How to install Apache (with SSL) + WebDav on Ubuntu

~ 2 minute to read

Installing Apache with SSL

$ sudo apt-get install apache2 libapache2-mod-auth-mysql

Then, setup and generate a cerfitecate for the web server:

$ sudo openssl genrsa -des3 -out server.key 1024

You’ll be asked to enter a pass phrase.

$ sudo openssl rsa -in server.key -out server.key.insecure

You’ll be asked for the pass parse you used in the previous step.

This command generates the certificate you will be asked to fill in some details:

$ sudo openssl req -new -key server.key -out server.csr
$ sudo openssl x509 -req -days 365 -in server.csr -signkey server.key -out server.crt

The certificate now need coping in to the SSL directory:

$ sudo cp server.crt /etc/ssl/certs
$ sudo cp server.key /etc/ssl/private

Now wee need to enable to SSL site:

$ sudo a2enmod ssl
$ sudo a2ensite default-ssl

The web server needs to be restarted for the change to take place:

$ sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart

Now, you should now be able to access the server by typing https://ip_address in your browser.

You’ll get a certificate warning about it not being from a trust source you need to click on more details to check that it is the right computer you are connecting to.

Installing WebDAV

First you need to enable WebDav modules:

$ sudo a2enmod dav_fs
$ sudo a2enmod dav

You need to create a directory to share. For example, it can be in /home/user:

$ mkdir webdav

We need to give the web server and the user access to the WebDav directory:

$sudo chown www-data:user /home/user/webdav

Next we have to setup a password:

$ sudo a2enmod auth_digest

Create a directory where you will store your password files:

$ sudo mkdir /etc/password

Create the password file like this (WebDavCloud is the AuthName, and user1 is actual username for accessing the WebDav):

$ sudo htdigest -c /etc/password/digest-password WebDavCloud user1

You will be asked to type in a password. Select a strong password, you will use it for accessing to your WebDav directory.

Now we need to edit the default-ssl config files:

$ sudo vim /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/default-ssl

You need to find the part of the file that says:

CustomLog /var/log/apache2/ssl_access.log combined

and under that you need to place the following in to the file

Alias /webdav /home/user/webdav
#
<Directory /home/user/webdav/>
 Options Indexes MultiViews
 AllowOverride None
 Order allow,deny
 allow from all
</Directory>
#
<Location /webdav>
 DAV On
 AuthType Digest
 AuthName "WebDavCloud"
 AuthUserFile /etc/password/digest-password
 Require valid-user
</Location>

Now you need to restart the Apache:

$ sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart

You should now be able to access the WebDAV folder by going to https://ip_address/webdav

Note: If you would like to map your WebDav directory as a network drive from Windows, it’s most likely that you will have big problems. If you want to use WebDav from Windows, you will need to buy a commercial certificate and use it instead of self-generated certificate.

 


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