Need something to share files between friends over the internet on Ubuntu server [SOLVED(w/ OwnCloud)]

So i've got a Ubuntu server running with a Minecraft server and a Teamspeak 3 server.
Now i also want to put a file server on there so i can easily share big files over the interwebs to my friends.
(since i've got over 12mb upload that should not be a problem)

But i can't find anything really nice...
I just need something that,

I can easily put files onto (from another pc of course (altough in the same network))
I can share a link for them to easily download (no client software needed just in a browser (by sending my ip and a port i guess)
And light weight.

Please help me out

you could use nginx https://www.nginx.com/resources/admin-guide/serving-static-content/

why not just run an FTP server?

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you could use an combination of nginx and vsftpd.
nginx for sharing links and making stuff easily downloadable via HTTP.
vstfpd for file management via FTP - requires something like FileZilla as a client software if you don't want to do it all via CLI.

both are easy to configure. should be a matter of hours or even minutes if you know what you're doing.
you could also use HTML, CSS and PHP to create a nice looking download / sharing page.

so there is no, easy just install and configure way to do this?
the idea is so easy... there must be something

really... this is easy... do you have some time or do you need it right now?
If not I would build it for you and put the code onto github. so you could download it and use it.
but setting it up could take me some hours. What do you think?

i would have just used sftp, one less thing to install and more secure than ftp. nginx is letteraly a few lines in a config and your done.

well i don't really have much time,
but i'll look into nginx a bit.

sftp is more secure but not so easy to set up as vsftpd and if you only use ftp on your local network and have the public access available via http, why would you need an encrypted connection? - for public ftp I would also recommend going with SFTP from SSH.

NGINX will only allow you sharing links - it's an HTTP server. For remote file management you will still need (S)FTP.

most browsers will open FTP sites just use the URL format ftp://username:password@yourip:port-if-not-21
supprisingly IE seems to do it best opens if a file explorer window so you can drag and drop files.

yes. but you need an FTP service running. NGINX only serves data via HTTP.

HTTP - Hyper Text Transfer Protocol - only text in the Browser e.g. HTML - download links
FTP - File Transfer Protocol - file management - however the browser handles it or via FileZilla

alright so if i would install pure ftpd for example, i can just send a link in the format @beesyndicate described and be good?

I use owncloud, but there is some configuration that needs to happen. After you are done it is basically dropbox.

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not a 100% sure but yes I do think so. You just need to put ftp:// at the beginning instead of http://
then your friends should be able to log in or you can also create a public read-only anonymous address where everybody is allowed to download stuff without credentials.

i dont know anything about pure ftpd but if it only secure ftp ( ftps:// ) i dont know if it will work but if it supports standard ftp ( ftp:// ) it will work.

@Fawkes this might also be an option. But I have no experience with Owncloud - therefore I can't recommend it.

I'd say owncloud is a pretty good option too.

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I don't think a browser is able to open an SFTP session via URL.
Also SFTP requires a complete different setup than FTP.
FTP is configured via vsftpd, proftpd etc.
SFTP is part of SSH and configured in your sshd file on the server.

@Fawkes I've had a look at Owncloud now. It should be quite easy to setup as well but you should keep in mind, that (S)FTP comes with almost no resource requirements (i.e. CPU and RAM) whereas Owncloud is huge compared to (S)FTP. I don't know if it could compromise you gaming experience if you are running your Minecraft server on the same machine - depends on the machine and the usage I guess.