How do I enable WebDAV for my SEAS account?
What is WebDAV?
Briefly: WebDAV stands for "Web-based Distributed Authoring and Versioning". It is a set of extensions to the HTTP protocol which allows users to collaboratively edit and manage files on remote web servers.
WebDAV will allow you to access files in a folder in your home html directory from another computer that is not connected to SEASnet. You can control who has access
to this folder using PennKey, SEAS password, or a password you assign.
To enable WebDAV in your ~username/html directory, you are going to have to do the following things:
- Create a webdav subdirectory in your ~username/html directory
- Set up authentication for your webdav directory
- Configure your OS to directly access your webdav directory for easy file sharing
Create a webdav subdirectory in your ~username/html directory
- Create a directory called "webdav" in your html directory using the command line or any FTP program.
- Wait 10 minutes. it will take up to 10 minutes for the
webserver to recognize your new webdav directory.
- You can access your webdav directory via:
webdavs://webdav.seas.upenn.edu/~clifford/webdav/
Replace "clifford" with your username (the tilde needs to stay). Note: "webdavs://" may seem like a typo to those of you who have used webdav:// in the past. It is in fact correct - "webdavs://" is WebDAV over SSL (creating a secure connection).
Set up authentication for your webdav directory
There are three types of authentication you can use to secure your webdav directory:
- Basic authentication using htpasswd - Allows you to set user names and passwords yourself, with the option of using the same login for everyone.
- SEAS account authentication - Allows you to use SEAS account credentials to restrict access.
- PennKey account authentication - Allows you to use PennKey account credentials and Kerberos to restrict access.
A WebDAV specific htaccess option
To make the directory visible to everyone, but only editable by you, add this to your htaccess file:
<Limit PUT POST DELETE PROPFIND PROPPATCH MKCOL COPY MOVE LOCK UNLOCK>
Require user clifford
</Limit>
Replace "clifford" with your username.
Configure your OS to directly access your webdav directory for easy file sharing
- Linux KDE WebDAV features
- Windows WebDAV features
- OSX WebDAV features
Note: There may be some issues for Gnome users. If you are having trouble, please contact cets@seas.
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