Sharry Self-Hosted Secure File Sharing

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

## Why This AMI Instead of Self-Deploying?

Sharry is a self-hosted, authenticated file-sharing appliance: sign in, upload files, and share them through public links that can be password-protected and given an expiry, or invite others to send files to you through upload aliases. Deploying it yourself means installing a Java runtime, unpacking and configuring the Sharry server, standing up a durable database, fronting it behind a reverse proxy with WebSocket support and generous upload limits, generating and storing secrets, and disabling the default weak token-signing secret. This AMI eliminates that effort entirely - your file-sharing server is running within minutes of launch, not hours. You get a pre-hardened, tested configuration backed by 24/7 expert support with a one-hour average response for critical issues, something community forums cannot provide.

The current release available is Sharry 1.16.0.

## Why Not a Public Transfer Service?

Unlike public file-transfer services that route your data through third-party infrastructure, Sharry runs entirely inside your VPC. Your files never leave your AWS account, giving you full control over data residency, network access, and retention policies.

## Application Stack

The official upstream Sharry rest-server distribution runs under one systemd service as an unprivileged user, backed by a bundled PostgreSQL 16 database for durable metadata and a filesystem blob store for uploaded files - both on a dedicated data volume, so your accounts, shares and files survive restarts. The server is bound to the loopback address only; a host nginx reverse proxy fronts it on port 80 with WebSocket upgrade for live upload progress and uncapped request bodies for large uploads, plus an unauthenticated health endpoint. Sharry is documented to run on an embedded database, but this image uses PostgreSQL because the embedded engine rejects Sharry's share-listing query - so the core feature works out of the box.

## Secure By Default

The shipped image contains no known credential and no data:

• A single administrator account with a unique random password is created on first boot, before the server accepts connections
• The token-signing server secret and the signup invite password are generated per instance on first boot - the well-known weak default secret is never used
• The database role password is generated per instance and never baked into the image
• All secrets are stored in root-only files, inaccessible to unprivileged users
• Build-time state is wiped before capture, so the database, administrator account, uploaded files and all secrets are re-created fresh on your instance

## Ready To Use

Browse to the instance on port 80, sign in with the generated administrator credentials, and create your first share: upload files, set an optional password and expiry, and copy the public link to send. Invite colleagues to upload files to you with an upload alias, and add further user accounts through signup invitations.

## Real-World Use Cases

• Architecture or engineering firm sharing large deliverables: Share multi-gigabyte CAD files or media assets with external contractors through a password-protected, time-limited link - keeping project files off public services and inside the firm's own AWS account.
• Recruitment or HR teams collecting applicant documents: Give candidates an upload alias so they can submit CVs, portfolios, or compliance documents without needing an account, consolidating intake in one place inside your VPC rather than scattered across email inboxes.
• Internal team file exchange for regulated industries: Run a private, self-hosted alternative to public file-transfer services where data residency and access control matter - healthcare, legal or financial services teams keep sensitive files within their own network boundary.

## Open Source Licence

Sharry is distributed under the GNU General Public License version 3 (GPL-3.0). The complete corresponding source code for the version shipped in this image is publicly available from the upstream project at https://github.com/eikek/sharry (release tag v1.16.0). The upstream software is shipped unmodified; cloudimg's charges are for the packaged AMI and ongoing support, not for the software licence.

## cloudimg Support

24/7 technical support by email and chat with a one-hour average response for critical issues. Our engineers help with deployment, TLS termination, database backups, user management, upload-size and retention tuning, external database configuration and scaling. Contact us at support@cloudimg.co.uk.

All product and company names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders. Use of them does not imply any affiliation with or endorsement by them. This product is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Sharry project.