Connect automatically to a webdav server via pantheon (even after reboot)

Question

I am able to connect to my webdav server via Pantheon but I would like to be able to access it permanently and directly, even after reboot. Currently, it does not remember the connection and I have to establish the connection every time. Is there a way around it? Found this Pantheon-files: network server not showing after reboot but I could not understand the procedure (and I don't have enough reputation to comment on it yet, sorry about that).

Answer 1

I used the instructions here to get mine working How to mount WebDAV share using systemd. It's important to pay attention to the names of the .mount and .automount services you'll have to create, which MUST correspond to the paths of the mountpoint folders. For example: creating a mount-my-webdav.mount unit will try to mount your WebDAV share to /mount/my/webdav... it will create the folder if it does not exist :)

Although it is not obligatory for this to work, you'll also have to create a new fstab entry if you want for the mounted folder to appear in the Devices section of Pantheon Files.

I will add below the steps I took, and the contents of my files, just as a guide:

1. Create a mountpoint folder:
   sudo mkdir /media/vlad/Digi

2. Install the davfs package:
   sudo apt get install davfs2

3. Add your WebDAV server configuration to the davfs secrets file:
   sudo nano /etc/davfs2/secrets and paste at the end a line something like this:
   "https://webdav.server/share/path" webdav_user "webdav_password"

4. Create a new .mount service, with the name of the service reflecting the mount folder path from 1:
   sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/media-vlad-Digi.mount with the following contents:

[Unit]  
Description=Mount personal WebDAV  
After=network-online.target  
Wants=network-online.target  

[Mount]  
What="https://webdav.server/share/path"  
Where=/media/vlad/Digi  
Options=noauto,user,uid=vlad,gid=vlad  
Type=davfs  
TimeoutSec=60  

[Install]  
WantedBy=remote-fs.target

5. Create a new .automount service:
   sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/media-vlad-Digi.automount containing:

[Unit]
Description=Automount personal WebDAV
After=network-online.target
Wants=network-online.target

[Automount]
Where=/media/vlad/Digi
TimeoutIdleSec=300

[Install]
WantedBy=remote-fs.target

6. Reload systemd manager configuration:
   sudo systemctl daemon-reload

7. Enable the services:
   sudo systemctl enable media-vlad-Digi.mount
sudo systemctl enable media-vlad-Digi.automount

8. Create e fstab entry for your new mount folder: sudo nano /etc/fstab and add a new line like this one:
   https://webdav.server:443/share/path /media/vlad/Digi davfs user,noauto 0 0

9. Verify it all works well:
   sudo systemctl start media-vlad-Digi.automount
sudo systemctl status media-vlad-Digi.mount

● media-vlad-Digi.mount - Mount personal WebDAV
   Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/system/media-vlad-Digi.mount; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
   Active: active (mounted) since Thu 2019-12-12 22:04:08 EET; 18min ago
    Where: /media/vlad/Digi
     What: https://webdav.server:443/share/path
  Process: 3532 ExecUnmount=/bin/umount /media/vlad/Digi -c (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
  Process: 3865 ExecMount=/bin/mount "https://webdav.server:443/share/path" /media/vlad/Digi -t davfs -o user,uid=vlad,gid=vlad 
    Tasks: 1 (limit: 4915)
   CGroup: /system.slice/media-vlad-Digi.mount
           └─3867 /sbin/mount.davfs "https://webdav.server:443/share/path" /media/vlad/Digi -o rw noexec nosuid nodev uid=1000 g

10. Reboot & Enjoy!

IMPORTANT:

1. In the commands above replace vlad with you user name, obviously, and https://webdav.server:443/share/path with your WebDAV server's domain and path

2. If, after reboot you find yourself staring at a black screen, with some white text, it means the fstab entry contains some errors. Press Ctrl + D followed by nano /etc/fstab. Comment the line you added at step 8 by placing a # at it's beginning and reboot.

3. When using the nano editor, use Ctrl + O to save the file, and Ctrl + X to exit nano.

4. You must run sudo systemctl daemon-reload after editing the .mount and .automount files.

5. Depending on the speed of your network adapters, you might sometimes find that your WebDAV share appears twice in Files, under Devices. If it bothers you too much, comment the entry you added in fstab.