[Using Sakai] WebDAV & Sakai

[Marshall Feldman]

Hi,

Last week I tried using WebDAV with our local Sakai implementation and 
couldn't get it to work properly. So I asked our local Sakai support for 
help using WebDAV on Sakai, but the answer I got back was really about 
ways to use Sakai without using WebDAV (e.g., zip files to move multiple 
files at once). So I wrote back and gave a description of what I want to 
do and why only WebDAV or something very much like it (e.g., NFS) would 
work. But in retrospect it seems to me this was also off topic. My 
question simply is how does one make WebDAV work with Sakai, and if it 
doesn't work with Sakai then why does Sakai advertise its use (in 
Resources)? I never really got an answer.

The support person did briefly mention some technical issues which seem 
to make WebDAV and Sakai incompatible. Here's what I understand. Our 
implementation of Sakai runs in a cluster. When WebDAV first connects to 
Sakai it connects to a specific instance of the Sakai file system in the 
cluster. But during any given session Sakai may want to use a different 
instance in the cluster. Since WebDAV is still connected to the original 
instance, it breaks.

It seems to me that if this interpretation is roughly correct, then one 
of these two implications is too. (1) Sakai is incompatible with WebDAV, 
in which case the instructions in Resources about using WebDAV with 
Sakai should be removed. Otherwise, they just waste everyone's time. (2) 
Somebody actually went into Sakai's file management routines and 
modified them so that WebDAV behaves properly. Perhaps this is an add-on 
or particular settings for various parameters set when configuring 
Sakai. But for some reason this feature has not been properly 
implemented here at my institution.

Could one of you gurus enlighten me about this?