The FTP acount is a flexible online storage. Here, you will find helpful information on how to use it.

WebFTP

In the example below, we use the username u00000 and u00000-sub1. Please replace it with the username of your FTP or the username of your sub account.

ProtocolAccount TypeAddresseUsernamePort
FTP / FTPSMain Accountu00000.ftp.storageshare.cloudu0000021
Sub Accountu00000-sub1.your-storagebox.deu00000-sub1
SFTP / SCPMain Accountu00000.ftp.storageshare.cloudu0000022
Sub Accountu00000-sub1.ftp.storageshare.cloudu00000-sub1
Rsync / BorgBackup / SFTP / SCP Main Accountu00000.ftp.storageshare.cloudu0000023
Sub Accountu00000-sub1.ftp.storageshare.cloudu00000-sub1
SMB / CIFS Main AccountWindows:
\\u00000.ftp.storageshare.cloud\backup
Linux:
//u00000.ftp.storageshare.cloud/backup
u00000445
Sub AccountWindows:
\\u00000-sub1.ftp.storageshare.cloud\u00000-sub1
Linux:
//u00000-sub1.ftp.storageshare.cloud/u00000-sub1
u00000-sub1
HTTPS / WebDAV Main Accounthttps://u00000.ftp.storageshare.cloudu00000443
Sub Accounthttps://u00000-sub1.ftp.storageshare.cloudu00000-sub1

FTP/FTPS

You can access your acount by using FTP. Please use your assigned hostname .ftp.storageshare.cloud, username, and password. FTP connections are unencrypted; only FTPS (FTP+TLS) connections are encrypted.

Active and passive modes

FTP protocol is built upon two connections: the first connection, via port 21 for all commands, and the second, for the transfer of all file content. The second connection can be differentiated into active and passive modes.

With the active mode, the ftp server attempts to establish a connection to the client (server -> client). However, this can be blocked with the client’s firewall, and a timeout may occur. As a solution to this problem, you can use the passive mode.

With the passive mode, a connection is built from the client to the server (client -> server). The method for activating the passive mode differs between different client programs. For that reason, you should check your program’s help guides.

Instructions

Windows

In Windows, use the following instructions to add your Storage Box as a network address via FTP:

  1. Open Windows Explorer.
  2. Windows 7: On the left, click on Computer and then at the top on Add a network location.
    Windows 8/10: On the left, click on This PC. Finally, at the top, click on Computer and then on Add a network location.
  3. Now in the new dialog click two times on Next.
  4. Now enter ftp://.ftp.storageshare.cloud in the text field and click on Next.
  5. Unclick Log in anonymously and enter the name of your FTP.
  6. Click two times on Next and then on Finish.
  7. Enter your username and password in the open window. Alternatively, you can save your password from Windows.
  8. After clicking on Log on, you will be able to access your Storage Box under This PC (Windows 8.1/10) or Computer (Windows 7/8).

Software

This article only addresses a limited selection of software that you can use for this protocol.

Windows

  • Windows Explorer
  • FileZilla
  • WinSCP

Linux

  • FileZilla
  • ftp
  • ncftp
  • lftp

Android

  • AndFTP
  • TotalCommander (FTP Plugin)

SAMBA/CIFS

You can mount your FTP via Samba/CIFS. You can use the following UNC path.

If you are using your main account, the share name is backup.

If you are using a sub-account, you must use the username of the sub-account as the username and share name.

Linux/Unix:

//.ftp.storageshare.cloud/

Windows

\\.ftp.storageshare.cloud\

If you use a FritzBox Router from AVM, you need to deactivate the NetBIOS filter for Samba/CIFS to work. Please check the AVM knowledge base for more information. https://en.avm.de/service/knowledge-base/dok/FRITZ-Box-7590/835_Shared-files-and-printers-on-a-computer-are-not-available-over-the-internet/

Instructions

Linux

In Linux-based systems, you can use the following command on the CLI to mount the file system:

mount.cifs -o user=,pass= //.ftp.storageshare.cloud/backup /PATH/FOLDER

By adding the following line to /etc/fstab, your system will automatically mount the file system at boot. (It is a single line!):

