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Introduction
This white paper describes CentreStack. The solution can be used by
businesses and service providers to privately deploy and host an enterprise file sync and share (EFSS) solutions,
providing an access layer (browser, mobile, desktop and file server access) around
private cloud storage service and local file server storage, and retaining full
control of data and the related access infrastructure.
Quite often, our MSP partners and Enterprise customers refer to it as the self-hosted
dropbox alternative solution. It competes with AnchorWorks in the self-hosted file sync and share solution category.
Problem Statement
Many of your business customers are now faced with the Dropbox problem. The employees
of the business are using Dropbox on their own to backup some local folders and
make them easy to access from over the Internet. However, from business perspective,
it is not good knowing that company documents may be scattered on multiple PCs and
in different places, creating liabilities for regulatory obligations and leakage
of business secrets.
Many of them are turning to you now for an answer. Since you are already managing
important IT infrastructure for the customer, it would be great if you could self-host
and manage a dropbox-like service for your business customers. Or if you are the
head of the enterprise IT department, the company is also depending on you to find
a solution.
You may already start looking for a solution and may found a solution
such as AnchorWorks or SparkleShare, most of which are based on Apache, Linux, PHP,
MySQL. However, after deployment, you found that the solution doesn't meet your expectation and
you need a more mature commercial solution.
CentreStack Solution
Since 2011, CentreStack provides a solution for the problem above. First it enables
you to install and host the solution completely on-premise or inside a service provider's
data center or on-premise. Second, it can be integrated with the file server storage, SAN storage
or NAS storage.
Benefits
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Integrate natively with Active Directory
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There is no additional setup to add active directory users to the solution. Active
Directory users can simply log in to the on-premise file sync and share web portal.
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Native integration with Home Directory
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User's home directory information will be directly used for web browser based and
mobile device access, if the Home-Directory integration option is turned on.
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Integration with Your Existing Storage
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The solution can be integrated with your existing storage, whether it be file server
storage, SAN storage or NAS storage. In addition, you can also connect to your own
public cloud storage services. You can even use existing files and folders and expose
them to use right away.
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Supports both Multi/Single-tenant Deployment
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There are two CentreStack options, one for single-tenant and other
other for multi-tenant. It is up to you how you will deploy the solution and it
is very flexible.
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Standard Microsoft Web Platform
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CentreStack is built on top of standard Microsoft web platform technology,
including Windows Server 2008/2012, .NET Framework, ASP.NET and SQL Server (Express).
These are all very familiar topics for a Windows System Administrator to master and
self-deploy of the solution
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Implementation
It is recommended that CentreStack be installed on Windows 2008 R2 servers, or Server 2012 R2 as shown in the following configuration. You can connect
the Active Directory to the CentreStack instance as the user manager.
You can also connect your local file server to the CentreStack Server.
Summary
CentreStack leverages the local connectivity to Active Directory and
your own storage solution to create a self-hosted dropbox alternative solution.
The benefit is to give security and control back in your hands.
Especially for system administrators that are familiar with Windows technologies
such as ASP.NET, IIS, SQL Server/Express, it is very easy to setup and manage as
an AnchorWorks alternative solution.
For more information, please contact Gladinet Support - enterprise@gladinet.com
or visit http://www.gladinet.com
See Also
Installable Enterprise Sync & Share Solution
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