* because it is basically just a php app run on Apache. So many others have extra steps or software, like RoR for Redbooth (or whatever it was before), weird installs like using Dazzle with Sparkleshare, Pydio and it's own executables, NodeJS or Java apps which I could never get to run, or even a few whose names I forget that use Python (about which I would always, of course, forget about activating the env). The day I discovered FileRun, gave it a try, and it installed and ran was one of the happiest days of my life, superceded only when I discovered Cloudron.

(*That said, I also like ResourceSpace though it's slower than FileRun.)

robi

@scooke YES, no hours of fiddling and troubleshooting, it's just done and works. Easy peasy.

necrevistonnezr

I'm seriously considering the switch from Nextcloud to Filerun. I'm trying to find more info on the security side of things. From what I can gather from the documentation and the Changelog

In general,

2FA is supported out of the box,
each WebDAV App gets a separate password that can be revoked,
except for the superuser account, all accounts are protected against brute force attack

https://filerun.com/changelog lists a

Security audit by Christian Poeschl and Tobias Braeutigam, from "syntegris information solutions GmbH".

but it wasn't published, it seems.

From the documentation: https://docs.filerun.com/doku.php?id=secure&rev=1641578988

Securing the FileRun installation
Once you have FileRun running, it is strongly recommended to follow these steps in order to secure it:

The default user account, superuser, is the only account not protected against brute force login attacks, so it is very important that you set a password that cannot be guessed by a computer. Set a long password, containing also uppercase letters, digits and symbols.

Accessing the FileRun installation via SSL|SSL/HTTPS, instead of plain HTTP will strongly increases your data security. Get a free SSL certificate for your server here: https://letsencrypt.org

Make sure session.cookie_httponly is set to On, in your server's PHP configuration file, for increased security against cross-site-scripting attacks.

Update the configured MySQL user account and remove the ALTER and DROP privileges. (You might need to add these back before installing any FileRun update.)

If you are on a shared hosting service, make sure the permissions of the FileRun application files do not allow PHP (or any other web server application) to make changes to them. Make an exception for the system/data folder and its contents, where FileRun needs to be able to make changes.

Make sure display_errors is set to Off, in your server's PHP configuration file.

Register your FileRun installation, from the control panel, under Software licensing, to be able to keep the installation secure and up to date!

murgero

@necrevistonnezr It's been working very well for me thus far. Security seems decent - 2fa definitely helps with that. WebDAV is nice too as nextcloud apps can sync with that. It's also much faster since it doesn't have many apps/plugins installed from the get-go.

necrevistonnezr

BTW if you had non-critical errors displeased by the Nextcloud desktop client, see https://feedback.filerun.com/en/communities/1/topics/1501-nextcloud-macos-client-sync-errors-a-different-e-tag-to-proceed-was-received

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Filerun - Self-Hosted File Sync and Sharing