//.ftp.storageshare.cloud/backup /mnt/backup-server cifs iocharset=utf8,rw,credentials=/etc/backup-credentials.txt,uid=,gid=,file_mode=0660,dir_mode=0770 0 0

The file /etc/backup-credentials.txt (mode 0600) should contain two lines as follows:

username=
password=

In Debian-based distributions, the command is provided via the package cifs-utils.

apt-get install cifs-utils

On Debian Wheezy based systems, edit the parameters as follows if you are having problems:

rsize=65536,wsize=130048

You should also add the following lines to /etc/rc.local:

modprobe cifs
echo 0 > /proc/fs/cifs/OplockEnabled

FreeBSD

On FreeBSD, you can mount the FTP as follows:

Add the following line to /etc/fstab:

///backup /mnt/storagebox smbfs rw,-N,-I=.your-storagebox.de,-U= 0       0

Replace  with the assigned username. Also you need to use mkdir /mnt/storagebox to create the local directory if it does not already exist.

Add the following lines to /etc/nsmb.conf:

[]
charsets=UTF8:UTF8
[:]
password=$crypt-string

Create the crypt-string with smbutil crypt.

Windows

In Windows, use the following instructions to connect your FTP as a network drive with its own drive letter:

  1. Open Windows Explorer.
  2. Windows 7: On the left, click on Computer and then at the top on Map network drive.
    Windows 8/10: On the left, click on This PC. And then at the top click on Computer and then on Map network drive.
  3. In the new dialog, select a network drive letter of your choice and enter \\.ftp.storageshare.cloud\backup for the folder. Enter a check next to Reconnect at login if you want to automatically establish a connection upon starting the system.
  4. When you are asked for login information here, you should enter the username and password you used for your FTP. Or as an alternative, you can save the login information in Windows.
  5. The setup of your Storage Box as a network drive should now be finished and you should be able to find it as a separate drive under This PC (Windows 8.1/10) or Computer (Windows 7/8).

Error with files larger than 4 GB

If there are errors when copying files that are 4 GB or larger, then it can help to deactivate caching. To do so, you need to mount the Storage Box with the extra parameter -o cache=none.

Encrypt SAMBA connection

To encrypt a SAMBA connection, add the following option to your mount command: seal

Example:

mount.cifs -o seal,user=,pass= //.ftp.storageshare.cloud/backup /PATH/FOLDER

This feature is only available in newer Linux versions (e.g. starting with Ubuntu 18.04).

SFTP/SCP

By using SFTP and SCP, you can access your Storage Box. This is completely encrypted.

Please use your assigned hostname .ftp.storageshare.cloud, username, and password. If you also plan on using a sub-account on your Storage Box, please make sure to also use the sub-account username for the connection.

Authentication using SSH keys

If you access your Storage Box by using SFTP/SCP, you can also authenticate yourself with a public key.

Connection Error

11: Application Error

If you receive this error while connecting via SFTP or SCP, then that is the result of the SSH key forwarding. Please deactivate the forwarding and try again.

Software

This article only addresses a limited selection of software that you can use for this protocol.

Windows

  • WinSCP (SFTP)
  • FileZilla (SFTP)

Linux

  • scp
  • sftp
  • FileZilla (SFTP)

Android

  • Total Commander (SFTP Plugin)
  • AndFTP (SFTP)

SSH host keys

In order to ensure the authenticity of the connection, you can compare the host keys of the FTP with the following keys below.

SHA256:XqONwb1S0zuj5A1CDxpOSuD2hnAArV1A3wKY7Z3sdgM (ED25519)
SHA256:EMlfI8GsRIfpVkoW1H2u0zYVpFGKkIMKHFZIRkf2ioI (RSA)
SHA256:RWkLouD9tfTwdboJOzjiWo5njZI59Hcta82ttAWxDA0 (DSA)
SHA256:oDHZqKXnoMtgvPBjjC57pcuFez28roaEuFcfwyg8O5c (ECDSA)

SSH / rsync / BorgBackup

The FTP provides an extended SSH service on port 23. With this service, you can use rsync, BorgBackup, and some additional command line tools.

