This will show you how to mount a remote directory in finder using sftp. (Mount sftp folder with finder). There is a link at the bottom to a post to mount any remote system you have ssh access to using homebrew. check that out if you like working with the command-line.
The simple method: using finder and the ‘wrong’ protocol to mount sftp folder with finder
- Open Finder
- Go > connect to server
- Type in ftps://servername.com/path/
I have ‘ftps’ in the protocol part [which isnt sftp]. If you specify ftps in the ‘connect to server’ dialog finder will use sftp to connect. The remote directory will then be available in the ‘shared’ part of the sidebar.
Finder gives the remote directory read only access though, so you cant write to it. Which is quite annoying.
Alternatives – Read / Write access to mount sftp folder with finder
There are alternatives for you to use if you need write access. cyberduck is great for this kind of situation. Cyberduck handles lots of different protocols. Google drive, ftp-ssl, webdav and amazon s3, openstack swift, rackspace, etc. (There is now a commandline client for cyberduck at duck.sh)
And then there is homebrew. You can ‘brew install sshfs’. This will let you ‘mount’ anywhere you have ssh access to.
sshfs -o reconnect -o volname=Volumename -o IdentityFile=~/.ssh/id_rsa my.remote.host:/home/userdir /Volumes/UserDir
I also have a post on how to mount a remote filesystem with sshfs This method is scriptable.
Brew / sshfs is the method I use to mount my remote drives now. I have a startup script that mounts my website as a ‘drive’ on my desktop, complete with a drive icon every time I boot my machine. This setup gives me full read/write access. This way using all my other command-line tools on the remote filesystem is possible.
is it possible to connect to an amazon ec2 server this way? I’ve done an ssh-add of the pem file and try to connect leaving the password empty, but no success. I can connect to the same server using “ssh user@server” in the terminal (I’m not prompted for password).
Does not work for me. I’ve tried connecting to a Ubuntu server (which works using sftp://server/path from Ubuntu desktop).
it seems that this doesnt actually work. it might have been a bug in snow leopard that let me think it was connecting via sftp when it was actually connecting via ftp :|
worked in Snow Leopard. Broken in Lion
Works like charm! Thanks a bunch for the tip