Get rid of Google and Dropbox - Use Seafile sync and drive self hosted, open source options instead.

[@RO_dude]

So many people confuse synching and backups... Thank you for mentioning the difference. Came here to learn about Seafile after watching Linus Tech Tips latest video talking about Seafile and synching as it was the same thing as a backup.

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Glad it was helpful, and glad you are looking at multiple sources of information.

[@rhuwyn]

One of the things I love about your videos is that you give examples of cloud or closed source software that could be replaced by the software your highlighting.

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

I try to when I remember to do it.

[@pedrokatuniz8936]

Seafile is not a backup I agree, but it's file history feature saved me and a few customers quite often! You can also restore snapshots of any library. Thanks for your great work, love this channel!

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Glad it helped save some data, and super glad you like the channel.

[@dimitristsoutsouras2712]

... your explanation on things / services /guides goes better with each video. Something that is missed on a lot of pro channels. Nice! What it is important is the why of doing things and not just here is how to do it and go copy paste everything.

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

thanks, I'm glad you get something out of my videos, adn I'm trying to get better each time.

[@emanuelwieland]

AWESOME! You're the only one i click on the thumbs up button even before watching the video. Fantastic and instructive content as always. Thank you!

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

My pleasure! Glad you like it!

[@AlexRubio]

Been using this for over 7 years, Thanks!

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

It's really a terrific application!

[@Jonteponte71]

Maybe someone has already pointed this out. But if you register. You can get the professional version and run with ALL features for up to three people for free. If you're alone or a small family that is a great option.

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Great tip!

[@pipeba1408]

Thank you for this awesome guide! ❤ This is just what I was looking for to fulfill one of the requirements of my TI Infrastructure class project!

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

You're so welcome!

[@GadgeteerZA]

Beautifully explained!!!!

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Thank you.

[@arunlouie]

Very detailed walkthrough. Much appreciated

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

My pleasure.

[@holdenluci]

Hey Brian, Thank you for the great video, i just saw it, 2 years later, lol. Seafile vs Nextcloud? Which one you recommend?

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Seafile is a bit different from nextcloud. In my experience if Seafile syncing was not up and running, the seafile documents folder was not available, more like on demand availability (think icloud on your iPnone - you can see the items, but til you select one it's not specifically on the device). Nextcloud is a true sync where the files are literally on each device and syncronized. So for me, NextCloud is a better option in the end.

[@holdenluci]

@AwesomeOpenSource Hello, and thank you for the reply! Nextcloud it is then!

[@theodorstravels]

I don't quite understand where did you change the location the files will be saved to, in the host machine. I have no desire to have terabytes of data tried to be put on my system ssd.

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Under the 'seafile' section of the docker compose there are these lines: volumes: - /path/to/your/seafile/data/storage/location/seafile-data:/shared make the '/path/to/your/seafile/data/storage/location/seafile-data' whatever the actual path is to the location where you want your data stored.

[@theodorstravels]

@@AwesomeOpenSource excellent, thank you. Will try it out.

[@servertech6727]

I've just installed seafile due to installation problems with nextcloud aio, but unfortunately seafile android app is not synching the files.

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

I'm sorry you're having issues with these apps. If you'll go over to discuss.opensourceisawesome.com, post in the #help-me-please channel, and maybe one of us can help you figure out what's going on with one, or even both of these installs.

[@martingjsmith]

Thanks for this excellent tutorial. I have setup Seafile on an OMV5 machine and a newer OMV6 setup on a Raspberry Pi and both work fine. Is it possible to have the Desktop Clients point to two different Seafile machines?

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

I don't know about pointing at 2 different installs. I'm not sure how well that would work.

