WebDAV

WebDAV is the protocol that tries to make a web server feel like a file server: folders you can mount as a drive letter, files you can lock, properties you can query — all over ordinary HTTP. It occupies a curious niche: built into every major operating system, embedded in document systems everywhere, and yet rarely anyone's first choice for new designs.

This series explains what WebDAV actually adds to HTTP, how to use it well where it fits, its classic quirks (large files and OS clients have a complicated relationship), how to secure an endpoint you're responsible for, and an honest look at where it survives and what has replaced it elsewhere.

Articles in This Series

• How WebDAV Extends HTTP: Methods, Properties, and Locking
  The added verbs and lock semantics — and how they explain the quirks.
• Mounting Remote Storage as a Drive with WebDAV
  OS clients and their limits, with honest performance expectations.
• WebDAV vs SFTP vs SMB for Remote File Access
  The three-way mapping: firewalls, OS integration, performance, security.
• Securing a WebDAV Endpoint
  Auth choices, TLS, method lockdown, and the hardening pass for inherited servers.
• Troubleshooting WebDAV: The Classic Failures
  Client quirks, proxy interference, large-file timeouts — symptom to fix.
• Where WebDAV Survives: The Ecosystem Reality Check
  Document management, calendaring cousins, and graceful support strategies.

Explore More Topics

This series is part of the Sysax file transfer topic library, which covers the protocols, security practices, automation techniques, and operational skills behind reliable file transfer. The library pairs well with the practical tools we build: Sysax Multi Server, a secure FTP, FTPS, SFTP, and HTTPS server for Windows, and Sysax FTP Automation, which schedules and scripts secure transfers so the routine ones run themselves.