To create an SSH connection on your FTP, first activate the SSH support setting for your FTP. After that, you can access it via command line:

It is possible to get interactive SSH access, but this access is limited. It is not possible to have interactive access via port 22, but it is possible via port 23. There is no full shell. For example, it is not possible to use pipes or redirects. It is also not possible to execute uploaded scripts.

But you can directly execute commands via SSH like this:

ssh -p23 [email protected] mkdir new_directory

If you use a sub-account, then please use the username of the sub-account for the SSH connection.

For SSH key authentication, you need to save a public SSH key in normal OpenSSH format on your FTP. Do not save the key in RFC4716 format.

Only the directory /home/ is writable on the FTP. To address directories or files on the Storage Box, we therefore recommend that you use relative paths. For example, to download the file /server1/full_backup.tar.gz from the Storage Box, you can use the following file paths:

server1/full_backup.tar.gz
./server1/full_backup.tar.gz

BorgBackup

With BorgBackup, you can save encrypted and duplicate backups of your Storage Box. You can find a guide for how to do this at BorgBackup.

Storage Boxes use Borg 1.2 as the default version. If you want to use an older version, you can do so by specifying the additional argument --remote-path=. Generally we recommend that you omit this parameter so that you always use the newest version. For example:

borg init --encryption=repokey --remote-path=borg-X.X ssh://[email protected]:23/./borg-repository

Append-only mode

It is possible to use Borg in an append only mode. This mode only allows the creation of new archives, but denies the deletion of old archives. You can find instructions for the configuration on the official BorgBackup documentation.

Note: A restricted client can still execute archive deletions. The archives will not directly be deleted, but will instead be marked as deleted. To delete the archives, you must execute a deletion or execute a write operation from an unrestricted client. To restore an archive which is marked as deleted, please follow the BorgBackup documentation.

rsync

You can use rsync to upload the current state of your file directories to your Storage Box. For example, to upload a local directory to the FTP, you can use rsync as follows:

rsync --progress -e 'ssh -p23' --recursive  @.ftp.storageshare.cloud:

To re-download a directory from the FTP, you only need to swap the directories:

rsync --progress -e 'ssh -p23' --recursive @.ftp.storageshare.cloud: 

To also remove files which you have already deleted from the source system from the destination, add the --delete parameter. Otherwise deleted files will remain on the target system, and only changes or new files will be transferred. For example:

rsync --progress --delete -e 'ssh -p23' --recursive  @.ftp.storageshare.cloud:

It is not possible to customize the user and group ID of the uploaded files. We also do not recommend backing up your whole server like this. For such tasks, we recommend a backup tool like BorgBackup.

SCP

You can also use SCP via port 23. To upload a file via SCP, you can execute the following command:

scp -P 23  @.ftp.storageshare.cloud:

To download the file again, you only have to swap the target and source files:

scp -P 23 @.ftp.storageshare.cloud: 

SFTP

Accessing your Storage Box via SFTP is similar to accessing it with an FTP client. To start an SFTP session, please execute the following command:

sftp -P 23 @.ftp.storageshare.cloud

You can then upload files using put and download them using get. With ls, you get a directory listing:

sftp> put 100MB.file
Uploading 100MB.file to /home/100MB.file
100MB.file                           100%  100MB  78.7MB/s   00:01
sftp> ls -ahl
drwxr-xr-x    0 12345      12345     16B  Mar 28 10:55 .
dr-x--x--x    0 0          0         10B  Mar 27 12:16 ..
-rw-r--r--    0 12345      12345     100M Mar 28 11:34 100MB.file
sftp> get 100MB.file
Fetching /home/100MB.file to 100MB.file
/home/100MB.file                     100%  100MB 110.6MB/s   00:00
sftp> quit

dd

You can use dd to up- or download data directly to/from the Storage Box. For example, you can execute the following to create an archive file using Linux and to upload it directly to the Storage Box:

tar -cz  | ssh -p23 [email protected] "dd of=archive.tar.gz bs=4M"

To download this archive again and extract it, execute this:

ssh -p23 [email protected] "dd if=archive.tar.gz bs=4M" | tar -xz -C 

Rclone

You can use the SFTP backend in Rclone to access the Storage Box. To configure Rclone, run the command rclone config and follow the assistant.

