Configuring users’ file access

Basics

Each user has a home folder, which is an actual folder on the server's file system. Users do not have more than one home folder. This folder is assigned using the “Home folder” field available under the “Permissions” tab, when adding or editing the user accounts. It must be a path to an existing file system folder.

The user is able to browse all the subfolders available in his home folder.

Two users with the exact same “home folder” path will access the same files. To prevent the users from seeing each other's files, make sure the users have different “home folder” paths.

Important: make sure the users home folders are located outside the public area of your web server. In other words, files that users upload to their home folders should not be accessible directly by accessing your website's address like this: http://www.your-site.com/webfileshare/users-folder/private-file.txt So, make sure the home folder paths do not contain any of the words “public_html”, “html”, “www” or “your-domain.com”.

Providing admin user with access to all users files

The most common setup keeps the users access separate while allowing the admin users or superuser to access everything. To achieve that, make sure you create the users home folders inside the same root folder and assign the root folder as home folder for the admin users. Here's an example:

User A's home folder: /storage/files/users/user_a/

User B's home folder: /storage/files/users/user_b/

Admin's home folder: /storage/files/users/ (The admin can access all the users files)

Superuser's home folder: /storage/files/ (The superuser can access even folders one level higher - to store files which other admin users cannot access)

Accessing more than one folder

To allow the user to access files located outside his home folder, you need to use the folder sharing system. Logged in with a user account which has access to another location (usually an admin account), right-click the desired folder and select "Share.." -> "with users".

The shared folders will appear for the users under their home folder, like in the following screenshot. In this example, there is a folder shared by "Isha" and one shared by "John":

 

To make the shared folders appear on the same level as "My Files", check the option "Share anonymously", available under the "Options" tab when sharing:

 

 

 

 

 

Posted by: - Thu, Jun 12, 2014 at 10:31 AM. This article has been viewed 1539 times.
Online URL: https://kb.quikbox.com/article.php?id=721