SSH is a secure protocol and you can use it to mount a directory on a remote server or local laptop with the help of the SSHF service. With SSHFS you can mount remote server file system to your local development workstation/laptop powered by Linux.
More on SSHFS
sshfs is a filesystem based on the SSH file transfer protocol. It is used on a client system i.e. you need to install sshfs package on your local computer/laptop powered by CentOS/RHEL/Ubuntu/Debian/Arch Linux. No need to install anything on server (server1.cyberciti.biz). You only need an openssh server installed on server side. Our sample setup:
Installing SSHFS on a Ubuntu/Debian/Mint Linux
Type the following apt-get command:
apt-get update && apt-get upgrade sudo apt-get install sshfs |
Sample outputs:
[sudo] password for nixcraft: Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree Reading state information... Done The following NEW packages will be installed: sshfs 0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded. Need to get 41.7 kB of archives. After this operation, 138 kB of additional disk space will be used. Get:1 http://mirror.ox.ac.uk/sites/archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty/main sshfs amd64 2.5-1ubuntu1 [41.7 kB] Fetched 41.7 kB in 1s (27.8 kB/s) Selecting previously unselected package sshfs. (Reading database ... 247545 files and directories currently installed.) Preparing to unpack .../sshfs_2.5-1ubuntu1_amd64.deb ... Unpacking sshfs (2.5-1ubuntu1) ... Processing triggers for man-db (2.6.7.1-1ubuntu1) ... Setting up sshfs (2.5-1ubuntu1) ...
Installing SSHFS on an Arch Linux
Type the following command:
sudo pacman -S sshfs fuse |
Make sure you add user named vivek to fuse group:
## [ create fuse group if does not exist as per your distro ] ##
$ sudo groupadd fuse
$ sudo usermod -a -G fuse vivek
Installing SSHFS on a RHEL (Red Hat)/CentOS Linux
First, turn on EPEL repo and then type the following yum command to install FUSE-Filesystem to access remote filesystems via SSH on a CentOS/RHEL:
sudo yum update sudo yum install fuse-sshfs |
Sample outputs:
Loaded plugins: auto-update-debuginfo, protectbase, rhnplugin, security This system is receiving updates from RHN Classic or RHN Satellite. Setting up Install Process 0 packages excluded due to repository protections Resolving Dependencies --> Running transaction check ---> Package fuse-sshfs.x86_64 0:2.4-1.el6 will be installed --> Processing Dependency: fuse >= 2.2 for package: fuse-sshfs-2.4-1.el6.x86_64 --> Running transaction check ---> Package fuse.x86_64 0:2.8.3-4.el6 will be installed --> Finished Dependency Resolution Dependencies Resolved ======================================================================================================================= Package Arch Version Repository Size ======================================================================================================================= Installing: fuse-sshfs x86_64 2.4-1.el6 epel 52 k Installing for dependencies: fuse x86_64 2.8.3-4.el6 rhel-x86_64-server-6 71 k Transaction Summary ======================================================================================================================= Install 2 Package(s) Total download size: 123 k Installed size: 115 k Is this ok [y/N]: y Downloading Packages: (1/2): fuse-2.8.3-4.el6.x86_64.rpm | 71 kB 00:00 (2/2): fuse-sshfs-2.4-1.el6.x86_64.rpm | 52 kB 00:00 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Total 173 kB/s | 123 kB 00:00 Running rpm_check_debug Running Transaction Test Transaction Test Succeeded Running Transaction Installing : fuse-2.8.3-4.el6.x86_64 1/2 Installing : fuse-sshfs-2.4-1.el6.x86_64 2/2 Verifying : fuse-sshfs-2.4-1.el6.x86_64 1/2 Verifying : fuse-2.8.3-4.el6.x86_64 2/2 Installed: fuse-sshfs.x86_64 0:2.4-1.el6 Dependency Installed: fuse.x86_64 0:2.8.3-4.el6 Complete! |
How do I mount the remote file system?
