FileCloud allows users to move from traditional Windows File Servers and Shares using NTFS permissions to a fully managed storage system that allows seamless remote access from anywhere and goes past any limitations with traditional file servers and storage.

However, many customers are unclear on the best way to migrate their data into FileCloud as well as how to configure and setup the data for easy management.

This article will help you migrate your data into FileCloud and set it up correctly.

Assume that your organization’s data looks like below:

Fig 1. Original File Server Folder Structure

Generally, there are two main options for organizing company-wide data.

Option 1: Organizing data under a common account

You can create a common account called as “CompanyName” for example “abc chemicals” and then load all the data in folders into that account. After uploading, the data structure looks like the following:

Fig 2. Master FileCloud Account Folder Structure

You can see that each folder in the master account will contain folders for each organizational department, say “HR”, or “Marketing” and so on. Each folder can then be shared out to different groups, ie HR folder can be shared out to the HR Group and so on.

When users login into FileCloud and they open the “Shared With Me” folder, they see the master account name first followed by the share name. For example, Shared With Me->CompanyName->”HR” or Shared With Me->CompanyName->”Marketing”

Fig3. Master FileCloud Account Sharing Folder Structure

Advantages

• Easier to administer by the IT Administrator since all data is stored in one account
• Only 1 additional license is needed for the common account

Disadvantages

• Difficult to give management access to other users because they get access to all data not just their department data

Option 2: Organize data using Teams or Department

You can instead also create a number of different accounts like “HR”. “Marketing” etc and then upload the common files belonging to each department. Then each department account can share content to other users as needed.

Fig4. Team FileCloud Account Folder Structure

When users login into FileCloud and they open the “Shared With Me” folder, the see the team/department name followed by the share name. For example, “Shared with me”->TeamName->Share

Fig 5. Team FileCloud Account Sharing Folder Structure

Advantages

• Distribute the team account credentials to multiple managers or different users so it is easier to manage
• Each account is separate so it is easier to apply different security policies to each account

Disadvantages

• It is harder to administer because the data is spread out among multiple accounts
• Additional licenses are needed for each team account used