SSHFS

SSHFS (Secure SHell FileSystem) is a file system for Linux (and other operating systems with a FUSE implementation, such as Mac OS X or FreeBSD) capable of operating on files on a remote computer using just a secure shell login on the remote computer. On the local computer where the SSHFS is mounted, the implementation makes use of the FUSE (Filesystem in Userspace) kernel module. The practical effect of this is that the end user can seamlessly interact with remote files being securely served over SSH just as if they were local files on his/her computer. On the remote computer the SFTP subsystem of SSH is used.

The current implementation of SSHFS using FUSE is a rewrite of an earlier version. The rewrite was done by Miklos Szeredi, who also wrote FUSE.

For Mac OS X, (MacFUSE), an SSHFS binary, is available. MacFusion offers a GUI to MacFUSE and a plug-in architecture; plug-ins include FTP and the SSHFS binary from the MacFUSE project.

The administrator can set up a jailed account on the server in order to provide greater security (see external links), then the client will see only a limited part of the filesystem.

Usage example

Requirements

*Remote host must run the ssh daemon
*Successful authentication with the remote host

Command line usage

(not all commands are valid on all systems)

If you have the login "remoteuser" on the host "remotehost" and want to mount the directory "/path/to/remote_dir" on the directory "local_mountpoint", the following command can be used: sshfs remoteuser@remotehost:/path/to/remote_dir local_mountpointTo unmount use the command fusermount -u local_mountpoint

See also

* SSH file transfer protocol (SFTP)
* Secure Shell (SSH)
* NFS
* SftpDrive, a utility for Microsoft Windows
* Files transferred over shell protocol (FISH)

External links

* [http://fuse.sourceforge.net/sshfs.html SSH Filesystem] - official webpage.
* [http://dev.wa2.nl/sshfsgui SshfsGUI] - graphical user interface for Linux.
* [http://googlemac.blogspot.com/2007/01/taming-mac-os-x-file-systems.html Google Releases FUSE for Mac OS X] : [http://code.google.com/p/macfuse/ MacFUSE]
* [http://www.sccs.swarthmore.edu/users/08/mgorbach/MacFusionWeb/ MacFusion: a GUI for MacFUSE] | [http://code.google.com/p/macfusion/ MacFusion Project] | [http://groups.google.com/group/MacFusion-devel MacFusion-devel Google Group]