Anyone tried OwnCloud?

[Feathers McGraw]

I've been considering setting up my own dropbox-like storage with OwnCloud.

From what I can tell, the features of the two are very similar.

If you've used it, how did it perform (and under what conditions, connection speed etc.) ?

I noticed that the desktop client is in the Ubuntu repos, is it any good? How about the Android app?

Feathers

[SteveRiley]

It's a ginormous pile of PHP that most of the time works pretty well. Development is rapid, they're squashing a lot of bugs and adding features, but I sometimes worry that it's just too big. However, if you need even a small subset of what it offers, it's the absolute fastest way to get into production.

In versions 3.x and 4.x, the sync mechanism was terrible. Rather than relying on something like inotify to inform the sync client of changes, the client was checking the server every 30 seconds. I cannot abide such a waste of network resources. I've read that the sync mechanism was redesigned; perhaps this flaw has been fixed.

Don't use the version in the repos, it's always behind. Get the latest from http://www.owncloud.org.

[kubicle]

I use owncloud regularly, and it meets my needs. It isn't perfect for every use case, but it's actively developed, quite versatile, fairly quick and easy to set up and in your own control.

In versions 3.x and 4.x, the sync mechanism was terrible. Rather than relying on something like inotify to inform the sync client of changes, the client was checking the server every 30 seconds. I cannot abide such a waste of network resources. I've read that the sync mechanism was redesigned; perhaps this flaw has been fixed.

I think the main problem in using inotify would be that it does not do recursion and won't detect changes on the server. The sync client has seen some optimizations already (although I actually do not use the sync clients):

Another, still ongoing effort is the introduction of a smarter scheduler that ensures that sync runs will only be performed whenever there are changes on the server. Before, we could only detect local changes. In order to achieve this, we leverage the E-Tag, a Unique ID provided by the ownCloud WebDAV server. This should result in significantly reduced CPU load and networking traffic. No more sync runs every 30 seconds. Instead, the root E-Tags on the server are being checked, and a sync run is only started if they changed. Also, we have lowered the thread priority for the actual sync run to provide a smoother experience.

(https://daniel.molkentin.net/2013/08...-visual-guide/)

[Feathers McGraw]

For some reason I missed that anyone had replied to this

Anyway, thanks for your replies good to know that people here are using it, I was intrigued as soon as I discovered ownCloud but it took a while for me to take the plunge and set it up.

I've got ownCloud up and running, and configured the way I'd like it (with the help of steve's post on the ownCloud forum!). It was actually relatively easy compared to some other things I've tried, which is encouraging.

So far, it seems very good. Bear in mind I'm running it on a raspberry pi (not the one that's running my website & mail server, I thought that would be asking a bit much).

I've found the web interface a little slow to load (compared to wordpress, citadel mail server on the same hardware), but not prohibitively so.

Both the desktop client (installed directly from ownCloud, not the repos - thanks Steve) and mobile client seem much faster, I can only assume that the web interface is the slow bit, and not what's under the bonnet.

I'm surprised that the mobile app has such poor ratings on the play store, it works very well on my Nexus 7 with CM 10.1.3 (~Android 4.2.2). The app is free from F-droid, about 65p from Google Play - unfortunately, you can't give it a good review unless you buy it from the play store, so perhaps that's why!

It has a feature that lets you automatically upload any photos you take. You can specify whether or not you want this done on wifi only. I think this will be a hit with my girlfriend, who used the equivalent feature on DropBox for a while but quickly ran out of space! Now we can put those old hard drives to good use instead of worrying about the 5GB limit on DropBox.

Feathers

[Feathers McGraw]

It isn't perfect for every use case

For the sake of discussion, what's it not good for?

Not that I want to focus on the negatives, but it would be interesting to understand the limitations. You seem to have read up on it!

Feathers

[Buddlespit]

quick question: If I want to be able to access this from outside of my intranet (installed on my internal server and I'm on my laptop at the coffee shop), does html content ports need to be enabled?

[Feathers McGraw]

Yep, port 80 and 443. You can enforce SSL only if you like.

Feathers

[woodsmoke]

yep, used it when I went to the Bahamas, posted pics for my classes.

Gave them a password, and when the semester ended, changed the password.

Kinda simple really.

woodsmoke

[Feathers McGraw]

Woodsmoke,

Sounds like a clever use of ownCloud.

Out of interest, what are you running it on and where? Your own server, or some rented space?

Feathers

[woodsmoke]

My machine, I pulled my normal Kubuntu hard drive and put in one just for it, so that I don't have to be paranoid. That is the only use I have made of it.

It was fortunate that I did because the bandwidth out of the Bahamas is almost non-existent for a cell phone, I had to use a hotel kiosk that had landline hookup, under the ocean! , to upload a couple of pics for student viewing.

woodsmoke

[Feathers McGraw]

Smart.

When you say your machine, I guess you mean a desktop? What's your internet connection like at home and did you get any feedback on how responsive owncloud was?

Feathers

[woodsmoke]

Yes a desktop, cable internet and they had no clue, just logged in and observed the pics.

But, for what I actually needed to do it was waay overkill, dropbox is easier and simpler.

woodsmoke

[kubicle]

For the sake of discussion, what's it not good for?

I meant that owncloud is (and aims to be) a sort of jack of all trades, and therefore isn't really optimized for any particular usage.

If one is only going to use a small subset of it's features (let's say one only needs an online calendar/addressbook...or only a cloud backup solution), one is likely to find a more efficient/better alternative that is optimized for that particular task.

[Buddlespit]

Yep, port 80 and 443. You can enforce SSL only if you like.

Well, that sucks.... My provider blocks all html content. I've yet to figure out how they do it, too. It doesn't matter what port I run apache on, Cox Cable will block it.

[Feathers McGraw]

That's strange, out of interest I looked it up and they didn't even mention blocking HTTPS (443)

http://m.cox.com/residential/orangec...f-000000000000

I guess you've already tried that?

My ISP, PlusNet, uses packet sniffing to restrict bandwidth for certain things like P2P during peak hours, I think they can figure out the tripe of traffic regardless of port. Can't say I've noticed it slow me down though.

Kubicle, that's an interesting point. I think I read somewhere that you can speed things up by disabling the apps that you're not using. Haven't tried it though.

Feathers