Mounting Your RapidSeedbox: A Guide to SSHFS and WebDAV

A guide for mounting RapidSeedbox via SSHFS or WebDAV. Includes setup, code, and comparison. Easy access to seedbox files.

Updated over a week ago

Mounting your seedbox using SSHFS

SSHFS is a file system client that allows you to mount a remote directory to your local machine using SSH. Here's how to mount your seedbox using SSHFS:

Install SSHFS on your local machine. On Mac (MacPorts/HomeBrew), you'll need to install both the OSXFuse library and the sshfs package. On Windows, you'll need to install the the sshfs package. On Linux, you'll just need to install the sshfs package via apt.

Setting up your Seedbox for SSHFS access

Connect to your seedbox using SSH.

Install SSHFS on your seedbox by running the following command in your terminal:

sudo apt-get install -y sshfs

Share SSH Keys 🔑

Now that we can access our LOCAL machine via SSH, it’s time to log into your seedbox and open a terminal. From here, we will share our SSH Keys for passwordless login, which is required for SSHFS to work properly.

To begin, enter:

ssh-copy-id -p <localport> <localuser>@<localip>
  • <local port> : enter the port your local device that receives remote SSH connections. Usually, this is 22 by default but can be secured using port forwarding

  • <localuser> : defined as the user of the local machine

  • <localip> : the IP address to your local device

Next, it will ask for the password of the user account to the device we're connecting to.

After you have entered the correct password, you'll see:

You have now successfully shared SSH Keys!

[On your local machine]

Mount your seedbox by running the following command in your terminal:

sshfs -p 2222 [username]@[server-name]:[remote-directory]  [local-directory]

Replace [username] with your RapidSeedbox username, [server-name] with the name of your seedbox server, [remote-directory] with the path to the remote directory you want to mount, and [local-directory] with the path to the local directory where you want to mount the remote directory.

Here's an example of how you might use this command:

sshfs -p 2222 user@[seedbox-ip]:/home/user/Downloads ~/seedbox

In this example, the SSH port is specified as 2222, [seedbox-ip] is the IP address of your seedbox, and the remote directory is /home/user/Downloads on your seedbox. The local directory is ~/seedbox on your local machine.

[Automount at Boot]

If you want to mount your seedbox using SSHFS automatically when your local machine starts up, you can add an entry to the /etc/fstab file. Here's how:

Open the /etc/fstab file with a text editor.

nano /etc/fstab

Add the following line to the file:

user@[seedbox-ip]:[/home/user/Downloads] /mnt/droplet fuse.sshfs noauto,x-systemd.automount,_netdev,reconnect,identityfile=/home/sammy/.ssh/id_rsa,allow_other,default_permissions 0 0


Replace [seedbox-ip] with the ip of your seedbox server, ~/ with the path to the remote directory you want to mount, and [/home/user/Downloads] with the path to the local directory where you want to mount the remote directory.

Save the file and close it: ctrl+x then shift-Y

Restart your local machine to ensure that the SSHFS mount is automatically established at boot.

Note: If you use a different SSH key for authentication, replace the IdentityFile option with the path to your SSH key.

Windows Example

After installing the SSHFS package, users can open an Explorer window and choose "Map network drive"

Helpful link 🔗

Performance Review:

SSHFS can provide users with the security they want while also allowing users to mount remote filesystems instead of indexing and syncing them. While this provides great benefits there are some drawbacks.

  1. Latency: SSHFS relies on SSH, which introduces latency and overhead into the file system communication. This can result in slow response times, particularly for large file transfers.

  2. Bandwidth limitations: SSHFS uses encryption to secure the data being transferred, which can consume a significant amount of bandwidth. This can impact performance, especially for large file transfers.

  3. File system compatibility: SSHFS is not compatible with all file systems and may not support advanced features like hard links or extended attributes. This can result in limitations and compatibility issues.

  4. Caching limitations: SSHFS does not cache file metadata and file contents, which can result in slower access times and increased server load.

  5. Resource constraints: SSHFS relies on the resources of both the local and remote machines, which can result in performance issues if either machine is under-powered.