[@holdenluci]

You can use a load balancer in front of it and have it set up as primary-backup, if you are trying to have a 24/7 setup

[@user-dat-boi]

everything worked for me except when i tried to set up nginx. in this vid you already had your nginx proxy manager set up, and when i made mine, i think i did something wrong because in the nginx proxy manager when i click my host it says cannot find page. or maybe it was something i did when setting up portainer. because portainer set up for 8000:8000 and 9000:9000 but portainer only runs on 9000. could the issue be with portainer taking up 8000, and either seafile or nginx is auto set to use that port as well? thanks for this vid, docker, portainer, and seafile seem to be very useful tools if i can figure out how to use them effectively

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

So, in those port mappings, make sure you setup different ports on the left side of the colon. For NGinX Proxy Manager, you need 80 and 443 on the left side. Make sure no other applications have that set on the left side port. Also, you can check the docker logs through portainer to see if NGinX is giving any specific errors to try and help resolve the problem.

[@servertech6727]

Thank you for great tutorial. Normally I use Resilio Sync but on IOS you have to keep open the app during synching and it sucks. Does seafile continue to sync the files even the app works background on IOS ?

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

I don't know of any app on iOS that will sync data like this. The intention is to not have a process like a sync happening every few seconds on a mobile device to try and keep battery life at it's max. All of the syncing apps I've ever used will sync when the app is opened.

[@servertech6727]

@@AwesomeOpenSource Most of the mobile sync apps allow to manage synching. For example I can launch the synching app while I am at home and connected to wifi. Actually I tried to install seafile on rp3 B but the container didn't work. Probably seafile is not compatible with rp3 B. Thank you very much.

[@smarkson]

Cool! Thank you for this properly detailed tutorial. Can you tell me if it syncs using /tmp folder (Dropbox like) or NFS extended like?

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

I don't know specifically, but I think it's more dropbox like, than anything else.

[@borotes9125]

Thank you for your tutorial! I installed it just like you, but have the problem, when restarting seafile docker does not start till I type: sudo docker-compose up -d... Did that happen to you too?

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

No, you should be able to just do it without sudo if you add your user to the docker group. usermod -aG docker {$USER}

[@borotes9125]

@@AwesomeOpenSource I mean the service does not start by himself. I have to start it manually each time the server was powered down.

[@michaelrooks5842]

Hi i tried to set this up, it works fine until i login then i get a forbidden 403 CSRF verification failed.. please help

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Are you behind cloudflare by any chance?

[@michaelrooks5842]

@@AwesomeOpenSource I have my CNAME DNS records there but my server is setup same as video. I use noip for my dynamic DNS..

[@dontaylor9058]

Just tried this and it errors out with this error "ERROR: Service "db" uses an undefined network "seafile-net", adding the network didn't help not sure what to do now. Any help would be appreciated,

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

A couple of people have said this recently. Maybe something changed in Docker since I made the video. But it's okay to go ahead and make the network, then start the containers.

[@brennt1]

I wanted to use Seadrive on my Mac to offload some files, but it does not look like Seadrive maintains the Date Created or Date Modified attributes of the file, only Date Modified. I wonder if that is the expected behavior or if this is only happening on Mac OS. I am using the community edition of the server, so not sure if the professional version adds this functionality.

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Don’t know either, it’s always worth asking on their GitHub or forums though.

[@richardayuyang632]

Nice tutorial! Can you do video setting up Seafile in RPi4.

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Let me see what I can do. Client, or server?

[@richardayuyang632]

@@AwesomeOpenSource Server

[@vadimkutia6516]

Please tell me how to install the connector for Shadow Daemon VAF on Seafile?

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

I'll have to cover Shadow Daemon after I learn more about it.

[@vadimkutia6516]

@@AwesomeOpenSource Hi! I have currently installed Nginx Mod security. Mod security intercepts traffic for analysis directly on the web server (Apache, Nginx, IIS) is a plus, but the complexity of the installation and the lack of a user interface and not user friendly logs is a minus. It will be great if you find a way to use Shadow Daemon (or equivalent) with Nginx (Apache), and not PHP. Best regards!

[@mirkoregina8733]

Hi, I have a debian-based Q4OS linux distro and I need to connect 4 hard drives with windows and mac backups and I would like to create a server with raid sharing of all hard drives and including a continuous and incremental backup of smartphones too and ipad in the family ... I was thinking about nextcloud, openmediavault or seafile but there would probably be something else missing to perfect everything and for example the search for folders on different file systems and compatibility with android, ipados, mac and windows. also nvidia shield which can act as a nas if it would be enough and without paying plex. Advice? Thank you.

