HOWTO: Mounting SSH directories

If you want to mount a directory on a remote PC then here is what you do.

Of course, to mount a folder via ssh the server must be running as a ssh server.

sudo apt-get install openssh-server

It is not necessary, but I strongly recommend that you set up passwordless ssh logins between the server and the client. The linked guide describes setting up SSH keys between two root users, so you do need to ensure that you configure things correctly for whatever pair of users you intend to use here.

From here on, all of the configuration we need to do is on the client.

1. Install SSHFS;

sudo apt-get install sshfs

2. Use the modprobe command to load fuse into the kernel;

sudo modprobe fuse

3. Set up the appropriate users & permissions;

sudo adduser username fuse
sudo chown root:fuse /dev/fuse
sudo chmod +x /bin/fusermount

If you've added yourself to the fuse user group, you need to logout and back in at this point.

To mount the home directory of "user";

sshfs user@host: mountpoint

Eg.

sshfs brett@server: ~/server_home

You can add a path after the colon.

Eg. to mount the "share" directory on the server (ie. /home/brett/share)

sshfs brett@server:/share ~/share

UPDATED: By default, only the user who has mounted the share has access to it. To allow access to root add the following option;

-o allow_root

For all users;

-o allow_other

To mount the share as read only;

-o ro

Eg. to mount the "share" directory on the server as read only and available to all users;

sshfs -o allow_other -o ro brett@server:/share ~/share

And that is all you need to do! Easy Peasy!