ssfs view README @ rev 61
Up Makefile and README + tiny changes to ssfs-server
| author | Christophe Lincoln <pankso@slitaz.org> |
|---|---|
| date | Sun Jun 12 23:09:24 2011 +0200 (2011-06-12) |
| parents | 05124e30d932 |
| children | aa620b69c929 |
line source
1 SliTaz Secure File Storage
2 ===============================================================================
5 Ssfs is personal, secure, fast and light online file storage powered by
6 SSH, Rsync, Lsyncd and SHell script. It monitors a local folder and automatically
7 synchronizes the remote server. When files are transferred they are compressed and
8 encrypted with SSH. Connections to the remote host are automated with a RSA key,
9 and for each client the key must be sent to the server via a SSH password login.
11 Using ssfs lets you have a live synchronized and secure folder between many
12 computers with an online copy on a secure Linux server. But even without any
13 connections you have access to your files. Connections to the remote server
14 can also be done using the command line and 'ssh' from any clients such as
15 BSD, Android, OSX or Windows via Putty.
17 Ssfs is very easy to install, setup and configure to make your own secure online
18 file storage. It provides a cmdline tool for the client and server with a
19 built in help. This README is also a howto in itself.
21 On the server side admin can choose by creating standard accounts or chrooted
22 accounts which enforce server security by restricting available commands in a
23 minimal chroot environment. User $HOME should be set to 0700 so users can't see
24 other users files.
27 Overview
28 --------
30 * Online live sync with encrypted data
31 * Drop files in a folder and they will be synced
32 * Even without any connection you have your data
33 * Fast and light using stable and mature GNU tools
34 * Encrypted file transfer using SSH protocol
35 * Easy to setup on the client and server side
36 * Virtual disk storage for quota management
37 * Minimal and restrictive but yet powerful chroot
38 * Command line chrooted SSH access for users
39 * Easy to backup, update and maintain vdisk
42 Quick start guide
43 -----------------
45 * Install ssfs on server and clients if not yet done
46 * Create a vdisk on server # ssfs-server gen-vdisk
47 * Check if chroot works (exit to quit) # ssfs-server chroot
48 * Add a chrooted user to the Ssfs virtual disk so it can sync
49 files or connect via SSH from a client:
50 # ssfs-server adduser --login=demo --id=2000 --pass=demo
51 * On the client side: ssfs-box setup or from the cmdline:
52 $ ssfs setup --login=demo --host="server name or ip"
53 * On the client you can start ssfs on user login via the WM
54 autostart script and/or the command $ ssfs sync
55 * Get support and show your love for Ssfs on SCN group:
56 http://scn.slitaz.org/groups/ssfs/
59 Installation
60 ------------
61 To work you need a SSH client, 'rsync' and 'lsyncd' installed. On SliTaz you
62 can simply install ssfs and it's dependencies or 'make install' from the
63 source directory (see the Development section).
66 Client help and setup
67 ---------------------
68 The cmdline interface ssfs lets you setup a client and start the daemon and
69 synchronize live with your system session via the Window Manager autostart
70 script or your personal ~/.profile file. To get a list of commands with
71 a short description:
73 $ ssfs help
75 To setup a client by creating a Lua configuration file and sending the RSA key
76 to the server, you can use the command 'setup'. Setup needs a login name and
77 server name or IP address and it will also create a secure RSA if none exists:
79 $ ssfs setup --login=user --host=server
82 GUI & Web interface
83 -------------------
84 Actually there is a small GTK/Yad but no web interface. The tool ssfs-box will
85 display info if a configuration file exists or start the setup box. There is no
86 plan for a users files web interface since security if more important, actually
87 a user's home has 0700 mode so a standard web server running user www can't see
88 the files. We may implement a HTTP Public dir which could handle xHTML pages, a
89 wiki, etc.
92 Ssfs chroot SHell
93 -----------------
94 The tool ssfs-sh is used to chroot a user on login and sets minimal environment
95 variables. For each user ssfs-sh is the default SHell on the server and is
96 executed inside the new root. So ssfs-sh must be installed on the server and
97 in the virtual disk minimal chroot. Using a custom tool such as Ssfs SHell
98 enforces security and lets you execute commands on login, ssfs-sh also exports the
99 new user $HOME and changes the directory to it since chroot will drop us in / by
100 default.
