WebDAV: what it is, what it does, why you need it

ABSTRACT

Legacy network file services such as NFS, SMB/CIFS, and AFP changed the way we worked. File services running on cross-platform networks allowed us to save our files on remote systems and changed the way we exchanged files with each other. Web technology changed our lives and the way we work again. In the fall of 2002, due to the demand for a web integrated network file service with powerful content management capabilities, we are offering WebDAV (Web-based Distributed Authoring and Versioning) service in our instructional computer laboratories at Ringling School of Art and Design. WebDAV is a set of extensions to HTTP (the protocol that drives the web), which allows users to collaborate with each other to edit and manage files on web servers across the network.WebDAV allows our institution to host a shared file space for each course. Students in a course can access the shared space for collaboration with the instructor and other students in the same course. Access to the WebDAV share is seamless by incorporating LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) into the system to maintain single sign-on.In our implementation, we have integrated the Apache web server, Apache extensions for WebDAV and the LDAP based meta-directory model for user authentication information. Furthermore, we have implemented a Perl script, which runs every hour to monitor WebDAV storage usage and triggers alarms for any disk quota breach.In this technical report, we will share our framework, tips and tricks we learned from our deployment of WebDAV with our colleagues. We will explain how legacy network file services can be strengthened by providing WebDAV service on both the Windows and Unix platforms. Furthermore, we will discuss the issues we had to address and the lessons we learned during and after the deployment process.

REFERENCES

• 1: Ali, S., Configuring and Setting up the WebDAV services, http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Apache-WebDAV-LDAP-HOWTO/config-webdav.html#AEN305, 2002
• 2: Apple Computer, What is WebDAV?, http://www.apple.com/creative/webpro/technology/webdav/, 2003
• 3: Apple Computer, Setting Up WebDAV for Mac OS X Server, http://www.apple.com/creative/webpro/technology/webdavsetup/, 2003
• 4: Collins, P., PerlDAV -- A WebDAV client library for Perl5, http://www.webdav.org/perldav/, 2003
• 5: Engelschall, R. S., Apache 1.3 Dynamic Shared Object (DSO) Support, http://httpd.apache.org/docs/dso.html, 1998
• 6: Glaubiger and Clark, WebDAV: A Plugin for jEdit, http://www.webdav.us/home.jsp, 2003
• 7: Hernández, L. O., WebDAV Service Information, http://www.rsad.edu/~lhernand/webdav, 2003
• 8: Xythos, B. K., L. D. Xythos and C. W. Netezza, Quota and Size Properties for DAV Collections, http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-ietf-webdav-quota-01.txt, 2003 (Draft was available at the time of writing and expires on September 2003.)
• 9: Microsoft Corporation, Microsoft Continues to Embrace Open Standards by Supporting HTTP Extensions That Will Enable the Reading and Writing of Web Documents, http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/1998/oct98/webdavpr.asp, 1998
• 10: Microsoft Corporation, Web Authoring with WebDAV, http://www.microsoft.com/technet/treeview/default.asp?url=/technet/prodtechnol/windowsserver2003/proddocs/standard/pub_dav_webdav.asp, 2003
• 11: Muquit, M. A., LDAP Authentication Module for Apache, http://www.muquit.com/muquit/software/mod_auth_ldap/mod_auth_ldap.html, 2002
• 12: Orton, J., Neon, http://www.webdav.org/neon/, 2003
• 13: Rossum, G. v., DAV client library, http://www.lyra.org/greg/python/davlib.py, 2003
• 14: Stein, G., mod_dav Installation and Configuration, http://www.webdav.org/mod_dav/install.html, 2000
• 15: Stein, G., mod_dav: a DAV module for Apache, http://www.webdav.org/mod_dav/, 2000
• 16: Stein, G., WebDAV Resources, http://www.webdav.org, 2002
• 17: SungHun, K., Project: WEB-DAV Linux File System(davfs): Summary, http://sourceforge.net/projects/dav/, 2003
• 18: Teranishi, Y., Eldav: Yet another WebDAV interface for Emacsen, http://www.gohome.org/eldav/, 2003
• 19: The Apache Software Foundation, Compiling and Installing Apache 1.3, http://httpd.apache.org/docs/install.html#apaci, 2003
• 20: The Internet Society, HTTP Extensions for Distributed Authoring -- WEBDAV, RFC 2518, http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2518.txt, 1999
• 21: The Internet Society, Versioning Extensions to WebDAV (Web Distributed Authoring and Versioning), RFC 3253, http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc3253.txt, 2002
• 22: University of Pennsylvania - ISC, WebDAV Evaluation - Spring 2002 - WebDAV Security (Authentication, Encryption and Attacks), http://www.upenn.edu/computing/eval/2002/webdav/security.html, 2002

INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  D. Software
  D.4 OPERATING SYSTEMS
      D.4.3 File Systems Management
          Subjects: Access methods

Additional Classification:
  D. Software
  D.4 OPERATING SYSTEMS
      D.4.3 File Systems Management
          Subjects: File organization; Distributed file systems

General Terms:
Design, Documentation, Performance, Reliability, Security

Keywords:
HTTP, LDAP, WebDAV, apache, authoring, file service, file sharing, internet, quota, server, versioning, web