uploading really big files

Dear all

We need to develop a system where we can upload really big files. IE 15
- 25 Mb.
So I know you can set the limit of the upload thats not a problem, I
know a problem that we might experience is that the browser might time
out. Is there any way around this? and also are there other problems I
might encounter?

Thanks in advance

angelo
--
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Angelo Zanetti
Systems developer
------------------------------------------------------------------------

*Telephone:* +27 (021) 469 1052
*Mobile:* +27 (0) 72 441 3355
*Fax:* +27 (0) 86 681 5885
*
Web:* http://www.zlogic.co.za
*E-Mail:* angelo@zlogic.co.za <mailto:angelo@zlogic.co.za>

On 5/30/07, Angelo Zanetti <angelo@zlogic.co.za> wrote:
> Dear all
>
> We need to develop a system where we can upload really big files. IE 15
> - 25 Mb.
> So I know you can set the limit of the upload thats not a problem, I
> know a problem that we might experience is that the browser might time
> out. Is there any way around this? and also are there other problems I
> might encounter?
>
> Thanks in advance
>
> angelo

I wouldn't recommend uploading big files through the browser, as the
HTTP protocol isn't designed for that. FTP is designed for that, and
if you can, use it :)

I have uploaded really big files with my browser, which sometimes take
several days to complete, and didn't time out, so I don't think it
will be a problem with relative new browsers. (I did with IE6, later
with FireFox on linux)

But, it's very annoying when you're at 90% of upload and your Internet
connection hangs for a few seconds, as that would kill the upload
process and you need to start over again.
If you have a lot of uploads at the same time, it might get your
system out of resources, as all uploads are stored in the RAM while
the user is uploading. So, if you have 100 people uploading, and they
all have already uploaded 10 MB of their file, you would have 1000MB
allocated. In contrast with FTP, as FTP will store the uploads
directly to the drive.

Tijnema

2007. 05. 30, szerda keltezéssel 15.47-kor Angelo Zanetti ezt Ã*rta:
> Dear all
>
> We need to develop a system where we can upload really big files. IE 15
> - 25 Mb.
> So I know you can set the limit of the upload thats not a problem, I
> know a problem that we might experience is that the browser might time
> out. Is there any way around this? and also are there other problems I
> might encounter?

http://www.php.net/manual/en/ref.inf...execution-time

hope that helps
Zoltán Németh

>
> Thanks in advance
>
> angelo
> --
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Angelo Zanetti
> Systems developer
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> *Telephone:* +27 (021) 469 1052
> *Mobile:* +27 (0) 72 441 3355
> *Fax:* +27 (0) 86 681 5885
> *
> Web:* http://www.zlogic.co.za
> *E-Mail:* angelo@zlogic.co.za <mailto:angelo@zlogic.co.za>
>

On Wed, May 30, 2007 8:47 am, Angelo Zanetti wrote:
> We need to develop a system where we can upload really big files. IE
> 15
> - 25 Mb.

You're pushing the limit on user patience and browser timeouts...

> So I know you can set the limit of the upload thats not a problem, I
> know a problem that we might experience is that the browser might time
> out. Is there any way around this?

Nope.

The browser gets tired of waiting around for the upload to complete
because your server is too slow/busy, and the user has a very bad
experience.

file upload was grafted onto HTTP rather late in the game, and shows
the scars badly.

> and also are there other problems I
> might encounter?

Woof.

Yes, there are many problems you might encounter :-)

Users on slow/flaky connectionns will never have a good experience
with HTTP file upload. Give them FTP or SCP or something that is more
stable and will re-try.

You also have to consider what users might choose to upload that is
not what you wanted. There are all kinds of people out there looking
to upload "interesting" content that you don't actually want, most
likely.

There is a Flikr book out there that might have some insight for you.
They obviously dealt with this already, and wrote a whole book all
about Flikr, so it's probably got something in there covering this.

--
Some people have a "gift" link here.
Know what I want?
I want you to buy a CD from some indie artist.
http://cdbaby.com/browse/from/lynch
Yeah, I get a buck. So?

