The WebDAV Internet standard is used for sharing files via the Internet regardless of platform (Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Sun Solaris, and so forth). In the Blackboard Content System, Web Folders allows users to access content from the Content Collection as if it were it any other network drive or folder.
Administrators can configure settings and locking options for files on the Web Folders page. Locks enable users to ‘lock’ an item; when an item is locked it can be viewed by others, but cannot be modified (even if the others have Write permission to modify the item). Administrators can enable locks on the Tool Settings page. The Web Folders page allows Administrators to set the length of time for locks.
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Note on authentication and Web Folders: Web Folders require compatibility with basic or digest authentication schemes. Microsoft®.NET Passport, Kerberos, and other distributed authentication mechanisms may be incompatible with direct access to Web Folders. Institutions using one of these authentication types may be able to take advantage of Web folders by first authenticating with the Blackboard Learning System, and then launching the Web Folder from within the user interface. |
Follow these steps to open the Web Folders page.
Open the Administrator Panel.
Select Web Folders under Content System
The following fields are available on the Web Folders page.
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Field |
Description |
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General WebDAV Settings |
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Web Folders Available |
Select Yes or No to determine if Web Folders will be available to users. |
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WebDAV Lock Options |
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Maximum lifetime of a lock |
Enter in seconds the maximum length of time granted for a lock. The lock expires after the maximum lifetime is reached, which ensures that files do not remain locked indefinitely. |
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Minimum lifetime of a lock |
Enter in seconds the minimum amount of time granted for a lock. |
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Lock timeout delay |
Enter in seconds the length of time for the grace period between the time a lock expires when it times out. During this grace period clients may refresh the lock. This grace period is designed for clients who may not request early enough that a lock be refreshed. For example, clients with inaccurate clocks or clients who do not take into account network latency. Default value is 10 seconds. |
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Unique string for tokens |
Enter a unique string to be used for the WebDAV RFC token. Enter a string that will be different from that used by any other WebDAV server. A good unique string would be a GUID or a URL with a domain name owned by the company operating the WebDAV site. The system will base a unique lock token upon this string. |
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WebDAV Compression Options |
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Allow compression |
Some WebDAV clients prefer to receive compressed files. Compressing files over WebDAV reduces bandwidth requirements, but increases CPU usage. If your server generally has free CPU resources but your network is constrained, select Yes to enable WebDAV compression. |
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Minimum size file to compress |
Enter the minimum size of a file to compress. All files smaller than this value will not be compressed, even if compression is requested. Not compressing very small, and often commonly used files, reduces CPU requirements. |
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Maximum size file to compress |
Enter the maximum size of a file that may be compressed. All files larger than this value will not be compressed, even if compression is requested. Compressing very large files is generally very resource intensive. |
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Mime types available for compression |
Enter the extensions for files that will automatically be compressed if requested by the client. Files with extensions appearing in this field will only be compressed if they are of type "application/octet-stream". |
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Allow Chunk transfer-encoding |
Chunk transfer encoding allows data to be sent in a series of Chunk transfer encoding allows data to be sent in a series of chunks to reduce the strain on the server strain when sending a large amount of data. Select Yes or No to allow chunk transfer-encoding. If Yes is selected, the Blackboard Content System will make partial responses when the client supports transfer-encoding. |
