make sure sshfs, gvfs-fuse, and fuse are installed

via Debian as root:

aptitude install sshfs, gvfs-fuse, and fuse are installed

now add your desired user to the fuse group as root:

gpasswd -a username fuse

(if that is your current user log out and back in for change to take effect)

to mount make the desired directory, change the owner with the chown command, and use the sshfs command:

sudo mkdir /mnt/sftp
sudo chown username:fuse /mnt/sftp
sshfs username@example.com:/path/to/mount /mnt/sftp

now you can change directory via comandline or your file manager and make changes. Be sure to unmount properly for those changes to take effect.

fusermount -u /mnt/sftp

to set this up to be available on boot edit /etc/fstab

sshfs#usernames@example.com:/path/to/mount /mnt/sftp fuse rw,noauto,user,sync,noexec 0 0

NOTE: this will ask for a password each time, but you can set up ssh with a keyring to bypass the password. I currently do not have a tutorial on this, but you can do a search for “ssh passwordless” to learn how.

if you want it to mount automatically replace noauto with auto
(not advices, unless you are dealing with a computer on your local network)

if you have a regular ftp account you would like to mount thisway install curlftpfs instead of or in addition to sshfs.

to mount:

curlftpfs username:password@ftp.example.com /mnt/ftp

for availibilty upon boot your /etc/fstab should look something like this:

curlftpfs#usernames@example.com:/path/to/mount /mnt/ftp fuse rw,noauto,user,sync,noexec 0 0

This is handy if there is an ftp or sftp account you use regularly and you get tired of constantly login in via ssh or ftp.

NOTE: if you get the error “mount disagrees with fstab” try adding allow_other,uid=1000,gid=1000,fsname=sshfs#user@example.com:/path/to/mount to your fstab too look something like this (all one string):

sshfs#user@example.com:/path/to/mount /media/sftp fuse rw,noauto,user,sync,noexec,allow_other,uid=1000,gid=1000,fsname=sshfs#user@example.com:/path/to/mount 0 0

and uncomment allow_other in /etc/fuse.conf

ANOTHER NOTE:A handy gtk based gui for managing these kind of mounts is gigolo which require gvfs gvfs-backends gvs-fuse (in debian)

apt-get install nfs-kernel-server nfs-common portmap

Client

apt-get install nfs-common portmap

edit /etc/exports to identify the path to the directory you wish to share, and indicate the IP address(es) (use * as a wildcard) you wish to have access to you files.

/home/user/myfiles 192.168.0.*(rw,root_squash)

sudo exportfs -a

Access from Windows XP

Download the MS Unix layer and run self extractor and execute SfuSetup. click change the default behavior to case sensitive and enable set uid behavior select local username mapping server and password group files. copy /etc/passwd and /etc/group to your windows computer and specify path and reboot computer

run services for Unix administrations and in the NFS client make all user groups and others read and writable. open Windows Explorer under network places you should see a NFS tree, and within it you should see your servers IP address. if everything worked you should have access to your NFS directories via windows.

Access in Linux

To mount as root (create desired mount point first and replace IP with your servers IP):

mount 200.100.10.1:/home/nfs /mnt/nfs

to mount on boot edit/etc/fstab the extra options control read and write access by blocks)

200.100.10.1:/home/nfs /pub nfs rsize=8192,wsize=8192,timeo=14,intr

it should be noted that vfat and ntfs filesytems have issues with the nfs protocol and can result in sporadic performance and data corruption.