Mount remote directory using SSH

Solution 1:

First install the module:

sudo apt-get install sshfs

Load it to kernel:

sudo modprobe fuse

Setting permissions (Ubuntu versions < 16.04):

sudo adduser $USER fuse
sudo chown root:fuse /dev/fuse
sudo chmod +x /dev/fusermount

Now 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 ~/remoteDir

Now I ran the command to mount it (mount on home):

sshfs [email protected]:/home/maythuxServ/Mounted ~/remoteDir

Now it should be mounted:

cd ~/remoteDir
ls -l

Configure ssh key-based authentication

Generate key pair on the local host.

$ ssh-keygen -t rsa

Accept all sugestions with enter key.

Copy public key to the remote host:

$ ssh-copy-id -i .ssh/id_rsa.pub user@host

Install sshfs

$ sudo apt install sshfs

Mount remote directory

$ sshfs user@host:/remote_directory /local_directory

Don'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 autofs

Edit /etc/auto.master

Comment out the following lines

#+/etc/auto.master.d
#+/etc/auto.master

Add a new line

/- /etc/auto.sshfs --timeout=30

Save 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_directory

Remote user name is obligatory.

Save and quit

Start autofs in debug mode

$ sudo service autofs stop
$ sudo automount -vf

Observe logs of the remote ssh server

$ ssh user@remote_server
$ sudo tailf /var/log/secure

Check 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 start

Enjoy

(Tested on Ubuntu 14.04)