Network harddrive over the Internet?

June 15, 2009 9:09 AM

What's the simplest way to create some space on a Linux server that can be mounted by Vista and Linux from anywhere with an internet connection?

The server would have a URL that would not change, but it might not have a static IP.

Step by step would be appreciated, but a top-down overview would work in a pinch.

The connection should be encrypted if possible.

I saw this previous question, but it's a bit old and I'd like more handholding.

posted by Nonce to computers & internet (15 comments total)

By mounted, do you mean something like an NFS of CIFS/SMB mount? Or just a place to dump files? If it's the latter, you might check out rsync which can be used in conjunction with encryption. You can also set up Samba over an SSH tunnel.
posted by jquinby at 9:16 AM on June 15

Linux: sshfs
Windows: Expandrive., there are cheaper ways but this is probably the easiest on Windows.

All you need is ssh to the server, the rest is pretty self explanatory, you can also use Webdav for the above, but I think ssh is probably the way to go..

You can get more complicated with ssh tunneling of SMB/NFS/etc but it's not really necessary for what you've described.
posted by iamabot at 9:22 AM on June 15

1) Register with DynDNS.org
2) Download ddclient (dyndns client written in perl, download here)
3) Configure ddclient (Basic config here)

At this point, the "server would have a URL that would not change, but it might not have a static IP." is solved.

For the rest, I'd probably use webDAV over https. That's a bit more complicated. You'd need apache setup for https, which means certs (you could self-sign and hand out a root cert to people to use, use CACert, or pay for signing by someone official). You'd use apache to manage user access (simple htpasswd or auth_mysql if you want to use a DB or whatnot).

Windows XP can mount and use DAV drives so I assume Vista can. I've never used it, but it looks like davFS will let you mount webdav directories under Linux.
posted by cmm at 9:26 AM on June 15

I'm currently using SSHFS to mount a harddrive remotely via Linux anywhere with an internet connection. The same space is mounted on my Vista desktop through a Samba share, but I only know how to make that function from within my home network. The missing link is a way to mount the remote space from outside the network on Windows Vista.

By mounted, do you mean something like an NFS of CIFS/SMB mount? Or just a place to dump files?

The former.
posted by Nonce at 9:26 AM on June 15

...should read: "an NFS or CIFS/SMB mount".
posted by jquinby at 9:27 AM on June 15

For the rest, I'd probably use webDAV over https.

The wikipedia article makes it seem as though webDAV is... I dunno. A little old? A little fragile? And it's not included in Vista by default, or x64 at all apparently, so it must not be considered by MS to be The Way Forward or a best practice.
posted by Nonce at 9:32 AM on June 15

You could probably skip a few steps in installing a desktop linux distro and configuring that by going right for FreeNAS (or another NAS-centric distro) which has Dynamic DNS and SSH support built-in. The web interface might be more your speed if you're going into the configuration cold without knowing much about servers or the command line.
posted by cowbellemoo at 9:33 AM on June 15

Samba is pretty trivial to set up any more...if it were me, I'd go that way and hit it through ssh. If you don't have to have a local-mount-type of access, many of the scp and sftp clients have explorer-like front-ends for dragging and dropping files and whatnot.

The mini-howto for SMB over SSH starts here, and is pretty hand-holdy.
posted by jquinby at 9:36 AM on June 15

...though I notice that it only covers mounting SMB from a linux host. I imagine the steps would be similar for Windows, but I've never done it, so YMMV.
posted by jquinby at 9:39 AM on June 15

I think Vista just deprecated web folders, not webDAV as a whole. The native redirector should still work. But I don't have a Vista machine to try it. From the wikipedia page, it is saying Web folders doesn't work on 64bit, unless I'm reading it incorrectly.

Windows has some weirdness with getting a DAV mount setup, but once you have it mounted it has worked fine in my experience. I don't think of it as fragile. A bit awkward, but not horrible.
posted by cmm at 9:45 AM on June 15

Apparently webDAV worked, so MS broke it. I have heard you can get it to work again with 3rd party software, like webdrive, or Novell NetDrive.
posted by fings at 9:52 AM on June 15

SSHFS is what you want. Works fine on Linux or Mac.

Dokan is SSHFS for Windows, works on Vista. I've been using it here and there to connect to an SSH share on my Linux server.
posted by caution live frogs at 10:35 AM on June 15

I think this may be what I was looking for. I'll post an update if it works like a charm. And if not.
posted by Nonce at 10:40 AM on June 15

Thanks Caution Live Frogs. I didn't see that before I posted previously. I think you got it.
posted by Nonce at 11:20 AM on June 15

Oooh... maybe it's time to retire webDAV on my server.

Thanks for the eye openings, folks.
posted by cmm at 1:54 PM on June 15