how can I set up a "box.net" style central file repository???
 

Hi,

What's the best way to set-up a single file repository at home so I can access these/update these remotely as well as from home? I'd like my own version if you will of "box.net" / "Amazon S3" re online file storage. Some aspects of the usage I had in mind was:

* ideally ability to map a DRIVE in windows to the repository area

* ideally ability to open with a double click the file to edit, it then launches the required application based on file type, and when I SAVE or CLOSE the file it automatically updates the central repository

* I'm not talking about huge files, mainly Excel and Word documents

* Would like it to be secure (I've already setup CC for certificate based HTTPS and certificate based SSH). Not sure if this helps.

* OPTIONALLY - Would be nice if the implementation allowed me to choose my Windows XP machine as the repository area.

Thanks

if it's just for you to use on your home network, samba works exactly like that. if you want the repo on your windows box, just set the directory up as a network share and mount with samba on your linux box. you can also map these network shares to a drive in windows.
as far as access from outside your home network, i cant think of one specific application off the top of my head.

Sounds like you want simple file sharing (samba most likely so you can access from other OS's without installing extra software) with a VPN setup.

When you connect to a VPN, you're essentially on your home network, so you could then connect to the file share securely from anywhere, just as if you were sitting in your living room.

There are *many* ways of doing this... none of which I'm incredibly well versed with, so... You're on your own from there, but that's how I'd do it.

actually I did want to be able to use remotely. Can I expose SAMBA to the outside world securely?

I should have mentioned that I need to be able to access the service via HTTP (port 80), or a secure protocol on port 443. So I can't use a full blown VPN really.

Can I have a SAMBA file share exposed to internet via WebDav? and then secure WebDav via username/password (and ideally client-side certificate also, like I've done with my SSH connections).

Only as much as you believe your computer is secure. I believe Samba can be setup to authenticate, but I'd not want to leave an open port exposed to the world. VPN is your best bet. There are VPN clients for Linux, Windows, and OSX. I believe you can do all of it for free. Some routers (Sonic Wall, for instance) have VPN servers built in.

Well that changes things. I don't know how you'd get nautilis(sp?)/explorer/finder functionality unless you use samba or something similar. You could get a GUI for scp or sftp, but that doesn't give double-click-ability AFAIK.

Beyond that, ya got me.

use of SSH tunnels
 

actually I just had a thought - I could use an SSH tunnel for this (via Putty). I can already do this via an open SSH port, but it requires a client-side certificate for authentication, so it is quite secure...

All I need to do is to tell the SSH connection to tunnel local traffic to PORT X to go over the SSH connection to my linux server and then direct this to local host on the linux server on PORT <whatever the SAMBA server port is>.

Is there such thing as a windows SAMBA client I could run on my remote PC can be configured for a HOSTNAME:PORT connection?

thats not exactly how samba works. there's no clients for it in the stricter sense, it's basically a network file share. you set up a directory to share in samba's conf file, run the daemon and the share will pop up in windows network neighborhood and be mountable under linux as a network drive. i dont know of any way to expose those shares to be accessed from outside your home network.
there is an article on hackaday.com discussing how to set up a virtual, internet accessible raid under the pc hacks section. you may be able to get a few ideas from that to accomplish what you want.

I did see this http://www.security-hacks.com/2007/0...e-file-sharing however I haven't fully digested it yet... :)