Some might have already noticed that Cloud has been added to the main menu of my site. I am glad to introduce the new function, which is now being tested.
In order to fully utilize the unlimited storage space offered by my hosting provider for my Premium plan, I have recently decided to set up a cloud function on the server (for now it is for my own use, of course, but I am planning to offer the service to those I know who might be interested. Well, I doubt whether there would be any.). The PHP program I am currently using is ownCloud, which is free and open-source.
I used to question myself why would I need such a private service while there are professional, well-established and highly secure cloud services out there, such as OneDrive and Google Drive. The answer I have arrived at is “complete control”. Since I have direct access to the background storage space through FTP, adding and removing the files could not be easier, without having to get familiarized with those redundant functions such as “trash” on some typical services. The files can easily be retrieved even if I lost my password and in the highly unlikely situation which I could not reset it. The functions which my cloud service offers, I can activate them or deactivate them based solely on my own needs, and if there are suitable third-party add-ons, I can choose to install one to make the service even more powerful, which is generally an advantage of open-source programs. Last but not least, unlimited storage space (which I do not normally take up further than 1GB).
Certainly, I have found numerous drawbacks and errors in setting up and testing the service. The first concern is security. For some reasons which is beyond my knowledge, some system files of the server, to which I have no control or access (a consequence of using shared hosting), is not accessible for an essential function of the program, whose task is to encrypt the files stored using somekind of random strings which is normally generated from that system file. This is “highly disrecommended” according to the manual, for it is a serious threat. Therefore, I am not temped to store sensitive information in my own cloud service for the moment, not until I have sorted this out. Speed is another issue, as the bandwidth allocated to me is rather limited. My download speed from the cloud, with 100% of the data coming from the original address (no P2P acceleration), is about 600KB/s with the WAN speed of 100Mbps. This is very unsatisfactory, as it prevents efficient storage and sharing of large files or achieves. Using my own cloud is sometimes highly inconvenient when sharing files with others, as I will be likely to receive files in public cloud services, and other people will not be impressed by receiving a file from “Matthew Wang’s Cloud” as it does not support direct transfer to their own Google Drive or something. I have read on the Internet, though, that third-party storage services can be loaded onto ownCloud through add-ons, and I am planning to investigate further into that possibility.
To conclude, this cloud service is of more testing purpose than productive, though the latter is my final aim of what it should be. It still takes much effort to troubleshoot and customise the service, but hell, never lose confidence. Be prepared and take calculated risks – it is a part of the Spirit.