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Forum Discussion
Sharing a local Dropbox folder over NFS
I understand why I cannot make my Dropbox folder on an NFS-mounted filesystem, as per https://help.dropbox.com/installs-integrations/desktop/move-dropbox-folder
As far as I understand, this only ap...
I have multiple computers in my house, and I do not want to use space on each machine for separate copies my Dropbox folder.
Since I already keep a lot of my files on an NFS server, ideally, I could just put my Dropbox on the NFS server. The server would thus handle all the syncing. Since the volume that is being shared is regular ext4, my understanding is that the server will see at as such (instead of as a share). The mere fact that that same folder is being shared to other computers over NFS should not make the underlying filesystem "unsupported", right?
If I am understanding correctly, the server OS should know about any changes made by clients, and thus Dropbox on the host will also know (or so I hope).
The only sticking point I can think of is file permissions, which I should be able to deal with using ACL rules on the server. Anything I'm not think of?
Lusil
Dropbox Staff
Dropbox StaffThanks for clarifying that for me, Hank_J.
I wouldn't recommend following this setup due to unexpected behaviors can occur.
Nonetheless, I'll leave the thread open for any other users who mayhave any additional input or ideas on this.
In the meantime, if you have any other questions, just give me a shout. Cheers!
OK thanks, but can you be more specific about "unexpected behaviors"? Would these be things like permissions changes (and would they be made by the system or Dropbox)? Or does sharing a folder out as NFS interfere with the host OS's ability to track changes and inform Dropbox?
What exactly are the technical barriers to making this possible?- Lusil
The setup that you're describing isn't one we'd recommend as it can result in unwanted and unpredictable behaviors, such as permission errors, file conflicts, or even data loss.
I understand that this isn't the ideal reply you were looking for, but I hope it helps to some extent. Let us know if you have any other questions, Hank_J!
