WebDAV extension¶
In the document below, we assume your seafile installation folder is /opt/seafile.
Config WebDAV extension¶
The configuration file is /opt/seafile-data/seafile/conf/seafdav.conf (for deploying from binary packages, it should be /opt/seafile/conf/seafdav.conf). If it is not created already, you can just create the file.
[WEBDAV]
# Default is false. Change it to true to enable SeafDAV server.
enabled = true
port = 8080
debug = true
# If you deploy seafdav behind nginx/apache, you need to modify "share_name".
share_name = /seafdav
# SeafDAV uses Gunicorn as web server.
# This option maps to Gunicorn's 'workers' setting. https://docs.gunicorn.org/en/stable/settings.html?#workers
# By default it's set to 5 processes.
workers = 5
# This option maps to Gunicorn's 'timeout' setting. https://docs.gunicorn.org/en/stable/settings.html?#timeout
# By default it's set to 1200 seconds, to support large file uploads.
timeout = 1200
Every time the configuration is modified, you need to restart seafile server to make it take effect.
docker compose restart
cd /opt/seafile/seafile-server-latest/
./seafile.sh restart
Your WebDAV client would visit the Seafile WebDAV server at http{s}://example.com/seafdav/ (for deploying from binary packages, it should be http{s}://example.com:8080/seafdav/)
In Pro edition 7.1.8 version and community edition 7.1.5, an option is added to append library ID to the library name returned by SeafDAV.
show_repo_id=true
Proxy (only for deploying from binary packages)¶
Tip
For deploying in Docker, the WebDAV server has been proxied in /seafdav/*, as you can skip this step
For Seafdav, the configuration of Nginx is as follows:
.....
location /seafdav {
rewrite ^/seafdav$ /seafdav/ permanent;
}
location /seafdav/ {
proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:8080/seafdav/;
proxy_set_header Host $host;
proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Host $server_name;
proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
proxy_read_timeout 1200s;
client_max_body_size 0;
access_log /var/log/nginx/seafdav.access.log seafileformat;
error_log /var/log/nginx/seafdav.error.log;
}
location /:dir_browser {
proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:8080/:dir_browser;
}
For Seafdav, the configuration of Apache is as follows:
......
<Location /seafdav>
ProxyPass "http://127.0.0.1:8080/seafdav"
</Location>
Notes on Clients¶
Please first note that, there are some known performance limitation when you map a Seafile webdav server as a local file system (or network drive).
- Uploading large number of files at once is usually much slower than the syncing client. That's because each file needs to be committed separately.
- The access to the webdav server may be slow sometimes. That's because the local file system driver sends a lot of unnecessary requests to get the files' attributes.
So WebDAV is more suitable for infrequent file access. If you want better performance, please use the sync client instead.
Windows Explorer supports HTTPS connection. But it requires a valid certificate on the server. It's generally recommended to use Windows Explorer to map a webdav server as network dirve. If you use a self-signed certificate, you have to add the certificate's CA into Windows' system CA store.
On Linux you have more choices. You can use file manager such as Nautilus to connect to webdav server. Or you can use davfs2 from the command line.
To use davfs2
sudo apt-get install davfs2
sudo mount -t davfs -o uid=<username> https://example.com/seafdav /media/seafdav/
The -o option sets the owner of the mounted directory to
It's recommended to disable LOCK operation for davfs2. You have to edit /etc/davfs2/davfs2.conf
use_locks 0
Finder's support for WebDAV is also not very stable and slow. So it is recommended to use a webdav client software such as Cyberduck.
Frequently Asked Questions¶
Clients can't connect to seafdav server¶
By default, seafdav is disabled. Check whether you have enabled = true in seafdav.conf.
If not, modify it and restart seafile server.
The client gets "Error: 404 Not Found"¶
If you deploy SeafDAV behind Nginx/Apache, make sure to change the value of share_name as the sample configuration above. Restart your seafile server and try again.
Can't rename/move file/folder¶
First, check the seafdav.log to see if there is log like the following.
"MOVE ... -> 502 Bad Gateway
If you have enabled debug, there will also be the following log.
09:47:06.533 - DEBUG : Raising DAVError 502 Bad Gateway: Source and destination must have the same scheme.
If you are running behind a reverse proxy, you may have to rewrite the 'Destination' header.
(See https://github.com/mar10/wsgidav/issues/183)
09:47:06.533 - DEBUG : Caught (502, "Source and destination must have the same scheme.\nIf you are running behind a reverse proxy, you may have to rewrite the 'Destination' header.\n(See https://github.com/mar10/wsgidav/issues/183)")
This issue usually occurs when you have configured HTTPS, but the request was forwarded, resulting in the HTTP_X_FORWARDED_PROTO value in the request received by Seafile not being HTTPS.
You can solve this by manually changing the value of HTTP_X_FORWARDED_PROTO. For example, in nginx, change
proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
to
proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto https;
Windows Explorer reports "file size exceeds the limit allowed and cannot be saved"¶
This happens when you map webdav as a network drive, and tries to copy a file larger than about 50MB from the network drive to a local folder.
This is because Windows Explorer has a limit of the file size downloaded from webdav server. To make this size large, change the registry entry on the client machine. There is a registry key named FileSizeLimitInBytes under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -> SYSTEM -> CurrentControlSet -> Services -> WebClient -> Parameters.