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Posted by Michael Lawson on Apr 30, 2020 12:50:00 PM
Imagine you are overseas traveling and you left your driver's license at home. How would you get yourself a copy? You would probably contact someone and ask that they find the license, photocopy it, or send a photo of it back to you. This can be time-consuming, and difficult if no one is around to help.
Couchdrop was developed based on a similar principle to change file SFTP file transfers between storage platforms from something difficult to complex to something incredibly simple.
What is Couchdrop?
Couchdrop was founded by a developer who had devices scattered all through different geographical locations. Every now and then, these devices would have files or data stored on them that would help understand their behavior or troubleshoot a fault. Unfortunately, the only way to get these files off was to configure an SFTP server as a jumpbox at the same site, transfer files to this jumpbox, and then transfer them off the jumpbox to a more standardized machine. Once it was on this machine it could then be transferred across the internet to the Developer.
This was a slow, painful, and arduous process. There had to be a better way. But there didn't seem to be a better option when working with SFTP servers.
The problem with SFTP servers
Standing up an SFTP server isn’t a quick solution, at times it could take hours, or if there wasn’t the required infrastructure, impossible—not to mention you needed someone physically onsite, at 2am when something has gone amiss. Good luck.
Then Secure Copy Protocol (SCP) to Dropbox was formed. Couchdrop started off with SCP and Dropbox support, enabling the Developer to send files and data directly into Dropbox within seconds using some simple legacy protocols and syntax from geographically diverse devices. Not only was this secure, but it was quick and easy. This enabled the developer to rectify any issues and get the devices back online within minutes or optimize settings without needing to wait hours or days for someone to get on site to help.
And if it could work from SCP to Dropbox, what if the same principle could be applied across different storage types?
Couchdrop Today
Couchdrop has since evolved to support more than just Dropbox, it now supports anything from OneDrive, Google Drive, Amazon S3, Wasabi, Sharepoint, and more. It’s also adapted to transfer and receive files via SFTP, FTP, S3, Email, an Upload Portal, it’s comprehensive API, and of course, SCP.
Now Couchdrop is used across the globe, from the finance industry to medicine, healthcare, educational institutions, and logistics. It’s often used as an SFTP server; whether this be for Managed File Transfer, or for the ability to backup older, and legacy infrastructure into the cloud. Other common use cases are workflow automation, round-trip testing, the ability to connect multiple systems, and a quick and easy file transfer service for project teams who are on different operating systems and cloud providers.
Couchdrop advantages
Couchdrop offers a quick and easy means to share, transfer, upload, and download files internal and external of your organization and scales without you having to do any work. It can be programmatic via its API, or you can zip into the interface and quickly add a new user who will be locked down to a specific location within your cloud storage.
Couchdrop is also fully hosted, meaning you don’t incur data or maintenance costs. It takes less than a minute to set up and you can bring your own cloud to fall in line with your cloud compliance — by the way, Couchdrop can run on HIPAA-compliant architecture as well. Best yet, it’s accessed from anywhere globally.
Try Couchdrop free for 14 days
Sick of hosting and maintaining those shared network drives? Stand up the Couchdrop gateway at the click of a button and mount storage as you would a shared network drive or NAS. Incredibly easy way for your hybrid cloud solution. See how easy it is for yourself by registering for a free 14-day trial, with no credit card required.