7.17. Mounting Entire Remote Filesystems with sshfs

Problem

OpenSSH is pretty fast and efficient, and even tunneling X Windows over OpenSSH isn't too laggy. But sometimes, you want a faster way to edit a number of remote files—something more convenient than scp, and kinder to bandwidth than running a graphical file manager over SSH.

Solution

sshfs is just the tool for you. sshfs lets you mount an entire remote filesystem and then access it just like a local filesystem.

Install sshfs, which should also install fuse. You need a local directory for your mountpoint:

	carla@xena:~$ mkdir /sshfs

Then, make sure the fuse kernel module is loaded:

	$ lsmod|grep fuse
	fuse                      46612  1

If it isn't, run modprobe fuse.

Next, add yourself to the fuse group.

Then, log in to the remote PC and go to work:

	carla@xena:~$ sshfs uberpc: sshfs/
	carla@uberpc's password:
	carla@xena:~$

Now, the remote filesystem should be mounted in ~/sshfs and just as accessible as your local filesystems.

When you're finished, unmount the remote filesystem:

	$ fusermount -u sshfs/

Discussion

Users who are new to sshfs always ask these questions: why not just run X over SSH, or why not just use NFS?

It's faster than running X over SSH, it's a heck of a lot easier to set up than NFS, and a zillion times more secure than NFS, is why.

See Also