Please consider WebDAV support

imekul · #1 12-29-2007, 01:03 PM

I recently started converting from FrontPage to Dreamweaver, and I love DW except I really miss the ease in which I could access remote files in FrontPage. I know I can do this using FTP in DW, but I think something like WebDAV would be much more convenient as far as managing files remotely, editing them, et cetera.

Anyway, I wanted to just ask that you all consider installing WebDAV support on the shared servers. I think it would be a handy feature! :-)

Thanks!

Sam · #2 12-29-2007, 01:08 PM

WebDav should be enabled.. if you look at the x3 skin in cPanel and go down to Files -> Web Disk (cPanels name for WebDAV)

If your account isn't on the x3 skin you can ask support to change your theme to x3

ldearing · #3 12-30-2007, 07:00 AM

ive been confused on this point. i am on shared (reseller) X3 and do not have this feature.

when X3 first rolled out it was there, then HG rolled X3 back...when it came back, no "disk folder" (webdav) and it hasn't been back since.

i really want this.

could a gator give a definitive answer on this to clarify its status?

calum · #4 12-30-2007, 07:09 AM

I am on shared (non-reseller) and have WebDAV, except it never seems to work for me, but I do have it.

ldearing · #5 12-30-2007, 08:33 AM

thanks, i'll contact support then... hopefully its something "wrong" with my account and it can be activated.

ldearing · #6 12-30-2007, 11:17 AM

UPDATE: from support ticket ......

Quote:

Hello,

This feature is disabled by default which is why it will not work. It is not enabled because it causes high server load due to large amounts of persistent ftp connections. Let us know if you have any other questions.
Best Regards,
XXXXXXXXXXXX
Level 1 Systems Administrator

@calum: that might answer why your's doesn't work.... i dont even see the icon since X3 was "re-released"

gtgeorge · #7 12-30-2007, 02:06 PM

Possibly one of the items HG considers a security hole and/or they don't want users to easily use their webspace as a storage device.

After all if it was easy to use the space as if it was a drive on your system users may start using up more of their alloted space causing problems when the space is not physically there?

***GatorDavid*** · #8 12-30-2007, 02:49 PM

Hi,

The problem with WebDAV is the fact that its a persistent connection; this already could pose serious load problems on the server, since people will be storing and pulling data as if its a second harddrive. WebDAV protocol is a bit different than FTP, and has a bit more processing overhead than a standard FTP connection.

A second problem with it (we already see a lot of it already) is copyright infringement. People like to store their mp3s on the server, and while its nice to free up space on your hard drive, you can't place them in a publicly accessible place like on your hosting account. We get about 20ish DMCA (rough estimate) notices a day- if we enabled WebDAV we'd probably get more for people using it as a normal hard drive.

Oh, and the problems with space not being there don't matter, because we can just add another drive to the raid

gtgeorge · #9 12-30-2007, 03:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GatorDavid

A second problem with it (we already see a lot of it already) is copyright infringement. People like to store their mp3s on the server, and while its nice to free up space on your hard drive, you can't place them in a publicly accessible place like on your hosting account. We get about 20ish DMCA (rough estimate) notices a day- if we enabled WebDAV we'd probably get more for people using it as a normal hard drive.

While I can see the point of an extra load being imposed as a reason to disable it, saying that it "might" cause users to store more copyrighted material on the server is somewhat lame. After all they "might" do it by ftp etc.

quietFinn · #10 12-30-2007, 03:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gtgeorge

While I can see the point of an extra load being imposed as a reason to disable it, saying that it "might" cause users to store more copyrighted material on the server is somewhat lame. After all they "might" do it by ftp etc.

So if they have 2 reasons to disable it, a good one and a bad one, they should not disable it because the other is a bad one?

gtgeorge · #11 12-30-2007, 06:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by quietFinn

So if they have 2 reasons to disable it, a good one and a bad one, they should not disable it because the other is a bad one?

Nope they should use the good reason and not state the lame/bad one?

slapshotw · #12 12-30-2007, 06:54 PM

I don't think the piracy issue is a bad one. With webdav it's much much easier to just think of things like a second hard drive and in a completely different way than FTP. In my experience, people tend to start storing a lot more random crap with webdav than they do with ftp. Again, this is just what I've seen in the past.

People tend to think of FTP more as a way to put up website files, and webdav as the same as an external hard drive, though we know they're essentially the same.