Overview

Microsoft has created a new WebDAV extension module that has been completely rewritten for Windows Server 2008. This new WebDAV extension module incorporates many new features that enable web authors to publish content better than before, and offers web administrators more security and deployment options. For additional information, please see our documentation.

This new WebDAV extension module is only for Windows Server 2008 and Internet Information Services 7.0; it will not work on Windows Server 2003 and Internet Information Services 6.0.

Note: Please see the following URL for the 64-bit version:

• http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=141807

Features

This new WebDAV extension module supports a wide range of features and improvements, and the following list contains several of the improvements in this version:

• Integration with IIS 7.0: IIS 7.0 has a brand-new administration interface and configuration store, and the new WebDAV extension module is tightly integrated with this new design. The old IIS 6.0 metabase is gone, and a new configuration store that is based on the .NET XML-based *.config format has taken its place. In addition, IIS 7.0 has a new administration tool, and the new WebDAV extension module plugs seamlessly into that paradigm.
• Per-site Configuration: WebDAV in IIS 7.0 can be enabled at the site-level, unlike IIS 6.0 which enabled WebDAV at the server-level through a Web Service Extension.
• Per-URL Security Settings: The new WebDAV extension module supports per-URL authoring rules, allowing administrators to specify custom WebDAV security settings on a per-URL basis. These authoring rules are separate from the IIS 7.0 per-URL authorization rules, thereby allowing one set of security settings for normal HTTP requests and a separate set of security settings for WebDAV authoring.
• Support for shared and exclusive locks: The new WebDAV extension supports both shared and exclusive locks to prevent lost updates due to overwrites.

Benefits

This WebDAV extension module helps you to enable powerful publishing capabilities for your Web environment.

Requirements

The following prerequisites must be fulfilled in order to install the new WebDAV extension module:

• You must be using Windows Server 2008.
• Internet Information Services 7.0 must be installed, and the administration tool should be installed if you are going to manage the WebDAV extension module using the IIS 7.0 user interface.
• You must install the WebDAV extension module as an administrator. If User Access Control (UAC) is enabled, you must use the “Run as Administrator” option when installing.
• IIS 7.0 supports a new shared configuration environment, which must be disabled on each server in a web farm before installing the new WebDAV extension module for each node. Note: Shared configuration can be re-enabled after the WebDAV extension module has been installed.