Seafile on Homeserver and network file sharing

Hi,

I’m planning to use Seafile on my homeserver. I got some questions, I can’t find any answers in google or forums.

  1. How are files stored? In the database or in the filesystem?

  2. Can I make network sharings via Seafile, without syncing?

I want to share files on my network for my network-receiver, TV and desktop pc. For my receiver and TV there is no app (and storage) to sync the whole files from Seafile.

On my desktop, I got no storage either. And also, I don’t want to sync the whole data, if I’m in the same room with it.

Can I realize this?

Greetings.

Welcome to the forum! Let me try to help you.

As for 1.) Please see here for more info. The source is not brand new, but it is still up-to-date.

as for 2.) You can access data in Seafile via WebDAV or using the Drive Client. I suggest you check out the drive client first. It’s like a network share on steroids. It’s available for Win, Mac and Linux. You’ll see, it’s amazing and exactly what you need! Sure, the drive client is no option for the receiver/TV, but, voilà, this is what the fallback webDAV is for.

Thank you.

I see, it’s a DB and I cannot do network file sharings with e. g. samba because of it. I have to try the WebDAV with my devices, if it’s not working, I have to figure something out.

How do you think I can bind the WEBdav to a device like a SMART-TV?

I’ve allready checked the Drive Client, but I understand it like I have to download (or sync) files within the drive or regocnizes it the server in the same network?

Allow me to correct you: Seafile is not a DB. Seafile uses a DB, but Seafile is kind of a file system on its own. The content is stored as objects, the DB contains the information to put the objects back together to form the file. So it is different to ownCloud/Nextcloud which uses the OS’ file system.

I am not super familiar with smart-TVs. But I would assume that may support WebDAV provided that it is a very common LAN protocol.

The drive client maps the libraries in Seafile to your local computer. You can access all files in Seafile directly without prior sync of the library to the local computer. What makes the drive client different from network shares is the offline cache. Once downloaded, the file is stored locally in the drive client’s cache. You can set the cache’s size in the drive client’s settings.

Okay, then maybe it’s not the right programm for me, of course it sounds very nice but yeah, the sync option and webdav is probably a nogo.

I don’t want to put any files local on my machine, because the server is in the same room, other thing is with my laptop, which I carry around the whole country.

Maybe I will try nextcloud then… too bad I just wanted a pure cloud, without any unnecessary apps or trash-load.

I’ve searched for WEBdav Support for android tv, but there is no such file-explorer or similar. ES File Explorer is banned, VLC just support (FTP(S), SFTP, SMB and NFS), Total Commander is not available for Android TV, it’s just a mess.

I think I was unclear: You don’t have to put any files on your machine. If you think the drive client leaves to much data on your computer, just mount your libraries using WebDAV. Where’s the problem? (I wouldn’t do it because you leave tons of great features unused, but if all you want is file access, then WebDAV is the way to go.) Seafile give three options to you: Full sync (sync client), on-demand access with offline cache (drive client), online access only (WebDAV)

As I said, I am no smart TV expert, but I just did a quick google search and found dozens of Android apps supporting WebDAV. There is none for your TV?

On my desktop, I would go with on-demand access, but I don’t want to cache files on my machine, because the server is in the same room. I don’t have to cache it in that case.

With my laptop is the full sync just fine.

And WebDAV is no option for my PC/Laptop.

Indeed there are tons of usefull apps on android, but not for the TV-Version of android… thank you google

Seafile uses a DB, but Seafile is kind of a file system on its own. The content is stored as objects, the DB contains the information to put the objects back together to form the file. So it is different to ownCloud/Nextcloud which uses the OS’ file system.

I am not super familiar with smart-TVs. But I would assume that may support WebDAV provided that it is a very common LAN protocol.

Problem is android smart tv, there is no WebDAV application neither an option in the settings page to add an (webdav-) device. But the advanteges are better then the disadvantages.

Maybe I will put my files just local in a samba directory for DLNA, so I can easy watch the video-files from my server.

But the very important questions is:
Does the drive-client recognize that the server/cloud is in the same network? I got internal 10GbE network traffic and I don’t want too much load on my DSL connection. Further it would be very stupid to upload the files from the server to the internet just to download it from the internet back.

This is not so much a question to SeaDrive, but rather to your internet gateway or your client’s configuration.

If you use the server’s local IP-address in your client configuration, the client can’t any different but communicate witht the server directly.

What about a HTPC with seadrive?

Or seafile for all documents and a samba share on the same server just for the video directory…
That’s how I will implement it. But you will have to decide if your pictures and Musik is on seafile or Samba. If you just stream videos put them on the share and the rest of your docs in seafile.

For Media streaming other services are better anyway…
Seafile is good for keeping multiple devices update2date with normal documents.

I love seafile for deduplication. Freedom of where to sync libraries localy and the locking file mechanism for office files.

If your streaming clients are some sticks and smartTV you wont have a good time streaming from seafile

Back to HTPC … mhhh

Finally:
Mix it (as above) or leave it. Would be my recommendation.

More ideas:

Seafile all in and a raspberry pi with seadrive as streaming device for multimedia on TV. Haven’t tried this but should work and the investment is not that much. You could try a Testsetup with one big movie before going all in.
Raspberry yet doesn’t have the nice comfort of a remote control

Nevertheless this thread brings up the wish for a streaming clients similar to seadrive for Android and Apple devices

Anyone ever tried to install the seafile Android apk to a Android smartTV?

What you need is the seadrive client for Android smartTV maybe with capabilities of VLC :grin:

I don’t want to stream to my network, my TV can play the files directly without any need of a streaming service. It’s the same situation if I plug in a usb drive, I can just play the files.

I got VLC on my TV, maybe this app is capable of WebDAV, haven’t tried yet, because I’m too busy, but I will try it the next two weeks and give response if it was successfull.

And: I don’t want or need a HTPC or Rasperry, this is too much overload. Then it would be better to go with samba.

And for file sharing inside the network: can you give me a tutorial how to set up the local network interface? The server is my standard-gateway anyways because it’s a modem and router too. Do I have to set up anything else?

technically if you play a video via VLC on your android from the Samba Server its also streaming.
But nevermind.

I think you will have to figure out if VLC from the playstore is capable of Webdav. or if there are any other media-streaming clients for TVs with webdav in the Playstore.
If not I wouldn’t set up Seafile as you will not get what you are looking for.

For your videos I think the Samba + VLC is a good solution. For non-Media Files you might reconsider seafile.

good luck