ESUP WebDAV server V4 (and 3.5)
Installation
1. Introduction
2. Important notes
3. Main new features and improvements
4. Components
5. Pre-requisite
6. Naming conventions
7. Installation
7.1. Getting the package
7.2. Preparing the deployment
7.3. Deploying the server
7.4. Customizing the deployment
7.5. Starting and stopping the server
7.6. Re-configuring the server
7.7. The ANT targets
7.8. Logging
7.8.1. WebDAV events logging
7.8.2. Other logging
7.9. Recommended configuration
7.9.1. Apache/Tomcat
7.10. In case of problems...
7.11. Links in this page

1. Introduction

Note

About the V3.5 and V4 versions

The ESUP consortium has released a V4 version of the ESUP WebDAV server with quota support and a new administration tool. This V4 version is based on the Jakarta Slide 2.2b server. But Slide 2.2 encounters encoding problems with accents whereas the 2.1 stable version has not this problem. So we have decided to release a 3.5 version of the ESUP WebDAV server based on Slide 2.1 slightly modified to support quota and improve permission management. The 3.5 and 4 versions have exactly the same fonctionalitities.

The purpose of this document is to explain how to install the ESUP WebDAV server V4. The installation procedure is exactly the same for the V4 and V3.5 versions of the server. Many features have been modified or improved since the previous versions. Therefore the WebDAV server V4 is not compliant with the versions 2.* or lower. You will find a FAQ (under construction) at the end of this document. Please DO NOT contact directly the developpers neither by mail nor by phone. Use instead the injac-utilisateurs@esup-portail.org mailing list. When you request the mailing list please ensure to attach the logs of the server in debug mode AND your build.properties file (remove every critical entry). See the section "Logging".

2. Important notes

The packaging and configuration file have been slightly modified since the previous version. Read carefully this documention before deploying the server.

The ESUP WebDAV server V4 is in beta version because it is based on a beta version of the Jakarta Slide server - this version has to be used only for development purposes.

In a production environment you HAVE TO use the V3.5 version.

3. Main new features and improvements

Quota management

The ESUP WebDAV server V4 supports quotas according to the WebDAV quota RFC.

Administration tool

A new administration tool - ESUPWDServerManager - replaces the previous administration tools (HomedirCreation, InjacSpacesCreation) and adds some functionalities.

Packaging

The packaging has been modified to be compliant with the ESUP packaging standard.

4. Components

The ESUP WebDAV server V4 is composed of :

5. Pre-requisite

6. Naming conventions

7. Installation

7.1. Getting the package

Download the package esup-serveur-WebDav-4.0beta (or esup-serveur-WebDav-3.5) in the download page. Unzip it in a choosen directory.

7.2. Preparing the deployment

Open and edit the [package.home]/esup-serveur-WebDav-4.0beta/build.properties file

Important

It is STRONGLY recommended to fill this file in carefully given that some parameters (written as [FINAL]) can NOT be re-configured once the server is deployed and started.

Each parameter HAS TO BE filled in except those written as [OPTIONAL]

You can keep the value of parameters written as [DEFAULT]=defaultValue - the others MUST be modified

build.properties files :

The build.properties file contains all of the explanation needed to fill it in. This document focuses only on some points.

Tomcat/Apache parameters

  • webdavServer.url : URL used by WebDAV clients such as the administration tool - change this value according to your system configuration (especially if you have an apache running in front of the WebDAV server)

LDAP parameters

  • slide.ldap.Scope : this parameter has change since the last version - scope = SCOPE_SUBTREE_LEVEL | SCOPE_ONE_LEVEL | SCOPE_OBJECT_LEVEL

  • slide.ldap.Filter : replace & by & and | by |

backend parameters

  • slide.content****Store : path where to store Slide content

  • slide.metadata****Store : path where to store Slide metadata

Important

It is strongly recommended to store Slide content and metadata on a fast machine.

Note

If you want to keep data of a previous installed version of the server (higher than V3), keep the same values for these parameters.

ESUP-Portail portal connection

  • slide.uPStore.DisableCache : you are advised against disabling the cache, this could affect both the WebDAV server and the portal performance

root user

  • slide.rootUser : administrator uid (must be registered in the LDAP)

authentication router properties

Please fill in this section carefully. Most of the problems are due to a wrong configuration of the authentication layer.

security

Note

The security of the ESUP WebDAV server is performed by both an IP adresses control and a password control. The authentication layer ensures that the client trying to connect to the server is one of the portal IP adresses and that the password contained in the request is correct.

