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:

1. Create a webdav subdirectory in your ~username/html directory
2. Set up authentication for your webdav directory
3. Configure your OS to directly access your webdav directory for easy file sharing

Create a webdav subdirectory in your ~username/html directory

1. Create a directory called "webdav" in your html directory using the command line or any FTP program.
2. Wait 10 minutes. it will take up to 10 minutes for the webserver to recognize your new webdav directory.
3. 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:

1. Basic authentication using htpasswd - Allows you to set user names and passwords yourself, with the option of using the same login for everyone.
2. SEAS account authentication - Allows you to use SEAS account credentials to restrict access.
3. 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

1. Linux KDE WebDAV features
2. Windows WebDAV features
3. OSX WebDAV features

Note: There may be some issues for Gnome users. If you are having trouble, please contact cets@seas.