Install Nginx + Webdav on debian 11

To have the necessary modules, you need to install nginx in its complete version:

sudo apt update && sudo apt install nginx-full

• It’s done! Your site is accessible in your browser at the address http://IP_of_your_machine

WebDAV configuration

• Here we will edit the default file, but we could very well copy and rename it:

sudo cp /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/default /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/site.conf
sudo rm /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/default

Edit the configuration file

sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/site.conf

server {
  listen 80 default_server;
  listen [::]:80 default_server;

  root /var/www/html;

  # Add index.php to the list if you are using PHP
  index index.html index.htm index.nginx-debian.html;

  server_name _;

  location / {
    # First attempt to serve request as file, then
    # as directory, then fall back to displaying a 404.
    try_files $uri $uri/ =404;
  }

        location ^~ /webdav {
          auth_basic          "realm_name";
          auth_basic_user_file /var/www/.auth.allow;
          alias /var/www/html;
          autoindex on;
          autoindex_exact_size on;
          autoindex_localtime on;
          index file.html;
          dav_methods PUT DELETE MKCOL COPY MOVE;
          dav_ext_methods PROPFIND OPTIONS;
          dav_access user:rw;
          client_body_temp_path /var/www/tmp;
          client_max_body_size 0;
          create_full_put_path on;

        }
}

• Ligne 1-3 The server listens on port 80.

• Ligne 5 Defines the path of the root of the internet site (or where your index.html is, for example).

• Ligne 18 location ^~ /webdav { says that to reach /var/www/html I enter the ip or the name of my machine + /webdav = http://172.16.30.30/webdav for example.

• Ligne 20 Defines the path of the authentication file.

Create the authentication file

1. Switch to root

   su -

2. Add the username

   Replace user by your username:

   echo -n 'user:' | tee -a /var/www/.auth.allow

3. Define the password

   Enter your password, confirm, it will be displayed in the form of a hash.

   openssl passwd -apr1 | tee -a /var/www/.auth.allow

   Password:
   Verifying - Password:
   $apr1$t.VOQfZL$bHLajKSa1gA34tgAVWA2l/

   Tip

   Check the user configuration:

   cat /var/www/.auth.allow

   user_name:$apr1$9WppBYUH$L4S3jfDRXqfcAJ1mD93KD/

4. Set file permissions

   chown root:www-data /var/www/.auth.allow && chmod 640 /var/www/.auth.allow

5. Enable gzip compression (optional)

   Gzip compression is optional and is discouraged if the site uses https.

   sed -i '/gzip_/ s/#\ //g' /etc/nginx/nginx.conf

6. Test and restart nginx

   nginx -t && systemctl restart nginx