[howto] Mount your Box.Net account using WebDAV

[pingflood]

Hello!

You can mount your Box.Net (http://www.box.net/signup/invitation/box@pingflood.cjb.net) account to easily upload/download files.

First, install davfs2:


# apt-get install davfs2


Now, create the mount directory:


# mkdir /media/box.net


and mount:


# mount -t davfs http://www.box.net/dav /media/box.net


Insert your username and password and it's done!

You can also put your username/password in /etc/davfs2/secrets


echo "http://www.box.net/dav username password" >> /etc/davfs2/secrets


So, mount will not ask for username/password.

Also, Konqueror can access Box.Net directly using the WebDAV protocol:


webdav://www.box.net/dav


(I think the protocol is just "dav://" in Nautilus)

If you want a Free Box.Net account,
Box.Net (http://www.box.net/signup/invitation/box@pingflood.cjb.net)

Tested in Kubuntu Dapper Drake 6.06

More info and options:

$ man mount.davfs


Regards,
Ping Fløød
#356111

[patrick295767]

Thank you !
Very nice

Btw, Is there somethg else than box.net
is there any good concurrents to this program ??

Pat'

-
I tried; works great !!
I added -o rw
but still cannot drag & drop (copy) from rox filer ... Is it normal ??

Thx

[tcort]

Wow, Box.net is really cool. Thanks for posting the howto.

[joakim2]

Hmm.... this seems to be doing some really strange things... Copying a picture into the /media/box.net/ folder seems to work, using mv to move the picture it has suddenly disappeared (though it's now showing in the web interface but without a name...) I would be careful with this service :)

[naked]

I was trying to do this via "Connect to server" in the places menu and kept having trouble, how should I put the settings in there? I'd like the keyring to manager my password for this and also auto connect for me.

Is this possible?

L

[patrick295767]

I was trying to do this via "Connect to server" in the places menu and kept having trouble, how should I put the settings in there? I'd like the keyring to manager my password for this and also auto connect for me.

Is this possible?

L

For the autoconnect, I guess the regular /etc/fstab would work ...
then, you can play with permissions.
:rolleyes:

And, to mount the google box, is it the same way ?

[gThree]

@naked | anyone else:

Nautilus File Browser >> File >> Connect To Server
or
Start Menu >> Places >> Connect To Server

then


Service type = Secure WebDAV (HTTPS)
Server = www.box.net
Port = [leave blank]
Folder = dav
User Name = [optional, log-in will prompt for it]
Name To Use For Connection = ["boxnet" or whatever label you prefer]

note:
Like joakim2 had very mixed experience with above in Ubuntu Dapper/Power PC (G4). Had error with davfs2. Worked great with Kubuntu Dapper/Konqueror on same machine ... faster than Box.Net web access, split-pane interface, notifications ... suddenly a very useful service. Bookmarked. Used following to access:


webdavs://box.net/dav [certificate throws error]
or
webdav://box.net/dav

Haven't used Box.Net long enough to comment on quality of service itself, but so far so good.

@patrick295767:
When I checked around a month or so ago, Box.Net looked like best free option in terms of space, access and single upload size.

Hope that helps ....

[gThree]

Add:

Had best results in Ubuntu with Cadaver, a command-line webDAV client. Fast, simple. Could only get it to work with HTTP access.

[twelve17]

I was having trouble mounting dav shares as a local user:

/usr/lib/mount.davfs-2.6: Can't get root permissions, maybe program is not setuid

I verified that the folders I created for the local mount points are readable by the user. I would prefer to not have to make the program SUID, but I had to in order for it to allow normal users to mount:

foo@myhost:/$ sudo chmod u+s /usr/lib/mount.davfs-2.6


I couldn't think of any other ways to do this, as the man page states that the files are owned by the user who mounted the resource, which would mean that root would always own them. :(

[PartickThistle]

Hello!

You can mount your Box.Net (http://www.box.net/signup/invitation/box@pingflood.cjb.net) account to easily upload/download files.


Are you donating the money from your referrals to Ubuntu/Open Source projects?

[iamacarpetlicker]

Hey,
Every time I mount a WebDAV share it is only accessible as root, but I cant mount it as my normal user.
Is there any way to sort this out, am I just doing something wrong?

I have been doing....
sudo mount -t devfs http://<local_server_ip>/dav/sam/ /home/sam/dav
But then nothing will work on that folder, and I cant chmod it or anything. But it works with root fine.

Some help, please? :)

Thankyou lots,
Sam.

[joshkidd]

I just spent most of today trying to figure this out on my own. So, here's my solution.

First, I assume you've installed the davfs2 package. If you haven't use the following command:

sudo apt-get install davfs2

By default this package is installed so that only root can mount davfs volumes. To mount as other users, you need to set the SUID bit for /sbin/mount.davfs and designate a group whose members can mount davfs volumes. To set the SUID bit, use this command:

sudo chmod u+s /sbin/mount.davfs

You then need to configure davfs so that only members of the group "users" can mount davfs volumes. The config file for davfs is: /etc/davfs/davfs.conf Edit however you like, but to use gedit:

gksudo gedit /etc/davfs2/davfs2.conf

There should be a line something like:

dav_group $group

This should be changed to:

dav_group users

Now, you should add your user to the users group:

sudo addgroup your-user users

Now add something like the following line to your /etc/fstab

http://<local_server_ip>/dav/sam/ /home/sam/dav davfs rw,user,noauto 0 0

Here, I used your examples for the webDAV server and the mountpoint. davfs is the filesystem type. rw,user,noauto are the options. user is the key option here. It allows users other than root to mount the volume. rw for read/write and noauto means it won't mount on startup.

