{"id":896,"date":"2010-12-28T10:00:01","date_gmt":"2010-12-28T16:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thepizzy.net\/blog\/?p=896"},"modified":"2011-02-23T22:28:54","modified_gmt":"2011-02-24T04:28:54","slug":"cloud-file-synchronization","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thepizzy.net\/blog\/2010\/12\/cloud-file-synchronization\/","title":{"rendered":"Cloud File Synchronization"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"At my company, I’m the only IT person there. As such, my jobs range from fixing the hardware, to maintaining the network, to developing the website. And being the only person who’s able to do any of these things in the company, I can’t really be out of reach from the files needed to keep things going.<\/p>\n

The one thing that has kept all of this in line for me for so many years has been Microsoft’s Windows Live Mesh<\/a>. I’ve known about others for many years, but none of them could offer remote desktop solutions as well as file sync without having to add additional software.<\/p>\n

That was all well and good, until I got my Google Cr-48 Chrome OS Netbook. Microsoft allows you to connect to other computers through your local internet browser, but the feature is not supported for Chrome. This only poses a small problem, but it also removes a requirement of the service. If I can’t remote into a computer from Chrome on the Cr-48, then Mesh is no longer the only option for me.<\/p>\n

The other issue I found (on any computer) was that to edit the files I had to do so locally – either they had to be on the computer via a share already, or I had to download them from Microsoft’s Skydrive. This was not a problem on a desktop computer – I would just open up Notepad. On the Cr-48, though, I can only view certain files natively within the Chrome browser…not edit them.<\/p>\n

To edit the files, I’ve chosen to use Kodingen.com<\/a>, for reasons that I will go in to with another blog post. However, keeping the files sync’d to a completely separate server on the internet would require one additional thing from my file synchronization software: an API.<\/p>\n

Windows Live had an API called Live Framework<\/a>, but that was pulled in September 2009. I have yet to find out if that service is still available, and if it offers API access to your Mesh\/Skydrive shares. In the meantime, I’ve turned my attention to DropBox.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"DropBox has API access, as well as real-time file synchronization, and is multi-platform. It doesn’t offer the remote desktop connection ability, but that’s unavailable in Google Chrome anyway. It also doesn’t have the ability to create shares out of folders – you have to create a folder to share, but it must reside in the primary Drobox folder. This creates a dilemma when the files you want to sync are in a specific location and already in production. (You can find a full comparison of DropBox to Live Mesh here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

So right now, I have created a DropBox share on my Work PC. This sends files up to DropBox.com. I’ve also pulled down my development codes from Mesh and created a Mesh Store inside the DropBox folder. Now, I have my files sync’d from the Server to Mesh to my Work-PC to DropBox. The next step is to learn how to implement the API so that I can pass this information off to the Kodingen.com guys. I have yet to dive into the API, but my hope is that I can selectively sync folders from it, and in doing so, keep my intranet site sync’d with the Kodingen cloud for editing the files.<\/p>\n