  • slide.trustedFilter.password : enter here your trusted password - this password is used by the storage channel and administration tool (ESUPWDServerManager) to access the ESUP WebDAV server. It must be complex enough.

  • slide.trustedFilter.users : leave this parameter empty

  • axis.trustedFilter.password : you have to set the same password as slide.trustedFilter.password

  • axis.trustedFilter.users : you can restrict here the people who can access the quota Web service and then use the ESUPWDServerManager administration tool (user1:user2:user3:...)

7.3. Deploying the server

Execute the ANT unzip, ANT init and ANT deploy targets, in this order.

7.4. Customizing the deployment

You can personalize your installation thanks to the perso directory ("ESUP-like" packaging). You will find in particular log4j.xml files to configure logging (see the logging section for more details).

7.5. Starting and stopping the server

Execute the server.start and server.stop ANT targets.

7.6. Re-configuring the server

Modify the [package.home]/esup-serveur-WebDav-4.0beta/build.properties files and run the ANT init and ANT deploy targets. Restart the server.

7.7. The ANT targets

The ANT targets are very close to the ones present in the ESUP-Portail portal.

Run the ANT help target to have a short description of the most common used targets.

- buildEclipseProject : for developpers, check out the project from the SN (trunk), run the buildEclipseProject and unzip targets and you will have a well configured environment to modify the source code.

- buildZip / buildTar : build packaging of the server (with Slide and Tomcat - no Internet connection is required to install the server).

- clean : for developpers, clean the project

- compile : for developpers, compile the application, administrator do not need to run this target given that it is called by the deploy target.

- config : quick reconfigure the server, but use ANT init and ANT deploy instead.

- deploy : deploy the server - for a full deployment run ANT unzip, ANT init and ANT deploy.

- getComponents / removeComponents : retrieve remote files and libraries, administrator do not need to run this target given that it is called by the init target.

- help : display a quick help

- init : initialize the application for compilation

- runClient : do nothing... :-)

- unzip : unzip Tomcat in the deployment directory and Slide in the working directory

- server.start / server.stop : start and stop the server

7.8. Logging

7.8.1. WebDAV events logging

WebDAV events logging are configured by the slide.webdavLogging* parameters in the [package.home]/esup-serveur-WebDav-4.0beta/build.properties file.

7.8.2. Other logging

More generally you can configure logging using log4j.xml files in the [package.home]/esup-serveur-WebDav-4.0beta/perso directory (do not forget to init and restart the server). By default, this directories contains files to log the authentication layer, uPortal store (group management), quota listener (quota management) and the administration tool. You can add entries as needed.

7.9. Recommended configuration

It seems (we're not sure of that, it's a recommendation) to be more convenient for some webdav clients to use "" as the context path of slide. That is to say, http://webdav.univ-rennes1.fr for example should be directly the webdav server (and not http://applis.univ-rennes1.f/mywebdav for example). It can avoid some authentications problems for some OS (Windows, MacOs or others) For that, in build.properties put slide.context = Be carreful to not put a "/", just nothing. The goal is to make a 'Context path="" ' in the server.xml file for slide application.

You can use Slide with or without a web server behind Tomcat. There are many reasons to use a web server behind Tomcat :

But just keep in your mind that you can use Tomcat Standalone (without another webserver in frontend).

7.9.1. Apache/Tomcat

Before to configure an Apache/Tomcat binding make sure that you have no problems using webdav directly on Tomcat. Indeed, you can use Slide in 2 modes together (in the same time), that is to say with and without web server frontend. Look at build.properties for options.

The "web server" is usually Apache. You can use different version of Apache :

And you can use also different ajp13 connector. See official documentation for that :

If using Apache2.2, use together AJP Proxy. Apache2.2 is a very new version of Apache, so it's not included in the stable packages suite of distributions like debian for example :(

mod jk 2 is no more supported, use mod jk instead

Apache2 is easier to configure, if you can, use it.

Note

When you use a frontend web server behind Tomcat, HTTP requests and responses are alterate (keep in your mind, some options can be important).

With mod jk 2, mod jk and (not sure, AJP Proxy seems to be better) AJP Proxy, you can have authentication problem between apache and some mricrosoft webdav client (mostly Windows XP). Indeed, the session doesn't persist between 2 requests, so authentication prompt is always displayed (even if authentication works well). You can notice this in debug mode (put org.esupportail.filter in debug mode via log4j.xml), AuthenticationRouter class logs the session id for each request.

Tips (maybe it can help, but we're not sure at all :S) :

7.10. In case of problems...

7.11. Links in this page