How To Mount Box.net Securely On Ubuntu 11.10
I recently got one of the Free Lifetime 50GB accounts that Box.net is giving away and I wanted to be able to efficiently use that account on Ubuntu without having to access their website. As such I figured why not use WebDAV which Box.net supports and which I have used to mount folders on my own servers before.
There are a handful of guides now on how to mount box.net however they lack the proper instructions to make a secure connection as such your username and password are passed in plaintext. I think I have found a way around this and below are the simple steps to get going.
First thing you want to do is open a Terminal window and install davfs2:
sudo apt-get install davfs2
Next thing you want to do is create the mount directory:
sudo mkdir /media/box.net
Next go ahead and mount:
mount -t davfs https://www.box.net/dav /media/box.net (Note: The HTTPS should create a secure connection so your authentication will be safe)
Add your username and password:
sudo nano /etc/davfs2/secrets
echo “https://www.box.net/dav username password” >> /etc/davfs2/secrets
Notably you can access Box.net via Nautilus using WebDAV:
Just use Connect to Server to dav://www.box.net/dav and make sure to select Secure WebDAV.
Note: These instructions should work fine with previous releases of Ubuntu and also on Debian.
Have tried both, *.net yields 301 error, *.com yields sweet access.
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LikeKendal Thanks for the information and glad .com works
My latest conversation: Ubuntu 12.04 Beta 2 Not Released
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LikeWhen using the the Connect to Server instead of using www.box.net/dav, I use www.box.com/dav. The www.box.net/dav will cause a http error 301, but the later works pretty fine. Still great post, tks alot.
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LikeI can't get my webdav directory to have read/write access on the mount directory which is in my home directory. The mount command I'm using is: sudo mount -o rw,user -t davfs http://box.net/dav Box.net/ On a different note I'd like to use https but it does not mount at all. I've tried https (with above command) but it gives the following error: /sbin/mount.davfs: Mounting failed. 302 Found Any ideas?
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LikeUsing the gvfs/nautilus method under 11.04 does not work for me either.
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LikeI also got the HPTP :-)
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LikeI had problems with both the command line method and the gvfs method. I used sudo to mount and then chown -R to give myself access to /media/box.net. I could create folders but not put any files into them. With the nautilus method I keep getting errors and cannot even delete folders. I have davfs2 installed and am running 10.04 LTS.
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LikeThe method you are suggesting is quite a poor one for two at least reasons: * the password is still stored in plain text on your own machine * it requires you to have root privileges.A better way to do it is to use gvfs' webdav functionality. Just press File > Connect to Server in Nautilus and choose Secure WebDAV. Now gnome-keyring will store your password securely. Also, it does not require root privileges. Lastly, if you want to use the filesystem with an application that does not support gvfs, simply install the gvfs-fuse package.
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LikeWill check out the gnome-keyring based gvfs webdav functionality.... But for my How To you just need to be in sudoers and generally I would hope everyone who runs Linux knows how to execute a command with sudo on their own laptop or desktop.
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LikeYour method works for mounting and then uploading files. Is there also a way to view the uploaded files in the mounted folder?
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LikeI tried your method and have only read access to the files seems that it also makes root the owner of them all
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LikeWhen using the the Connect to Server instead of using www.box.net/dav, I use www.box.com/dav. The www.box.net/dav will cause a http error 301, but the later works pretty fine. Still great post, tks alot.
- spam
- offensive
- disagree
- off topic
LikeI can't get my webdav directory to have read/write access on the mount directory which is in my home directory. The mount command I'm using is:
sudo mount -o rw,user -t davfs http://box.net/dav Box.net/
On a different note I'd like to use https but it does not mount at all. I've tried https (with above command) but it gives the following error:
/sbin/mount.davfs: Mounting failed.
302 Found
Any ideas?
- spam
- offensive
- disagree
- off topic
LikeUsing the gvfs/nautilus method under 11.04 does not work for me either.
- spam
- offensive
- disagree
- off topic
LikeI also got the HPTP :-)
- spam
- offensive
- disagree
- off topic
LikeI had problems with both the command line method and the gvfs method. I used sudo to mount and then chown -R to give myself access to /media/box.net. I could create folders but not put any files into them.
With the nautilus method I keep getting errors and cannot even delete folders. I have davfs2 installed and am running 10.04 LTS.
- spam
- offensive
- disagree
- off topic
LikeThe method you are suggesting is quite a poor one for two at least reasons:
* the password is still stored in plain text on your own machine
* it requires you to have root privileges.A better way to do it is to use gvfs' webdav functionality. Just press File > Connect to Server in Nautilus and choose Secure WebDAV. Now gnome-keyring will store your password securely. Also, it does not require root privileges.
Lastly, if you want to use the filesystem with an application that does not support gvfs, simply install the gvfs-fuse package.
- spam
- offensive
- disagree
- off topic
LikeWill check out the gnome-keyring based gvfs webdav functionality.... But for my How To you just need to be in sudoers and generally I would hope everyone who runs Linux knows how to execute a command with sudo on their own laptop or desktop.
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