During a lightening talk at London CloudCamp we talked about the need for a multi-cloud storage API (slides below). We then presented the options currently available, and of course the SMEStorage multi-cloud API is one of several. We do believe we bring some nice things to the table with out API which include:
- REST based providing an SPI to multiple clouds
- Provides value added services over and above just upload/dowload, and file system view. There are too many to list, but these include file encryption, Email backup, ETL from one cloud to another cloud, content filtering, faxing and much, much more
- Ability to provide a single view of disparate data in different clouds - a cloud data unification within a single file system view.
If you are a developer take the time to check out the API and let us know how we can do more to help and what features you are looking for.
We have just update our multi-cloud API manual and published it on Google Code. We also have added some more code examples in PHP to supplement those in .Net, and added a PERL libaray example with a test PERL app as well.
The multi-cloud API now supports Amazon S3, RackSpace Cloud Files, Box.net, MobileME, Gmail, Any Email, FTP, Google Docs, Evernote, and any WebDav enabled cloud. Coming soon will be Microsoft SkyDrive, Twitter, Deicious, and Walrus from Eucalyptus.
The Box.net provider is now fixed after they changed their API. All Box.net users will need to Re-sync their file metadata with SMEStorage. You can do this from the sidebar using My Account->Providers. Select ‘Synchronise’. This will re-sync your Box.net file meta-data. Upload and download will then work as normal.
The new changes in the Box.net API are that each interaction with the API now requires authentication rather than having a token for the session, which is onerous and not what is normally considered best practice. it also adds an overhead of about a second to interacting with the API. Also, the upload host changed from box.net to upload.box.net (although the old endpoint still works for now). Lastly, the download endpoint now redirects to another host.
Only 1 session can now be used when authenticated, so if you are logged into Box.net when you go to use SMEStorage, your Box.net session will be logged out.
It seems that Box.net has made some major API changes that have broken the Box.net provider. We are in the process of fixing this right now and expect a fix to be released in the next couple of hours.
The new version of the Firefox uploader for SMEStorage is now available. It has a number of new features, one of which is the support for Multi-Cloud Providers directly within the Plug-In itself. If you have a Lifetime Cloud or Organisation Cloud account, this means that you can change between using 9+ Storage Clouds when uploading files simply at the click of a button.
The number of Clouds that the Plug-In works with is Amazon S3, Mosso Cloud Files, Box.net, MobileMe, WebDav Clouds, Gmail-as-a-Cloud, Email-as-a-Cloud, FTP-as-a-Cloud.
Other new features include:
Obtaining file url’s from directly within the plug-in, and also sharing files with Twitter from directly within the plug-in (providing you have added your Twitter details to your account).
The Firefox plug-in also now shows the special folders that can be setup through the website i.e. shared folders (designated by a red square around the folder) and also Organisation Folders if you are using an Organisation Cloud Account.
If you have thousands of files in your storage cloud then you will appreciate ‘Filter’ which allows you to filter the files viewed by either Alphanumeric values, string values or by range.
Lastly, collaborative business groups can now be viewed and managed with the plug-in:
A SMEStorage Account is needed to use the plug-in. The help documentation for the plug in can be found here.
One of our users recently pointed out to us how they are using the SMEStorage Multi-Cloud explorer within Ubuntu. The explorer is one component of our windows tooling that is installed. The explorer itself is a dedicated .exe file so that makes it compact an easy to run when using virtualisation libararies such as WINE or Crossover.
Ubuntu provides support for WINE within its additional applications. To intalle support for Wine in Ubuntu you need to add the Wine Package:
Once Wine is added Just double clicking on the explorer file will launch it using the WINE virtualisation.
The Explorer can work with the Following clouds (depending on your package):
We’ve made some upgrades to the site over the last week or so. The first change was upgrading the way that we deal with Tags. You will notice a new Tag Explorer that has much more features and is integrated into the site so that you can easily add existing tags to files:
We’ve also added search as a dedicated tab within the File Manager. You can also save your searches for future use:
We’e also tidied the file manager, and made some other small changes to the interface.
As part of some new changes on the SMEStorage web platform (more of those in the next post) we have introduced contacts as data that you can back up to the cloud platforms we support.
In the SMEStorage explorer bar you will now see a Contact root Node:
When you click on this node you will see two new icons in your SMEStorage explorer Bar:
The first icon gives you the ability to backup contacts from over 50 email and social sites that provide contacts:
Once your contacts are imported (and you can back them up to any cloud that we support (which includes Amazon S3, Mosso Cloud Files, Box.net, Gmail-as-a-Cloud, Email-as-a-Cloud, FTP-as-a-Cloud, MobileMe, and any WebDav enabled cloud) they are stored as VCard files, and as they are treated as files you can mark them as favourites, share them over email, or Twitter etc.
You can also edit each contact and add extra information or more fields:
Once your contacts are imported you can create contact groups and sub groups and organise your contacts. All your contacts and contact groups are integrated into the site so if you want to share files over email or from business groups when you start typing the first letters your contacts will popup for your to insert.
During a lightening talk at London CloudCamp we talked about the need for a multi-cloud storage API (slides below). We then presented the options currently available, and of course the SMEStorage multi-cloud API is one of several. We do believe we bring some nice things to the table with out API which include:
No Comments » | 
SMEStorage | 
Permalink
Posted by info
