What is WebDav and why should I care?

What is WebDav and why should I care?

What is WebDav?

WebDav is an extension of the HTTP protocol which makes the internet work. Where WebDav becomes interesting is that it makes the web read / write rather than read only. It also provides a framework which allows documents to be stored on a web server and records details of who owns and modifies said document.

WebDav seemed to be a bit of a dying technology until Apple resuscitated it through it’s Server and iOS applications. It has now becoming an important part of being able to save a retrieve documents on an iPad as Pages, Numbers and Keynote natively support this extension.

Apple Support WebDav

Anything that Apple puts its significant muscle behind needs to be looked at seriously and app developers are increasingly including the ability to work with WebDav with their products. There are even apps which exclusively deal with getting files to and from your iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch – all you need is an internet connection and you are good to go.

Find Out More

If you are keen to read more about WebDav and its history then have a look at the Wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WebDAV

Many NAS boxes natively support WebDav so it’s worth having a look at these links to help you find out if yours is compatible:

http://www.readynas.com/?p=126

http://web.qnap.com/pro_application.asp?ap_id=229

http://www.synology.com/us/products/features/web_dav.php

Tutorial

Alternatively have a look at my tutorial which shows you how to configure WebDav on the DLink DNS-320 as this is what I currently use with great success:

https://www.head4space.com/step-by-step-tutorial-for-setting-up-webdav-on-dlink-dns-320/