1. Introduction

1.1. Copyright and License

This document is Copyright 2001 by Saqib Ali. Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, with no Front-Cover Texts, and with no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is available at http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html

1.2. What is WebDAV?

WebDAV stands for Web enabled Distributed Authoring and Versioning. It provides a collaborative environment for users to edit/manage files on web-servers. Technically DAV is an extension to the http protocol.

WebDAV introduces several new properties to the existing HTTP properties. A property in HTTP terminology refers to the descriptive information about a file on the webserver. The properties that DAV introduces are PROPFIND, PROPPATCH, MKCOL, PUT, COPY, MOVE, DELETE, LOCK, and obviously UNLOCK. The following is a brief description of the properties introduced by DAV:

PROPFIND - Retrieves the properties of file or resource on the web server.

PROPPATCH - Sets the properties of a file or resource on the web server.

MKCOL - Makes a collections of resources.

PUT - Puts a resource/collection on the server.

COPY - Copies a Resource/collection

MOVE - Moves a Resource/collection

DELETE - Deletes a Resource/collection

LOCK - Locks a Resource for PROPPATCH, MKCOL, PUT, MOVE, and DELETE

UNLOCK - Unlocks a resource

Remember these properties, as we will need them later in this tutorial.

1.3. Why use WebDAV?

I ask, Why not? Who doesn't like distrtibuted authoring of the documents? Using WebDAV technology people throughout the world can be working on the same document. With the locking mechanism that DAV provides, the person who is editing the resource will lock it for editing. Others can read it but not modify it. When the person who is editing the document, is done editing, he/she will release the lock, and then others can modify the documents as well.

Authentication to gain access to resources is available in HTTP. This HOWTO discusses using LDAP for authentication. Permissions using groups and users in LDAP directory can be setup to control read/write access to various resources(documents) on the WebDAV server, so that you dont need to share passwords to work on the same documents

If you are worried about people trying to sniff your traffic, and gain access to confidential data, then worry not - you can always use HTTP with SSL ver3. This is the best encryption available. This documents details on how to implement WebDAV server which uses SSL encryption for transferring data.

1.4. How does WebDAV work?

text goes here...

1.5. What do we need?

The tools needed to achieve this objective are:

• Apache Web Server

• LDAP Module for Apache

• WebDAV Module for Apache

• LDAP lib file

NOTE: All of these packages are free and are available for download on the net.

We will compile all the above mentioned packages to produce binaries for the Web Server. The WebDAV and LDAP module will be compiled statically into Apache. Static compilation results in faster execution times. Apache was chosen, because it is the most versatile web server ever to exist. Market Shares for Top Web Servers shows that Apache has the largest web server market share.

Apache is also being used by:

• RackSpace - WebHosting provider

• CIHost - WebHosting provider

• SlashDot

1.6. Assumptions

This document assumes that you have the following already installed on your system.

1. gzip or gunzip - available from http://www.gnu.org

2. gcc and GNU make - available from http://www.gnu.org

The document also assumes there is a LDAP server installed elsewhere which will be used for the authentication.

1.7. Opinions and Suggestions

If you have any questions about the information available on this document, please contact me on the following email address: saqib@seagate.com

If you have comments and/or suggestions, please let me know as well!