Newbie looking for pointers of using mount on onsite server and local synology drive

What is the problem you are having with rclone?

Cannot get mount to mount folder from server across the internet to local Synology Diskstation.  I am very new at this so despite looking through lots of examples, I am looking for help.  Thank you

Run the command 'rclone version' and share the full output of the command.

rclone v1.69.1
- os/version: unknown
- os/kernel: 3.2.101 (armv7l)
- os/type: linux
- os/arch: arm (ARMv7 compatible)
- go/version: go1.24.0
- go/linking: static
- go/tags: none

Which cloud storage system are you using? (eg Google Drive)

None.  Trying to sync with private offsite server

Please run 'rclone config redacted' and share the full output. If you get command not found, please make sure to update rclone.

[ultra2]
type = sftp
host = [host]
user = [user]
pass = [password]
shell_type = unix
md5sum_command = md5sum
sha1sum_command = sha1sum

A log from the command that you were trying to run with the -vv flag

steve@NAS200:~/.config/rclone$ /usr/bin/rclone mount -vv ultra2: /home/nickendriks/test /var/services/homes/steve/test
2025/03/16 20:14:38 DEBUG : rclone: Version "v1.69.1" starting with parameters ["/usr/bin/rclone" "mount" "-vv" "ultra2:" "/home/nickendriks/test" "/var/services/homes/steve/test"]
Usage:
  rclone mount remote:path /path/to/mountpoint [flags]

Flags:
      --allow-non-empty                        Allow mounting over a non-empty directory (not supported on Windows)
      --allow-other                            Allow access to other users (not supported on Windows)
      --allow-root                             Allow access to root user (not supported on Windows)
      --async-read                             Use asynchronous reads (not supported on Windows) (default true)
      --attr-timeout Duration                  Time for which file/directory attributes are cached (default 1s)
      --daemon                                 Run mount in background and exit parent process (as background output is suppressed, use --log-file with --log-format=pid,... to monitor) (not supported on Windows)
      --daemon-timeout Duration                Time limit for rclone to respond to kernel (not supported on Windows) (default 0s)
      --daemon-wait Duration                   Time to wait for ready mount from daemon (maximum time on Linux, constant sleep time on OSX/BSD) (not supported on Windows) (default 1m0s)
      --debug-fuse                             Debug the FUSE internals - needs -v
      --default-permissions                    Makes kernel enforce access control based on the file mode (not supported on Windows)
      --devname string                         Set the device name - default is remote:path
      --dir-cache-time Duration                Time to cache directory entries for (default 5m0s)
      --dir-perms FileMode                     Directory permissions (default 777)
      --direct-io                              Use Direct IO, disables caching of data
      --file-perms FileMode                    File permissions (default 666)
      --fuse-flag stringArray                  Flags or arguments to be passed direct to libfuse/WinFsp (repeat if required)
      --gid uint32                             Override the gid field set by the filesystem (not supported on Windows) (default 100)
  -h, --help                                   help for mount
      --link-perms FileMode                    Link permissions (default 666)
      --max-read-ahead SizeSuffix              The number of bytes that can be prefetched for sequential reads (not supported on Windows) (default 128Ki)
      --mount-case-insensitive Tristate        Tell the OS the mount is case insensitive (true) or sensitive (false) regardless of the backend (auto) (default unset)
      --network-mode                           Mount as remote network drive, instead of fixed disk drive (supported on Windows only)
      --no-checksum                            Don't compare checksums on up/download
      --no-modtime                             Don't read/write the modification time (can speed things up)
      --no-seek                                Don't allow seeking in files
      --noappledouble                          Ignore Apple Double (._) and .DS_Store files (supported on OSX only) (default true)
      --noapplexattr                           Ignore all "com.apple.*" extended attributes (supported on OSX only)
  -o, --option stringArray                     Option for libfuse/WinFsp (repeat if required)
      --poll-interval Duration                 Time to wait between polling for changes, must be smaller than dir-cache-time and only on supported remotes (set 0 to disable) (default 1m0s)
      --read-only                              Only allow read-only access
      --uid uint32                             Override the uid field set by the filesystem (not supported on Windows) (default 1027)
      --umask FileMode                         Override the permission bits set by the filesystem (not supported on Windows) (default 077)
      --vfs-block-norm-dupes                   If duplicate filenames exist in the same directory (after normalization), log an error and hide the duplicates (may have a performance cost)
      --vfs-cache-max-age Duration             Max time since last access of objects in the cache (default 1h0m0s)
      --vfs-cache-max-size SizeSuffix          Max total size of objects in the cache (default off)
      --vfs-cache-min-free-space SizeSuffix    Target minimum free space on the disk containing the cache (default off)
      --vfs-cache-mode CacheMode               Cache mode off|minimal|writes|full (default off)
      --vfs-cache-poll-interval Duration       Interval to poll the cache for stale objects (default 1m0s)
      --vfs-case-insensitive                   If a file name not found, find a case insensitive match
      --vfs-disk-space-total-size SizeSuffix   Specify the total space of disk (default off)
      --vfs-fast-fingerprint                   Use fast (less accurate) fingerprints for change detection
      --vfs-links                              Translate symlinks to/from regular files with a '.rclonelink' extension for the VFS
      --vfs-read-ahead SizeSuffix              Extra read ahead over --buffer-size when using cache-mode full
      --vfs-read-chunk-size SizeSuffix         Read the source objects in chunks (default 128Mi)
      --vfs-read-chunk-size-limit SizeSuffix   If greater than --vfs-read-chunk-size, double the chunk size after each chunk read, until the limit is reached ('off' is unlimited) (default off)
      --vfs-read-chunk-streams int             The number of parallel streams to read at once
      --vfs-read-wait Duration                 Time to wait for in-sequence read before seeking (default 20ms)
      --vfs-refresh                            Refreshes the directory cache recursively in the background on start
      --vfs-used-is-size rclone size           Use the rclone size algorithm for Used size
      --vfs-write-back Duration                Time to writeback files after last use when using cache (default 5s)
      --vfs-write-wait Duration                Time to wait for in-sequence write before giving error (default 1s)
      --volname string                         Set the volume name (supported on Windows and OSX only)
      --write-back-cache                       Makes kernel buffer writes before sending them to rclone (without this, writethrough caching is used) (not supported on Windows)

