@Matt there's a question I always ask myself. "Why didn't IPS add other storage methods until today?"

Amazon S3 can be a very expensive option for some people. FTP can be a much more interesting option, allowing administrators to distribute their files on different servers.

This also helps to reduce the processing load of files such as downloads and gallery on main server where the site is installed.

Edited April 16, 20231 yr by Hisashi

When you upload a file to AWS, it's using HTTP(S) to post the image via an API.  That is a one-time transfer from your server to AWS servers.  Once it is there, anytime the file is called, it's delivered directly from AWS via the bucket URL.  Meaning AWS is the one delivering the image instead of your server.

If you were to implement FTP, while it would not be difficult to upload the file...  downloading it would be much more difficult.  Modern browsers no longer allow the FTP protocol in the browser.  (For example with Chrome, it was removed in version 59.) 

This means IPS would have to each time it was requested, login to the FTP server and download it...  then deliver it to the user.  That would dramatically increase the work on the server, slow down the delivery of the site (because it has to be downloaded and then sent to the user), and increase bandwidth on both the web and FTP servers.  

 

Additional to topic

There are other service options.

• Google Cloud
• Backblaze
• Wasabi
• Azure
• DigitalOcean

Those highlighted are S3 compatible and can be used by Invision Community.

 

 

Maybe I didn't use the correct term for this suggestion. I think the proper method is SSH

An option would be created where you would inform the data of the other server that will be used to store the files.

Then you would create a subdomain to point to the IP of this server.

Mount it as a volume on your server and access it as if it was part of your file system, and use the "Custom URL" in the file storage setting to point it to the other server.

Edited April 16, 20231 yr by Martin A.

But then they increase management cost, support costs, more separate vendors to deal with… 

Not to mention now needing two separate WAFs. 

There is a lot to be said for a single throat to choke. 🙂 

Also at the enterprise level, they don’t pay what is listed on the website. I know for a fact that lower prices are available based on overall spend. 

Note: I have put in a request to Backblaze to add tus uploading to a B2 bucket. If this is implemented, Invision Community could directly upload all files directly from the user's device using tus or an uploader like Uppy. This would mean files wouldn't need to be sent to AWS at all so AWS wouldn't be able to charge for egress to the B2 bucket saving even more money.

These egress fees aren't a problem for me since I use OVH Cloud for my backend servers and bandwidth is included/unlimited for egress to B2 (or anywhere else). Also, I use Cloudflare Tunnel to protect my backend servers. No WAF needed for my backend servers since they reach out to establish the tunnel to the Cloudflare CDN.

Edited April 20, 20231 yr by KT Walrus

What I’m saying is that Bunny or another CDN might be a good solution for a self hosted community. It is not a good solution for the IPS cloud. There is a lot more being provided provided by Cloudfront than simply being a CDN that can’t be accounted for if they move that traffic out. 

My hope is that Invision adds support for B2 storage method. Also, I would like to see support for TUS uploading directly to S3 or B2 by incorporating a TUS/S3 uploader in Invision Community like Uppy.

I'm kind of hoping that version 5 replaces plupload with tus since tus protocol is more of a standard that many cloud services provide endpoints for uploading. I'd really like if my backend server didn't have to support any uploading/downloading of files, only HTML/CSS/JS over HTTPS. Leave all that to my cloud storage provider. Cuts my costs way down and allows me to support video attachments (not just YouTube embeds) on my site.

Note that for Uppy, you currently need to run their Companion on your backend to upload to S3, but many other cloud services (especially for video streaming) provide tus endpoints so no data transfer to an intermediate server is required.