Server Admin 10.4 Help

WebDAV and Web Content File and Folder Permissions

Mac OS X Server imposes the following constraints on web content files and folders (which are located by default in /Library/WebServer/Documents):

• For security reasons, web content files and folders should not be writable by world.
• Web content files and folders are owned by user root and group admin by default, so they are modifiable by any administrator but not by user or group www.
• To use WebDAV, web content files must be readable and writable by user or group www, and folders must be readable, writable, and executable by user or group www.
• If you need to modify web content files and folders while you are logged in as an administrator, those files or folders need to be modifiable by the administrator.

If you want to use WebDAV, you need to enable it in Server Admin and manually change the web content files' or folders' ownership to user and group www. If you are using WebDAV and you want to make changes to web content files or folders while logged in as an administrator, you need to change the web content file and folder permissions to admin, make your edits, and then restore the file and folder permissions to www.

1. Change the group privileges of the folder containing your websites to admin (default folder location is:  /Library/Webserver/Documents).
2. Add your new site folder.
3. Change the group privileges of the folder containing your websites back to www.