Set Up Dropbox Client on Rocky Linux 8 or CentOS 8

This guide will be helpful for all who want to synchronize files between a CentOS 8/7 server or Rocky Linux 8 and cloud storage. By following simple instructions, you can easily set everything up via the command line.

Dropbox is extremely popular service that is used by lots of users because of its convenience and availability of client apps for macOS, Windows, Android, Linux, and iOS. Once, everything is installed the synchronization between the local device and the cloud occurs seamlessly, so its choice can be extremely beneficial for a variety of users. For CentOS 8 Linux server users who don’t have an actual graphic interface, there are still plenty of pluses that come with Dropbox usage. That’s why, here we will discuss lots of aspects of setting up this cloud service and some peculiarities of usage for CentOS 8 servers.   

Installing Dropbox Headless on a CentOS 8 Server via Command Line

Begin by Starting the SSH Server

According to the default configuration, OpenSSH is already present in CentOS 8, which means you don’t need to install it. Nevertheless, there might be a scenario when it is not installed then the next line will help with the process:

sudo dnf install openssh-server

Then start the SSH server with:

sudo systemctl start sshd

Here, we will need SSH, because the installation of Dropbox requires a link to the login account with the cloud and you will definitely need a browser for this purpose. From the CentOS CLI server, it will be a challenging process to use it on other system’s browser. So, the best idea will be to start a Command prompt (Windows) or terminal (GUI Linux) for accessing the CLI server. The MobaXterm will be used for the Windows system.

For those who use other Windows or Linux systems, just open the terminal and type:

Ssh username@server-ip

For instance, in case your CentOS 8 Linux IP is 234.123.0.323 and the name is Jim then the access to the SSH will look like this:

ssh jim@234.123.0.323

Update Your System

After the initial step of accessing the server, updating seams a fairly easy process. For a smoother process, you need to know that all the packages are updated so use the following line:

sudo dnf update

If for some reason, you don’t plan to update the system, then you can rebuild the repo instead with the following command:

sudo dnf makecache

Install Wget

Prior to the final stage of actual Dropbox installation on Centos 8, let’s start with one more important tool which is called Wget. It is required for the package download.

sudo dnf install wget

Once the tool is installed you will see the notification about the completion of the process.

Download and Extract the Headless Dropbox Daemon

The next important step in this process is the download and extraction of the Dropbox daemon. The archive of the folder will be immediately extracted to the “dropbox-disk” by using the following command:

cd ~ && wget -O - "https://www.dropbox.com/download?plat=lnx.x86_64" | tar xzf -

Launch the Dropbox Daemon

After the extraction to the home directory of the server, it is needed to launch Dropbox Daemon. With the launch, the folder will be created for the file sync, and you will also receive a link that will be needed for logging in to the account.

~/.dropbox-dist/dropboxd

In case, you see the error with opening shared object files on your screen, then it is not a big deal. All, you need to do in this case is copy of library name and install it as it wasn’t detected by the server. This issue might occur lots of times with various library names so just follow the standard procedure until the problem disappears. The command for solving this error is the following:

dnf install <library_name>

Copy the Account Connection Link

After running the daemon, you will receive a link that should be copied. If the command stops, you can use the link again and run it with ~/.dropbox-dist/dropboxd.

When the computer cannot link to the Dropbox account, you need to open the browser and type the link, fill in credentials, add permission, and press connect. After you have done everything, your computer will be linked and you will see the notification in the command line.  

Set Up Dropbox as a System Service

According to the default characteristics, the headless cloud client won’t function with the system boot, and it will be accessible until the daemon is run manually by the user. That’s why, it is extremely important to follow this step of creation system service. After setting up Dropbox as a system service, it will be kept active in the background. To do this, we will need Systemd file on GitHub.

The content of the file includes the unit, service, and installation parts. To download it and saving use the following line:

sudo wget -O /etc/systemd/system/dropbox@.service
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/joeroback/dropbox/master/dropbox%40.service

Enable and Start the Dropbox Headless System Service

For the enabling service you will need to use the following command line (the process will be done at the boot level):

sudo systemctl enable dropbox@$(whoami)

The next step will be the following:

sudo systemctl start dropbox@$(whoami)

And of course, don’t forget to check the status with the following line:

sudo systemctl status dropbox@$(whoami)

If everything was done correctly, you will see a green active status on your window and the date when it was enabled, and also information about the Main PID, tasks, memory, and others.

Access the Synced Folder

After that on your Centos 8 system, all the folders and files that are created in the folder will be immediately synced with the cloud. To access the folder under the home directory use the:

cd ~/Dropbox

Hope, that now you have a clear understanding of how to set up a Dropbox client on Rocky Linux 8 or CentOS 8. For other Linux systems, the process might slightly differ so you should check the instructions about your OS specifically before starting anything.