Topic: accessing webDAV iBay from Windows

[Mophilly]

I set up an iBay that supports webDAV following the instructions posted by StephenHodgman (http://forums.contribs.org/index.php?topic=38214.msg172682#msg172682) using his howto found at http://correa.namsys.com.au/misc/files/sme/doco/WebDavWithHTTPS.pdf

This is working great with Linux and Mac OS X clients. Many thanks to StephenHodgman for the HowTo. I hope you build an rpm so this can become a standard addition to SME.

Windows, otoh, has turned out to be a problem and it is a Windows issue. For this reason please forgive this slightly off topic question.

I cannot figure how to mount the web share via the DOS command line using the "net use" command. There seems to be a number of issues and the experience is that some users can mount the share and others cannot.

I have found citations about Windows registry adjustments for LmhostTimelimit and UseBasicAuth. These have helped some users but not others.

I have tried various incantations of this form:
   net use z: \\my.webserver.com\webshare webPassWord /User:webshare

Has anyone identified a reliable method for mounting a webDAV share from Windows clients?

TIA,

 - Mark

[girkers]

A quick google and I found that you can't use "net use" if you are using https on the server. This page suggests a program to try: http://www.mathematics.jhu.edu/help/netuse-webdav.htm

[Mophilly]

Thanks for the link. I have found postings on the net making the opposite claim, but testing has proven it true that "net use" is not an appropriate avenue. The suggestion in the page to access the VPN first is interesting. In my case, using a third party tool will be resisted by the end users network support teams.

I did learn some things in the past week. First, the implementation of webDAV in Windows, aka Web Folders, is incomplete in my estimation. It appears that the volume is not mounted in the typical sense. Rather, Windows "shortcuts" are created for each action. That is, when you log on to the volume a "shortcut" file is written to disk. When the volume is "opened" by the user, the "shortcut" is used to get the list of content. When the user double clicks on an item in the list, another "shortcut" is written to the local drive and used for file operations.

The volume and file "shortcuts" are not readily available to the applications using standard operating system file utilities. That they appear on the user's desktop is merely GUI make-believe. Application developers are required to implement the webDAV protocol themselves. IMO, this is a lame design compared to other implementations where the webDAV volume is mounted in the typical sense and the file operations are handled in the o.s.

To create a link to the webDAV shared volume on Windows, one must use the Network Neighborhood "Add a Network Place". However, you must also ensure that the applications in use are webDAV compliant or the end users will have problems. In my solution, the applications have been modified to ignore the Windows file system entirely when webDAV is involved.

I hope this helps someone.

[mmccarn]

I've added your comments to http://wiki.contribs.org/DAV_Enabled_Ibays#Windows_does_not_provide_a_true_DavFS_implementation as a valuable insight on when to expect DAV to work in Windows...

Thanks!

[Mophilly]

Thank you. I am delighted to provide some useful info to the collective head. 

A small correction, if you please: the handle is "Mophilly", and does not have an "r" in it.

TIA.

[mmccarn]

> A small correction, if you please: the handle is "Mophilly", and does not have an "r" in it.
Oops.  Corrected.

[CharlieBrady]

... as a valuable insight on when to expect DAV to work in Windows...

And as yet another example of a cobbled together, sorta works sometimes "solution" from Micky$oft.

Mike - I suggest that you add a link to your NFR to the wiki, so people can check progress on an implementation there.

[dvkostov]

There is somethink that we have to mention:
If we have an ibay that is used from our LAN and the users in this LAN just map a drive,
when we decide that it is good to give them access from outside to see and work with their files and we follow the steps to DAV enable the ibay
the structure of the ibay changes: the files that we need are now in the ibay/files folder. The DAV enabled folder is ibay/html.
The users still do not see their files from outside. They can make new files and work on but can't see the actual files that they need.
The users get confused because now they see a folder "files" and all their stuff inside when they access the share.

So, how is the best way to let users work with files both ways: SMB share in LAN plus DAV outside?

[Mophilly]

In my experience, the Windows "mapped drive" paths (SMB) are different than those created using the Web Folders technique (HTTP). SME allows user access to certain directories, i.e. the Files directory for SMB. When you "map" the drive, SMB is assumed so you must assure that the correct protocol is used, that being HTTP for a DAV enabled server. Also, the Windows domain controller can create pseudo directories that cause another variant of the path. These become apparent only at the application level. Thus we require on-site admins to create a "network place" mount, as the set up is a bit more obvious than using mapped drives.

With the network place config, you can use a standard URI to create the link file. E.g. "http://user_name:user_password@www.myDAV.com/myDirectory". Once so created Windows will handle the mount in conformance with the HTTP+DAV standards.

We advise the clients that we don't support mixed access methods. If the on-site admins choose to support SMB and HTTP for DAV enabled file systems, they are on their own. We support the "network neighborhood" aka "Web Folders" method only.

I hope this addresses your concerns.