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How to Mount FTP Servers as Directories in Linux

2025-04-15

This guide shows how to mount FTP servers as local directories in Linux using rclone, with automatic mounting at system startup.

Install rclone

sudo apt install rclone    # Debian/Ubuntu
sudo dnf install rclone    # Fedora

Configure rclone

Create a new remote configuration:

rclone config

Example configuration for an FTP server:

n) New remote
name> my-ftp
Storage> ftp
host> ftp.example.com
user> [email protected]
pass> *** ENCRYPTED ***
explicit_tls> true
no_check_certificate> true

The configuration is saved to ~/.config/rclone/rclone.conf.

Create a mount script

Create a file named mount-ftp.sh:

#!/bin/bash

# Configuration
REMOTE_NAME="my-ftp"
MOUNT_POINT="$HOME/my-ftp"
LOG_FILE="$HOME/.rclone-my-ftp.log"

# Ensure mount point exists
mkdir -p "$MOUNT_POINT"

# Function to check if mount is already active
is_mounted() {
    mount | grep -q "$MOUNT_POINT"
    return $?
}

# Function to log messages
log_message() {
    echo "$(date '+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S') - $1" | tee -a "$LOG_FILE"
}

# Check if already mounted
if is_mounted; then
    log_message "$REMOTE_NAME is already mounted at $MOUNT_POINT"
    exit 0
fi

# Check network connectivity
if ! ping -c 1 -W 5 8.8.8.8 > /dev/null 2>&1; then
    log_message "ERROR: Network is not available. Aborting mount."
    exit 1
fi

# Mount the FTP server
log_message "Mounting $REMOTE_NAME FTP server to $MOUNT_POINT..."
rclone mount $REMOTE_NAME: "$MOUNT_POINT" \
    --daemon \
    --vfs-cache-mode full \
    --buffer-size 32M \
    --transfers 4 \
    --ftp-concurrency 4 \
    --log-file "$LOG_FILE"

# Check if mount was successful
sleep 2
if is_mounted; then
    log_message "Successfully mounted $REMOTE_NAME FTP server to $MOUNT_POINT"
    exit 0
else
    log_message "ERROR: Failed to mount $REMOTE_NAME FTP server"
    exit 1
fi

Make the script executable:

chmod +x mount-ftp.sh

Set up automatic mounting at system startup

Add the script to crontab to run at system boot:

crontab -e

Add this line:

@reboot /home/username/mount-ftp.sh

Managing your FTP mounts

Mount manually:

./mount-ftp.sh

Unmount:

fusermount -u ~/my-ftp

Check mount status:

ls -la ~/my-ftp

Multiple FTP servers

For multiple FTP servers:

  1. Configure each server in rclone with a unique name
  2. Create a separate mount script for each server
  3. Add each script to crontab

Example for two servers:

# In ~/.config/rclone/rclone.conf
[server1]
type = ftp
host = ftp1.example.com
user = [email protected]
pass = *** ENCRYPTED ***

[server2]
type = ftp
host = ftp2.example.com
user = [email protected]
pass = *** ENCRYPTED ***
# In crontab
@reboot /home/username/mount-server1.sh
@reboot /home/username/mount-server2.sh

That's it! Your FTP servers will now mount as local directories at system startup.

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