Sharing local files over the web

[Pjieter]

As I was looking for a webhost to host some important files of me that I need at various locations, I 'discovered' what I already knew: filehosting is expensive! :)

As I'm exploring some alternative web file-sharing methods, I heard some people found a way to share files from their local computer to the web. When they enter a specific IP-adress or URL, they will be able to acces the files from their computers (read-only acces). I'm aware of the fact that my computer has to be power on any given time to acces my files, but that's not a problem at all. This seemed a great way to solve my problem with the expensive hosting, but trying to realize this I ran across a few questions.

What i want to do:
Share some files from my local PC (HDD) to the web, without the use of an external hosting-service.

Problems
As I don't have any experience with all this, I basically got two questions.
First of all, I don't have a static IP-adress, so I need a way around that. I heard about a few methods to fix this (using DynDNS). Tried it, but no succes at all, as there are a lot of options to configure, and I'm not sure (don't have a clue) how to do this.
Also, I don't really know how to 'share' my files. I'll probably have to install a web server such as Apache, and put my files in a 'htdocs'-folder, as I already learned digging around at the web. But anyone got some clear instructions on how to configure this Apache-server, or has another webserver I could use to do the job? (I'm running Windows 7 )

So, actually it comes to these 2 questions:

• 1: How to navigate to your dynamic IP from the web, using a static link
• 2: How to configure a webserver on a local machine for file sharing on the web

Greetings, and thanks for helping! :)

[swifttech]

use a document storage system. microsoft sharepoint services is free for up to 5 users i think... and 4gb limit database. we use that and can access files remote , local , and on mobile devices.

[Pjieter]

use a document storage system. microsoft sharepoint services is free for up to 5 users i think... and 4gb limit database. we use that and can access files remote , local , and on mobile devices.

I heard about SharePoint. My only problem is that the files I want to share may be up to 4Gb.. And the license isn't free neither I think, only if you're using Windows Server, what is not the case :)
I'll give it a try, as I can always use a synchronisation-service other than dropbox, but It's not really a solution for my problem.

Thanks anyway, I'll definitely check it out, looks promising :)

[swifttech]

ok right if you want to share files that large that might not be the way to go. well you could do a FTP server for free using filezilla , windows ftp , or whatever. In any case since you don't have a static IP you'll need to use a dynamic DNS service. Also if you have the dynamic DNS in place you also have the option of using a VPN if you have hardware / software to do so. On a VPN you would be able to browse to the folder just like if you were on the network. I would recommend FTP for ease of use but I'm not completely sure what you intend to do.

[Pjieter]

ok right if you want to share files that large that might not be the way to go. well you could do a FTP server for free using filezilla , windows ftp , or whatever. In any case since you don't have a static IP you'll need to use a dynamic DNS service. Also if you have the dynamic DNS in place you also have the option of using a VPN if you have hardware / software to do so. On a VPN you would be able to browse to the folder just like if you were on the network. I would recommend FTP for ease of use but I'm not completely sure what you intend to do.

I used Filezilla before, but only as client. Didn't know that there was a server version as well. I think you are right about this, what I actually need is an FTP-server (I think). I'll try to make it work on my local network. How can I fix the dynamic DNS-problem? Because I believe filezilla doesn't fix that issue, does it?

Thanks,

[Pjieter]

I just installed Filezilla server, and it seems to be working on my local network, exactly as I wanted! When i enter in my bowser

ftp://127.0.0.1

and I log in with the user I created, I can see the folder I wanted to share (see screenshot).
Now rests the question how I can acces this page over the internet, when I'm not connected to my home network.

Here you can see what the page I get when I surf to the Filezilla-server:
http://i705.photobucket.com/albums/ww59/Pietervl/filezilla_sharing.jpg

EDIT:
I was a little bit to enthousiast it seems. I can go to the 127.0.0.1-adress only from the PC that is running the server, not from other computers from my network. Any idea what the problem is?

[Pjieter]

I just installed Filezilla server, and it seems to be working on my local network, exactly as I wanted! When i enter in my bowser

ftp://127.0.0.1

and I log in with the user I created, I can see the folder I wanted to share (see screenshot).
Now rests the question how I can acces this page over the internet, when I'm not connected to my home network.

Here you can see what the page I get when I surf to the Filezilla-server:
http://i705.photobucket.com/albums/ww59/Pietervl/filezilla_sharing.jpg

EDIT:
I was a little bit to enthousiast it seems. I can go to the 127.0.0.1-adress only from the PC that is running the server, not from other computers from my network. Any idea what the problem is?

EDIT:
Already fixed that problem, I can now acces the page (see previous post) at all diffrent computers in my loca network (by entering the IP of the server, not to the loopback adress as I tried earlier) :)

The only thing I need to fix, is to get this page to the web :)

[swifttech]

good work! filezilla is a awesome little tool. yes just work with the dynamic dns tools and you'll get it figured out. those work nice for what you are doing

[Pjieter]

good work! filezilla is a awesome little tool. yes just work with the dynamic dns tools and you'll get it figured out. those work nice for what you are doing

Going to try that tomorrow, hope it doesn't take ages!
You ever used a dynamic dns tool? Could use a recommendation :)

[swifttech]

i have used it a few times but try to avoid when possible. in our experience most of them are pretty much the same. you could try this one.

http://www.no-ip.com/

[Pjieter]

i have used it a few times but try to avoid when possible. in our experience most of them are pretty much the same. you could try this one.

http://www.no-ip.com/

Ok thanks, I'll check it out

[swifttech]

please mark this as solved when you get a moment so swifttech can get some points :-D thanks much

[Pjieter]

please mark this as solved when you get a moment so swifttech can get some points :-D thanks much

Of course!
Thanks for helping me out :)

Kind Regards,