Ubuntu – Is it possible to auto-mount sshfs

mountnetworkingvpn

Is it possible to auto-mount a remote FS using sshfs upon instantiating a proper VPN connection?

Allow me to explain the scenario, I'm working remotely, to do that it helps if I can mount my home dir from a server in the office. To do that I need to vpn in. So within network manager I select the relevant VPN and connect. It connects but now I have to drop to the command line and mount my home dir on several machines.

If I forget to do one machine my local dev environment isn't as efficient. I suppose I could write a quick bash script to do this but I'd rather get it running automatically when I connect.

Best Answer

Find the UUID of your connection using

$ nmcli con

Note that this lists not just physical connections but also the Wireless connections defined (SSIDs).

Put some simple script like this in your /etc/NetworkManager/dispatcher.d/ directory:

#!/bin/bash

# Specify your connection UUID you like to trigger on below.
MYCON_UUID=397bdb70-2a89-415e-b3e9-09ca0b704fc1

if [ "$CONNECTION_UUID" == "$MYCON_UUID" ]
then
    # do your scripting you need to do here:
    mount -t sshfs ...
fi

Don't forget to set the right permissions to make it excutable (i.e. chmod +x trigger-sshfs-on-vpn.sh). It can be any type of script, a Bash script is probably sufficient for your purpose.

NetworkManager just executes all the scripts in this directory providing some environment variables you can use for scripting. In this case you probably just need CONNECTION_UUID.

Related Solutions

Ubuntu – Auto mount sshfs volume through fstab with password auth

In this example I implied that we work as root. If you don't, apply sudo su or sudo when needed.
Your system may use different init system than Systemd, but Cron is pretty universal.

You can simply use /etc/fstab to pre-define your mount options and whatnot.

Example:

USERNAME@HOSTNAME_OR_IP:/REMOTE/DIRECTORY /LOCAL/MOUNTPOINT fuse.sshfs  defaults,password_stdin,_netdev 0 0

Keep in mind default mount options are far from perfect.
For example: reconnect is important. see: https://github.com/libfuse/sshfs/issues/101

An example with these options (taken from the Github issue):

sshfs#user@storage.cz:/content/ /mnt/srv fuse   password_stdin,defaults,user,allow_other,reconnect,delay_connect,ConnectTimeout=5,ServerAliveInterval=5,IdentityFile=/root/.ssh/id_rsa_storage 0 0

Once that's done, you need a simple script with this sole content, such as:

#!/bin/bash
echo "passwordgoeshere" | mount /mnt/srv

Let's save it under your root user, so an example: /root/mount_sshfs.sh
Now you need to make it executable: chown +x /root/mount_sshfs.sh

Now all you need is just cron or systemd to execute this on mount.
With cron, a simple entry like this works:
@reboot /root/mount_sshfs.sh

With Systemd:
1) You have to create the script. See just above.
2) You have to create a new Systemd service script.
An example would be: /etc/systemd/system/mount_network.sh
3) The contents of the file:

[Unit]
Wants=network-online.target
After=network-online.target

[Service]
ExecStart=/root/mount_sshfs.sh

[Install]
WantedBy=default.target

Notes:

I did not test the Systemd method as I try not to rely on it as much as possible. It's personal dislike/dislike/hate. :)
With Cron, you may need to add a "sleep" to the script, so it doesn't try to run the script "too early", ie.: before internet/network comes up.

Source: https://linuxconfig.org/how-to-automatically-execute-shell-script-at-startup-boot-on-systemd-linux

Best Answer

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Ubuntu – Auto mount sshfs volume through fstab with password auth

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