As Many Web Servers As You Need

The world's best cloud-based file server also knows how to be a high performance web server (or multiple web servers), and using this capability is so simple to do, a growing population of our customers is discovering that their Files.com site can take the place of their existing web servers providing fast load times of static and embedded files to their website visitors.

There is no practical limit to the number of folders you can create in your Files.com site, and each of those folders can be activated to be its own static web server. That means you have an unlimited number of web servers at your disposal.

What You Can Serve

Your folder in web hosting mode can serve any type of static file and MIME type a standard web server does. These include html, xml, css, javascript, images, videos, music/sound files, pdfs, text files, and many more.

This gives you the flexibility to use any folder as its own web server either supporting and serving content through one of your other websites, or as a stand-alone special purpose web site, for example, a site where your team reviews mockups for your upcoming product.

Powerful Use Cases and Workflows

The fine controls available to site administrators in managing folders, users, groups, permissions, and our suite of built-in folder behaviors, allows your Files.com site to function as a smart web file server, rivaling the best enterprise grade website systems.

One example is a content generation workflow that requires multiple collaboration steps and approval steps before publishing. At each step in the process, user permissions and groups can ensure that only the correct people and teams can fulfill that step, and only those authorized to approve content can move content to the folder configured for web hosting mode to display to the public.

Another example is an efficient and securely managed process used by a regional magazine to get reader-submitted photos onto the prize winner page of their web site. For this process they combine the Inbound File Inbox feature with folder permissions and web hosting mode.

• Readers submit their contest photos with release forms to an appropriately themed anonymous Inbox.
• The first line of contest judges, who perform triage, receive automated email notifiers when new files arrive. As they complete their triage and verify the release forms, they move photos that pass triage into the next level of folders for the next round. Those judges also receive email notifiers (set to trigger on move actions).
• The next round of judges work with image files only and move the contenders along to the final folders where the last round will determine contest winners.
• Once contest winners are selected, the images are moved into the appropriate folders inside a web hosting enabled folder that serves the images to the correct "Winners Circle" locations on the web site without any required web script edits or maintenance.

And then there is the VOIP hardware provider requiring public access to new and previous firmware upgrades in which their telephones can be programmed to poll for updates and allows for users to access previous versions.

These can all be accomplished by using the Files.com Public Serve Web Hosting mode.

So far Files.com customers have come up with a variety of interesting use cases, and we expect to learn of many more as we hear from more people leveraging this powerful feature.

If you are considering a use case that involves web hosting mode, or are already using it in an interesting way, we'd love to hear from you!