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

I'd say NextCloud might be your best bet, but be cautious here. Backups are in no way the same as Syncing. NextCloud, OwnCloud, Seafile, SyncThing are all syncing services. Syncing means if you delete it on one device, that is synchronized to all devices, and the file is deleted from them all. Backup means you are keeping items in a historical fashion so as not to lose something accidentally. Really, I would say OMV with a Samba Share setup as a Time Machine capable system would provide the best backup options for most of those devices, though the iOS and Android backups I'm not as sure about.

[@johnfermor]

More great content! Thanks v. much

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

my pleasure.

[@monish05m]

What would you recommend for backing up the data after i set this up for syncing between my devices, i have proxmox running on my home server.

[@holdenluci]

Proxmox backup, that is what I use myself

[@golvellius6855]

Need some help with the ssl certification Everything else works perfectly

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Hey, jump over to discuss.opensourceisawesome.com and ask in the #help-me-please channel. I'm sure we can help you.

[@golvellius6855]

@@AwesomeOpenSource thank you will do

[@chrisarapos8499]

I've been trying to make this work for a whole hour still can't figure it out with KZbin's help. I just wanted to share a pdf.

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Seafile is really cool, but if you're just trying to share a PDF withsomeone...why not just email it? As long as they trust you to not send malware, it should be fine. But, if you're looking for a way to do it, there is also FileBrowser which I think has a sharing option. Might be an easier setup.

[@gogomumin64]

I did docker-compose restart and then neither passwords worked :) I can't login now

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Odd. I've never run into that.

[@Morphfex]

How would I do this on windows ?

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

You can run docker applications on windows. Docker has a GUI for windows I believe. I don't use windows, so I can't give you specifics, but all in all docker should be pretty much the same I think.

[@Morphfex]

@@AwesomeOpenSource thanks for this!

[@Torvating]

I just found your channel 2 h ago and I'm loving your content. Small question: I have a small server at home (actually a laptop with 256GB) and I would like to use the same structure as you use and let all my docker containers inside the laptop but I would like to save all my images and videos in a external HDD (1TB). Can I create the docker-compose.yml on my laptop (exactly as you did) but save my data in the external HDD ? What should I change in my docker-compose.yml if I want to do in that way?

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

You certainly can. 1. make sure you external drive is connected. Then get the full path to the folder on that drive you want to use. In the yaml I provided, change this section volumes: - /path/to/your/seafile/data/storage/location/seafile-data:/shared and set the part on the left side of the colon ':' to be that path. Leave the right side set as '/shared'. Start it up, and you should be set.

[@seeithappen1]

How to install on my hosting ?

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Use Docker in your hosting environment. May depend on your hosting service provider though. The install is the same, just use your hosting IPs instead of your internal network IPs. You'll want to make sure you setup SSL or a VPN / tunnel, if you set this up on the open internet though.

[@seeithappen1]

@@AwesomeOpenSource Thanks for reply, I must contact my hosting support and see what they can say about it.

[@kalidujayasuriya]

How do you open the terminal in portainer?

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

For the container you want to enter, there are icons, and one of them looks like a terminal prompt. Click on that, then select bash, sh, or what kind of shell to attempt to enter with, and click Connect.

[@RameshKumar-rt8xb]

Is this better than syncthing?

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

I think it depends on what your end goal is for syncing. They both work well for syncing, but have different ways fo controlling what you sync.

[@ayhanersin]

good information. i set up my server as soon as i watched your content. it went smoothly. unfortunately i was unable to sync with my android phone. i get download failed notification for my files as though i see them in my folder structure on my phone. tough luck.

[@ayhanersin]

no worries. i found out. everything works like a charm.

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

@@ayhanersin great to hear you figured it out. Would you mind sharing what the problem was, in case others run into something similar?

[@kmonto1971]

@@ayhanersin Can you share what the problem was and the solution. Thanks.

