Automount remote filesystem over SSH

mrdavidlaing — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 23:08:31 +0000

Previously I posted on how I backup my server’s data to rsync.net’s remote storage.

A convienient way to access that remote storage is to configure rsync over sshfs:

sudo aptitude install sshfs
mkdir /mnt/sshfs
mkdir /mnt/sshfs/rsync.net
sshfs **username**@ch-s011.rsync.net: /mnt/rsync.net

Now, test that you can access /mnt/rsync.net, and copy a few files to your remote storage. if all works well, the next step is to have sshfs automatically connect whenever we try to access the directory

First, unmount

fusermount -u /mnt/rsync.net

Then, install autofs, and edit the config file

sudo aptitude install autofs
sudo vi /etc/auto.master

Add the following line

/mnt/sshfs /etc/auto.sshfs --timeout=30,--ghost

Then,

sudo vi /etc/auto.sshfs

Add

rsync.net -fstype=fuse,rw,nodev,nonempty,noatime,allow_other,max_read=65536 :sshfs#**username**@ch-s011.rsync.net:

And finally restart autofs

sudo /etc/init.d/autofs restart

Now, when you cd /mnt/sshfs/rsync.net, after a short delay you will automatically be connected to the remote filesystem over SSH. After 30 seconds of inactivity, the connection will be closed.

Crafting software» sshfs

Automount remote filesystem over SSH