elFinder - Web File Manager

This is a repackaged open source software product wherein additional charges apply for cloudimg support services.

## Overview

elFinder is a widely used open source web file manager that brings a familiar desktop style file browser to the web. Browse, upload, download, rename, copy, move, search, preview images and text, and create or extract archives, all from the browser. This AMI delivers elFinder 2.1 fully installed, configured, and security hardened behind nginx with php-fpm, so a working browser based file manager is serving within minutes of launch, eliminating the web server configuration, PHP extension installation, connector wiring, and access control work a self managed deployment requires.

elFinder is distributed as a library rather than a finished application, so a self managed deployment means installing PHP and its extensions, configuring a web server, writing and hardening the PHP connector, choosing a storage root, and then adding an authentication layer yourself. That last step is the one most commonly missed, and on a file manager it is the difference between a private tool and an open door to your filesystem. This AMI completes all of that before first boot.

## Application Stack and AWS Integration

Nginx answers HTTP requests on port 80 and passes PHP to php-fpm over a local socket. elFinder reads and writes the managed file tree directly on a dedicated Amazon EBS data volume kept separate from the OS disk, so files never compete with the operating system for space and the volume can be resized or snapshotted independently. systemd starts nginx and php-fpm on boot and restarts them on failure.

Compatible AWS Services:

• Amazon EBS - Dedicated data volume for the managed file tree; resize or snapshot independently.
• Elastic Load Balancing - Built-in unauthenticated health endpoint on the web server supports ALB/NLB health checks.
• AWS Backup - Schedule automated snapshots of the EBS data volume for point-in-time recovery.
• Amazon Route 53 - Map a custom domain to your instance or load balancer.
• Amazon CloudWatch - Monitor instance CPU, memory, and disk metrics.

## Security

Security is the defining feature of this AMI. Every request to the application, including the PHP connector that performs the actual filesystem operations, is protected by HTTP Basic authentication enforced at the web server. There is no unauthenticated route to the connector, so no anonymous browsing, upload, or deletion is possible. On the first boot of your instance, a one shot service generates a fresh administrator password unique to that instance and writes it to a file only the root user can read, so no shared or default password ships in the image. Files uploaded through the manager are stored outside the web document root and are served back as inert downloads, so an uploaded script can never be executed by the web server. Because HTTP Basic authentication sends the password in an easily decoded header, follow the TLS section of the paired deployment guide before exposing the instance to the public internet.

## Ready To Use

Browse to the instance address, sign in with the generated credentials, and manage your files: upload, download, rename, copy, move, search, preview images and text, and create or extract archives. The managed file tree lives on the dedicated data volume. See the Pricing tab for per-hour software charges by instance type.

## Use Cases

• Team file share behind your own VPC - Give a small team a browser based file manager for shared documents and media without exposing an S3 bucket or standing up a full collaboration suite.
• Operations and support file drop - Let operators upload, retrieve and organise logs, configs and artifacts through the browser on a hardened, authenticated endpoint.
• Self-hosted file browser for a data volume - Manage the contents of an EBS volume through a desktop style UI, keeping full control of the data in your own AWS account with no third party service.

## cloudimg Support

24/7 technical support by email and live chat. Our engineers assist with deployment, storage and volume configuration, authentication and TLS setup, connector customisation guidance, version upgrades, and troubleshooting.

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