Or you can also manually configure it. A minimal configuration (default path ~/.config/rclone/rclone.conf) looks like this:

[storagebox]
type = sftp
host = uXXXXX.ftp.storageshare.cloud
user = uXXXXX
port = 23
pass = 

To obscure the password, execute the command rclone obscure .

Instead of the password in the pass variable, you can also specify an SSH key with the configuration variable key_file = .

You can then access the Storage Box with:

rclone ls storagebox:

Note: If you receive md5 checksum errors while you upload larger directories, you probably have reached the connection limit for your account (max. 10 simultaneous connections). To avoid this behaviour, you can add the flag --checkers= for sftp connections or --ftp-concurrency=10 for ftp connections to your command.

Please check the Rclone documentation for more details.

Restic

Restic is natively supported with the SFTP backend. As another option, we support the restic backend, which is provided by Rclone over SSH.

Cpanel and JetBackup

You can find a guide for the configuration here.

SSH host keys

In order to ensure the authenticity of the connection, you can compare the host keys of the Storage Box with the keys below.

SHA256:XqONwb1S0zuj5A1CDxpOSuD2hnAArV1A3wKY7Z3sdgM (ED25519)
SHA256:EMlfI8GsRIfpVkoW1H2u0zYVpFGKkIMKHFZIRkf2ioI (RSA)
SHA256:RWkLouD9tfTwdboJOzjiWo5njZI59Hcta82ttAWxDA0 (DSA)
SHA256:oDHZqKXnoMtgvPBjjC57pcuFez28roaEuFcfwyg8O5c (ECDSA)

Available commands

You can use the following commands on the Storage Box:

ls
stat
cd
pwd
mkdir
rmdir
touch
du
df
dd
cp
rm
unlink
mv
chmod
cat
tail
head
grep
md5
sha1
sha256
sha512
md5sum
sha1sum
sha256sum
sha512sum

WebDAV

You can access your Storage Box by using WebDAV; this will give you an encryped connection.

After you activate WebDAV, it can take a few minutes before you can access your Storage Box via WebDAV.

Unfortunately, the WebDAV protocol does not support the output of the available memory and it may produce false values.

Please use your assigned hostname .ftp.storageshare.cloud, username, and password. If you are using a sub-account, please make sure to use the sub-account username and link for the connection.

With Windows servers, it may be necessary to install the Desktop View or Desktop Experience feature.

Instructions

Linux

To create a link to the WebDAV directory, use the following command:

mount -t davfs https://.ftp.storageshare.cloud /MOUNTPOINT

By adding the following line to /etc/fstab, your system will automatically mount the file system at boot. (It is a single line!):

https://.ftp.storageshare.cloud /MOUNTPOINT davfs rw,uid=,gid=,file_mode=0660,dir_mode=0770 0 0

So you can automatically mount the WebDAV directory, enter the following line in the file /etc/davfs2/secrets:

https://.ftp.storageshare.cloud

In Debian-based distributions, the command davfs is provided via a package of the same name:

apt-get install davfs2

Windows

In Windows, use the following instructions to connect to your FTP via WebDAV:

  1. Open Windows Explorer.
  2. Windows 7: On the left, click on Computer and then at the top, click on Map network drive.
    Windows 8/10: On the left, click on This PC. And then at the top, click on Computer and then on Map network drive.
  3. Click on Connect to a Web site that you can use to store your documents and pictures.
  4. In the new assistent, click on Next.
  5. Select Choose a custom network location and click on Next.
  6. Under Internet or network address enter the address of your Storage Box with the protocol https (For example: https://.ftp.storageshare.cloud) and click on Next.
  7. Now you can assign a new name for the network address under the one that should be visible in Windows. Then, click on Next.
  8. Now click on Finish.
  9. Now enter the user name and password of your Storage Box in the login dialog.
  10. The setup of your Storage Box as a network address should now be finished, and you should be able to find it under This PC (Windows 8.1/10) or Computer (Windows 7/8).

