WebDAV Module gets re-added to IIS Site every SmarterMail is updated

Problem reported by Brian A. - 9/20/2023 at 5:59 AM

Resolved

The WebDAV Module gets re-added back to Modules for the SmarterMail Site in IIS every time we update SmarterMail. This breaks CalDAV and CardDAV syncronization.

Can you guys figure this out?

BTW, the module is obviously added twice during the install process because I removed it once about half-way through the install process, but it came back again near the end of the install process.

11 Replies

Reply to Thread

Zach Sylvester Replied

9/20/2023 at 7:13 AM

Employee Post

Hey Brian,

Thanks for reaching out to the community. Please follow the following steps.

To uninstall the WebDAV module from IIS, you can use the Uninstall-WindowsFeature or Remove-WindowsFeature cmdlet, depending on your Windows version. Here's how you can do it:

Run PowerShell as Administrator:
Right-click the PowerShell icon and select "Run as Administrator".
Check if the WebDAV Publishing feature is installed:
```
Get-WindowsFeature WebDAV
```
If the WebDAV Publishing feature is installed, it will show up in the results.
Uninstall the WebDAV Publishing feature:
For Windows Server 2012 or later:
```
Uninstall-WindowsFeature Web-DAV-Publishing
```
Restart the IIS services (Optional, but recommended):
```
iisreset
```
After these steps, the WebDAV module should be uninstalled from IIS.

Let me know if this helps and if you have any questions.

Thanks,

Zach Sylvester Software Developer SmarterTools Inc. www.smartertools.com

Kyle Kerst Replied

9/20/2023 at 10:15 AM

Employee Post

Just to add to what Zach said, since we don't see this behavior here; its possible it is being added in again by the parent-level settings in IIS. So, before removing the WebDAV Publishing Module you'll want to confirm none of your other IIS sites are leveraging that functionality independent of SmarterMail.

Kyle Kerst Lead Internal Network/System Administrator SmarterTools Inc. smartertools.com

Brian A. Replied

9/20/2023 at 11:58 AM

Yes. WebDAV Publishing Module is being inherited. What are you guys doing that it gets re-inherited every time we update the software?

Brian A. Replied

9/20/2023 at 11:59 AM

BTW, Uninstalling WebDAV Publishing from my server isn't necessarily the answer I was looking for....

Matt Petty Replied

9/20/2023 at 12:39 PM

Employee Post

We don't use it, it just gets in the way. It overrides and captures traffic BEFORE it hits us. We do our own WebDAV processing and we don't rely on external modules to do it.

Matt Petty Senior Software Developer SmarterTools Inc. www.smartertools.com

Brian A. Replied

9/21/2023 at 5:28 AM

To say to us, "Since we don't use this, you should completely delete it from your server because we are too lazy to check for this to make sure our software works after we decided to screw with your site settings during an update" is insane.

If you find it necessary to screw with the modules of the IIS site every time the software is updated then why not make it actually work by removing the WebDAV module for the SmarterMail site instead of simply resetting the modules every time?

Why do you even reset the modules twice during an update?

Your accepted solution is unacceptable.

Matt Petty Replied

9/21/2023 at 7:26 AM

Employee Post

I have no idea what you mean by us resetting modules but you seem to have some prebuilt notion that we are touching your modules. We only install our pre-reqs, but I'm gonna stop my answer there. Good luck with your debugging! Im out.

Matt Petty Senior Software Developer SmarterTools Inc. www.smartertools.com

Brian A. Replied

9/21/2023 at 8:08 AM

Clearly the install/update process resets the module list for the IIS SmarterMail website.

I remove the inherited module. I update my SmarterMail. The inherited WebDAV module comes back. Your install messes with the modules.

Reto Replied

9/21/2023 at 8:57 AM

If you remove a module on a site level, the config change will be written to the web.config in the site base directory. This web.config file will be replaced by the newest version in the installer on each installation/update.

I would not expect SM to parse the file and detect any manual config changes and carry them over. We have some other changes in the web.config file which we reapply after every update.

Zach Sylvester Replied

9/21/2023 at 9:07 AM

Employee Post

Hey Guys,

I just wanted to step into this discussion. I was able to replicate Brian's issue. This has been sent over to the developers.

Thanks,

Zach Sylvester Software Developer SmarterTools Inc. www.smartertools.com

Employee Replied

10/16/2023 at 9:53 AM

Employee Post

Hi Brian,

I wanted to let you know that we were able to bypass this behavior in an upcoming build of SmarterMail. Going forward, the WebDAV module won't be re-enabled after each upgrade. Since this functionality is available internally and will be in a public release soon, I'll mark this thread as Resolved for now.

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