NC as file server

Hi,

I want to use nextcloud to serve teachers folders which they have access to. Only admins will be able to update/add files. Teachers will be read-only. They will have access according to their groups. What do you think is the best way to achieve it. Group folders, normal share etc? One of my concerns is that users shouldn’t be able to rename the files or folders. And when I change the name of file or folder, i want users to see the same name too. Structure will be similar to this:

I will appreciate any help, thanks.

Best,

I think “group folder” are better for static structure and flexible users. That is your goal, or?

The problem about groupfolders is that i cannot give subfolder access to a group if they don’t have access to parent folder. See here: https://github.com/nextcloud/groupfolders/issues/931

hey @Berat

i felt moving this topic to category groupfolderswould fit better to what you ask… :slight_smile: if you think it would fit better anywhere else feel free to move it there, though :wink:

so now this really seems to call from groupfolders. and from what i understand from the picture it could work.

i think with groupfolders you could even go down to a single user and grant special access to folders. so this should work.

i’m not sure about visibility of folder-structure (if that would be needed or not, though i’d consider it to be a nice to have)

as for renaming files/folders… that would need a writing-permission, i guess. so if you won’t grant that to anyone… noony would be able to change something.

i would just give it a try on a similar system you could easily setup with a vm. just add a few users… a few groups … according to your plan and then see how far you would get.

good luck

ps: darn i only just now saw that there were already answers to your question and that you’re already discussing that in github as well

Hi @JimmyKater,

Thank you for your answer. I’m not sure if my solution is GroupFolders that’s why i created the topic in support and set groupfolders as additional category.

I have already installed a NC instance, developed an app to register users with invitation codes. They are added to a group during registration according to invitation code they have entered. The instance is publicly available. I can happily share it with you if you have time to check it out. Because I couldn’t manage to share a subfolder with a group.

In need of support from an experienced nextcloud user/developer :slight_smile:

it’s ok to move it back. :wink: sorry… sometimes users don’t know where to put their threads and thus file them into support. didn’t notice that you put good thought into beforehand.

we use those as tags. they are searchable

at github you are very near to devs… with a little luck someone would chime in and tell you more from his PoV. maybe you wanna ping one of co-maintainers there, directly?

but here’s another idea of mine: since you seem to run a professional environment/setup it would be a nice idea to apply for a supportplan. any maybe it would be worth to really think about it… even more so because educational sector clients are meant to get a special quote. maybe it would be cheaper than you thought.

Thank you for your suggestions @JimmyKater. I will consider them.

1 Like

I don’t quite understand the need for this…
For example: Group3 is allowed the see/use the content of the Listening folder.
Why not allow it to see the whole path: Language-English-Listening?

Or do you plan to have files in the English folder in addition to the Speaking and Listening folders?

@anon71540698 and @Berat

I also think that make no real sense. The problem is more the own structure. Perhaps make a re-design. Perhaps you do not need sub-sub-…folder but different folder on one high level. Test it.

Hi @anon71540698 If I give access to Language folder, then the Group3 will see all folders in Language folder, not only English. I may change it through Advanced Permissions but considering more than 300 groups will be in system, it will be so hard to manage.

I want it to be easy to manage. Let’s say admin user created a new user group, Group4, and wants them to access Listening folder under English. What do we expect him to do? Give access to all folders and then remove access by Advanced Permissions for the folders we don’t want them to have access?

You can also use external storage and its capabilities to set permissions. You have to create all users on this external storage and mount for each user this storage. Then you can use this external storage’s permission settings. E.g. samb, or the linux-acls and scp…

1 Like