Open-source virtual drive

[Charles]

I both work in the office, at home, and I travel once in a while. I'm
looking for a virtual drive solution to store my files on the company
server. To date, the only thing I do is using an FTP server, but it
takes time to get connected, upload, download, etc...
Is there an open-source cross-platform solution to have a virtual
drive on the computer, kind of a link that is always connected to a
file server. On this computer, it could be G:\ , in the office it
could be /ad0s2f, or /dev/vdrive.... In both cases it wouldn't be a
physical drive on the local computer, but a link to a remote drive
almost in real time using the DSL connection. Do you know if there is
already such a solution? I'm interested for either a Gentoo of a
FreeBSD server.

[JohnR]

Charles wrote:
|| I both work in the office, at home, and I travel once in a while. I'm
|| looking for a virtual drive solution to store my files on the company
|| server. To date, the only thing I do is using an FTP server, but it
|| takes time to get connected, upload, download, etc...
|| Is there an open-source cross-platform solution to have a virtual
|| drive on the computer, kind of a link that is always connected to a
|| file server. On this computer, it could be G:\ , in the office it
|| could be /ad0s2f, or /dev/vdrive.... In both cases it wouldn't be a
|| physical drive on the local computer, but a link to a remote drive
|| almost in real time using the DSL connection. Do you know if there is
|| already such a solution? I'm interested for either a Gentoo of a
|| FreeBSD server.
||
|| --
||
|| Charles.

What would be the advantage? It would still "take[s] time to get
connected, upload, download, etc..."

[Larry I Smith]

Post by Charles
I both work in the office, at home, and I travel once in a while. I'm
looking for a virtual drive solution to store my files on the company
server. To date, the only thing I do is using an FTP server, but it
takes time to get connected, upload, download, etc...
Is there an open-source cross-platform solution to have a virtual
drive on the computer, kind of a link that is always connected to a
file server. On this computer, it could be G:\ , in the office it
could be /ad0s2f, or /dev/vdrive.... In both cases it wouldn't be a
physical drive on the local computer, but a link to a remote drive
almost in real time using the DSL connection. Do you know if there is
already such a solution? I'm interested for either a Gentoo of a
FreeBSD server.

Perhaps SAMBA will fill your needs?
It is included with most linux distributions.
If you don't have it, you can get it (and docs)
at http://www.samba.org

If the server is a Windows machine and your computer
is a Windows machine, simply use the Windows 'connect
network drive' feature.
If the server is unix or linux and your computer is
a Windows machine, simply run the SAMBA server s/w
on the server, and then you can still use the Windows
'connect network drive' feature.
If the server is Windows and your computer is unix or
linux, simply install the SAMBA client on your computer,
then you can mount the server as a drive.
If the server and your computer are both unix or linux,
run the SAMBA server s/w on the server and the SAMBA
client s/w on your computer.

Regards,
Larry

[Charles]

Thanks. I just had a look at it. It looks pretty good. Best of all, it
looks compatible with major OSes (we use Gentoo, Windows XP and
FreeBSD). Let's see how quick it is with a regular DSL connection.
Maybe I'll drop the FTP solution in that case.
--
Charles.

Post by Larry I Smith

Post by Charles
I both work in the office, at home, and I travel once in a while. I'm
looking for a virtual drive solution to store my files on the company
server. To date, the only thing I do is using an FTP server, but it
takes time to get connected, upload, download, etc...
Is there an open-source cross-platform solution to have a virtual
drive on the computer, kind of a link that is always connected to a
file server. On this computer, it could be G:\ , in the office it
could be /ad0s2f, or /dev/vdrive.... In both cases it wouldn't be a
physical drive on the local computer, but a link to a remote drive
almost in real time using the DSL connection. Do you know if there is
already such a solution? I'm interested for either a Gentoo of a
FreeBSD server.

Perhaps SAMBA will fill your needs?
It is included with most linux distributions.
If you don't have it, you can get it (and docs)
at http://www.samba.org
If the server is a Windows machine and your computer
is a Windows machine, simply use the Windows 'connect
network drive' feature.
If the server is unix or linux and your computer is
a Windows machine, simply run the SAMBA server s/w
on the server, and then you can still use the Windows
'connect network drive' feature.
If the server is Windows and your computer is unix or
linux, simply install the SAMBA client on your computer,
then you can mount the server as a drive.
If the server and your computer are both unix or linux,
run the SAMBA server s/w on the server and the SAMBA
client s/w on your computer.
Regards,
Larry
--
Anti-spam address, change each 'X' to '.' to reply directly.

[ERACC]

Post by Charles
Thanks. I just had a look at it. It looks pretty good. Best of all, it
looks compatible with major OSes (we use Gentoo, Windows XP and
FreeBSD). Let's see how quick it is with a regular DSL connection.
Maybe I'll drop the FTP solution in that case.

Uh, dood, I would tunnel SAMBA through a VPN were I you. Running it
across the wild-n-wooly internet without encryption is a "rilly bogus
idea". You're basically waving a big red CRACK ME flag if you don't
run that through some encrypted tunnel.

Gene (e-mail: gene \a\t eracc \d\o\t com)

[Charles]

Post by ERACC

Post by Charles
Thanks. I just had a look at it. It looks pretty good. Best of all, it
looks compatible with major OSes (we use Gentoo, Windows XP and
FreeBSD). Let's see how quick it is with a regular DSL connection.
Maybe I'll drop the FTP solution in that case.

Uh, dood, I would tunnel SAMBA through a VPN were I you. Running it
across the wild-n-wooly internet without encryption is a "rilly bogus
idea". You're basically waving a big red CRACK ME flag if you don't
run that through some encrypted tunnel.

Yes, I was thinking about that. I'll have to figure out how to do it
so that the connection is still fast and transparent for end-user.

[Larry I Smith]

Post by ERACC

Post by Charles
Thanks. I just had a look at it. It looks pretty good. Best of all, it
looks compatible with major OSes (we use Gentoo, Windows XP and
FreeBSD). Let's see how quick it is with a regular DSL connection.
Maybe I'll drop the FTP solution in that case.

Uh, dood, I would tunnel SAMBA through a VPN were I you. Running it
across the wild-n-wooly internet without encryption is a "rilly bogus
idea". You're basically waving a big red CRACK ME flag if you don't
run that through some encrypted tunnel.
Gene (e-mail: gene \a\t eracc \d\o\t com)

Yes, silly me.

I assumed that external access to your corporate net
is already protected by mandatory VPN.
That's usually the only way in to any large company
with even basic security in place (my employer even
specifies/supplies the ONLY acceptable VPN Client
s/w allowed to connect).

Regards,
Larry

[Hamman]

Post by Charles
I both work in the office, at home, and I travel once in a while. I'm
looking for a virtual drive solution to store my files on the company
server. To date, the only thing I do is using an FTP server, but it
takes time to get connected, upload, download, etc...
Is there an open-source cross-platform solution to have a virtual
drive on the computer, kind of a link that is always connected to a
file server. On this computer, it could be G:\ , in the office it
could be /ad0s2f, or /dev/vdrive.... In both cases it wouldn't be a
physical drive on the local computer, but a link to a remote drive
almost in real time using the DSL connection. Do you know if there is
already such a solution? I'm interested for either a Gentoo of a
FreeBSD server.
--
Charles.

If you have a hand-dandy server 2k or 2k3 box lying around you could setup
WebDAV on it and use webfolders

hamman