At this point, I needed to restart my computer before anything would work.

When you get back to the prompt, all you need to do is:

mount /home/sam/dav

And you should be good to go. If you have any questions, please ask. I'm new to these forums too, but I hope I've explained well.

[iamacarpetlicker]

Hey Joshkidd,

Thankyou loads!! That worked amazing! =]
You rock, and yes you explained it perfectly.

Thankyou again!
Sam.

[Oulianov]

Hi,

Mount works great for me, but each time I try to write or read something (by nautilus or by a term), I get "I/O error" (nothing else....just "I/O error").

Does anybody have the same error ? Or a solution...

Thanks

Ouli

[iamacarpetlicker]

Maybe the I/O Error is to do with either a server or connection error?
You can try http://test.webdav.org/ to see if its a server error.

Also you could try and recompile davfs2 to see its its a client error, or try cadaver which may give you a more detailed error message?

Thanks,
Sam.

[Oulianov]

Maybe the I/O Error is to do with either a server or connection error?
You can try http://test.webdav.org/ to see if its a server error.

I can read and write on test server

Also you could try and recompile davfs2 to see its its a client error, or try cadaver which may give you a more detailed error message?

I tried the last version of davfs2, same problem.
But cadaver works fine, I'm able to put or get a file.

I discovered that with davfs I can create a folder. No file, only folders.

That's quite strange, I didn't find anything one the web about.

Thanks

Ouli

[uglowp]

I have a similar problem.

I can mount boxnet ok, but I can't save any file to the folder. I followed all the instructions in the thread but can't get it to work.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

Phil.

[euphrate_ylb]

Exactly, the same issue.

I can't add/manage files. Most of the time I am told that the "file already exists" (cp in command line). In nautilus, it looks like I don't have write privileges.However I can create folders???

The problem remains with davfs2 1.2.2...

Works fine with cadaver.

Any help?

euphrate_ylb
-------
http://www.fbollon.net

[munkiepus]

I'm having the same problem where i can create folders via a mounted webdav folder but if i try to create a file it says "file exists" (when it really doesn't) or i/o error.

Cadaver works fine.

Anyone else found this problem :confused:

[aitorcalero]

I have the same issue (can create folders but no files). Does anyone find a solution or a workarround for this?

[ulriks]

To remount without restarting:

sudo mount -a


I had to remove line 16 and line 18 in my .davfs2/davfs2.conf to get be able to mount box.net. As with most people, I can create folders using the command line, but cp and mv does not work.

Adding box.net as a Network Folder (Kubuntu) allows me to copy and stuff using Dolphin.

[Botsinge]

The problem with I/O Errors upon copying/moving files has to do with the webdav server not responding well to file locks.

Add 'nolocks' to the options in the fstab entry or add '-o nolocks' on the command line.

See this thread for more info http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?thread_id=1619210&forum_id=82589

[aitorcalero]

Thank you very much! Finally I could use WebDAV!!! :)

[beansbbq]

Hi everyone,


I recently signed up for Ubuntu 7.10 based hosting with VPSLink. I wanted to try mounting Box.net from the command line to get a little more disk. My plan was to place my photos and videos on Box.net, yet be able to access them 'locally'.


Unfortunately I am encountering some problems. I'm receiving the following three lines after I enter my username and password.

===
/sbin/mount.davfs: no free coda device to mount
/sbin/mount.davfs: trying fuse kernel file system
/sbin/mount.davfs: fuse device opened successfully.
===

Now, I'm not sure what to make of this. I see the mount point 'Box.net' on the file system. When I 'cd' onto the mount point and try to 'ls', I receive the following message.

"ls: .: Transport endpoint is not connected
===

Can anyone make any sense of this, and what should I do to fix or get around this? I opted for OpenVZ instead of Xen based hosting. Could this be the cause of my problems?

Thanks in advance...

[allmycrud]

Did you ever get any answers?
I have the problem where I can mount box.net with my user and create folders and copy over files, but only the folders show up in box.net. Anyone have a solution to this?

Thanks

[HappySpaceInvader]

@naked | anyone else:

Nautilus File Browser >> File >> Connect To Server
or
Start Menu >> Places >> Connect To Server

then

[CODE]
Service type = Secure WebDAV (HTTPS)


Ah... there's a problem there, you see in Hardy Heron, I don't get the Secure WebDAV option - just the plain HTTP version.

[EmilyRose]

Yeah, I'm thinking the reason I can't login with the server is because its not HTTPS but only HTTP. So the only way I can get in is through the CL and then I can't access it cause' its mounted as bloody root!!

[ya-manickill]

Does anyone have any idea how to use a proxy through davfs? I would like to access my account when I am at uni, but it uses a proxy at uni, and I can't work out how to do that.

[TheMacFactor]

Does anyone have any idea how to use a proxy through davfs? I would like to access my account when I am at uni, but it uses a proxy at uni, and I can't work out how to do that.

Set it up in /etc/davfs2/davfs2.conf

Read man davfs2.conf for the full story.

[alexei.colin]

Thank you for the great HowTo!

For me, mount, cp, mv, rm all work, and I can create directories, but the directories are not recognized as directories: cd says: "Not a directory."

Any thoughts on how to make davfs see that the directories are in fact directories? Thank you in advance!