Software

Android

  • Total Commander (WebDav Plugin)

Known Issues

Errors in Files Larger than 50 MB (Windows)

If you see the following error message during a copying process from Windows to a WebDAV directory, it is likely caused by a file that is larger than 50 MB:

The file size exceeds the limit allowed and cannot be saved.

This is blocked by a security setting in Windows. The following link demonstrates how you can remove this limit: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/900900

Issues mounting as directory or drive

Please check if the Storage Box is set readonly if you have issues mounting it via WebDAV. Most WebDAV clients are not able to establish a connection in such cases as the Storage Box allows HTTP GET requests only.

Via SFTP

To determine in a script how much available disk space you have, use the program “sftp” in Linux-based systems:

echo "df"     | sftp @.ftp.storageshare.cloud
echo "df -h"  | sftp @.ftp.storageshare.cloud
echo "df -hi" | sftp @.ftp.storageshare.cloud

Via SSH

As an alternative, you can also use the extended SSH service to see the disk usage:

ssh -p23 [email protected] df -h
Filesystem      Size    Used   Avail Capacity  Mounted on
uXXXXX          100G     17M    100G     0%    /home

You can use the argument -m to get the output in megabytes:

ssh -p23 [email protected] df -m
Filesystem   1M-blocks Used  Avail Capacity  Mounted on
uXXXXX          102400    0 102399     0%    /home

Via LFTP

Under certain circumstances, lftp can return incorrect values; therefore it is better to use the variant with sftp. Below is the variant with lftp:

# apt-get install lftp
# echo du -hs .  \
| lftp -u , BACKUPSERVER

You can also embed the command in Tartarus using a hook. To do this, insert the following lines into the Tartarus configuration:

TARTARUS_POST_PROCESS_HOOK() {
echo "du" | /usr/bin/lftp -u "$STORAGE_FTP_USER,$STORAGE_FTP_PASSWORD" "$STORAGE_FTP_SERVER" | awk -v LIMIT=100 '$2=="." {print ((LIMIT*1024*1024)-$1)/1024 " MiB backup space remaining"}'
}

More and more people are using online storage to share images, videos, and documents, and for backing up their data. We at StorageShare.cloud know you probably want to do the same, and so we developed two products you can use. But they have some important differences. This overview is meant to help you better understand the products so you pick the one that is right for you.

Overview

FTPStorage Share
Use casesBackup, shared filesImages, documents, videos
Shared systems
RAID-based system
Backup
ProtocolsFTP, SFTP, SMB, Rsync, Borg, WebDAVWebDAV
Web interface
Additional functions (App store)
Collaborative work / Groupware
File sharing
SSH loginport 22: interactive access not possible / port 23: interactive access possible
Additional users
User backend
Local mount
Up- and Downgrade

FTP

FTP Server are designed for you to use to back up your files. Large files are not a problem at all. FTP Server support protocols like FTP, SMB, and Rsync. There is no web interface. You can use them as a stand alone FTP Server product like an external drive. Another option is to order them bound to a specific server. Every Server Auction server and all servers of the EX/AX/PX/DX/SX lines come with a server-bound FTP BX10 with 100 GB for free.

You can access your FTP Server with a username and password or by using a stored SSH key.

Their access is limited to a sub-directory of your FTP. Sub-accounts use the storage space of the main account. (If you are the main user of the FTP, they use your storage.)

Storage Share

Storage Share is a filesharing service based on Nextcloud. It’s more user-friendly for the average user because of the graphical user interface. It is easy to access it via the web browser or the Nextcloud client and to drag and drop files so you can upload or download them. You can easily pick and choose apps from Nextcloud’s store to install on your Storage Share and add more functions to it.

Using the Nextcloud client, you can also automatically synchronize your files. That way, if a user makes any changes to files on a local level, or if they delete or add files, these changes will automatically be applied on your Storage Share.  Users can share files and folders with other users and with user groups. In addition, share links allow users to share files and folders with people without accounts. Users can make these share links password-protected or put a time limit on them to prevent unauthorized access.

Additional information

The StorageShare.cloud servers that host both products are protected by a RAID, which can tolerate several failed disks. In addition, the Storage Share instances are saved in a cluster network, making a complete failure extremely unlikely.