One of my client’s website that regularly requires updating is quite troublesome because it involves uploading at least 10,000 small files. What I normally do is compress all the files into one single ZIP file, upload and then use DirectAdmin’s built-in File Manager to extract it. I had to do that because when I try uploading a lot of small files, the FTP connection will timeout (TM Net, our Malaysian ISP is to be blamed) but weirdly when I upload a single big file, I can get a constant 40+KBps upload speed and never gets timeout.

Recently I’ve been very busy and can hardly spend any time to update my client’s website. So I intend to hand over everything to my client so that I can have more free time to myself. Before that, I will have to make sure that everything is in order and the steps to update the website are all written properly in step-by-step order.

One of the problem that I am facing is I cannot allow my client to use the DirectAdmin’s built-in File Manager because my webhosting subscription account is not a reseller type and I cannot create an account for him nor I can give him my existing username and password. A normal FTP client can do mostly what a PHP File Manager does except that it cannot command the server to extract an archive file that is already uploaded on the remote server. Fortunately I am able to install other third party PHP File Manager to replace the DirectAdmin’s File Manager.

If you do a search on PHP File Manager, there are actually quite a lot that you will find. What I am currently using now and I can say that it works is eXtplorer. It is a free PHP and JavaScript based File Manager that is able to:

  • Copy & Move Files and Directories by Drag&Drop
  • Dynamic Directory Tree with on-demand loading of subdirectories
  • Edit Files (with Syntax-Highlighting thanks to EditArea)
  • Rename, Delete or Create new Files and Directories
  • Access Files through FTP or directly (using PHP) to totally overcome permission and file ownership issues
  • Upload or Download files just as you like
  • Create and Extract Archives (ZIP, Tar, Tar/GZ, Tar/BZ)
  • User Management with different permission levels like “View only” or “Edit” and “Admin”

    • free php file manager extplorer
    Installation is pretty simple. Just download, extract and then upload to your webserver. You will need to allow write access (chmod 777) to /extplorer/ftp_tmp/ folder and /extplorer/config/.htusers.php file. Then just login, right click on the ZIP file and select “Extract Archive”. eXtplorer needs at least PHP 4.3 on the server and an up-to-date browser with Javascript enabled to run. Do take note that eXtplorer can only extract ZIP, Tar, Tar/GZ and Tar/BZ archives only.

    [ Download eXtplorer ]

    Technorati Tags: , , , ,