Both solutions samba and nfs.server do not offer security though encryption and are thus only suited for use in a closed intranet. If you need to remotely access files over the internet, it is better to use an encrypted solution. Whilst not offering as strong an encryption as a VPN, it is quite easy to set up. In this recipe you will be shown how to set up and configure a sshfs instead of using OpenVPN or setting up a encrypted tunnel with network. sshfs is based on SFTP so you need to install sftp support on the server.

• openssh-sftp-server

There is nothing more to be done on the server. Now you can mount your sshfs by executing:

sshfs [user@]host:[dir] mountpoint

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secure_Shell_Filesystem
• http://fuse.sourceforge.net/sshfs.html