Looking for a download...

[Michael Kennedy]

Hello, I'm looking for an Windows app that can  open an SSH connection to a server and then map that connection to a Windows drive letter.  That way I can open the SSH connection to my home PC and use Homesite or whatever and edit files on the "Y:" drive or whatever it maps to.  This is because on of the main features I look for in a web editor is the ability to edit files on remote server seemlessly without having to download/upload them myself.  I've not found one that can do this with SSH connections so if I can trick the editor into thinking "y:" is just a slow drive I'll be set and won't have to open FTP on my home PC.

I've tried two programs- Internet Neighborhood and Web Drive, but both hang on on the connection.  (They connect, but they seem like they're waiting for something to come from the server that never comes and the app drops the connection.)

Any help is much appreciated.  I'm going to fight with these some more, but if anyone has something like this that works let me know.  Thanks.

[Peter Motyka]

I dont think there is a way to have SSH do what you are looking to do.  SSH can tunnel tcp/ip ports over a connection, but I dont think it can emulate a drive mapping.  This could be used to make insecure protocols secure, i.e. vnc, smb, pop3 etc.

I would advise just using smb.  If you are on a relativly high speed internet connection it should work fine.  I use Charter cable service and am able to use smb to get to siue SOENT servers.  All I did was map a network drive to \\csfs2.siue.edu\students\motykowp and I am able to access my home directory.

If the system you are trying to access does not run smb, then perhaps you could use nfs?  Give us a better description of the system you are trying to connect to and then I can elaborate on a few more ideas I have.

Peter

[Stiffler]

One of the FTP programs I used to use had an option to put drive letters in My Computer and when you double click on it, it opens like C: would open. The transfer were done via FTP and I'm sure that it can do FTP over SSH. I don't remember which one it was though. You can try search for "FTP SSH My Computer" in google. I will also look for it. I think I found it at tucows. Hope this is the right direction.

Jon

[Peter Motyka]

I think the program you are talking about is called FTP Explorer by IPswitch.  It use to be a standalone software product, but now seems to be embedded in WS_FTP pro.  It provided a really nice explorer interface to ftp sites, but I am not sure about the drive letter setup.  You might want to download the eval and check it out.

Peter

[Stiffler]

FTP Explorer sounds familliar. Of course I tried a lot of clients trying to find the perfect one. I found out there is no such thing.  :-(

Jon

[Michael Kennedy]

Yeah, I've used FTP Explorer a bit.  One reason why the SSH is perferable to SMB and/or NFS is that I have 3 or 4 servers I'd like to connect to and all have SSH access, but not all will allow SMB or NFS.  I'll research my problem a bit more and report back here if i have any luck.  The worst thing is that it seems to conenect, but eventually times out because my app seems to be waiting on a reply from the server that never comes.  And of course, the logging is horrible so I can't see the problem.  To make it worse a search of "SSH" on their site only brings me to a page explaining the settings for each connection.   :-(

[Michael Kennedy]

FYI- Web Drive is working great now.  It was a ProFTPd configuration problem.  Apparently, not allowing anyone without a local IP to connect is a problem when you aren't using a local IP.  Who woulda quessed...

So far i'd really suggest using this app if it fits your needs.