Linux – how to change cifs timeout

An SSH server with SFTP service (which comes standard in most SSHD installs), it's also a platform independent solution.

The setup is easy:

sudo apt-get install ssh

should fill in any of the server-side gaps you'd need.

On your router, you'd want to map port 22 to the hosting machine, or you could reconfigure SSHD to listen on a different or additional port, and then forward that instead.

You might also have to modify that machine's firewall policy, if you are using one.

Also, bear in mind that if serving from your home connection, the speed will be limited to your home connection's upload speed. For music, that may not matter, but for video, it would probably choke.

If you use NetworkManager, you can write scripts that execute on a network interface coming up or going down.

NetworkManager will execute scripts in the /etc/NetworkManager/dispatcher.d directory in alphabetical order in response to network events. Each script should be (a) a regular file, (b) owned by root, (c) not writable by group or other, (d) not set-uid, (e) and executable by the owner. Each script receives two arguments, the first being the interface name of the device just activated, and second an action.

Detect your own network from for instance the search domain and then mount or umount when the interface comes online:

#!/bin/bash
#/etc/NetworkManager/dispatcher.d/mount-my-cifs    
case "$2" in
  up)
    # some logic to detect if we're at home
    grep "search myhome.local" /etc/resolv.conf
    if [ "$?" != "0" ] ; then 
       exit
    else 
       mount /mnt/cifs
    fi
    ;;
  down)
       umount /mnt/cifs
    ;;
esac