Restricted Uploads Unrestricted Downloads

[briesmith]

Is it possible to configure a single set of folder (structure is Uploads/Documents; Uploads/Pictures; Uploads/Forms; ie 3 sub folders under the single folder called Uploads) so that only specified usernames/passwords can upload while anybody visiting the website can download the documents by clicking their HFS http address (included as a text hyperlink on a webpage)?

So uploaders would see the standard HFS page once they logged in with the UPLOAD button in the top right hand corner while visitors wanting to download would see just a text hyperlink pointing to the folder names and file names and be allowed to download the files by clicking on them in normal browser fashion? (Save As... etc)

[briesmith]

As nobody replied   I plugged away on my own and made some progress.

I am running HFS on a Windows Server 2008 R2 server and what I did was create a real folder called Uploads and a virtual copy of that called Downloads. I did this by right clicking on the real folder name and copying it to a virtual folder which gave me Uploads (1). I then renamed that virtual folder to Downloads.

I specified no uploads to the virtual Downloads folder but with no restrictions on access which gave me the situation I wanted where only specified people could upload to the real Uploads folder provided they had the necessary credentials but anybody could download from its virtual clone, the Downloads folder.

So far, so good.

I could see the folders and their underlying structures. Each of them reported the sub folders of /documents, /forms and /pictures and both folders showed the same content.

Again, so far, so good.

I then used the template to visit the two folders using the URLs http://99.999.999.99.1000/Uploads/Forms and http://99.999.999.99.1000/Downloads/Forms and the Uploads folder correctly asked for credentials and the Downloads one didn't.

I used the template to upload a file to Uploads/Documents and it did it.

By now I am feeling really good (and a little smug.)

I should have known better because while I can see the uploaded file in the Uploads/Documents folder the Downloads/Documents folder shows no content. I seem somehow to have updated the real folder Uploads/Documents without updating its virtual clone Downloads/Documents and I can't for the life of me work out how I could have done that. It's clearly something to do with permissions and folder rights/properties but I can't find these. Logging in to HFS (by clicking the Login button) makes no difference.

On top of this when I log onto the server via Remote Desktop and go to the HFS screen I can no longer see the sub-folders; ie I can't expand the two folders Uploads and Downloads.

So I have 2 problems; how can I somehow differentially update a real folder and its virtual copy/clone and why can't I expand the folders I created and can see in the HFS left hand window so I can check their contents?

I am so near to getting the HFS configuration and functionality I want and it's so frustrating but, hopefully, someone can tell me what I am doing wrong?

[briesmith]

I would really appreciate someone replying to this post.

I am sure these problems are relatively straightforward and easily solved by someone who knows HFS better than I do.

 

[briesmith]

I seem to have fixed this by switching the virtual folder to be a real folder.

This changed the name from Downloads to Uploads so that I now had two folders both called Uploads.

I changed the renamed Downloads folder from its new name Uploads back to Downloads and it all seems to work.

Unless something comes out of the woodwork later on, I seem to have achieved what I want; a restricted access Uploads folder structure only those visitors with credentials can upload to and an unrestricted copy of that folder that anybody can download from. And because they are both "real" folders, anything uploaded to Uploads structure also appears in the Downloads structure.

The only thing I'm not clear on is whether I have to go through the copy to virtual, switch to real then rename process or whether I could just copy the original real folder structure to another real folder directly.

I am glad to have got to something that seems to work but it's a bit lonely on this forum; does anybody else read it? It seems a bit Marie Celeste like with all the crew gone.

[rejetto]

i just read the first post, and saw you found a possible solution.
I will quickly describe my suggestion (it may require HFS 2.3):

drag & drop the 3 folders on HFS
select "real folder", not virtual
create one account, say "uploader"
give upload permission to "uploader" for each folder.
If you need more detail/security you can create an account for every person, and make "uploader" as a group, and make every account to be part of it.