I will have more on the DropBox API stuff in a later post. For now, though, no matter which service you use for keeping your files in the cloud, you have to make sure you can manipulate them there as well.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While the rest of my work requires access to files on a server, when I’m mobile, everything must be in sync with the cloud. Here’s my setup.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":636,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[507,707],"tags":[149,689,690,734,735,738,737,697,739,741,740,736,501,691],"class_list":["post-896","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cloud-computing-concepts","category-living-in-the-cloud-cloud-computing-concepts","tag-api","tag-chrome-os","tag-cr-48","tag-dropbox","tag-dropbox-api","tag-file-sync","tag-file-synchronization","tag-google-chrome","tag-google-chrome-os","tag-html5-editor","tag-kodingen-com","tag-live-framework","tag-live-mesh","tag-netbook"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thepizzy.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/3201.Sync256_5F00_1E0A24D91.png?fit=256%2C256&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/prOO4-es","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":915,"url":"https:\/\/thepizzy.net\/blog\/2010\/12\/concept-dropbox-api-integration-webhost-sync\/","url_meta":{"origin":896,"position":0},"title":"Concept: DropBox API Integration, Webhost Sync","author":"[[Neo]]","date":"December 27, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"I enjoy trying to find solutions to things that are difficult to accomplish, whether that is researching existing technologies to try and mash them together, or developing new ones to solve a problem. It's rare that I have to create completely new things, so more often than not, all the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Cloud Computing"","block_context":{"text":"Cloud Computing","link":"https:\/\/thepizzy.net\/blog\/category\/cloud-computing-concepts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thepizzy.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/box1.png?fit=500%2C500&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":942,"url":"https:\/\/thepizzy.net\/blog\/2011\/01\/living-in-the-cloud-code-editing\/","url_meta":{"origin":896,"position":1},"title":"Living in the Cloud: Code Editing","author":"[[Neo]]","date":"January 4, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"TextDrop is a text-editing, cloud-based web-application that allows you to create, modify, and save text-based files back to Dropbox.","rel":"","context":"In "Cloud Computing"","block_context":{"text":"Cloud Computing","link":"https:\/\/thepizzy.net\/blog\/category\/cloud-computing-concepts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thepizzy.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/apple-touch-icon.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1086,"url":"https:\/\/thepizzy.net\/blog\/2011\/02\/my-favorite-google-chrome-os-extensions\/","url_meta":{"origin":896,"position":2},"title":"My favorite Google Chrome OS extensions","author":"[[Neo]]","date":"February 2, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"After 2 months of Chrome OS daily use, I've compiled a list of plugins a web developer & casual social network engineer should use.","rel":"","context":"In "Cloud Computing"","block_context":{"text":"Cloud Computing","link":"https:\/\/thepizzy.net\/blog\/category\/cloud-computing-concepts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Google Chrome OS Logo - Source: doobybrain.com","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thepizzy.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/google-chrome-OS-logo1-150x113.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":846,"url":"https:\/\/thepizzy.net\/blog\/2010\/12\/introducing-living-in-the-cloud-the-series\/","url_meta":{"origin":896,"position":3},"title":"Introducing: Living in the Cloud (The Series)","author":"[[Neo]]","date":"December 22, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Monday, I got an unexpected surprise on my doorstep: a Google Cr-48 Chrome OS Netbook (youtube video). From the video, you can see that it's nothing more than a Chrome Browser with a keyboard and Wifi\/3G internet access. After spending a day getting it set up and testing the battery\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Cloud Computing"","block_context":{"text":"Cloud Computing","link":"https:\/\/thepizzy.net\/blog\/category\/cloud-computing-concepts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thepizzy.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/Chrome_Cloud1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":852,"url":"https:\/\/thepizzy.net\/blog\/2010\/12\/living-in-the-cloud-first-things-first\/","url_meta":{"origin":896,"position":4},"title":"In the Cloud, First Things First","author":"[[Neo]]","date":"December 23, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"The hardest part about cutting the cord is making sure everything you need is available online, and how you're going to access it.","rel":"","context":"In "Cloud Computing"","block_context":{"text":"Cloud Computing","link":"https:\/\/thepizzy.net\/blog\/category\/cloud-computing-concepts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thepizzy.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/2418509850_6b7ac5196b1-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":227,"url":"https:\/\/thepizzy.net\/blog\/2009\/03\/how-to-use-live-mesh-to-sync-your-programs\/","url_meta":{"origin":896,"position":5},"title":"How to sync your program\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s plugins using Live Mesh","author":"[[Neo]]","date":"March 14, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm sure you've been at work, thinking \"Crap, I don't want to go home and do this, because I don't have the software there.\" Or maybe you do have the software, but you don't have some certain set of plugins (i.e. Photoshop Brushes for a graphic designer), and you need\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Cloud Computing"","block_context":{"text":"Cloud Computing","link":"https:\/\/thepizzy.net\/blog\/category\/cloud-computing-concepts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Welcome to Mesh.com","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thepizzy.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/03\/2009-03-14_1329-150x150.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepizzy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/896","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepizzy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepizzy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepizzy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepizzy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=896"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/thepizzy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/896\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1177,"href":"https:\/\/thepizzy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/896\/revisions\/1177"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepizzy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepizzy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepizzy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepizzy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}