DeskTux

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====== WebDAV ======

Having a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WebDAV|WebDAV]] server can be very handy when it comes to synchronization of certain data like e.g. your bookmarks or sharing your calendar in the family. Of course you can do much more with WebDAV, but here I'll focus on a simple setup for data sharing.

A discussion of how to setup calendar synchronization with [[http://www.mozilla.org/projects/calendar/sunbird/|Sunbird]] ('Iceowl' in Debian) is discussed on the [[apps:Thunderbird]] page. There you can also find a setup for address book synchronization using WebDAV.

How to setup bookmark synchronization with Xmarks and your own server is discussed on the [[archive:Firefox]] page.

===== Prerequisites =====
I'll assume you will be installing WebDAV with the following parameters:

  * This whole setup will run on Debian ;) Of course it also works on other Linux flavors, but some commands will vary.
  * The servername will be //webdav.yourdomain.tld// and this name of course also works DNS-wise.
  * You'll be using a separate Virtual Host for your WebDAV installation that resides in ''/srv/web/webdav''.
  * You'll be using [[http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.2/mod/mod_auth_digest.html|Digest Authentication]].
  * You already have a working Apache 2 server.

===== Enable the necessary mods =====
To enable WebDAV and digest authentication in Apache you'll need to enable the according mods. Those are disabled by default. Just run these commands:

  a2enmod auth_digest dav dav_fs
  /etc/init.d/apache2 reload

That's it already!

===== Create the Virtual Host =====
==== Preparations ====
First, make the directory that will hold the WebDAV root-directory:

  mkdir -p /srv/web/webdav

The webserver must be able to write in this directory, so I'll suggest to set the permissions like this:

  chown www-data:root /srv/web/webdav
  chmod 2750 /srv/web/webdav

Second, we'll need to create a password file. I'll use the user 'myuser' in this example, you'll need to change that accordingly of course.

  htdigest -c /srv/web/webdav/.dgpasswd webdav myuser

You'll be prompted for a password. The parameter 'webdav' is called //realm// and the user won't see any of this. Later on in the Apache configuration this is called 'AuthName' and must match the realm!

To add a second (third, fourth etc.) user run the command omitting the '-c' option:

  htdigest /srv/web/webdav/.dgpasswd webdav myuser

Because we don't want the whole world to be able to access this file, change some permissions((It actually might be better to place that file outside of the server root, but for this example the setup is good enough.)).

  chown root:www-data /srv/web/webdav/.dgpasswd
  chmod 640 /srv/web/webdav/.dgpasswd

==== The Virtual Host ====
Third, go to ''/etc/apache2/sites-available'' and create a new file called ''webdav'' (or something descriptive). Fill the file with these contents.((Of course it is better to use SSL, this is just an example to get your basic setup running.))

<file apache webdav>
<VirtualHost *:80>
	ServerName webdav.yourdomain.tld
	ServerAdmin webmaster@yourdomain.tld

	DocumentRoot /srv/web/webdav/
	<Directory /srv/web/webdav/>
		Options Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews
		AllowOverride None
		Order allow,deny
		allow from all
		DAV On
		AuthType Digest
		AuthName "webdav"
		AuthUserFile /srv/web/webdav/.dgpasswd
		Require valid-user
	</Directory>

	ErrorLog /var/log/apache2/webdav-error.log
	CustomLog /var/log/apache2/webdav-access.log combined
	LogLevel warn
</VirtualHost>
</file>

After saving this file, enable the site and reload the server.

  a2ensite webdav
  service apache2 reload

===== Test! =====
To test this setup just browse to <nowiki>http://webdav.yourdomain.tld/</nowiki>. You should be asked for credentials, just log in with the username and password created earlier with the ''htdigest'' command.

You should now see an empty directory. Congratulations! To find out what you can do with this please continue reading on the [[apps:Thunderbird]] and [[archive:Firefox]] pages.

==== Troubleshooting ====
If anything goes wrong, please don't just rely on the error messages your browser and/or the shell give you.

The Apache logs in ''/var/log/apache2/webdav-access.log'' and especially ''/var/log/apache2/webdav-error.log'' are very important in troubleshooting broken setups!