WebDAV

RustFS includes a Web Distributed Authoring and Versioning (WebDAV) gateway that exposes buckets and objects to WebDAV clients over HTTP or HTTPS. You can browse buckets, create collections, and upload, download, rename, or delete objects while RustFS enforces the permissions of the authenticated Identity and Access Management (IAM) user.

WebDAV support is compiled into the standard RustFS binary, but the gateway is disabled at runtime by default. You must enable and configure it before connecting a client.

Overview

The gateway maps WebDAV paths to RustFS resources:

RustFS supports the following operations through the gateway:

Use PROPFIND, not GET, to list a collection. The current gateway returns 405 Method Not Allowed for GET requests to directories.

WebDAV uses HTTP Basic authentication. Enter a RustFS access key as the username and its secret key as the password. The gateway authenticates the credentials against RustFS IAM and applies the user's S3 policies to each operation.

Configuration

Configure the gateway with environment variables before starting RustFS:

The standard RustFS build enables the WebDAV compile-time feature. If you build RustFS with --no-default-features, include the feature explicitly:

cargo build --release --features webdav

Local testing without TLS

The following example starts RustFS with an HTTP WebDAV listener on port 8080:

export RUSTFS_WEBDAV_ENABLE=true
export RUSTFS_WEBDAV_ADDRESS=127.0.0.1:8080
export RUSTFS_WEBDAV_TLS_ENABLED=false
export RUSTFS_ACCESS_KEY=<your-access-key>
export RUSTFS_SECRET_KEY=<your-secret-key>

rustfs /path/to/data

Binding to 127.0.0.1 prevents other hosts from connecting to the unencrypted test endpoint.

HTTPS

For a remote or production connection, enable TLS and provide a certificate directory:

export RUSTFS_WEBDAV_ENABLE=true
export RUSTFS_WEBDAV_ADDRESS=0.0.0.0:8080
export RUSTFS_WEBDAV_TLS_ENABLED=true
export RUSTFS_WEBDAV_CERTS_DIR=/path/to/certs

rustfs /path/to/data

If TLS is enabled without RUSTFS_WEBDAV_CERTS_DIR, or the directory does not exist, WebDAV initialization fails. See Configure TLS for certificate preparation guidance.

Allow inbound TCP traffic to the configured WebDAV port. This listener is separate from the S3 API and Console listeners.

Usage

The following commands use an HTTP endpoint for local testing. Replace the endpoint and credentials with your HTTPS WebDAV endpoint and an IAM user that has the required bucket and object permissions.

Set reusable shell variables without placing the secret directly in each command:

export WEBDAV_URL=http://127.0.0.1:8080
export WEBDAV_USER=<your-access-key>
read -s WEBDAV_PASSWORD
export WEBDAV_PASSWORD

List buckets

Send PROPFIND with Depth: 1 to list the buckets visible to the user:

curl --user "$WEBDAV_USER:$WEBDAV_PASSWORD" \
	--request PROPFIND \
	--header "Depth: 1" \
	"$WEBDAV_URL/"

Create a bucket

curl --user "$WEBDAV_USER:$WEBDAV_PASSWORD" \
	--request MKCOL \
	"$WEBDAV_URL/my-bucket/"

Bucket names must follow the same naming rules as buckets created through the S3 API.

Upload and download an object

Upload /path/to/hello.txt:

curl --user "$WEBDAV_USER:$WEBDAV_PASSWORD" \
	--upload-file /path/to/hello.txt \
	"$WEBDAV_URL/my-bucket/hello.txt"

Download the object:

curl --user "$WEBDAV_USER:$WEBDAV_PASSWORD" \
	--output hello.txt \
	"$WEBDAV_URL/my-bucket/hello.txt"

Create and list a directory

WebDAV directories below a bucket map to object key prefixes:

curl --user "$WEBDAV_USER:$WEBDAV_PASSWORD" \
	--request MKCOL \
	"$WEBDAV_URL/my-bucket/docs/"

curl --user "$WEBDAV_USER:$WEBDAV_PASSWORD" \
	--request PROPFIND \
	--header "Depth: 1" \
	"$WEBDAV_URL/my-bucket/docs/"

Rename an object

Use MOVE with a destination path on the same WebDAV endpoint:

curl --user "$WEBDAV_USER:$WEBDAV_PASSWORD" \
	--request MOVE \
	--header "Destination: $WEBDAV_URL/my-bucket/greeting.txt" \
	"$WEBDAV_URL/my-bucket/hello.txt"

The IAM user needs permission to read and delete the source and to write the destination. If authorization fails, RustFS leaves the source unchanged.

Delete an object or bucket

Delete an object:

curl --user "$WEBDAV_USER:$WEBDAV_PASSWORD" \
	--request DELETE \
	"$WEBDAV_URL/my-bucket/greeting.txt"

Delete the bucket after removing its contents:

curl --user "$WEBDAV_USER:$WEBDAV_PASSWORD" \
	--request DELETE \
	"$WEBDAV_URL/my-bucket/"

Connect a desktop client

Use the WebDAV endpoint in a client that supports Basic authentication:

Enter the RustFS access key and secret key when the client prompts for credentials. Client behavior and supported WebDAV methods vary; use curl to isolate server-side errors when troubleshooting.

Next steps

• Manage credentials
• Configure TLS
• Check service status