How to Mount Your Seedbox via WebDAV

WebDAV (Web Distributed Authoring and Versioning) is a protocol that extends the HTTP protocol to allow for collaborative editing and version control of content on a web server. You can mount your seedbox filesystem on your local device using WebDAV for added convenience.

Please note that this feature is only available on our Premium seedboxes.

Find Your Seedbox IP

  1. Log in to your Client Area

  2. Go to your seedbox services

  3. Copy the IP address of your seedbox

Mount Your Seedbox on Linux

  1. Depending on your Desktop Environment (DE), open your File Manager and look for "Add Network Folder" or similar.

  2. Choose WebDAV and click Next

  3. In the server address field, enter the IP address you copied

  4. Then, enter one of the following directories to mount:

http://seed.box.ip.addr:8088/user/Documents
http://seed.box.ip.addr:8088/user/Downloads
http://seed.box.ip.addr:8088/user/Torrents
http://seed.box.ip.addr:8088/user/Watch

Enter your username and password

Your seedbox is now mounted and accessible through your File Manager

Mount Your Seedbox on Windows

When mounting a WebDav share on Windows 10/11 (which is most commonly used) you can easily do it by opening either the Windows Terminal or just PowerShell and typing the next

net use z: http://seed.box.ip.addr:8088/user/Downloads

Or any other of the mounts that are available by default

http://seed.box.ip.addr:8088/user/Documents
http://seed.box.ip.addr:8088/user/Downloads
http://seed.box.ip.addr:8088/user/Torrents
http://seed.box.ip.addr:8088/user/Watch

Note: You can use any available letter instead of Z: . That's used just to tell the system that you want to mount the share under the Z: path.

Then you can open the File Manager and access/manage the share directly from there-

Mount Your Seedbox on MacOS X

How do I mount webdav on MacOS?

To mount a WebDAV share on MacOS, you can use the Finder application. Here's how:

  1. Open Finder and click on the "Go" menu.

  2. Select "Connect to Server."

  3. In the server address field, enter the URL of the WebDAV share you want to mount. For example: http://seed.box.ip.addr:8088/user/Downloads

  4. Click on the "Connect" button.

  5. Enter your username and password for the WebDAV share when prompted.

  6. The WebDAV share will be mounted and appear as a new volume in Finder.

You can also use the Terminal application and the mount_webdav command to mount a WebDAV share. Here's how:

  1. Open Terminal.

  2. Run the following command, replacing "mount_point" with the desired mount point and "webdav_url" with the URL of the WebDAV share:

sudo mount_webdav webdav_url mount_point
  1. Enter your username and password for the WebDAV share when prompted.

  2. The WebDAV share will be mounted at the specified mount point.

Note: The mount_webdav command may not be installed on your MacOS by default. You can install it using a package manager like Homebrew or by downloading it from a third-party source.


Performance Review:

  1. Latency: WebDAV relies on HTTP or HTTPS, which introduces latency and overhead into the file system communication. This can result in slow response times, particularly for large file transfers.

  2. Bandwidth limitations: WebDAV uses encryption to secure the data being transferred, which can consume a significant amount of bandwidth. This can impact performance, especially for large file transfers.

  3. Resource constraints: WebDAV relies on the resources of both the local and remote machines, which can result in performance issues if either machine is under-powered.

  4. Authentication overhead: WebDAV requires authentication for every request, which can result in increased overhead and slower performance.

  5. File system compatibility: WebDAV is not compatible with all file systems and may not support advanced features like hard links or extended attributes. This can result in limitations and compatibility issues.


Conclusion

In conclusion, both SSHFS and WebDAV offer different advantages and disadvantages for mounting your seedbox to your local machine. SSHFS offers secure and encrypted file transfers, but may suffer from latency and bandwidth limitations. WebDAV is a more resource-friendly option, but may suffer from authentication overhead and compatibility issues. When it comes to transferring large media files like movies of 6GB or larger in size, SSHFS may be the better option due to its secure file transfers and encryption. However, if resource constraints are a concern, WebDAV may be the better choice. Ultimately, the best option will depend on your specific requirements and use case. It's important to carefully consider the advantages and disadvantages of both options and test them thoroughly before making a decision.


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