Flags for filtering directory listings (flag group Filter):
      --delete-excluded                     Delete files on dest excluded from sync
      --exclude stringArray                 Exclude files matching pattern
      --exclude-from stringArray            Read file exclude patterns from file (use - to read from stdin)
      --exclude-if-present stringArray      Exclude directories if filename is present
      --files-from stringArray              Read list of source-file names from file (use - to read from stdin)
      --files-from-raw stringArray          Read list of source-file names from file without any processing of lines (use - to read from stdin)
  -f, --filter stringArray                  Add a file filtering rule
      --filter-from stringArray             Read file filtering patterns from a file (use - to read from stdin)
      --ignore-case                         Ignore case in filters (case insensitive)
      --include stringArray                 Include files matching pattern
      --include-from stringArray            Read file include patterns from file (use - to read from stdin)
      --max-age Duration                    Only transfer files younger than this in s or suffix ms|s|m|h|d|w|M|y (default off)
      --max-depth int                       If set limits the recursion depth to this (default -1)
      --max-size SizeSuffix                 Only transfer files smaller than this in KiB or suffix B|K|M|G|T|P (default off)
      --metadata-exclude stringArray        Exclude metadatas matching pattern
      --metadata-exclude-from stringArray   Read metadata exclude patterns from file (use - to read from stdin)
      --metadata-filter stringArray         Add a metadata filtering rule
      --metadata-filter-from stringArray    Read metadata filtering patterns from a file (use - to read from stdin)
      --metadata-include stringArray        Include metadatas matching pattern
      --metadata-include-from stringArray   Read metadata include patterns from file (use - to read from stdin)
      --min-age Duration                    Only transfer files older than this in s or suffix ms|s|m|h|d|w|M|y (default off)
      --min-size SizeSuffix                 Only transfer files bigger than this in KiB or suffix B|K|M|G|T|P (default off)

Use "rclone [command] --help" for more information about a command.
Use "rclone help flags" for to see the global flags.
Use "rclone help backends" for a list of supported services.
Command mount needs 2 arguments maximum: you provided 3 non flag arguments: ["ultra2:" "/home/nickendriks/test" "/var/services/homes/steve/test"]

welcome to the forum,

the correct syntax is rclone mount remote: mountpoint
so have to choose just one of the two local paths

Thank you so much.

I thought that I have to put in the remote folder that I want to mount locally. How do I tell it there the remote folder is to mount? Maybe I don't quite understand how the mount point works.

Thanks for the help

The /home/... Is the remote path

the syntax for rclone mount, from the rclone docs:
rclone mount remote:path/to/files /path/to/local/mount

based on what you posted, the remote is ultra2:

Oh! I thought that was just to get into the remote server. How do I put in a specific folder within the remote? Is it in the config file? Is it part of the username@ip address?

rclone mount ultra2:folder /path/to/local/mount

to get a list of folders - rclone lsd ultra2:

Hum. Ok. So does the mount only mount to the directory they is the home directory for the user?

So my ultra2 when I log in will put me in the home folder. Is there a way to mount to a nested fold?

Maybe create the site with this

User:IP/home/nickendriks/test/

Would that work?

no.


for now, forget about complex mount command and use simple commands such as rclone lsd and rclone tree
once you figure out the full path, use that with the mount command.

I really appreciate the help. I'm not at my machine but will give it a try and report back if I have me questions.

