The main purpose of writing this article is to provide a step-by-step guide on how to mount remote Linux file system using SSHFS client over SSH.
This article is useful for those users and system administrators who want to mount remote file system on their local systems for whatever purposes. We have practically tested by installing SSHFS client on one of our Linux system and successfully mounted remote file systems.
Before we go further installation let’s understand about SSHFS and how it works.
What Is SSHFS?
SSHFS stands for (Secure SHell FileSystem) client that enable us to mount remote filesystem and interact with remote directories and files on a local machine using SSH File Transfer Protocol (SFTP).
Suggested Read: 10 sFTP Command Examples to Transfer Files on Remote Servers in Linux
SFTP is a secure file transfer protocol that provides file access, file transfer and file management features over Secure Shell protocol. Because SSH uses encryption while transferring files over the network from one computer to another computer and SSHFS comes with built-in FUSE (Filesystem in Userspace) kernel module that allows any non-privileged users to create their file system without modifying kernel code.
In this article, we will show you how to install and use SSHFS client on any Linux distribution to mount remote Linux filesystem or directory on a local Linux machine.
Step 1: Install SSHFS Client in Linux Systems
By default sshfs packages does not exists on all major Linux distributions, you need to enable epel repository under your Linux systems to install sshfs with the help of Yum command with their dependencies.
# yum install sshfs # dnf install sshfs [On Fedora 22+ releases] $ sudo apt-get install sshfs [On Debian/Ubuntu based systems]
Step 2: Creating SSHFS Mount Directory
Once the sshfs package installed, you need to create a mount point directory where you will mount your remote file system. For example, we have created mount directory under /mnt/tecmint.
# mkdir /mnt/tecmint $ sudo mkdir /mnt/tecmint [On Debian/Ubuntu based systems]
Step 3: Mounting Remote Filesystem with SSHFS
Once you have created your mount point directory, now run the following command as a root user to mount remote file system under /mnt/tecmint. In your case the mount directory would be anything.
The following command will mount remote directory called /home/tecmint under /mnt/tecmint in local system. (Don’t forget replace x.x.x.x with your IP Address and mount point).
# sshfs [email protected]:/home/tecmint/ /mnt/tecmint $ sudo sshfs -o allow_other [email protected]:/home/tecmint/ /mnt/tecmint [On Debian/Ubuntu based systems]
If your Linux server is configured with SSH key based authorization, then you will need to specify the path to your public keys as shown in the following command.
# sshfs -o IdentityFile=~/.ssh/id_rsa [email protected]:/home/tecmint/ /mnt/tecmint $ sudo sshfs -o allow_other,IdentityFile=~/.ssh/id_rsa [email protected]:/home/tecmint/ /mnt/tecmint [On Debian/Ubuntu based systems]
Step 4: Verifying Remote Filesystem is Mounted
If you have run the above command successfully without any errors, you will see the list of remote files and directories mounted under /mnt/tecmint.
# cd /mnt/tecmint # ls
[[email protected] tecmint]# ls 12345.jpg ffmpeg-php-0.6.0.tbz2 Linux news-closeup.xsl s3.jpg cmslogs gmd-latest.sql.tar.bz2 Malware newsletter1.html sshdallow epel-release-6-5.noarch.rpm json-1.2.1 movies_list.php pollbeta.sql ffmpeg-php-0.6.0 json-1.2.1.tgz my_next_artical_v2.php pollbeta.tar.bz2
Step 5: Checking Mount Point with df -hT Command
If you run df -hT command you will see the remote file system mount point.
# df -hT
Sample Output
Filesystem Type Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on udev devtmpfs 730M 0 730M 0% /dev tmpfs tmpfs 150M 4.9M 145M 4% /run /dev/sda1 ext4 31G 5.5G 24G 19% / tmpfs tmpfs 749M 216K 748M 1% /dev/shm tmpfs tmpfs 5.0M 4.0K 5.0M 1% /run/lock tmpfs tmpfs 749M 0 749M 0% /sys/fs/cgroup tmpfs tmpfs 150M 44K 150M 1% /run/user/1000 [email protected]:/home/tecmint fuse.sshfs 324G 55G 253G 18% /mnt/tecmint
Suggested Read: 12 Useful “df” Commands to Check Disk Space in Linux
Step 6: Mounting Remote Filesystem Permanently
To mount remote filesystem permanently, you need to edit the file called /etc/fstab. To do, open the file with your favorite editor.
