I’m a bit confused about implementing a shared folder for a group of people. In this case I want a folder that will have devices dropping files into it that all people can access. Devices being a fax server or a network scanner for instance. The use rate would be maybe 100 faxes a day being added to a common fax folder and the same volume for network scanning to a common scan folder.
I’ve seen a bit about
using the group app to manage a share
dedicating a bogus user as the owner of the share
running a re-scan of a folder, but there seems to be some reliability issues with that (?)
Ideally, I’d like to just setup a little Linux box with a NC then config the common folder for the staff. How would the devices access the share? They support SMB but this isn’t a SMB share. Some of our printers support FTP. Do I just have to add SMB service to the box/folder?
if I’m correct, the db keeps track of the files (not copies of the files) but since I’m dumping them in a share without using a NC client (i.e. fax server) how does the db know about the docs
Best way would probably be to use the external storage module. Add a folder where you can drop files via smb or ftp and make that available to the subset of users that needs it.
The fax can then be dropped in that folder and with the inotify file watcher you dont need to rescan that external folder. It will sense when files are added and then update the interface and make the file visible in nextcloud.
I agree with the external storage. If you can host SMB or FTP in another place where the copier can scan to it, then you can access that external share from within Nextcloud and make it available to a group. This external storage can also be on the same server as Nextcloud, just elsewhere on disk.
If the copier supports WebDAV (unlikely) then it could access Nextcloud directly and you could use a group folder instead.
Accessing Nextcloud’s data folder directly via any sort of remote access is not recommended and causes a lot of people problems. It also requires a file scan after every change to fix the consistency of the database.
Thanks guys, I’ve been peaking at the use/deploy information on External Storage.
Per KarlF12’s idea, is there any reason I shouldn’t put a Samba share on a Nextcloud box and point to the ‘external Storage’ there? My thinking is since this will be a virtual NC server I’ll be able to add additional space as needed in the future. The will be 10-15 people on the NC server so I’m not terribly worried about a high performance box.