I’ve been using Amazon S3 to store family photos and some other stuff for quite a while, but, as you know, the web interface Amazon offers is not very user-friendly and provides no way to share files except by public links to individual files. Another thing I’ve always wanted was a place to store miscellaneous snippets and notes not relying on any services that keep my data locked-in in their databases. So I decided to combine the two and built S3io.
S3io is a web-interface app for Amazon S3 buckets (not for all of them, unfortunately, buckets in Frankfurt or buckets with dots in their name will not work for now) that will turn your bucket into a file sharing and note-taking tool. It allows you to post notes (saved as JSON files in your bucket) and upload files directly from the browser while the app server only stores metadata and knows nothing else about your files and notes. It also lets you view uploaded photos in a slideshow kind of a gallery and share your notes, individual files or entire folders.
If you use Amazon S3 for personal storage, you could find S3io useful. It is still an early beta and has not been extensively tested by anyone else except me, so browser support is limited to the latest Chrome for now, although it seems to work fine in Opera and Chromium, not that good in Safari. The situation will get better in the future. If you are interested in testing or using something like that, please sign up for invitation.
"It's just that a tool I'm using on the back-end doesn't work very well with the Frankfurt region because of signature version 4. But I'm sure this problem is solvable, I just didn’t put much effort into it yet."
You're right. But with S3io most of the action happens on the client side and it does work with sig. v4 which provides better integrity checking for large files, the problem with Frankfurt is not very big, it's just that I can't automatically detect the region by the bucket name on the back end. But it should be fixable.
I've come back to this idea many times, and I think it has a lot of promise. It's all a question of the user experience and the feature set (or making it open and hackable). Cloud storage is a cheap commodity (at least for geeks, who know how to buy it "wholesale") and people will want ownership of their data.
Actually, I don't know what it's all a question of, but in 2016 we have these amazing services and tech stacks for shuttling bits and building UI, and yet I still use the Finder and the command-line and wait for Dropbox to sync my photos and videos. Something's gotta give.
Yes, it's cheaper, but B2 doesn't allow uploading files larger than 100mb from the browser, you have to use their CLI tool for that. I don't think their web API supports that.
y u do dis? Does S3 not also have the ability to store complex data bits like filenames? Is the server open source? Will the client work without the server? What if your server actually keeps a transaction log along with my IP and other identifying information (seems like logging in would make this readily available). WHAT IF YOU ONLY LOVE ME TO HARVEST MY METADATA?!
The server is not open source yet, but it probably will be. The client will not work without the server because the server signs all requests to S3 and otherwise I'll have to expose S3 credentials on the client side.
Great tool.
I had a similar idea a while back to build a frontend webapp to store my receipts on S3 or Backblaze.
It works like any receipt app, except the webapp is just a UI for S3/Backblaze.
As opposed to dropbox or google drive, you pay S3 directly for what you use and you own your own data. That way if the webapp goes defunct, you still are the owner to all your data in raw s3 bucket form.
I wanted it to replace my shoebox at home for sensitive data (warranties, gym memberships, utility bills) I don't feel comfortable putting on dropbox or google drive type app.
10 years from now, I don't know if dropbox or google drive will be around. I feel much more comfortable relying on a backend service like S3 than dropbox or google drive.
Hey, guys! Thank you all very much for your feedback! I'm starting to send out invitations. Please feel free to contact me over email you can find on the web site if you have any questions or problems.
29 comments
[ 2.9 ms ] story [ 83.1 ms ] threadI’ve been using Amazon S3 to store family photos and some other stuff for quite a while, but, as you know, the web interface Amazon offers is not very user-friendly and provides no way to share files except by public links to individual files. Another thing I’ve always wanted was a place to store miscellaneous snippets and notes not relying on any services that keep my data locked-in in their databases. So I decided to combine the two and built S3io.
S3io is a web-interface app for Amazon S3 buckets (not for all of them, unfortunately, buckets in Frankfurt or buckets with dots in their name will not work for now) that will turn your bucket into a file sharing and note-taking tool. It allows you to post notes (saved as JSON files in your bucket) and upload files directly from the browser while the app server only stores metadata and knows nothing else about your files and notes. It also lets you view uploaded photos in a slideshow kind of a gallery and share your notes, individual files or entire folders.
If you use Amazon S3 for personal storage, you could find S3io useful. It is still an early beta and has not been extensively tested by anyone else except me, so browser support is limited to the latest Chrome for now, although it seems to work fine in Opera and Chromium, not that good in Safari. The situation will get better in the future. If you are interested in testing or using something like that, please sign up for invitation.
Would like your feedback. Thanks!
"It's just that a tool I'm using on the back-end doesn't work very well with the Frankfurt region because of signature version 4. But I'm sure this problem is solvable, I just didn’t put much effort into it yet."
S3 allows people to essentially ignore the region by using domain style buckets. Except not anymore with v4.
It's a common gotcha.
exactly.
> But it should be fixable.
yep.
S3io looks interesting.
How difficult it will be to run S3io on S3 compatible cloud storage.
I am asking this because I work for www.minio.io, its open source cloud storage & would love to see S3io running on top of it. :)
Actually, I don't know what it's all a question of, but in 2016 we have these amazing services and tech stacks for shuttling bits and building UI, and yet I still use the Finder and the command-line and wait for Dropbox to sync my photos and videos. Something's gotta give.
y u do dis? Does S3 not also have the ability to store complex data bits like filenames? Is the server open source? Will the client work without the server? What if your server actually keeps a transaction log along with my IP and other identifying information (seems like logging in would make this readily available). WHAT IF YOU ONLY LOVE ME TO HARVEST MY METADATA?!
It works like any receipt app, except the webapp is just a UI for S3/Backblaze.
As opposed to dropbox or google drive, you pay S3 directly for what you use and you own your own data. That way if the webapp goes defunct, you still are the owner to all your data in raw s3 bucket form.
I wanted it to replace my shoebox at home for sensitive data (warranties, gym memberships, utility bills) I don't feel comfortable putting on dropbox or google drive type app.
10 years from now, I don't know if dropbox or google drive will be around. I feel much more comfortable relying on a backend service like S3 than dropbox or google drive.
That's exactly what S3io is doing!
I'd love to be able to host it myself as well. Hope you opensource it. If anything for me to geek on with other features. :)