Hi all

I'm new here so please be gentle :-)

I am in the middle of building a website which offers a secure file storage/logging facility for a set fee. Once uploaded, the customer cannot change the file and/or access it so having a membership login etc doesn't come into the equation. All the websites I have previously made for friends etc have been static ones, so this is a bit of a challenge.

I presume I need a Perl (or similar) script combined with an SSL certificate to do the uploads. The files uploaded will be almost any type, but up to 8-10mb max, and I don't anticipate more than 100-200mb a day being uploaded. Will a normal host allow this? I hear that 2mb is some kind of limit, though I could be wrong.

Once uploaded the files will then be moved (daily) by me or a colleague to offline, secure storage (any tips on this welcome). So they are not kept online.

Basically I'm stuck on what kind of service would let me implement this (a combination of the security, the uploading limit, and the bandwidth), and the easiest way to do with without breaking the bank. I don't know much about servers either, in case that's a solution.

Any help or comments appreciated!

Thanks,

Ginger Mop

Hmmm this is a bit of a specialist project... if you want it to be scaleable you might have to fork out a bit in the short term.

As for the site itself, you will need some sort of server side language to handle it - Perl would work but is getting a bit old, I would reccomend ASP.NET (makes file uploading -really- easy) other options are PHP and ASP (although ASP is getting old too, ASP.NET is like the latest version.) You'll find loads of info on how to upload files in ASP.NET on the web. You only need SSL if you require the data to be securely encrypted as it gets uploaded. (Remember that SSL has a slight overhead and will therefore be a bit slower)

As for file size, there is a default upload limit in ASP.NET and a default script timeout which both need to be changed for larger files. Again, you can find out about these on the web.

For really big files, FTP might be a better solution however not from the point of view of the user - unless you had a Java applet or ActiveX control that could handle the FTP in a user friendly way.

When it comes to Hosting, you'll probably find most hosts give you a bandwidth limit then charge you if you go over. You'll have to check out the different hosts for their limits and if you can't find one that suits you you might have to look for a dedicated server or other dedicated solution. You could even buy your own server and have a fast internet connection put in to your office, that would have the benifit of having physical access to the server so you could transfer the data quickly and easily to tape storage or other media to take off site.

Hi there

Thanks for the response, I will check out ASP.NET....

I notice you're in the UK too, can you recommend any good hosts who might be up to the job?

Thanks for all your help so far,

Ginger Mop