Thank you

Thank you for the command rclone lsd ultra2

steve@NAS200:~$ rclone lsd ultra2:
          -1 2025-01-26 16:45:42        -1 .apps
          -1 2024-12-31 19:25:57        -1 .cache
          -1 2025-03-06 02:52:18        -1 .config
          -1 2024-12-31 19:09:19        -1 .gnupg
          -1 2024-12-31 19:25:31        -1 .local
          -1 2025-03-01 06:28:05        -1 .ssh
          -1 2024-12-31 19:09:19        -1 .tmp
          -1 2025-02-16 20:01:38        -1 bin
          -1 2025-03-09 19:55:22        -1 downloads
          -1 2025-01-11 18:14:45        -1 media
          -1 2025-03-16 06:52:05        -1 test
          -1 2024-12-31 19:25:32        -1 watch
          -1 2024-12-31 19:09:54        -1 webdav
          -1 2025-01-21 06:21:30        -1 www

Given this I see now that I should use ultra2:test to match up to the test folder

/usr/bin/rclone mount -vv ultra2:test /var/services/homes/steve/test

However gives me this

steve@NAS200:~$ /usr/bin/rclone mount -vv ultra2:test /var/services/homes/steve/test
2025/03/17 07:27:19 DEBUG : rclone: Version "v1.69.1" starting with parameters ["/usr/bin/rclone" "mount" "-vv" "ultra2:test" "/var/services/homes/steve/test"]
2025/03/17 07:27:19 DEBUG : Creating backend with remote "ultra2:test"
2025/03/17 07:27:19 DEBUG : Using config file from "/var/services/homes/steve/.config/rclone/rclone.conf"
2025/03/17 07:27:20 DEBUG : sftp:[server]:22/test: New connection XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX:51260->XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX:22 to "SSH-2.0-OpenSSH_8.4p1 Debian-5+deb11u4"
2025/03/17 07:27:21 DEBUG : sftp:[server]:22/test: Shell type "unix" from config
2025/03/17 07:27:21 DEBUG : sftp:[server]:22/test: Relative path resolved to "/home9/nickhendriks/test"
2025/03/17 07:27:21 DEBUG : sftp:[server]:22/test: Using root directory "/home9/nickhendriks/test"
2025/03/17 07:27:21 INFO  : sftp:[server]:22/test: poll-interval is not supported by this remote
2025/03/17 07:27:21 DEBUG : sftp:[server]:22/test: Mounting on "/var/services/homes/steve/test"
2025/03/17 07:27:21 mount helper error: fusermount3: failed to access mountpoint /volume1/homes/steve/test: Permission denied
2025/03/17 07:27:21 CRITICAL: Fatal error: failed to mount FUSE fs: fusermount: exit status 1

So closer, but I suspect that this has to do this FUSE and not rclone so I might need to go somewhere else for help.

Thanks again for the rclone lsd ultra2: recommendation.

that is a linux permission issue, not a rclone issue.

While I am not using ubuntu, I am using synology diskstation DSM 7.1 I think.

It seems like this speaks to permissions, but I am not sure I understand this. Any help pointing me to where I might get info about permissions needed would be most appreciated.
Thank you

the linux user running rclone mount needs permission to access mountpoint /volume1/homes/steve/test
afiak, as i mentioned, that is not a rclone issue. it is a basic linux file/folder permissions.

Thanks. I am reaching out to other resources to learn about this permissions. Thanks.

for now, to work around that, mount to a folder inside your homedir. something like

mkdir ~/mountpoint
/usr/bin/rclone mount ultra2:test ~/mountpoint -vv

I think that worked!

steve@NAS200:~$ mkdir ~/mountpoint
steve@NAS200:~$ /usr/bin/rclone mount ultra2:test ~/mountpoint -vv
2025/03/19 07:27:17 DEBUG : rclone: Version "v1.69.1" starting with parameters [                                                                                                                               "/usr/bin/rclone" "mount" "ultra2:test" "/var/services/homes/steve/mountpoint" "                                                                                                                               -vv"]
2025/03/19 07:27:17 DEBUG : Creating backend with remote "ultra2:test"
2025/03/19 07:27:17 DEBUG : Using config file from "/var/services/homes/steve/.c                                                                                                                               onfig/rclone/rclone.conf"
2025/03/19 07:27:18 DEBUG : sftp://user@site:22/test: New conn                                                                                                                               ection 192.168.30.111:51359->149.40.59.129:22 to "SSH-2.0-OpenSSH_8.4p1 Debian-5                                                                                                                               +deb11u4"
2025/03/19 07:27:19 DEBUG : sftp://user@site:22/test: Shell ty                                                                                                                               pe "unix" from config
2025/03/19 07:27:19 DEBUG : sftp://user@site:22/test: Relative                                                                                                                                path resolved to "/home9/[user]/test"
2025/03/19 07:27:19 DEBUG : sftp://user@site:22/test: Using ro                                                                                                                               ot directory "/home9/[user]/test"
2025/03/19 07:27:19 INFO  : sftp://user@site:22/test: poll-int                                                                                                                               erval is not supported by this remote
2025/03/19 07:27:19 DEBUG : sftp://user@site:22/test: Mounting                                                                                                                                on "/var/services/homes/steve/mountpoint"
2025/03/19 07:27:19 DEBUG : : Root:
2025/03/19 07:27:19 DEBUG : : >Root: node=/, err=<nil>