Webdisk mounted Ubuntu 8.10

[pjo]

Hi,

I have a strange issue with web disk on a server running with 11.24-4 version.

The mount is made in fstab with following:

https://www.xxx.com:2078 /home/xxx/xxxx davfs rw,noauto,uid=1000,gid=131 0 0.

The drive is mounted and delete, edit is working on file level but not create. All operations can be done for folders.

When i'm mounting a web disk from Ubuntu 8.10 I can do all operation for folders. For files I can do the same except creation. During creation is returned error

cPanel 11.24-4

fstab entry
#web disk at xxx.pl
https://xxx.pl:2078 /home/per/xxx davfs rw,noauto,uid=1000,gid=131 0 0

command: sudo mount https://xxx.pl:2078 -rw

Creation of empty file or copying:
Error opening file '/home/per/xxx/Archives/Manual/new file': Input/output error

Is this a bug or wrongly configured on my computer?

[jmerhar]

Hi, pjo,

I have the exact same problem with davfs2 on Ubuntu 8.10, but with a different (non-cPanel) WebDAV server. Have you found a solution?

[pjo]

Hi,

I have reported the issue to my ISP and asked for a bugreport.

And as you have found I also made a comment on this forum in hope that someone from Cpanel saw it. No one from Cpanel have reacted and I cannot make a bugreport so I have more or less given up. So sorry for my late reply.

I have found no solution. And it seems not to be an issue from my system as I have granted other access to test with the same result. Also developer for Gigolo (Xfce) cannot connect to webdisk on my server.

My ISP is running version 11.24-4-stable.

Maybe you could report to your ISP as well to have the bug resolved?

[cPanelDavidG]

Hi,

I have reported the issue to my ISP and asked for a bugreport.

And as you have found I also made a comment on this forum in hope that someone from Cpanel saw it. No one from Cpanel have reacted and I cannot make a bugreport so I have more or less given up. So sorry for my late reply.

I have found no solution. And it seems not to be an issue from my system as I have granted other access to test with the same result. Also developer for Gigolo (Xfce) cannot connect to webdisk on my server.

My ISP is running version 11.24-4-stable.

Maybe you could report to your ISP as well to have the bug resolved?

I have spoken with staff that use Ubuntu and they report no issues with the Webdisk functionality. I recommend having your hosting company submit a support ticket so we can take a closer look at things: http://tickets.cPanel.net/submit

[epeterka]

I'm having similar results.

My setup:
Workstation:
Xubuntu version 9.04
dav2fs installed version 1.3.3-3ubuntu1

cPanel (at hosting service), Version 11.24.4-RELEASE

Webdisk is working for my calendars.
Webdisk is working if I use cadaver for the client. Here's a test that works (names changed to protect my privacy).

me@mycomputer:~$ cadaver -t https://myserver.myhostingservice.com:2078/
Authentication required for cPanel WebDisk on server `myserver.myhostingservice.com':
Username: myusername
Password: mypassword
Ignored error: / not WebDAV-enabled:
Did not find a collection resource.
dav:/? ls
Listing collection `/': succeeded.
Coll:   /                                   4096  Jul  6 07:43
        .ftpquota                              7  Jul  6 03:07
        mycalendar.ics                            2233  Jul  5 23:57
dav:/? cp calendar.ics  test.file
Copying `/calendar.ics' to `/test.file':  succeeded.
dav:/? cp calendar.ics test2.file
Copying `/calendar.ics' to `/test2.file':  succeeded.
dav:/? ls 
Listing collection `/': succeeded.
Coll:   /                                   4096  Jul  6 08:27
        .ftpquota                              7  Jul  6 03:07
        calendar.ics                      2233  Jul  5 23:57
        test.file                           2233  Jul  6 08:27
        test2.file                          2233  Jul  6 08:27
dav:/? rm test.file 
Deleting `test.file': succeeded.
dav:/? exit

That part works. With cadaver, the webdisk works as it should.

With davfs, I can't copy files, only delete.

Here's the results:

me@mycomputer:~$ grep myserver /etc/fstab
https://myserver.myhostingservice.com:2078 /home/me/davfolder davfs rw,noauto,user 0 0
me@mycomputer:~$ mount https://myserver.myhostingservice.com:2078
Please enter the username to authenticate with server
https://myserver.myhostingservice.com:2078 or hit enter for none.
Username: myusername
Please enter the password to authenticate user myusername with server
https://myserver.myhostingservice.com:2078 or hit enter for none.
Password: 
me@mycomputer:~$ cd davfolder/
me@mycomputer:~/davfolder$ ls -l
total 6
-rw-r--r-- 1 me me 2233 2009-07-05 23:57 calendar.ics
drwx------ 2 me me   64 2009-07-05 17:43 lost+found
-rw-r--r-- 1 me me 2233 2009-07-06 08:27 test2.file
me@mycomputer:~/davfolder$ cp calendar.ics test.file
cp: cannot create regular file `test.file': Input/output error
me@mycomputer:~/davfolder$ rm test2.file
me@mycomputer:~/davfolder$ ls -l
total 3
-rw-r--r-- 1 me me 2233 2009-07-05 23:57 calendar.ics
drwx------ 2 me me   64 2009-07-05 17:43 lost+found
me@mycomputer:~/davfolder$ cd
me@mycomputer:~$ umount https://myserver.myhostingservice.com:2078
/sbin/umount.davfs: waiting while mount.davfs (pid 23664) synchronizes the cache .. OK
me@mycomputer:~$

If this testing matches what the other posters are experiencing, then we are all having the same issue.