[@kevinhughes9801]

Great vid thanks

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@antoniorobles998]

Hi Brian excellent content as always, many thanks. But I have a problem, when I try to install the client in my raspberry 4 (debian 10) with the command "sudo apt-get install seadrive-gui" I get this error: "Unable to locate package seadrive-gui". Any ideas?. The server is up and running in other raspberry and another client in my android phone working and sync. Thanks in advance.

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Just to confirm, did you go through the steps of adding the keys, the repository, and then do apt-get update before trying to install?

[@6LordMortus9]

Will this work without using Docker? I'm semi new to linux and have been trying to get docker going, but I guess with it being deprecated by kubernetes I haven't been able to get it running properly. I was looking into portainer and with this video (being a little old) I see you're using a docker dir, so I was just curious.

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Sure, you can run it without docker. manual.seafile.com/deploy/using_sqlite/ start there, and you should find a lot of information.

[@johann-space]

those "massive companies" are universities 👀

[@AcidiFy574]

How about Mega??

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

If you have a link, I'll take a look.

[@Ne0_Vect0r]

it's quite pricey

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Is it? Less than $10 / month for 9 users, whereas Dropbox is $10 / month for 1 user? I don't know.

[@baileyboy3687]

@@AwesomeOpenSource Or, as most business users are forced to run Office 365 then they get 1TB onedrive included.

[@JPEaglesandKatz]

Sorry to say but not sure I would trust my critical data with a full chinese product.. Not unless it is totally audited and checked with current standards... Which it isn't.. Open source or not....

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

If Seafile isn't for you, then maybe you could check out NextCloud, Owncloud, Pydio, or Syncthing. Definitely lots of options out there. I will say this... China has 1.8-ish Billion people, and I imagine 99.9% of them have 0 bad intentions toward anyone else. Don't hold the governmental stance against a nation of people. I wouldn't want everyone else in the world to hold me accountable for most of what the US government does either.

[@JPEaglesandKatz]

@@AwesomeOpenSource Oh I undertand but not sure about that 99% as the government controls virtually everything. And there is zero transparency in that regard. There have been a lot of global security concens regarding chinese hardware/software. I was simply referring to that. Also audits could take away some of those concerns.

[@nicholash8021]

@@JPEaglesandKatz Exactly.

[@jackz166]

Headquartered in China? Hell no

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

There are other options out there.

[@n100tey]

this is a lot like hard work :(

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

About 3 minutes total work. Takes a lot more time to go through the options than anything.

[@AZTechLabs]

Wow this is overly complicated

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Sorry you found it complicated, but once it's setup, it just runs. I haven't had to mess with it since making the video.

[@ghostinc7]

Should move to odysee like all the cool kids! KZbin sucks!

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

I'm not sure I want to be a part of a platform who's users go on other platforms to comment that the other platform "sucks". Not a big vote of confidence for me.

[@emsicz]

Oh great, another useless nonsense with name that isn't even remotely relevant to what it does. Let's all use portainer. Let's name things irrelevant. Docker compose file is not a docker compose file anymore, it's stack now.

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

You seem upset over terminology. Tomato, tomahhhhto... Times change, terms change. Don't sweat the small things. It's open source, free to try, free to use, free to modify, and free to not use if you don't like it.

[@Eyadish90]

Might not get a reply from you, but tried to follow the guide to install on my Synology NAS. Got the containerns up and running, but my log looks nothing like yours. *** Running /etc/my_init.d/01_create_data_links.sh... *** Booting runit daemon... *** Runit started as PID 16 *** Running /scripts/enterpoint.sh... 2023-01-09 23:05:32 Nginx ready 2023-01-09 23:05:32 This is an idle script (infinite loop) to keep container running. and then it spams "waiting for mysql server to be ready: %s (1130, "172.30.0.4' is not allowed to connect to this MariaDB server")" in the mariadb container it seems to do some setups, and then I get "2023-01-09 22:05:32 3 [Warning] Aborted connection 3 to db: 'unconnected' user: 'unauthenticated' host: '172.30.0.4' (This connection closed normally without authentication)"

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

So, it sounds like your mysql server container may not be in the same docker network as your seafile container. Without more specifics, it's hard to say for sure. You might just remove the containers and the volumes, they've created (and try again). If there is already data in the volumes, make sure to make a backup of your data first.