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Use S3 For Order Images/zip Files?

J
9 posts
Sun Jul 26, 15 1:43 PM CST
Would it be possible to have a feature where images (or zip files of images) that have been ordered for download could be hosted on S3?

At the moment the images are stored on the local web server where Sytist is installed. As these files can be very large it would be great if they could be sent to S3.

Thanks!
16,148 posts (admin)
Mon Jul 27, 15 6:00 AM CST
There is an option to host the photos on Amazon S3:
http://www.picturespro.com/sytist-manual/articles/hosting-photos-on-amazon-s3/
Tim Grissett, DIA - PicturesPro.com
My Email Address: info@picturespro.com
J
9 posts
Mon Jul 27, 15 1:50 PM CST
I know about the hosting of gallery photos on S3 (which works really well for me) but I was wondering if photos for download in zip files, or when the admin creates a link to downloaded files manually could also be on S3? (I mean when clicking 'Copy original files to folder' in Orders/Manage Photos).
16,148 posts (admin)
Mon Jul 27, 15 2:38 PM CST
The only time you would use the copy original files to folder is if you were to do it for yourself or send it to a lab or something. When a customer purchases downloads, it downloads it from amazon. And when they download the photos into a zip file, it builds the zip file with the photos from amazon and after it is downloaded, it is deleted from the server.
Tim Grissett, DIA - PicturesPro.com
My Email Address: info@picturespro.com
M
35 posts
Mon Oct 01, 18 9:12 AM CST
We're using the S3 integration to host our photos, but it's getting pretty big (costing like $75 monthly). We're also running relatively low on space with my VPS (down to last 10GB and a lot of files coming soon because we do our own printing). Is there a good way to clean up both repositories? I could download the files in our archive from S3, but they're stored in folders according to upload, not gallery. So when we needed to get a file, we'd have to search all files in the download drive instead of just looking for a gallery.

The reason I'm replying to this post in particular is that I'm most concerned about the files on my VPS. Have hit limit with it before and had issues. Is there a good way to just strip out files older than 30 days if not migrate them to S3?
B
249 posts
Mon Oct 01, 18 12:12 PM CST
The images from an event or photo shoot have a life of about 90 days. So there is not much reason to keep old images stored on S3 (because you don't need them in a gallery) or on VPS.

I use to keep everything online and we did sporting events almost every night. I seen stats about the 90 day lifespan. It was only after I looked back and seen this was 100% true that I begin to remove old online files. If by some outside chance, someone wants to see a gallery, it's just a matter of uploading.
-Bill
Bill & Jessica Photography
https://wellsandcarnes.com
M
35 posts
Mon Oct 01, 18 12:22 PM CST
Thanks for the feedback, Bill... What I'm talking about are the fulfillment files brought over from orders. In the space since I wrote the above, I did run out of space on my VPS. Deleted the tail end of galleries from 2017 to free up some space and also some old database backups from years ago. But I need a way to delete files that have been downloaded from S3 to my VPS when I clicked Manage Photos...

The 90 days thing sounds spot on to me with the exception of holidays. We run a Memorial Day, Labor Day, and Holiday sales as cleanups to our spring, summer, and overall year - a lot of parents, even with threats that you'll pay 20% more, etc., still drag feet on orders. I usually only keep about a year online then try to sell an archive sale 2-4 years down the line.

How are you fulfilling your orders, by the way? Would some lab integration help you a lot? We do sports and have a lot of lower-ticket orders, and the processing takes a lot of time. Looks like you've switched over to more weddings and portraits... still a need there for automation?
Edited Mon Oct 01, 18 12:26 PM by Michael Comer
B
249 posts
Mon Oct 01, 18 1:31 PM CST
Yes we got out of the sports market. However, at one point we were doing 40,000 a year, just in sports pictures. It was crazy, I had parents spending 150 - 300 per week. Now they are shooting from the stands and even if their images have motion blur and out of focus, they are good enough. I know most of the photographers who are still doing sports and they are doing 2,000 to 4,000 per year. So we headed in another direction.

Now, we sometime leave a gallery online, but it only has one image in it. If someone wants to see the gallery they must pay 25 -50 dollars which is refunded with their purchase. Then we upload with an expiration of 30 days or less.
-Bill
Bill & Jessica Photography
https://wellsandcarnes.com
M
35 posts
Mon Oct 01, 18 1:45 PM CST
So during the interim of writing the post above earlier today to now we ran out of space on our VPS... Is there a way to remove just a single order's worth of images? We could probably start by deleting order images for digital collections because they'll have 10-20 files each at full resolution...
16,148 posts (admin)
Mon Oct 01, 18 1:49 PM CST
if you are needing to clear out / delete the photos moved to folder & zip from orders, you would need to manually do that.

FTP to your site and navigate to the sy-photos folder. Then go into the order-photos folder.

You will see the order numbers that contain the photos and the date it was created. You can delete those from there.
Tim Grissett, DIA - PicturesPro.com
My Email Address: info@picturespro.com
M
35 posts
Mon Oct 01, 18 2:17 PM CST
Tim,

Many thanks for speedy update on this one. Have been able to locate the folder. How will deleting those directories affect customers for whom we've replaced images for digital download? Are those files somewhere else, or will deleting a bunch of order-photos directories delete people's digital image collections?
16,148 posts (admin)
Mon Oct 01, 18 2:21 PM CST
Deleting those won't affect your customers at all. Replaced images are stored with regular photos. Those are only used by you when you copy ordered photos to the folder.
Tim Grissett, DIA - PicturesPro.com
My Email Address: info@picturespro.com
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