Richard Lynch wrote:
> On Wed, May 30, 2007 8:47 am, Angelo Zanetti wrote:
>
>> We need to develop a system where we can upload really big files. IE
>> 15
>> - 25 Mb.
>>
>
> You're pushing the limit on user patience and browser timeouts...
>
>
>> So I know you can set the limit of the upload thats not a problem, I
>> know a problem that we might experience is that the browser might time
>> out. Is there any way around this?
>>
>
> Nope.
>
> The browser gets tired of waiting around for the upload to complete
> because your server is too slow/busy, and the user has a very bad
> experience.
>
> file upload was grafted onto HTTP rather late in the game, and shows
> the scars badly.
>
>
>> and also are there other problems I
>> might encounter?
>>
>
> Woof.
>
> Yes, there are many problems you might encounter :-)
>
> Users on slow/flaky connectionns will never have a good experience
> with HTTP file upload. Give them FTP or SCP or something that is more
> stable and will re-try.
>
> You also have to consider what users might choose to upload that is
> not what you wanted. There are all kinds of people out there looking
> to upload "interesting" content that you don't actually want, most
> likely.
>
> There is a Flikr book out there that might have some insight for you.
> They obviously dealt with this already, and wrote a whole book all
> about Flikr, so it's probably got something in there covering this.
>
>
thanks for the replies. But how does a site like:
http://www.yousendit.com/ do the upload of really huge files?
Normal upload?

thanks

--
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Angelo Zanetti
Systems developer
------------------------------------------------------------------------

*Telephone:* +27 (021) 469 1052
*Mobile:* +27 (0) 72 441 3355
*Fax:* +27 (0) 86 681 5885
*
Web:* http://www.zlogic.co.za
*E-Mail:* angelo@zlogic.co.za <mailto:angelo@zlogic.co.za>

Zoltán Németh wrote:
> 2007. 05. 30, szerda keltezéssel 15.47-kor Angelo Zanetti ezt Ã*rta:
>
>> Dear all
>>
>> We need to develop a system where we can upload really big files. IE 15
>> - 25 Mb.
>> So I know you can set the limit of the upload thats not a problem, I
>> know a problem that we might experience is that the browser might time
>> out. Is there any way around this? and also are there other problems I
>> might encounter?
>>
>
> http://www.php.net/manual/en/ref.inf...execution-time
>
>
yes it does!

thanks

cheers

>
>
>

--

On 5/30/07, Angelo Zanetti <angelo@zlogic.co.za> wrote:
> Dear all
>
> We need to develop a system where we can upload really big files. IE 15
> - 25 Mb.
> So I know you can set the limit of the upload thats not a problem, I
> know a problem that we might experience is that the browser might time
> out. Is there any way around this? and also are there other problems I
> might encounter?
>
> Thanks in advance
>
> angelo
> --

I've recently followed this example, for a internal use only upload.
It is for ASP but you can easily modify it for PHP.
You may find it useful, but i can't recommend it over ftp:

http://www.codeproject.com/useritems/AJAXUpload.asp

The one of the limitations of this method is that its IE only. And
also you need to made some registry changes in the clients for it to
work, and then it gets ugly.
But hey, take a look ;)

On Thu, May 31, 2007 5:07 am, Angelo Zanetti wrote:
> thanks for the replies. But how does a site like:
> http://www.yousendit.com/ do the upload of really huge files?
> Normal upload?

I guess they've already worked through all the issues, assuming their
service actually works...

Or, perhaps, they don't really care about users on slow/flaky
connections, and simply refund anybody who is unhappy.

I dunno.

Ask them. :-)

--
Some people have a "gift" link here.
Know what I want?
I want you to buy a CD from some indie artist.
http://cdbaby.com/browse/from/lynch
Yeah, I get a buck. So?

Angelo Zanetti wrote:
> Dear all
>
> We need to develop a system where we can upload really big files. IE 15
> - 25 Mb.

I know its not a php answer, but if you have ever uploaded a file with
facebook then you will have seen the little applet they push down to
your browser, perhaps investigating something like might prove useful, I
doubt they wrote it themselves, then again maybe they did.


--
Regards,

Clive.

Real Time Travel Connections


{No electrons were harmed in the creation, transmission or reading of
this email. However, many were excited and some may well have enjoyed
the experience.}

clive wrote:
> Angelo Zanetti wrote:
>> Dear all
>>
>> We need to develop a system where we can upload really big files. IE
>> 15 - 25 Mb.
>
> I know its not a php answer, but if you have ever uploaded a file with
> facebook then you will have seen the little applet they push down to
> your browser, perhaps investigating something like might prove useful,
> I doubt they wrote it themselves, then again maybe they did.
>
>
yeah seen that its a Java applet was going to research it but didnt have
time. Quite a cool component though!

Thanks

--
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Angelo Zanetti
Systems developer
------------------------------------------------------------------------

*Telephone:* +27 (021) 469 1052
*Mobile:* +27 (0) 72 441 3355
*Fax:* +27 (0) 86 681 5885
*
Web:* http://www.zlogic.co.za
*E-Mail:* angelo@zlogic.co.za <mailto:angelo@zlogic.co.za>