OwnCloud and WebDAV
OwnCloud
- http://owncloud.org
- Requires a Web server like Apache or nginx
- Needs PHP support
- In nginx, this is handled through FastCGI
- Native support is available in packages for Debian, Fedora, etc.
- Easy-to-read installation instructions for standard installs
- http://owncloud.org/support/setup-and-installation/linux-server/
- Can be installed on Windows and MacOS X as well
- Supports file sharing via the Web
- Has built-in shared document editor (Google Docs)
- Has built-in media player
- Purported to be a Dropbox and Google Docs killer, or perhaps a proprietary cloud services killer
- Most important piece of this puzzle is WebDAV and CalDAV
WebDAV (and CalDAV)
- DAV = Distributed Authoring and Versioning
- WebDAV = DAV for the WWW
- CalDAV = DAV for calendar access
- In a nutshell, DAV is an extension of HTTP which allows for write as well as read access
- It’s a well implemented standard defined in RFC 4918. It is supported in some manner on all operating systems.
- Windows
- Support for WebDAV shares is built in, but only for Windows Vista and Windows 7. Windows 7 support is a bit flaky. I found help on getting it to work for me here:
- http://shon.org/blog/2010/03/04/howto-fix-windows-7-64bit-webdav/
- The important bit is the registry change. Once done, WebDAV shares worked perfectly on my system.
- MacOS X
- I tried this using Leopard (10.5) and Snow Leopard (10.6)
- No matter what I tried, shares were read-only. Not good.
- Third-party client called Cyberduck allowed me to access my OwnCloud via WebDAV. Not elegant, but usable.
- http://cyberduck.ch/
- Linux
- I use Debian systems, including LMDE. YMMV when it comes to Fedora, RH, CentOS, Gentoo, Arch or other non-Debian systems.
- GNOME 2 (and presumably 3) has built-in support for WebDAV shares via Nautilus.
- Go to Places, select Connect to Server.
- Select WebDAV or Secure WebDAV depending on whether or not you have set up your OwnCloud with http:// or https:// via your Web server.
- Enter the server name in the appropriate field.
- Under Folder enter “/files/webdav.php”
- Create a bookmark if you wish.
- Voila. You should now have a WebDAV share with RW access on your desktop and in your Places dropdown menu.
- A slightly more elegant solution for my purposes was to use davfs2. You can install this on Debian systems (including Ubuntu) with a simple “apt-get install davfs2”
- This allows you to create WebDAV mounts on your filesystem by including them in your /etc/fstab file.
- (Explain fstab procedure including davfs2.conf, turning locking off, and the secrets file)
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