Setup linux-apache server to access documents on NT server

josephswagner · 04-09-2003, 12:25 PM

I want to set up my Linux-Apache web-server to access files on a NT file server. Basically I want to use my web-server as a portal for users to access/edit/create/delete documents on the NT file server through their browser.

Are there any linux products that would help me accomplish this?
Any help would be a appreciated. Thanks.

Edward78 · 04-09-2003, 12:42 PM

Samba might do it.

david_ross · 04-09-2003, 12:45 PM

I'm not sure whay you dont want to let users access shared files on the NT box since that is how it was designed. From what you say I think you want to use samba to mount shares within the apache DocumentRoot.

josephswagner · 04-09-2003, 01:13 PM

Okay this is what I want to do.
I have two servers.
One is a Apache web-server running on a linux box.
The other is a NT file server.
Now, when I am on the road I want to be able to still access and manage the files on my NT server but without having to copy all of the files to my web-server thus saving disk space and I would have all my files stored in a central location.

So the web-server would act as a go-between for the on-line users and the file server. Does this make sense?

david_ross · 04-09-2003, 01:20 PM

Yes I can see your reasons now.

Like I said in post 2 "use samba to mount shares within the apache DocumentRoot."

Do you see where I am going?

josephswagner · 04-09-2003, 01:34 PM

Yes I understand. That would work but I would need something a little more fancy. I would not be the only user accessing files and therefore I want file permissions to apply. So I need a way to authenticate users and to have the NT file permissions apply to the individual users.

david_ross · 04-09-2003, 02:03 PM

What sort of interface are you using on the web server side for creating documents?

Wolven · 04-09-2003, 02:25 PM

There are a lot of file manager programs for PHP that you might use to control the files, once they are mounted via samba.

I'll get you a few links if you like.

david_ross · 04-09-2003, 02:35 PM

The reason I was interested was that you may be able to use .htaccess files to protect the directories. This is how I have done it in the past. It just depends on the front end you are using. It doesn't matter how you protect the files at a system level - you will need to give the user that apache runs as full access anyway.

josephswagner · 04-09-2003, 03:06 PM

Links to PHP file manager programs would be much appreciated.

david_ross what type of front end would you recommend?
I want things to be as secure as possible.
Thanks.

david_ross · 04-09-2003, 03:17 PM

I tend to write my own to suit my needs

I create a password protected script using .htaccess. Then use perl to interprate the username that the user login with. Then use that as the dirname - eg /home/httpd/users/USERNAME/ Then using httpd.conf I can map the /home/httpd/users/ directory to http://myhost/users/

The security depends on how good your scripts are!

Wolven · 04-11-2003, 08:35 AM

Zend has a list of commercial and GPLed file managers here.

http://www.zend.com/apps.php?CID=263

I've used

http://philex.sourceforge.net/

and

http://phpfm.zalon.dk/index.php

Before. Most of the ones I've used have really amazed me with their flexibility.