The syntax is
sshfs user@server /path/to/mountpoint sshfs user@server /path/to/mountpoint options |
First, create a directory using mkdir command:
sudo mkdir /mnt/server1 |
I’m going to mount file system using root user and you need to type root password when prompted:
sudo sshfs root@192.168.1.142:/ /mnt/server1/ ## OR use ssh key based login ## sudo sshfs -o IdentityFile=~/.ssh/keyfile /mnt/server1/ |
Sample outputs:
Password for root@freebsd10:
Verify it:
sudo df -h |
Sample outputs:
Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/mapper/wks05-root 487G 114G 350G 25% /
none 4.1k 0 4.1k 0% /sys/fs/cgroup
udev 17G 4.1k 17G 1% /dev
tmpfs 3.4G 1.9M 3.4G 1% /run
none 5.3M 0 5.3M 0% /run/lock
none 17G 160k 17G 1% /run/shm
none 105M 50k 105M 1% /run/user
/dev/sda1 239M 89M 138M 40% /boot
root@192.168.1.142:/ 20G 12G 6.8G 64% /mnt/server1To access and/or to see the remote file system, run:
sudo -s cd /mnt/server1 ls -l |
Sample ouputs:
Dealing with “Permission denied” error and recommended procedure for mounting the remote directory
If you get an error that read as cannot access server1: Permission denied, add yourself to a group called fuse:
$ sudo gpasswd -a "$USER" fuse Adding user nixcraft to group fuse
Next, create a mount point inside your own home directory:
$ mkdir $HOME/server1 $ ls -ld !$ ls -ld $HOME/server1 drwxrwxr-x 2 nixcraft nixcraft 4096 Mar 8 04:34 /home/nixcraft/server1
To mount the remote file system, enter:
sshfs -o idmap=user root@192.168.1.142:/ $HOME/server1 df ls -l $HOME/server1 |
How do I unmount the remote file system?
The syntax is:
sudo umount /mnt/server1 ## OR ## fusermount -u /mnt/server1 |
Verify it:
df -h |
How can I permanently mount the remote file system by updating /etc/fstab?
For persistent mounts, you must create ssh keys based login
$ ssh-keygen -t rsa
$ ssh-copy-id -i ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub vivek@server1.cyberciti.biz
Now, edit the /etc/fstab file, enter:
sudo vi /etc/fstab |
The syntax is:
userNameHere@FQDN_OR_IP_HERE:/path/to/source/ /local/mountdir/ fuse.sshfs defaults,_netdev 0 0
Examples
Add the following entry at the bottom of the file:
sshfs#root@192.168.1.142:/ /mnt/server1 |
Another example with additional options:
sshfs#$root@192.168.1.142:/ /mnt/server1 fuse defaults,idmap=user,allow_other,reconnect,_netdev,users,IdentityFile=/path/to/.ssh/keyfile 0 0 |
Recommend option for on-demand mounting if you are using systemd:
vivek@server1.cyberciti.biz:/project/www/ /mnt/server1 fuse.sshfs noauto,x-systemd.automount,_netdev,users,idmap=user,IdentityFile=/home/vivek/.ssh/id_rsa,allow_other,reconnect 0 0 |
Save and close the file. Where,
- root@192.168.1.142 : Remote server with sshd
- fuse : File system type.
- idmap=user : Only translate UID of connecting user.
- allow_other : Allow access to other users.
- reconnect : Reconnect to server.
- _netdev : The filesystem resides on a device that requires network access (used to prevent the system from attempting to mount these filesystems until the network has been enabled on the system).
- users : Allow every user to mount and unmount the filesystem.
- IdentityFile=/path/to/.ssh/keyfile – SSH key file.
23 comment
Word of warning: SSHFS is even slower than FTP since §sshd§ has to {en|de}crypt everything, it’s also slow doing it, which also makes SFTP Clients slow to like 100-300KB/s speed. SSHFS is a nice thing to transparently move data, but be prepared for ultra-slow transmission even on powerful CPU.
