How to mount a remote directory using SSH to be available same as if it is a local directory?
7 Answers
First install the module:
sudo apt-get install sshfsLoad it to kernel:
sudo modprobe fuseSetting permissions (Ubuntu versions < 16.04):
sudo adduser $USER fuse
sudo chown root:fuse /dev/fuse
sudo chmod +x /dev/fusermountNow we'll create a directory to mount the remote folder in.
I chose to create it in my home directory and call it remoteDir.
mkdir ~/remoteDirNow I ran the command to mount it (mount on home):
sshfs :/home/maythuxServ/Mounted ~/remoteDirNow it should be mounted:
cd ~/remoteDir
ls -lConfigure ssh key-based authentication
Generate key pair on the local host.
$ ssh-keygen -t rsaAccept all sugestions with enter key.
Copy public key to the remote host:
$ ssh-copy-id -i .ssh/id_rsa.pub user@hostInstall sshfs
$ sudo apt install sshfsMount remote directory
$ sshfs user@host:/remote_directory /local_directoryDon't try to add remote fs to /etc/fstab
Or don't try to mount shares via /etc/rc.local .
In both cases it won't work as the network is not available when init reads /etc/fstab.
Install AutoFS
$ sudo apt install autofsEdit /etc/auto.master
Comment out the following lines
#+/etc/auto.master.d
#+/etc/auto.masterAdd a new line
/- /etc/auto.sshfs --timeout=30Save and quit
Edit /etc/auto.sshfs
Add a new line
/local_directory -fstype=fuse,allow_other,IdentityFile=/local_private_key :sshfs\#user@remote_host\:/remote_directoryRemote user name is obligatory.
Save and quit
Start autofs in debug mode
$ sudo service autofs stop
$ sudo automount -vfObserve logs of the remote ssh server
$ ssh user@remote_server
$ sudo tailf /var/log/secureCheck content of the local directory
You should see contents of the remote directory
Start autofs in normal mode
Stop AutoFS running in debug mode with CTRL-C .
Start AutoFS in normal mode
$ sudo service autofs startEnjoy
(Tested on Ubuntu 14.04)
2Based on my experiments, explicitly creating the fuse group and adding your user to it is NOT required to mount ssh file system.
To summarize, here are the steps copied from this page:
- Install
sshfs
$ sudo apt-get install sshfs
2.Create local mount point
$ mkdir /home/johndoe/sshfs-path/
3.Mount remote folder /remote/path to /home/johndoe/sshfs-path/
$ sshfs remoteuser@111.222.333.444:/remote/path /home/johndoe/sshfs-path/
- And finally, to umount ...
$ fusermount -u /home/johndoe/sshfs-path/
Install sshfs
sudo apt-get install sshfs
Add to fstab:
<USER>@<SERVER_NAME>:<server_path> <local_path> fuse.sshfs delay_connect,_netdev,user,idmap=user,transform_symlinks,identityfile=/home/<YOUR_USER_NAME>/.ssh/id_rsa,allow_other,default_permissions,rw,nosuid,nodev,uid=1000,gid=1000,nonempty 0 0Although it is not answering your question exactly but I just wanted to mention that you can achieve the same goal using "sftp" as well. Just inside your file manager address bar type this command:
sftp://remoteuser@111.222.333.444/remote/pathAn easy way to run sshfs mounts at startup is also by adding it to the root (or another user's) crontab, like this:
@reboot sshfs remoteuser@111.222.333.444:/remote/path /home/johndoe/sshfs-path/And if you need to add a delay, you can use:
@reboot sleep 60 && sshfs remoteuser@111.222.333.444:/remote/path /home/johndoe/sshfs-path/I would like to warn that, it seems that by default only the user which set up the mount can access the remote directory.
I set up a remote directory, and create a crontab with sudo crontab -e. Later I found out the backup file didn't write the remote directory at all. Then I found out that I could not cd into the remote disk as root ! So eventually I create the same task with crontab -e and everything works as I expected.
