sshfs

Setting up sshfs on OS X (Mac) systems

Installation requires administrative privileges.

Prior to installing, you should make sure that password-less ssh is configured correctly between the local system and the remote system.

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

Unmounting remote filesystems

umount /sshfs

On Linux, if you don't have root or sudo access, you can mount sshfs via a directory in your home directory. Just remember to specify th e fill PATH to the directory. On Centos, you will need the fuse-sshfs package installed.

OS X (Mac) helpful hints

An example of mounting from OSX on your local system is as follows - sudo mkdir -p /sshfs/userdocs sudo chown -R $USER /sshfs /usr/local/bin/sshfs oconnor@crystal.harvard.edu:/nfs/userdocs /sshfs/userdocs -o volname=userdocs,reconnect,ServerAliveInterval=15,ServerAliveCountMax=3,idmap=user,auto_xattr,dev,suid,defer_permissions,noappledouble,noapplexattr,IdentityFile=$HOME/.ssh/sshfs-id_rsa

Basically, your local user needs to own the destination $PATH. We mount one complete filesystem from the remote site(avoids local Apple Finder issues). We give the volume a name (shows mount point on your desktop), add some additional options for server connections, etc. If you are using an ssh key you would add it's path to the IdentityFile paramater.

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

Using helper script

There is 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 /Users/Shared/

If the mounts become stuck just rerun to reattach shares.

scp $USER@crystal.harvard.edu:/nfs/staff/shared/sshfs-helper.sh .

First run use sudo to create /nfs mount points.

sudo sshfs-helper.sh

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 .sshff_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 /nfs/userdocs jo232@transfer.o2.hms.harvard.edu /home/myfolder /nfs/o2home

You must create the destination folder like - mkdir /nfs/o2home