Mount and unmount remotes with sshfs

sshfs.sh

# remote mount functions
remote-mount()
{
  # Mount a remote ssh root directory in /media/$USER/remotes/[remote alias]
  # This function requires 1 argument, which is the ssh alias you made for the 
  # remote in your .ssh/config.
  # If the directory is not created, it will try to, but this part is probably only
  # going to be called the first time for each remote, unless you change the alias.
  # To unmount, see remote-unmount().
  
  # check that I am passing one argument (remote name)
  if [ "$#" -ne 1 ]; 
    then 
      echo "At least 1 parameter should be passed, with the name of the remote"
      return 22 # invalid argument
  fi

  # check that the argument is a valid ssh target (check existance of root directory)
  if ! ssh -q $1 [[ -d / ]]; 
    then 
      echo "$1 is an invalid ssh target. Check your ~/.ssh/config"
      return 22 # invalid argument
    else echo "$1 is a valid ssh target"
  fi
  
  # verbose
  echo "Trying to mount remote $1 in /media/$USER/remotes/$1"
  # if directory doesnt exist, create it
  if [ ! -d "/media/$USER/remotes/$1" ]
  then
    # create it
    echo "Directory /media/$USER/remotes/$1 DOES NOT exist. Creating it"
    mkdir -p /media/$USER/remotes/$1
    # check if successful or exit
    if [ -d "/media/$USER/remotes/$1" ]
    then echo "Success creating directory!"
    else echo "Failed creating directory. Maybe check permissions?"; return 2 # no such file
    fi
  else echo "Directory /media/$USER/remotes/$1 exists!"
  fi

  # Check if the directory is empty, otherwise mounting will fail
  if [ "$(ls -A /media/$USER/remotes/$1)" ]
  then
    echo "Directory /media/$USER/remotes/$1 is not empty, mount will fail."
    echo "This means it's either already mounted or used for something else."
    echo "Exiting..."
    return 39 # directory not empty
  else echo "Directory is empty, everything ready for mount :)"
  fi

  # Mount
  if sshfs -o reconnect $1:/ /media/$USER/remotes/$1/
    then echo "Success mounting! Enjoy your remote data access."
    else echo "Something went wrong with sshfs. I am not a general purpose AI agent, so you'll have to ask Andres..."
  fi

}

remote-unmount()
{
  # reverses the sshfs mount that was done with remote-mount()
  
  # check that I am passing one argument (remote name)
  if [ "$#" -ne 1 ]; 
    then 
      echo "At least 1 parameter should be passed, with the name of the remote"
      return 22 # invalid argument
  fi

  # check if it is effectively mounted
  if grep -qs "/media/$USER/remotes/$1 " /proc/mounts
  then echo "The remote is actually mounted. Proceeding with unmount"
  else
    echo "I can't find $1 in mounted volumes"
    return 22
  fi

  echo "Trying to unmount remote $1"
  if fusermount -u /media/$USER/remotes/$1
  then echo "Successful unmount!"
  else 
    UNMOUNT_ERROR_CODE=$?
    echo "Something went wrong :/"
    return $UNMOUNT_ERROR_CODE
  fi
}

This code adds two functions to mount a remote workstation using sshfs...

• First step: Add this code to your ~/.bashrc
• Second step: Mount or unmount!

---

Example ~/.ssh/config

Host workstation
  User andresworkstation # user in remote workstation
  Hostname 8.8.8.8 # ip of remote workstation
  Port 22 # port for ssh (can be different)

If it is behind a firewall, you need to add a ProxyJump

Host bastion # the computer that has ssh open to outside world and can bridge to your workstation
  User andresbastion # user in bastion
  Hostname 2.2.2.2 # ip of bastion
  Port 9999 # port of ssh in bastion (usually not 22)

Host workstation
  User andresworkstation # user in remote workstation
  Hostname 192.168.1.32 # static ip of remote workstation (could also be hostname.local if your bastion supports avahi resolution)
  Port 22 # port of 
  ProxyJum bastion

Mount root of workstation:

andreslocal@laptop:~$ remote-mount workstation
andreslocal@laptop:~$ ls /media/andreslocal/remotes/workstation
dev         initrd.img.old  media  root    software  var
bin                      etc         lib             mnt    run     srv       vmlinuz
boot                     home        lib32           opt    sbin    sys       vmlinuz.old
cache                    home_local  lib64           proc   shared  tmp
data                     initrd.img  lost+found      queue  snap    usr

Unmount:

andreslocal@laptop:~$ remote-unmount workstation

PS: the reason to mount the root directory is completely personal, because I have multiple disks mounted on many different places with a weird personal preference configuration. If you feel more comfortable with it, you can replace the "/" paths in the mount, with the path to the remote home directory (/home/user/) or your path of preference.