Cloud-Seafile

All students and employees of Leibniz University Hannover with an IdM account and the WebSSO/OpenID IT service activated in the IdM Account Manager. The login data are the LUH ID as the user name and the self chosen password for WebSSO.

External persons cannot currently use Cloud Seafile with their own account. However, it is still possible to exchange files (see Access for external persons).

Open the page https://seafile.cloud.uni-hannover.de in a web browser. A login dialogue appears, which you can use to log in to the service using WebSSO.

A client is available for Windows, Linux (also CLI), Mac, Android and iOS. It can be downloaded directly from the manufacturer's website under ‘Desktop Syncing Clients’.

As on the website, login in the client is via WebSSO/Shibboleth, which is why ‘Single Sign-On’ must be selected at the bottom left of the client.

The address of the service must then be entered.

Access via WebDAV works with separate credentials, i.e. not via WebSSO. The user name for WebDAV is shown in the Seafile web interface in the settings (accessible via the avatar icon in the top right corner). The password for WebDAV can also be set there. WebDAV can be accessed via the URL https://seafile.cloud.uni-hannover.de/dav.

Note: The LUIS recommends using the Seafile synchronization client instead of WebDAV. Access via WebDAV is mainly for applications where there are no alternatives, e.g. in apps on mobile devices.

Note for use under MS-Windows: The WebDAV client integrated in MS-Windows does not work properly with the current version of Seafile.

The manufacturer's website offers two different desktop clients:

The standard client is the ‘Desktop Syncing Client’ (aka ’Sync-Client’), which is listed at the top of the page. This client can keep Seafile libraries synchronised with a local PC. Hence the data is also available on the PC and can therefore be used offline. As soon as the PC is online again, the data is synchronised. To initialise the synchronisation after setting it up on a PC, right-click on the library and select ‘Download and synchronise’. Use without synchronisation is possible as well: Right-click the library and select ‘View in Seafile file browser’.

An alternative is the ‘Desktop Drive Client’ (aka 'SeaDrive'). This Client does not synchronise files with the PC, but rather displays them integrated as a network drive, similar to access via WebDAV. As with the above-mentioned use of the Seafile file browser, the files therefore only remain on the server, which means that offline work is only possible to a very limited extent. On the other hand, only minimal amount of storage is used on the PC.

Both clients are capable of handling multiple accounts/servers. Simultaneous use of Cloud-Seafile Project-Seafile is therefore possible.

An additional account can be added in the Sync-Client via the avatar icon.

Versioning can be used to track the changes in a library and undo them if necessary. This feature is opened by clicking on the the clock symbol in the top right-hand corner when you are inside the library (highlighted in red).

A list of the changes is shown, together with the date and the originator. The exact time is displayed when the mouse pointer is placed over the date. Click on ‘View snapshot’ to display the contents of the library at that time. Files or folders can be restored at this point.

To make a library, folder or file fully accessible to another user (students and employees of the LUH only), the user must have already logged in to Seafile once via WebSSO. Then click on the share icon next to the object to be shared (marked in red).

After clicking on ‘Share to user’, a user can be searched for, rights can be set and the share can then be confirmed by clicking on ‘Submit’. The user's full e-mail address (as entered in the IdM) must be entered so that it appears in the search.

To share files with external persons, click on the ‘Share’ icon next to the object to be shared.

To make files available to an external person, select ‘Share Link’. A password can then be set, which must be communicated to the external person to enable access. In addition, a time limit can be added so that the link automatically becomes invalid after a freely selectable number of days. The link is created and displayed by clicking on ‘Generate’. This link can then be conveniently sent directly to the person concerned via the service by clicking on ‘Send’. Multiple recipients and an optional personal message are possible.

When sharing folders and libraries, please note that the entire folder or library is made accessible for download. The recipient of the link can download individual files from these areas or the entire area as a ZIP archive. At the end of use, the share can be removed again via ‘Delete’. After that, access is no longer possible.

To request files from an external person, select ‘Upload Link’. This option is only available for folders and libraries. A password can then be selected, which must be communicated to the external person to enable access. The link is created and displayed by clicking on ‘Generate’. This link can then be conveniently sent directly to the person concerned via the service by clicking on ‘Send’. Multiple recipients and an optional personal message are possible. At the end of use, the share can be removed again by clicking ‘Delete’. After that, access is no longer possible.

It is possible to activate an e-mail notification that informs you about changes in the libraries at customisable intervals. To do this, select the desired interval in the profile settings (to be found via the avatar symbol in the top right-hand corner) under ‘Email Notification’ and confirm the selection by clicking on ‘Submit’.

In Cloud Seafile the Collabora Online editor is integrated, which allows collaborative editing of Office documents. The editor opens automatically when you click on an Office file in the web interface of Seafile. Detailed information about Collabora Online can be found here.

There is no classic backup for this service, but it is operated on redundant hardware. However, the synchronised files are also available locally when using the client software and should be included in the personal backup there.

Seafile maintains internal versioning for 30 days. This makes it possible to track and undo changes.