WebDav Server

iKnowBase comes with a WebDav server serving iKnowBase documents to WebDav Clients. The WebDav server is implemented as a java web application, and must be deployed along with the other web applications.

Due to client requirements, the webdav application must be deployed at context root / (the root and default application), and it must therefore also be deployed using a separate hostname (e.g. using webdav.example.com, while other applications are deployed on intranet.example.com).

The Webdav application does not support clustering.

Installation

The WebDav Server is required to be deployed to context root / and will typically require a separate hostname separate from the other deployed applications. See installation guide for how this is accomplished with your application server of choice.

Since authentication to a webdav resource is done using BASIC authentication, SSL is strongly recommended. See the troubleshooting section for accessing WebDav resources without SSL support.

Note: The WebDav Server require java version 6.

The WebDav Server

Enable or disable the WebDav Server

Disable the WebDav server by stopping the Web application.

Configuring the WebDav Server for dimension based WebDav folders

The default setup of the WebDAV server will provide editing access to documents based on document ID, with document editing mostly accessed through the special “Edit in WebDAV” function in the content viewer. However, you may also expose documents in a regular directory structure based on iKnowBase dimension. Using the Metadata manager in Development Studio, attach the dimension type IKB_WEBDAV_FOLDER to the dimensions you would like to be WebDav folders.

The following iKnowBase WebDav metadata are pre configuered “Out-of-the-box”:

• Dimension type “IKB WebDav Folders” external_key = IKB_WEBDAV_ROOT
• Dimension “Image Archive” with dimension types = IKB_WEBDAV_FOLDER
• Attribute “IKB WebDav Folders” external_key = IKB_WEBDAV_ROOT

The attribute collects the dimension types used to identify the dimensions used as WebDav folders.
By default only the dimension type “IKB WebDav Folders” is used.

Client configuration

Enabling Basic authentication

By default, the Windows WebDAV clients do not accept Basic authentication. This must be enabled; for Windows 7 the procedure is as follows

• Starting “regedit.exe” (remember to start the application as administrator).
• Find the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\WebClient\Parameters
• Set the value for BasicAuthLevel to 1, or if the key does not exist, create it:
  • Select new from the Edit menu
  • Choose DWORD Value.
  • Enter BasicAuthLevel and exit with ENTER.
  • Select Modify and write 1 in the value field.

The value “1” in the example above will enable Basic authentication on an SSL-enabled site (using https). We do not support the value “2”, which means using Basic authentication over an insecure and non-encrypted communication channel.

Editing an iKnowBase document from Microsoft Office

The most typical use case is to edit an iKnowBase document directly from Microsoft Office. To set this up, do the following:

• Using Development Studio, configure the “WebDAV Path” in the relevant Domain configuration with the proper value, e.g. "https://webdav.example.com/"
• In relevant content viewers, configure an “Edit using WebDAV” action
• From a supported web browser (Internet Explorer is best, but as of November 2013 Firefox is also supported), click the “Edit using WebDAV” icon

Mounting WebDAV folders in Windows

On Windows you have to start the “Webclient service” to be able to connect to WebDav:

• Start -> Run -> Services.msc
• Start Webclient service. Set the properties so it will start automatically next time you boot Windows.

Connect iKnowBase as a network drive:

• Start the Windows Explorer
• Right click on My Computer
• Select "Connect to Network drive..."
  • Drive: could be any unused drive letter.
  • Folder: ex. http://www.myserver.com:9801/ikbWebdav/webdav.
  • If you get the error message “Service does not exist”, wait one minute and try again.
• Check if the folder “Image Archive” is accessible on the newly connected network drive.

Troubleshooting

For trobleshooting, do this:

• Find a suitable document in your iKnowBase installation, making note of the document ID. For this example, we assume a document ID of “2804”.
• Using a web browser, go to the url “https://webdav.example.com/ikb$content/2804/document.docx” (using the proper hostname and a suitable extension). Open (or save + open) this document, and verify that it opens properly in e.g. Microsoft Word.
• Using Microsoft Word directly, go to the “Open Document” dialog (Ctrl+F12 will often do the trick). Here, enter the same full URL, including the https-prototcol and all (“https://webdav.example.com/ikb$content/2804/document.docx”) and click “Open”. Verify that it opens properly.