sshfs

Setting up sshfs on OS X (Mac) systems

Installation requires administrative privileges.

Prior to installing, you should make sure that you can SSH with keys

1. Download OSXFuse (dmg) (pkg) from http://osxfuse.github.io
2. Open OSXFuse dmg , run installer
3. Download SSHFS (pkg) from from http://osxfuse.github.io
4. Run SSHFS installer pkg
5. Create a folder to access the remote filesystems (aka a mount point): mkdir /sshfs/

Mounting remote filesystems with sshfs

sshfs username@remotesystem:/full/path/to/directory /mount/point

For example, sshfs meyer@schl15:/nfs/userdocs/ps/meyer ~/userdocs/home would use schl15 as a host to access the directory /nfs/userdocs/ps/meyer (in other words, that user's NFS home directory).

You should mount sshfs via a directory in your home directory. Just remember to specify the PATH to the directory.

OS X (Mac) helpful hints

As of OSX 10.15 Catilina we are not recommending to create mounts in the root path or / of the file system.

An example of mounting from OSX on your local system is as follows -

mkdir ~/userdocs
/usr/local/bin/sshfs oconnor@xtal200.harvard.edu:/nfs/userdocs /Users/oconnor/userdocs -o volname=userdocs,reconnect,ServerAliveInterval=15,ServerAliveCountMax=3,idmap=user,auto_xattr,dev,suid,defer_permissions,noappledouble,noapplexattr

You should mount one complete filesystem from the remote site, so this would be anything listed in /nfs for example. This avoids local Apple Finder issues. We give the volume a name volname=userdocs (shows mount point on your desktop), add some additional options for server connections, etc. If you are using an key-based-ssh you would add it's path to the IdentityFile paramater - adding ,IdentityFile=$HOME/.ssh/id_rsa to the end of the line.

Unmounting remote filesystems

On occasion the mount may become stuck or unresponsive you can force unmount via - diskutil umount force /Users/oconnor/userdocs

Using helper script

We created a 'helper' script available that can be used with sshfs_nfs.app for mac to automount at login. The app is simply a wrapper for sshfs-helper.sh and assumes the script exists in your home folder.

If the mounts become stuck just rerun to reattach shares.

scp $USER@xtal200.harvard.edu:/net/cronus/cmcd1/arc/shared/sshfs-helper.sh .

or copy the whole set -

rsync -rlptD $USER@xtal200.harvard.edu:/net/cronus/cmcd1/arc/shared/sbgrid-sshfsfiles.zip .

The script will create a file in your home folder called .sshfs-mounts

You can add or change any number of mounts that sshfs-helper.sh -

To open - open .sshfs_mounts then edit in textedit.app.

An example - #USER@HOST REMOTE_FOLDER LOCAL_FOLDER | empty local folder must exist oconnor@sshfs.sbgrid.org /nfs/userdocs /Users/oconnor/userdocs jo232@transfer.o2.hms.harvard.edu /home/myfolder /Users/oconnor/o2home

After it is working you can add a shortcut into your dock by navigating to your home folder on your Mac open ~ and then dragging the sshfs_nfs.app into your dock. If you need to reconnect to the shares just press the app and it will connect or reconnect. For additional folders you must create the destination folder like - mkdir ~/o2home

After it is working you can add a shortcut into your dock by navigating to /Users/Shared/ on your Mac open /Users/Shared and then dragging the sshfs_nfs.app into your dock. If you need to reconnect to the shares just press the app and it will connect or reconnect.