Setup a home network with ssh

[User2016]

Hi everyone

I am new to this forum but also to this situation.

I would like to set up a home network that allows me to share a drive, accessible to anyone in my home network (provided I allow them access to it)
I have a virgin router.
The intention is have an external hard drive, create folders in it:

An admin can access all of these folders, all users can access the public folder and then their respective folder (A,B or C) depending on their permission

Folder A
Folder B
Folder C
Folder Public

I would like to achieve this using ssh so that ,if my device is authorised to access that folder (e.g tablet,smartphone) then I can simply access it without providing any logging details.

I currently put videos in my usb and put the usb in my TV to watch it and I'd like to change this so that the TV can access the Public folder on the network and play any video in there.

I hope the above explanation is clear and hope to get some help.

Thank you

 

[frowertr]

External drive?

So you just want to share a drive to your internal network, right? You just need a NAS. SSH has nothing to do with this.

 

[tsupersonic]

Simplest option is a NAS. You can roll your own or buy one (ex: Synology, Qnap, etc.). Though they can be expensive, Synology is nice. I've been using a simple 2 bay Synology NAS, and have a video folder that's shared out to all users. This is how I watch content on my TV. You can also create shared folders and limit access depending on user account.

Of course there are other (cheaper) ways of doing this...

 

[AnonymouseUser]

Network issues aside, what TV? If it's a smart TV, or if you have a Roku, Apple TV, or any similar device, then you can install Plex to stream videos to those devices. It's a great app for streaming local content, and it's free. It can even stream to remote devices, if that is what you are attempting to achieve.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Is there a reason you want to use SSH? You can look into SSHFS. Though for local I'd just use NFS or SMB.

 

[User2016]

Thank you everyone for the great and prompt replies.

I came across NAS before, sounds like what I am looking for;however I don't want to spend any money on the hardware.
I currently have a western digital passport HDD that I would like to plug somewhere and be able to access it throughout my local network. Do you think this is achievable? from what @tsupersonic is saying, I assume is possible,right?

I have two smart TVs, one is a Panasonic Viera,not sure about the other but I'll check it; both TVs are smart TVs with wifi and USB etc etc.

Streaming videos it's not a bad thing, I usually have bluray movies in my usb,so not sure how effective streaming will be; on the other hand, I understand that streaming will be more beneficial in terms of being able to watch any video format,something that I can't do because of the restrictions smart tvs have currently.

The reason of using SSH is because I believe is secure, eventually, I want to be able to access some folders from outside (the internet) and feel like SSH is the way to go. However,if you believe there's a better option with less headache and still secure then I will be glad to implement that instead.

Thank you

 

[frowertr]

Ssh has nothing to do with what you want. Ssh is like telnet on encryption steroids (basically). You wouldn't even use it for file transfers as there are better protocols to use that specialize in this.

If you have a drive you want to share on your home network, you just need to share out the drive via the computer you have it connected to. You can do a search for Windows drive sharing on Google and get tons of tutorials on how to do it.

 

[sdifox]

Do you want to download the files externally or do you want to stream?

 

[PliotronX]

While SSH won't do what you're looking for, check out Seafile and ownCloud; it is a bit tricky to enable HTTPS for them but once it works, you can sync files securely with phones and PCs. Pretty damn slick. I love being able to sync stuff with my file server securely. I am a cheap bastard and used a self signed SSL with a dynamic host name but it works! Even if SSH could suit the task, the open port will be pounded by probes all the time (got a super long log of the kinds of usernames they use if anyone wants to see!).

 

[AnonymouseUser]

I currently have a western digital passport HDD that I would like to plug somewhere and be able to access it throughout my local network. Do you think this is achievable?

What router do you have? Most newer routers can share files from a USB drive over the local network, some can share files over the internet as well. The biggest problem with using a router as a NAS is that some have very poor USB transfer speeds, but it still might suffice and could cost you nothing to implement.

While SSH won't do what you're looking for, check out Seafile and ownCloud; it is a bit tricky to enable HTTPS for them but once it works

I use ownCloud myself (via Ubuntu docker) and love it, but setup can be tricky for beginners and it only runs under *nix. If you do go this route you could use a pre-configured VM for an easy install. Just whatever you do, don't use ownCloud or Seafile remotely without SSL encryption.

 

[John Connor]

I use Filezilla as a FTP server. You can assign levels of access via users or groups.

My FTP client is WinSCP. I even use the AndFTP App on my phone and can access my FTP server anywhere. The Team Viewer App helps too.