# vi /etc/fstab $ sudo vi /etc/fstab [On Debian/Ubuntu based systems]
Go to the bottom of the file and add the following line to it and save the file and exit. The below entry mount remote server file system with default settings.
sshfs#[email protected]:/home/tecmint/ /mnt/tecmint fuse.sshfs defaults 0 0
Make sure you’ve SSH Passwordless Login in place between servers to auto mount filesystem during system reboots..
If your server is configured with SSH key based authorization, then add this line:
sshfs#[email protected]:/home/tecmint/ /mnt/tecmint fuse.sshfs IdentityFile=~/.ssh/id_rsa defaults 0 0
Next, you need to update the fstab file to reflect the changes.
# mount -a $ sudo mount -a [On Debian/Ubuntu based systems]
Step 7: Unmounting Remote Filesystem
To unmount remote filesystem, jun issue the following command it will unmount the remote file system.
# umount /mnt/tecmint
That’s all for now, if you’re facing any difficulties or need any help in mounting remote file system, please contact us via comments and if you feel this article is much useful then share it with your friends.
I am getting this error while running mount -a command on ubuntu 14.04
fuse: mountpoint is not empty
fuse: if you are sure this is safe, use the ‘nonempty’ mount option
Thank you for the wonderful article…
I followed the steps and created the mount. I am able to see the server files in my local Linux env. But I am not able to read or copy the file.
It is throwing error as
the file and folder user name is changed to users with permission 700
What am I doing wrong?
The adding of line in fstab is ‘either I’m doing it wrong’ or there’s some issue with the command itself.
I added the line below in my fstab:
But the mount -a gives me the following error:
However, when I mount normally without fstab, it works fine.
Any suggestions?
Works like charm. But unmounting from Caja gives me an error. I have to do “fusermount -u /path/to/mounted/dir” to unmount the share. Any Ideas?
@Fedrico,
Thanks for sharing the tip, but I don’t have idea why you have to mention full path to mounted directory unmount it, the simple command unmount will work in most cases..
Hello everyone:
When I mount the files I need, I get two passwords from the remote server and the local one, as specified in the fstab?
Example: sudo sshfs -o allow_other [email protected]:/pdf /home/xxx/pdf
@Lizbeth,
Its because you running the mount command as sudo user, to avoid asking password twice, try to run with root login..
Aside from the added security, what is the advantage to using this versus something like Samba?
@Andy,
Nothing any advantages over Samba or NFS, but in Samba and NFS you need to setup and create a Share directory or filesystem on the server, and in client side you need to install client packages, but in Sshfs, you don’t need to install any packages on Server, just install the sshfs client package on local machine and mount any remote Linux directory over secure layer using SSH…
I’ve disabled password logins on my SSH server. I connect to my ssh server with my private RSA key. How do I do that in fstab method ?
@Parijatha,
We’ve updated the article and included SSH key based instructions for mounting remote Linux filesystem using sshfs via /etc/fstab.
Thanks for such a fast response.
What’s the benefit of using this method instead of nfs?
@Dwasifar,
In NFS method, you need to setup both NFS Server and NFS client to share Linux filesystem, whereas in Sshfs, you don’t need to setup any server, just install the sshfs client on the local machine and mount any remote Linux server filesystem or directory over SSH.
It’s SSHFS more secure than NFS?
@Rafael,
Yes, ofcourse, as it uses SSH secure layer protocol to connect and mount any remote Linux directory or filesystem over secure network layer, so I can say its safe, fast and more secure..
How do I know the proper IP address to use?
@Richard,
You mean how to find out IP address of server? if yes, use ifconfig or ip command to find the IP address of your server..
You can also specify the address thorugh [email protected]:/path/to/directory