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Amazon or other Cloud Storage Question

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    Amazon or other Cloud Storage Question

    I have an application that creates pdf files in a local folder for one company. Since the app server is on a company server, I don't have any file access issues. I'm wanting to move the app to the cloud and make it multi-tenant. I use AlphatoGo's framework that makes the multi-tenant a bit easier for me to manage.

    Question:

    Does amazon storage or other cloud storage allow for different permissions for subfolders? I want the app to create files in different company subfolders using an account with access to all subfolders and then provide access to the individual companies using something like CloudBerry Drive where they only have access to their sub-folder to download/copy/delete the files to their computer/server for further processing.

    Also, the application makes use of local storage to create and sign pdf files with a certificate. Is local storage available in the alpha cloud when using xbasic to create reports, files, etc.



    Creating Healthcare Work-Flow Solutions Since 2005

    #2
    You will control file access with one account (typically) and then your application will manage what they can access. File storage on the Alpha Cloud can only be temporary, as it will get wiped out automatically. However, you could tell your app to grab the file they want from (say it's amazon) S3 storage, transfer to your Alpha Cloud account temporarily, let them download it or whatever, then delete it immediately. XBasic could manage that for you. I don't think Alpha has a built in way to manage it.

    Comment


      #3
      Thanks for the info. I believe I can save pdf files into different subfolders using a root password. I'm trying to find out if individual accounts can be created to access those subfolders outside of alpha using an S3 compatible file access program. I'm just not sure if multiple accounts can be used for the sub-folders in AWS where users cannot go up a level and browse other folder contents since they'll belong to other companies.

      I'm trying to figure out the best way to create several pdf files and have them available to users from different companies for further processing on their computer.

      I guess I could create an Xbasic script to create all of the pdf files, zip them and then present the user with a download dialog box. They would in turn have to download and extract the files.
      Creating Healthcare Work-Flow Solutions Since 2005

      Comment


        #4
        For my purposes (my multi-tenant application) each row in the database has a "company_id" column which is the filter for the records they can access rather than a specific folder. In this way you can have a single folder for all files, and other folders for different file types if needed. Each row, can also then be sub filtered by the usergroup they belong to within the company if need be so that the owner can see a high level report whereas the secretary & field technicians can see other reports. Is that more of what your after here?
        NWCOPRO: Nuisance Wildlife Control Software My Application: http://www.nwcopro.com "Without forgetting, we would have no memory at all...now what was I saying?"

        Comment


          #5
          I have exactly that type of solution using Alpha and S3 Buckets, but access to all the files is controlled through Alpha and not a third party ( which I think would make it much more complex if you were to use).

          Here is how I do it:

          1) Have one S3 bucket that is locked down for public access (so no one can randomly download the files),

          2) Build your Alpha solution as a multi-tenant which it sounds like you are doing. Basically each table has a column with a company_ID as Charles mentions. The user logs on and they are restricted to only the rows that correspond to their company_ID.

          3) Use the Alpha upload tools to build an interface where users can upload documents to the S3 bucket, as you do so get the link to the file and put it in a table with the company ID.

          4) When the user wants to download a file, restrict them to only rows that they have access to and then they can download those files (again using Alpha S3 download tools).

          I use this solution for my pet sitting software (photos/PDFs etc) and it works great, let me know if you have any other questions.

          Cheers,

          Scott










          Comment


            #6
            Thanks Scott!
            Creating Healthcare Work-Flow Solutions Since 2005

            Comment


              #7
              Thanks Charles!!
              Creating Healthcare Work-Flow Solutions Since 2005

              Comment


                #8
                Another option you have is storing the documents in the database itself. This would fully control access without having to worry about S3 or anything else. There are performance issues to consider as well as making sure all your database connections are secure and probably would want to encrypt the database as well.

                Comment


                  #9
                  Thanks, i actually do store the pdfs in the db. I don't have any issues with single file downloads. The files are temporary so I'm not worried about the bloat or performance. It does become unmanageable when there are 50-100 pdfs to download.

                  I decided to spin up an older alpha server and include an FTP server for remote download.

                  If my user base increases, I'll revisit the alpha cloud.

                  Thanks for the input!
                  Creating Healthcare Work-Flow Solutions Since 2005

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