Limit amount of simultaneously file downloading

[krakazyabra]

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe. Hi! In case of very big NC installation (50k+ users), there can be a problem, if some user shares the file, public the link ob some forum/social network/messenger, and lots of people begin to download the file. It can harm the server and channel. It will be perfect to make a mechanism for admins to manage amount of simultaneously connections/downloads.

Describe the solution you'd like I was configuring nginx to manage this. All share urls have same pattern domain.org/s/. First, i was thinking to make 'limit_conn' rule for location location ~ ^/s/([0-9a-zA-Z]+)$ , but this will be global rule and make restricts to all shared files of all users. Also this variant will not work in kubernetes, where you can have lots of pods with nc and nginx containers inside each pod. Second variant - use some middle proxy, which will count number of accessing to the url and place this number in redis/memcached. Placing this value in DB (postgre, mysql) will be very dangerous, because lots of UPDATE operations can get down the db.

Describe alternatives you've considered So, for now I don't have working solution for this

Additional context This mechanism can also be applied to uploading to shared folder with write permissions.

[kesselb]

Adding such a feature would require to keep some state of connections / downloads. Possible with a distributed cache like redis or memcache but still a lot of additional complexity (e.g. failed downloads, unlock downloads, etc.). I think that problem is easier to solve with a middle proxy as you mentioned.

[krakazyabra]

Hi, @kesselb I made some tests and fount the way, how to implement it. Yes, it is based on redis. Little changes in file apps/files_sharing/lib/Controller/ShareController.php in protected function publishActivity

            $redis = new Redis();
            $downloadTime=floor($this->share->getNode()->getSize()/5000000);
            $oldTime=$redis->get($fileId);
            if($oldTime!=null) {
                $downloadTimeRemain=$oldTime-time();
                $userCount=ceil($downloadTimeRemain/$downloadTime);
                if($userCount>5) throw new NotFoundException();
                $redis->set($fileId,time()+$downloadTime+$downloadTimeRemain);
                $redis->setTTL($fileId, $downloadTime);
            } else {
                $redis->set($fileId,$downloadTime+time());
                $redis->setTTL($fileId, $downloadTime);
            }

It is not perfect, but I ohpe, it can give you an idea how to improve it.

[kesselb]

https://github.com/nextcloud/server/blob/302ea0650e1628b7a34bf2cfdb8989346145301b/apps/files_sharing/lib/Controller/ShareController.php#L254

You can write a app that registers to that hook, check if download is possible (count < limit) and if not throw HintException or ServerNotAvailableException to interrupt.

The only disadvantage I see is that the hook triggers very late. For example to download activity is already pushed. Probably acceptable to move that hook a bit higher or introduce another event.

cc @nickvergessen @rullzer there is no event or hook in showShare or downloadShare to abort the process?

[krakazyabra]

Unfortunately I'm not php-programmer, this is my second attemp in php. It would be greate, if someone who has exp in php, modify and upgrade it)

[rullzer]

There is no such hook.

Also I'm not convinced of the use case. If you expect thousand of people to download the file. Then you should have the resources to handle this. So add more servers.

Doing such locking is IMO not really ideal

[susnux]

There is no such hook.

Hooks have been replaced by events nowadays.

[susnux]

After reviewing this request and considering community feedback, it appears there hasn't been significant interest or engagement from other users. Additionally, this feature does not align with our current vision for Nextcloud.

We appreciate your suggestion and understand the value you see in it. However, at this time, we will not be pursuing its implementation.

If you're interested in developing this as a standalone application, the Nextcloud app store provides a platform for community contributions.

Thank you for your understanding.