103 Get configs on boot
104 -------------------
105 Ssfs can be used in a boot script to connect to a remote host and retrieve data
106 before a user session is started. It can be useful to provide persistent data for
107 Live systems and web boot.
110 Quota management
111 ----------------
112 Actually the quota storage is based on a shared idea, the vdisk has a size and
113 all users share the space. For a pay service the vdisk can grow following the
114 users donations or monthly subscription.
117 Server setup
118 ------------
119 On the server you must have a SSH server running and an user account with a
120 ~/Sync folder in user home. You can have both, standard accounts or chrooted
121 accounts, for a hosted service it is recommended to use a chroot and a Ssfs
122 virtual disk. The vdisk can be any size you want and have a minimal chroot
123 environment that is under 2Mb with all binaries in /bin and libraries in /lib.
125 If you want to create a vdisk and chroot automatically you can use use the tool
126 ssfs-server. Here is a short example to create a chroot and create a user
127 login 'tux-sync' with a protected $HOME in the chroot, the root directory can
128 be specified on the command line or changed in the configuration file. The
129 vdisk creation size is set in Gb and can be changed in the config file or from
130 the cmdline:
132 # ssfs-server gen-vdisk --size=2
133 # ssfs-server adduser --login=tux-sync --id=2000 --pass=tuX0cc
135 Users can be listed or completely deleted including all files in home. More
136 information can be found with the built in help:
138 # ssfs-server help
141 Ssfs virtual disk
142 -----------------
143 A virtual Ssfs disk is a raw file created with dd and formated in ext3. It is
144 mounted by default on /ssfs and contains a minimal chroot environment with a user's
145 home directory. We use a virtual disk to enforce security and use a separate
146 media for Ssfs secure files, it also protects the host and limits storage size.
147 The tool ssfs-server handles vdisk creation but you can also create one manually
148 or use a separate HD if the server has more than one disk. To create a 2Gb
149 vdisk and format it to ext3:
151 # dd if=/dev/zero of=/home/ssfs.disk bs=1G count=2
152 # mkfs.ext3 -T ext3 -L "Ssfs" -F /home/ssfs.ext3
154 Now you have a virtual disk you can mount it, the path must match SSFS_CHROOT
155 found in ssfs-server.conf, default mount point is /ssfs to clearly separate
156 the filesystem from the standard host file hierarchy:
158 # mkdir /ssfs
159 # mount -o loop -t ext3 /home/ssfs.disk /ssfs
161 To automaticaly mount the vdisk on boot you may want to add a ssfs system user
162 and a line into the file /etc/fstab:
164 # adduser -S -g "Ssfs Server" -h /ssfs -s /bin/false ssfs
165 /home/ssfs.disk /ssfs ext3 rw,loop,ssfs,ssfs 0 0
168 Server users config
169 -------------------
170 When adding a user with 'ssfs-server adduser', the user is added to the host
171 /etc/passwd and a custom user config file is created in SSFS_USERS with the
172 login name.
175 Server web interface
176 --------------------
177 Ssfs package provides a small CGI SHell web interface to the server. The goal is
178 to provide a service status and information. It uses the server configuration to
179 know the Ssfs virtual disk path and display statistics about the filesystem.
182 Development and Bugs
183 --------------------
184 If you want to install the latest code to test and help in development you can
185 clone the ssfs Mercurial repository. As usual, closely follow the SliTaz light
186 philosophy with speed and security in mind: hg clone http://hg.slitaz.org/ssfs
188 Install with 'make install' (DESTDIR is supported for packaging), update the POT
189 file if any new strings have been added with 'make pot', and merger PO files with
190 the command 'make msgmerge'. Any ideas are welcome and can be discussed. If you
191 are searching for something to do you can have a look to the TODO file :-)
193 Bugs can be reported on the SliTaz mailing list, forum or scn since the devel
194 forum is synced. All sites are linked from: http://www.slitaz.org/
196 To share ideas and get involved in the Ssfs project you can join the Ssfs group
197 on the SliTaz Community Network website : http://scn.slitaz.org/groups/ssfs/
200 ===============================================================================