Webdisk Storage Anywhere, Anytime for Everyone Presented at Educause, 2003 Copyright 2003, Jeremy Mortis and Harold Esche. This work is the intellectual property of the authors. Permission is granted for this material to be shared for non- commercial, educational purposes, provided that this copyright statement appears on the reproduced materials and notice is given that the copying is by permission of the author. To disseminate otherwise or to republish requires written permission from the authors.

Webdisk Storage Anywhere, Anytime for Everyone Harold Esche Director, Information Technologies and Jeremy Mortis Manager, Web and Services © 2003 The University of Calgary

Outline Project objectives Alternatives Solutions –Server –Client Demonstration Lessons learned Questions

The University of Calgary 6 th largest University in Canada Research intensive 30,000 students, faculty & staff

The University of Calgary

The Problem Why are we still carrying around diskettes?

Project Objective Provide a better way for students to manage files Easy to use Regularly backed-up (and restorable) Able to grow with demand Secure, robust, easy-to-manage Provide shared storage for group work Access by multiple clients (Windows, Mac, Linux, etc.) Standards based Inexpensive

Project Structure Small group, broad mandate, short timeframe Published terms of reference Defined objectives Defined sponsor Defined resources Defined milestones and timelines Appropriate (and dynamic) team

Choices, choices, choices Protocols: SMB vs FTP vs NFS vs HTTP vs … Server platform: Windows vs Linux vs AIX vs … Authentication: Active Directory vs LDAP Software: proprietary vs open source

Our Solution Webdisk: A blend of WebDAV, Linux, Apache, and WebDrive Store files in a central location Enable worldwide access via the WebDAV protocol Provide instructions and/or free client software

The WebDAV Protocol An emerging internet standard Not just for web publishing! Extends http to facilitate file management No persistent connection required No firewall problems

Using WebDAV Natively supported by Windows, MacOSX, Linux Natively supported by DreamWeaver, Mozilla Variety of clients available for all platforms, making storage appear as a mapped drive, NFS mount, FTP server, etc. Read access via any web browser Deals with files, not bytes

Rejected Alternatives SMB (i.e. Microsoft Networking) is complicated for users and is often blocked by firewalls FTP lacks encryption SFTP and SCP lack choices in client software Web-based solutions are awkward to use Proprietary solutions are too expensive

Server Environment Open source: Apache + mod_dav Modified by University of Calgary Uses normal Linux user directories and files Uses normal Linux file ownerships Uses normal Linux user quota Uses.htaccess to control access NFS-mounted RAID Storage LDAP/PAM authentication Horizontally scalable

Webdisk Sharing Facilitates collaboration Users can share directories with individuals or groups Users can make directories public Shares can be read-only or read-write Web-based tool for managing shares WebDAV supports file locking Functionality developed at University of Calgary

Windows and WebDAV Not very functional prior to Windows XP Inefficient Difficult to troubleshoot Only works with UNC-aware software Requires repeated logons

“Webdisk Client” Improves WebDAV support in Windows Maps storage to a Windows drive letter, e.g. U: Works with any software that uses drive letters Is consistent across all Windows versions Caches files for good performance Gives good status information Does not require repeated logons

WebDrive Developed by South River Technologies Affordable site license (~ US$ 5,000) Site license permits home use Proprietary Transitional

Personal vs. Lab Use UofC developed two different distros: one for personal workstations and one for shared workstations Personal version can be “always connected” Shared version requires logon/logoff Can integrate with OS logon/logoff with pGina Both available to users at no charge

Demonstration Webdisk Client Webdisk Wrapper Native XP functionality

A Successful Project Meets project objectives Easy to use Extensible design Uses secure protocols Works in Windows, Macintosh, and Linux Robust and easy to manage Standards based Inexpensive Excellent uptake and feedback

Creative Uses Project repositories Avoid sending documents by Laptop backups Travelling bookmarks and preferences Moving files between home and office Personal homepages … and of course, no more diskettes!

Lessons Learned Webdisk is a new way of looking at things… Everything is a web page Your files are available everywhere You are always connected No worries about backup, synchronization, duplication Don’t send – share!

Webdisk Future Used by all students, faculty, and staff Grow in conjunction with storage needs Available in all campus labs Improved OS integration WebDAV-enabled applications Versioning Document management

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