No.
Oh yes.
That’s odd. I just transfered 20MB (via dd) over an sshfs connection on a 10Mb/s line and it transfered at 1.1MB/s (note bits vs bytes). This speed is about what I would expect even without any encryption overhead… so, I’m with Matthew and say, “No.” There is no significant performance loss due to ssh encryption (at least not on relatively modern hardware).
What hardware ?
PIC24
What a question?
https://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Sshfs
Here you can learn something from guys they know what are they doing!
“The advantages of sshfs over NFS and Samba are a repsonsiveness much closer to local file systems than either of the common systems and somewhat faster transfer speeds (your mileage may vary). Also it has (at least for me) proven very stable with no outtages yet. The simplicity of sshfs setup can also be an advantage if you do not actually have a use for Samba’s bewildering array of configuration options. If you know how to use SSH, you know how to use sshfs. “
Before you make a statement like this, do your research, do your homework, possibly try yourself. Do not just throw around whatever you thing or hear from experts on the internet!!!
Damn, I am sick of these experts all around the web!
It’s from years of personal experience !
Great article!, I just have a question, how to add the port in the /etc/fstab file if external host has ssh listening on a non standard port?
Thanks.
Pass it as port=1234 in /etc/fstab:
Or type it at command prompt:
sshfs#$root@192.168.1.142:/ /mnt/server1 fuse defaults,idmap=user,allow_other,reconnect,_netdev,users,IdentityFile=/path/to/.ssh/keyfile 0 0
Really?! root + user + allow_other? Facepalm… I know it’s just an example, but com’on… Noobs are copying from this kind of sites!
The post has been updated to include non-root /etc/fstab entry. I appreciate your feedback and time.
Works great for mac as well:
Download and install OSXFuse from here: https://osxfuse.github.io/
Download and install SSHFS as well (also here https://osxfuse.github.io/)
Launch terminal
$sshfs -p2222 @:
(note -p2222 for the port rather than -port=2222 on a mac)
This works great for mounting a remote log directory and then running a bunch of tails in different terminal tabs.
Apologies, looks like the example got a little messed up
$sshfs -p2222 user@host:remote_path local_path
Great tutorial and I got it working for cpanel backups.
The only issue I had was that the datacentre see the traffic as going out AND then reading back IN to the server, so it doubled my bandwidth usage.
The advantages of using ssh was brilliant though as I could send cpanel backups directly to the backup server via SSH and not have a problem with local space.
Hi
l have one question ?
l have setup 2 server , server1 and server2
l am trying to share hdd from server1 to server2
where l should added fstab , in server1 or server2
bacuase really l dont understand
Hi Luli,
First even though your description is correct, it might be easier for you to think of sshfs mounts as remote-server and local-server instead of server 1 and server 2. So if you are “sharing” data from server 1 = remote-server. And if you want to mount the “share” on server2 = local-server.
So on your server2 (local-server) you will 1) install sshfs(important) 2)edit the /etc/fstab file directing server1:/path/you/want/to/mount /local/path/on/local/server fuse.sshfs and-then,whatever,syntax,works,here,for,you [tab] 0 [tab] 0
The mount on-demand setup *requires* ROOT ssh access to the server. That should be clearly noted.
On Ubuntu 16.04 LTS, I needed to uncomment “allow_other” in `/etc/fuse.conf` and use that option as a `-o` option. Otherwise, I could not access the mounted filesystem as my regular (non-root) user.
You have typo error in :
Now, edit the /etc/fstab file, enter:
sudo vi /etc/fstat
Thanks for the heads up!
Would you add example to cover using keys for authentication and mounting for mounting the sshfs?
Hi
whats the difference between sshfs VS mount?
i see my coworker doing something like this to mount remote directory to his server
mount :/path/files/ /home//files
Even its working, but is it ok?
Thanks