In a previous post I talked about the best way to handle putting an application into maintenance mode. In addition to sending the appropriate status code (503) for machines, nginx is configured to serve a helpful page to inform users of the maintenance window. Today, I would like to build on this configuration to make it possible for a few users to test the application while it is in maintenance mode for the rest of the world. There are a few different ways this could be handled, but HTTP cookies are a simple and flexible solution.
Recall these directives which instruct nginx to check for our maintenance page and set the status code to 503:
if (-f $document_root/system/maintenance.html) {
return 503;
}
Let’s modify this with a variable to track state. Now, we can add an additional check for anything we would like to turn $maint off. $http_cookie holds all the cookies for the request:
set $maint off;
if (-f $document_root/system/maintenance.html) {
set $maint on;
}
if ($http_cookie ~* "topsekrit" ) {
set $maint off;
}
if ($maint = on) {
return 503;
}
You can now set a cookie with a value of “topsekrit” and nginx will let you circumvent the maintenance page to test your new code before you release it to the world.
You can receive large files from your website in minutes using the Transfers dropbox widget. A simple javascript tag creates an html form on any web page providing an easy way for your website visitors to send you files that are uploaded and managed via your Onehub Transfers account. You are notified via email any time a file is upload and can access all received files with your Transfers login.
How to add the dropbox widget to your site
You can view your embed code from the Received tab in Onehub Transfers. There are two ways to receive files, using the hosted dropbox or by embedding the dropbox widget into your existing site or blog.
1. Login to Onehub Transfers
2. Go to the Received tab
3. Click the clipboard icon to copy the Javascript embed to your clipboard
4. Cut and Paste the embed code to a page on your existing website and deploy. (If you don’t have access to change the HTML of your site directly, you should contact your webmaster or IT group.)
Customizing the widget
The dropbox embed widget can be configured to specify a width, return url, and success message.
- Width: Sets the width in pixels or percentage of the div element that contains the form.
- Return URL: Optional setting that specifies a new URL to send users to after they send a transfer.
- Success Message: Message shown to users after a successful transfer.
An example site
You can view the embed dropbox in action at our sample site Advantage Consulting.
Get started, you can sign up for Transfers in minutes to start receiving files from your website. The Transfer dropbox widget is available on all paid and free accounts.
Thank you to all of our Onehub Transfers Beta testers for all your great feedback and for helping us get Transfers ready for the masses. Onehub Transfers is the simplest way to send, receive and track large files.
We want to let everyone know that you can now sign up for Transfers personal accounts or corporate accounts with multiple users. Pricing for corporate accounts start at just $29 per month.
It’s easy to get started and sign up takes less than 30 seconds. If you’ve never used Onehub before, click here to sign up today and simplify the way you send large files! If you already have a Onehub Workspaces account, sign in and click on the “Account” tab to get started with your Onehub Transfers account.
What you’ll get with Onehub Transfers
Send Large Files
Upload and send a single large file or multiple files in just few clicks — up to 2GB in size.
Twitter-like Customization
Simply upload your company’s logo and choose your colors for a branded solution.
Track Your Files
Get a unique tracking number for each transfer you make to see when the file was received.
Safe & Secure
Require recipients to log in so you know exactly who downloaded your file and when.
Branded Dropbox
Receive files from another person with a dropbox that you can embed on your own website.
Notifications
Request a return receipt to be confident a file has been delivered.
Questions about Onehub Transfers? Feel free to call us at 1-877-644-7774 or email us info@onehub.com.
Made by Onehub. Powered by Onehub. But we’ll keep that between us.
We’ve recently added an exciting new feature to the Enterprise Edition that allows you to remove all the Onehub branding so it looks like a solution that you developed. Absolutely no Onehub logos. Just use the white label settings found in the Account profile section to customize Onehub even further.
Here is a look at the settings you can use to customize your Onehub account.
Custom Domain Mapping
Create custom URLs that include your company name and exclude Onehub.
Hide the Help Menu in the Onehub Bar
Hides the Help link and drop-down menu in the top black bar.
Hide the logo in the Onehub Bar
Replaces the Onehub logo in the top black bar with a text link to the User Home
Hide the logo in the user home
Removes the Onehub logo in the User Home area including Home, Activity, and Settings
Questions about the Onehub white label solution? Feel free to contact support@onehub.com.
This week the Business Pundit blog reviewed ten of the best collaborative applications for business. Onehub ranked in the top 10.
Business Pundit specifically liked the features that makes Onehub “ultra customizable”. In addition, they appreciated the intuitive, simple interface and the personal attention from staff after you sign up.
“Onehub lets you customize each page or Hub using widgets. These widgets are amazing, and a real strength of the UI. All the features mentioned above—calendar, tasks, etc.—you can mix and match into a Hub, depending on what you want. You can also customize the pages themselves, so that your calendar only appears as a right sidebar on your Tasks page, you don’t have a comments page at all, etc. You can pretty much create a custom experience based on simple functions. It’s really easy to design and add widgets. This was my favorite part of the Onehub experience.”
Thanks Business Pundit! We are honored to be included in your Top 10.
Transfers by Onehub provides an easy way to privately send large files, hi-resolution photos for printing, and source video files to any of your Facebook friends.
Did you know that until now you could not send files to your friends on Facebook? That’s right. Now you can use Onehub Transfers to send all file types. Here are few ways to use the application.
*Does Aunt Susie want to print and frame that adorable photo of your children with Santa Claus?
Send her the hi-res original with Onehub Transfers
*Do you want a few old colleagues to have your new resume?
Send it with Onehub Transfers
*Do your college friends want that funny video of them for their personal blogs?
Send them the video file with Onehub Transfers
*Need to coordinate your next High School reunion?
Send the spreadsheets to the committee with Onehub Transfers
Let us know what you think about the new app. Write a review.
We released an update last night to add a Keep Me Signed In option on all Onehub login pages. Checking the box will keep you logged in for 90 days. In the past, users sessions expired after one hour of inactivity. The old behavior was frustrating to many of our frequent users who would need to log in many times throughout the day.
We also simplified the sign in process for users who use Keep Me Signed In to redirect you to the last Onehub app you visited when you go to onehub.com.
Redirecting from Onehub.com
When you go to onehub.com we check for the presence of the Keep Me Signed In cookie. If there is a valid cookie, we redirect you to the last Onehub app you visited. You can still visit our corpsite when logged in by going to http://onehub.com/home.
Benefits to Your Users
Keep Me Signed In works on Account and Hub login pages as well. The account login page is an easy way to integrate your secure workspaces with your existing website. Adding a link or button to this page helps make your extranet easy to find and improves user adoption for your clients.
From day one almost all emails sent from Onehub Workspaces came from the address onehub@onehub.com. These included emails sent out when inviting someone to a Hub or account, or using the notify feature in a Hub to send a quick message to your Hub members.
We have seen a few requests to change this so that the emails would come from the person who sent it instead of the generic onehub@onehub.com address. It’s safe to say that this is something we definitely would have liked to do sooner, but we were concerned that it may cause spam filters to block the messages because we were sending email as someone else.
I’m happy to announce that we have found a solution to this problem that will allow invitation and Hub notification emails (the manually sent ones) to come from the user who actually sent them. This is how we have it set up in our new product, Onehub Transfers, and it has been working well.
We now have it set so invitations and manual notify messages will come from your email address. If you notice any of these messages not getting to their recipients and believe they are getting caught in spam filters, please let us know by emailing support@onehub.com.
Customizable workspaces for online collaboration
The simplest way to send, receive and track large file transfers
Customizable workspaces for online collaboration
The simplest way to send, receive and track large file transfers