Hosting a website on UbuntuOne

Question

Recently, google drive offered a way to host websites. Is it possible to do something similar using UbuntuOne?

Answer 1

Yes, you can. But there are certain caveats.

• When you publish the file, the address would be some random string like http://ubuntuone.com/0vKfOjPz0ZJSqXY8Q5B6i6flkasdjflkjsadflalkfdsjkjf, so it'd not be easy to remember.

Ofcourse you can use URL shorteners, but that's an extra layer of effort.

• The CSS and JS files you use need to be shared as well, if they're stored on your Ubuntu One account, otherwise you can link them directly.
• The above point would make your HTML code from something like:

<link rel="stylesheet" href="css/css.css" />

to something like:

<link rel="stylesheel" href="http://ubuntuone.com/somerandomstring"/>

If you can handle all of it, you're good to go!

Here's a sample page for an example linking to another CSS file: http://ubuntuone.com/3z3QTmzw9kJZmisMOKxnL3 (The link doesn't work anymore).

Answer 2

The short answer is Yes, but here is more information that may help you:

google drive offered a way to host websites

What they offered isn't host websites precisely, but a simply file host. And if this files can be public and if their content is a HTML web page, then you can call it as a website host (bad).

As Ubuntu One offer the same service than Google Drive (theoretically) it will work in the same way.

The things that you have to take into account are:

• You won't get an specific domain, it will have a lot of strange characters.
• The traffic limit of your page is a real problem.
• As you don't have a full server host, you will not be able to use technology like PHP or database software and many other tools.
• And obviously the storage capacity..

But if you want to share information or play on the world of the web design it's a funny/useful tool.

You can use a HTML page to load CSS, JavaScript code, images, and such static files.

EDIT: in this week Canonical announced that Ubuntu One services will be shutdown. So in a couple of days you will no longer be able to do "host a website" on it.

Answer 3

No, you cannot. Ubuntu One file synchronization is not a cloud server or web hosting service.

Yes, you can make individual files publicly accessible, but it is not a reliable way to host a web site. You may also end up violating the Terms of Service in attempting to host a web site, via the Ubuntu One service.

Acceptable use and conduct

All usage of the services must be legal and not infringe any third party's rights. You must not take any action or use the services in any way that might bring Canonical into disrepute, affect the ability of Canonical to provide the services, be illegal, or encourage illegal activities. You may not use the services in any manner that might be libellous or defamatory (more info on what that means), that contains threats or incites violence towards individuals or entities, or that violates the privacy or publicity rights of any third party. Some services have usage limitations as indicated at https://one.ubuntu.com/plans, and you may not exceed these. As part of the services, you may store data on Canonical's servers or those of Canonical's suppliers. You should ensure that this data is not in breach of any applicable law and does not breach any individual's data protection or privacy rights. You shall indemnify Canonical in full for any loss, cost or damages suffered by it as a result of your use or misuse of the services.