Amazon S3 Mobile Access with Android

From a Simple Tool to a Business Solution

Simple secure access and file sharing solution based on Amazon S3. Android app and mobile access included!

Do More with Amazon S3


You have moved data into Amazon S3 and are looking for a simple way to access those data from your mobile devices such as from an Android device. AWS web portal (aws.amazon.com) has a simple web based file manager. First, it manages file objects at a very low level, such as the meta data information in addition to the data blob. Second, it doesn't provide a Amazon S3 mobile application on Android. There are many other Amazon S3 Android applications out there too. So what is different with CentreStack? With CentreStack, you can access Amazon S3 files and folders from Android devices, and share Amazon S3 files and folders as web links. You can integrate your on-premise file servers to Amazon S3 and create a hybrid cloud file server to facilitate mobile access to your on-premise file servers.

Challenges of Amazon S3


Amazon S3, for the most part, is designed for independent software vendors (ISVs) to build business solutions, and not for direct use. It is kind of like a hard drive, which is not designed to be used directly but as a building block behind a tool like Windows Explorer or a file sharing platform such as a Windows file server.

CentreStack Solution


CentreStack uses the AWS S3 API to add secure remote access, file sharing, disaster prevention and recovery to your file server on-premises with automatic migration to Amazon Web Services. It's not a tool to manipulate object meta data, but provides a secure file sharing solution and file server replacement based on Amazon S3.

Secure Access & File Sharing

CentreStack bridges file servers and Amazon S3 for secure remote access and file sharing.

Disaster Recovery

Leverage Amazon S3 as a central cloud file repository with version control, file change history and audit tracing to provide business continuity for file servers on-premises.

Easy Cloud Migration

Hybrid deployment between local file servers and Amazon S3 can be seamlessly converted to Amazon S3 only as a pure cloud file server.

CentreStack Feature Highlights


Cloud Mapped Drive

Remotely access file shares from a drive letter, without the need for a VPN. Amazon S3 Android app included!

On-Demand Sync

Minimize storage and bandwidth consumption by automatically syncing and caching only the files you need.

Version Control

CentreStack adds version control and file protection to the local file server.

Hybrid File Server

Local file server and Amazon S3 storage synchronize with each other for business continuity and easy cloud migration.

Active Directory

Preserve NTFS permissions and Active Directory identities when connecting file servers to Amazon S3.

Folder Permission

Granular folder permissions that can mirror NTFS permissions or start from scratch.

Deployment Option #1

Hybrid Local File Servers with Amazon S3


Install CentreStack's Cloud File Server Agent on the file server that will automatically migrate to Amazon S3. Supports Windows 2003/2008/2012/2016/2019 (32-bit/64-bit).

If the file server is in the same network as the CentreStack server, a direct connection is also possible (see Option #2). The file server is optional if you have other ways to migrate data to Windows Amazon S3 and just want a mapped drive to access the files and folders.

Deployment Option #2

File Servers with Direct Cloud Access


If you've already migrated local file server data into the AWS data center with Amazon EC2, CentreStack provides a direct file access solution for remote devices and mobile devices.

Problems Solved


CentreStack file server integration and enablement solves these problems by installing agent software on your file server or directly mounting your file server network share into CentreStack when direct access is available. It intelligently manages local and cloud storage together to provide a range of cloud enablement options.

Most importantly, the active directory and NTFS security models are maintained as if it nothing changed. Drive mapping functionality is also maintained so end users get a familiar drive letter to access files from remote locations. File locking is also maintained for multiple users collaborating on the same file at the same time.

File server network shares are synchronized to Amazon S3 Storage to provide a secure access solution for Windows mapped drives, Mac Finder mounted volumes, Android and Android.

Secure Access and File Sharing

Attach local file server folders to your CentreStack server to enable remote access while the original network shares remain accessible over the local area network.

Migrate Existing File Shares to Amazon S3 Storage

Alternatively, file server content can be migrated over time to Amazon S3 to form a hybrid environment. In addition to remote access, this enables a background backup process for business continuity.

Global Workspace

Create a global name space unifying folders from different file servers into a single directory structure, enabling multi-site collaboration. It's a distributed cloud file system backed by Amazon S3.

Server in the Cloud

You can also leverage existing file servers from Amazon EC2 Virtual Machines in VPC as a private cloud.