Is Collanos Server Based?

[Murugan]

I am scouting Project management and collaboration solutions. Collanos looks very good. I have two questions:

1) Is Collanos tis server based-- i.e. we install the "server" version of Collanos on our Linux server) and people can access it thru the web?

2) are there permissions levels? I need to have a cascading hierarchy of workspaces that
i) can only be viewed by those in the admin group
ii) can only be viewed by those in the admin group and staff
iii) can only be viewed by those in the admin group, staff and collaboration team.
iiv) some work spaces can be view by the above groups and also some users can be restricted to see only a single work space and non other.

[Anna Evpak]

[Murugan]

If USER A  has made changes to some work space. and then quits the application, then what happens when USER B opens Collanos?  Do both users have to be on line at the same time in order for data to be synchronized?

[Anna Evpak]

Hello,

You can receive updates from any on line user, who already has it. If you have only 2 space members then you should be on line at the same time to exchange information. As soon as a member has got an update he can be used to get the change replicated from (fetch from any - ffa). This is implemented like that since version 1.3.

[Murugan]

OK, well I'm not sure this answer my question. Or perhaps it does...if Collanos does not support asychronous work flow, then I don't think it will work for us

Let me check again: My team is spread out: some are in Australia, some in Brazil, some in New York, some in Hawaii, some in California... all different time zones. If USER A in Hawaii  adds a task to a folder in a workspace and then shuts down at 5PM HST, for the night, from what  you are saying it means that USER B in Rio will not get the task appearing in his Collanos work space the following morning.. if he boots Collanos at 9 AM in Rio DeJaniero, it is still 2AM in Hawaii and the Hawaii USER A will not be on line. So, then USER B in Rio would go to work but he would not have the information from USER A until such time later in the day, when USER A logs in and is online.

Sadly, while I love you interface, I don't think this will work for us. We need to be able to work asynchronously and still have the data be up-to-date across all workspaces. I think this can only be done with a server based solution.

[RoboTheMan]

I think I understand what you are looking for.  I am also looking to implement Collanos in an environment where the users are not always on at the same time (we are starting with only 2 users...so the odds are pretty good for missing each other).  Our solution was to use an old desktop with Collanos running on it.  We just leave it up and running 24/7 and it "acts" as server.  So far it's working well.

So I think in your case, when USER A in Hawaii adds a task to a folder in a workspace, it would update the computer that you have running all the time (your makeshift server).  Then when USER B in Rio fires up the next morning,  USER A will appear offline, but your "server" will of course still be online and it will update USER B with the task from USER A.

Let me know if that solves your problem. 

I actually just priced a Dell to act as our "Collanos Server" and it came in at $311 (including the cost to plant a tree to offset my carbon footprint)!  ;-)

[RoboTheMan]

Not sure why this was in the General Discussion area.  But it's the same answer...

http://forum.collanos.com/index.php?topic=142.0

[Murugan]

OK that post on the general boards was not encouraging as that was last year. But I'm willing to try RoboTheMan's solution. Only challenge is: we would need to install the "Mother Ship" Collanos on a Linux CentOS5 (RedHat) web server. But on the other thread is says:

Gil Helman: The 24/7 hosted peer will be available later this year, possibly in Q2.
The current workaround of leaving a peer always online has restrictions, mainly, that content syncs only from the originating peer. Even if the server is always online, it can only send to peers the content originating from itself and NOT relay other peers' content.

[Peter Helfenstein]

Hi,
We need to clean the forum entries! Since version 1.3 Collanos supports a fetch-from-any replication. This means that any team member online can synchronize changes it received to any other team member.
For this reason I always have a desktop per team online that does this 24*7 synchronization for the team. So team members in other time zones can get all updates from the "team server".
In some of our teams we do not need this since there are always team members who have overlapping online times but for small teams the work around of having a desktop online works fine.
THIS IS THE NEW FEATURE IN VERSION 1.3. A breakthrough in Collanos technology base.
The server offering - a hosted peer without any user interface just for sync from ISPs - is not yet in place and we prioritized other server offerings like in development since this FFA synchronization algorithm works so smoothly and most of the teams are happy to make sure that there a peer online all the time.
I hope this addresses your issue and that such a "p2p workaround" works for your teams.
Cheers
Peter

[Murugan]

Mon Cher Peter!

Aloha, and thank you for clarifying the issue. I was so sad to think I could not use Collanos.

Since our Linux web server in San Franscisco has no interface, we will use, for now, our OSX server here in house that is online 24/7... Although it is "headless" we can drop in via Remote Desktop and install apps with a user interface.

Thank you and cheers from our international headquarters  in Hawaii

Sivakatirswami ("Murugan")
Kauai's Hindu Monastery
Production Manager, Web coordinator
www.hinduismtoday.com
www.himalayanacademy.com
www.hheoline.org


P.S. someone with permissions could go to
http://forum.collanos.com/index.php?topic=142.0
and add a comment about 1.3

[Peter Helfenstein]

Hi Murugan,
I commented Gil's answer. Thanks for the hint. Keep me informed on your experience with Collanos. Let us keep in touch.
Hello to Hawaii from Switzerland.
Peter

[Murugan]

We have many contacts with Switzerland.

We may have issues here with our inhouse server. Admin is very fussy about external access and I'll need to set up the firewall to let outside peer members send their data to the MotherShip Collanos.

What port and protocols need to be open, that Collanos will be "listening" on?

[Peter Helfenstein]

Regarding ports used there are a couple of forum entries.

In short:
2 elements:

1. Collanos communicates with priority to other peers via TCP to port 9701. Either direct if or via port 9701 of our relay infrastructure. The same port is used for the communication to the rendez-vous infrastructure (for example: superedge02.collanos.net. This communication also works to port 80 - pure http. So communication to port 9701 is nice to have, Collanos will work a bit less effecient if only port 80 is open.

2. The communication to Collanos Central User Directory on superedge02.collanos.net goes through port 443 (https). https or communication to port 443 of superedge02.collanos.net needs to be open too for Collanos Workplace to work.

This means if https and http are open to the internet for Collanos Workplace you will be able to work. If Collanos Workplace can communicate to port 9701 it works even better.

Hope this helps.
Regards
Peter

[Murugan]

Excellent, thank you... that is very helpful. Looks like I may have issues finding a machine that is live 100% of the time. Some members of team do keep the computers on line all the time but of course the go to sleep....I wonder if anyone has experience with installing VNC on a linux web server? I'm told I might be able to boot a remote virtual screen and install Collanos on a headless CentOS 5 box running under Web Min...(control panel)

Meanwhile,  I've started using it with our man Andre in Brazil and our work time overlap sufficiently, I'm already in love (smile) with Collanos... took me about 1 day.

A related issue: we use a fire wall here to restrict access to certain sites (block access to porrn, gamblin sites, etc. as well as restrict hours of usage)

I need the IP(s) of the Collanos Central User Directory  servers to give our network admin to "white list" Collanos Central User Directory servers from any machine at any time.

[Peter Helfenstein]

Hi Muragan,
you can see a actual list of relays and rendezvous servers when you type
http://www.collanos.com/files/jxta_seeding/relay.xml
and
http://www.collanos.com/files/jxta_seeding/rendezvous.xml
into your browser.
CUD is with superedge02.collanos.net (206.165.150.222) port 443.
It is good to check these lists from time to time for extensions since we are adding servers regularly. For Collanos Phone some additional server addresses and ports need to be open. We will communicate these in the next days when Collanos Phone 1.0 final release gets available.
Regards
Peter