To me, the fact that it works with cadaver indicates that the issue is really with the davfs2 stuff. It could be a configuration issue, or possibly a bug in davfs.

I'll share any solution that I find. I hope the others will share anything they discover.

[epeterka]

OK. I'm happy to say that I have found a resolution for this issue, at least with my hosting service.

I contacted Werner Baumann, the developer who maintains davfs2. Here's what he found.

First, there are two bugs (or configuration errors) on my hosting services cPanel server.

Bug 1:
The server claims to support WebDAV locks but does not. In response to a LOCK request it returns Error Code 200 OK but the response does not include the required Lock Token.

According to Werner, "This is badly broken."

Bug 2:
When davfs2 does a "PUT" request for a file that already exists, the server sends a response code "201 CREATED" when it should send "200 OK".

Werner also notes that my server has one other serious shortcoming. It doesn't support Etag. This can cause problems with overwriting changes if two people update the same file.

Bug 1 seems to be the more serious problem. The workaround is to add a line with "use_locks 0" to your davfs2.conf file.

When I did this, everything works for me.

But anything that needs locking functionality in webDAV won't work with the webdisk feature on my hosting service's cPanel server.

I'm not sure if this is a configuration issue with their server, or if it's a problem with the default configuration for cPanel, or if it's truly a bug in the mod_dav for apache2.

For a complete description of the issues, see davfs2 - Support: sr #106922, When my webDAV direcotry is... [Savannah]. That's Werner's support area and my exchange with him to discuss the issue and workaround.

One other thing, for others that are trying this. If you are using an older version of davfs2, make sure you have "use_expect100 0" in your davfs2.conf. That's the default in newer versions, but with older versions, it won't work with the default of "use_expect100 1".

[cPanelKenneth]

The WebDisk service in cPanel does not use Apache or mod_dav. It is built atop Net:: DAV::Server ( Net:: DAV::Server - Provide a DAV Server - search.cpan.org )

Bug 1:
The server claims to support WebDAV locks but does not. In response to a LOCK request it returns Error Code 200 OK but the response does not include the required Lock Token.

According to Werner, "This is badly broken."

This is a known issue: Bug 6389 - no locking feature in cpanel webdav - webdisk and goes back to the fact Net:: Dav::Server is the core of WebDisk.

When we initially developed the WebDisk service testing reveal that certain webDAV clients caused service-wide deadlocks when LOCK was enabled. I'll see about having the issue re-examined.

Bug 2:
When davfs2 does a "PUT" request for a file that already exists, the server sends a response code "201 CREATED" when it should send "200 OK".

That is interesting. That will need analyzed to determine why that is happening and how it can be changed.

Werner also notes that my server has one other serious shortcoming. It doesn't support Etag. This can cause problems with overwriting changes if two people update the same file.

This might be a variant of the LOCK report. Since WebDisk doesn't support LOCK it wouldn't make sense to implement Etag.

For a complete description of the issues, see davfs2 - Support: sr #106922, When my webDAV direcotry is... [Savannah]. That's Werner's support area and my exchange with him to discuss the issue and workaround.

Thanks to you and Mr. Baumann for that information.

[pjo]

Dear epeterka,

Thank you for digging into this issue. I had more or less given up!

Bug 1 seems to be the more serious problem. The workaround is to add a line with "use_locks 0" to your davfs2.conf file.

The above hack is resolving my issue for filehandling.

Kernel:
Linux ubuntu 2.6.28-13-generic #45-Ubuntu SMP Tue Jun 30 22:12:12 UTC 2009 x86_64 GNU/Linux

davfs2:
davfs2 1.3.3 <http://dav.sourceforge.net>

But anyway the suggestions below might rectify issue

Support for Locks is not required in WebDAV, but they should change the headers in this case:
- remove the number "2" from the header "DAV"
- remove "LOCK" and "UNLOCK" fro the header "Allow".
This way clients will know that locks are not supported. davfs2 will in this case not use locks, without the need for the user to explicitely configure it.

Etag is probably not required either. But having Etags and conditional requests based on Etags will significantly improve reliability and also reduce traffic. This is not important as long as only one client has access to the repository, but can save a lot of trouble in case of concurrent access.

Cheers
Werner

[jozeph]

Hi,

I'm using latest cPanel version and this problem already persists.

The use_lock set to 0 solve my problem, but is very interesting to implement a correction for this case.

[cPanelDavidG]

Hi,

I'm using latest cPanel version and this problem already persists.

The use_lock set to 0 solve my problem, but is very interesting to implement a correction for this case.

Our developers are actively working on resolving this situation. Fixes have not yet propagated to EDGE, let alone any of the production-worthy builds. I have no ETA for when that will happen. Internal Case 31074

[jozeph]

Hmm... ok!

I would like to report another problem. I can't login webdisk using Windows Vista Ultimate 64 bits. I following all instructions and install that patch available on webdisk page.

Our developers are actively working on resolving this situation. Fixes have not yet propagated to EDGE, let alone any of the production-worthy builds. I have no ETA for when that will happen. Internal Case 31074

[cPanelDavidG]

Hmm... ok!

I would like to report another problem. I can't login webdisk using Windows Vista Ultimate 64 bits. I following all instructions and install that patch available on webdisk page.

We are aware of issues that Vista 64-bit in particular seems to have with WebDisk and are working on resolving those issues as well. Internal Case 20622

[pjo]

Hi,

I can see that version 11.25 has been released.

Has the issue with davfs2 been resolved in this version?