How to install Dropbox on CentOS 7 Server

Install Dropbox on CentOS 7

Dropbox is the online storage service supports Linux distros. Dropbox provides online storage to backup and store data automatically with security. It has both free and paid plan. In the free plan, it provides 2GB storage if you want more storage then you can buy paid plans. In this tutorial, you are going to learn how to install Dropbox on CentOS 7 server.

Prerequisites

Before you start to install Dropbox on CentOS. You must have the non-root user account on your server with sudo privileges.

Install Dropbox Client

Here we will first install Dropbox Client. Download Dropbox Client using the following command.

curl -Lo dropbox-linux-x86_64.tar.gz https://www.dropbox.com/download?plat=lnx.x86_64

Create a directory for Dropbox installation by using the following command.

sudo mkdir -p /opt/dropbox

Now extract the downloaded file inside /opt/dropbox directory.

sudo tar xzfv dropbox-linux-x86_64.tar.gz --strip 1 -C /opt/dropbox

Setup account for Dropbox

In this section, we will link your Dropbox account to Dropbox client on your server to do so execute the following command.

/opt/dropbox/dropboxd

You will get the following output, just copy the link given inside output and run it inside your favorite browser on your local machine.

Host ID Link:
This computer isn't linked to any Dropbox account...
Please visit https://www.dropbox.com/cli_link_nonce?nonce=3d88f2e1f2949265ebcac8d159913770 to link this device.

If you have existing Dropbox account then just Sign in otherwise create a new account on Dropbox.

Once you complete above process you will see the following output on your CentOS system.

Link success output:
This computer is now linked to Dropbox. Welcome Sammy

You have successfully linked your Dropbox account to Dropbox client. A new Dropbox directory is created inside the HOME directory to store synchronized Dropbox files. Now Enter Ctrl+c to setup Dropbox as a service.

Setup Dropbox as a Service

To set up Dropbox as a service, you should create a init script and Systemd unit file to do so enter the following command.

sudo curl -o /etc/init.d/dropbox https://gist.githubusercontent.com/thisismitch/6293d3f7f5fa37ca6eab/raw/2b326bf77368cbe5d01af21c623cd4dd75528c3d/dropbox

sudo curl -o /etc/systemd/system/dropbox.service https://gist.githubusercontent.com/thisismitch/6293d3f7f5fa37ca6eab/raw/99947e2ef986492fecbe1b7bfbaa303fefc42a62/dropbox.service

Run following script to make above files executables.

sudo chmod +x /etc/systemd/system/dropbox.service /etc/init.d/dropbox

/etc/sysconfig/dropbox file should contain system user names who will run Dropbox. Run following command to edit this file.

sudo nano /etc/sysconfig/dropbox

Set username as given in below example then save and exit the file.

DROPBOX_USERS="john"

Now reload the Systemd daemon.

sudo systemctl daemon-reload

Now start and enable Dropbox service executing following command.

sudo systemctl start dropbox && sudo systemctl enable dropbox

Install Dropbox CLI

Enter following command to download the Dropbox CLI script.

cd ~ && curl -LO https://www.dropbox.com/download?dl=packages/dropbox.py

Make the file executable by running following command.

chmod +x ~/dropbox.py

As Dropbox CLI expects ~/.dropbox-dist to contain your Dropbox installation files to do so run following command.

ln -s /opt/dropbox ~/.dropbox-dist

Now you can run Dropbox client by using following command. It will instructions for how to use Dropbox CLI.

~/dropbox.py

You can check the status of Dropbox by typing following command.

~/dropbox.py status

You should get following output

Output:
Up to date

To turn off the automatic LAN sync use following command.

~/dropbox.py lansync n

If you want more information about a specific command enter following command

~/dropbox.py help sharelink

Above command will provide you more information about sharelink command.

dropbox running

Returns 1 if running 0 if not running.

Check status of dropbox by typing

~/dropbox.py status

If Dropbox is not active then start service by running following command

~/dropbox.py start

To stop dropbox service enter following command

~/dropbox.py stop

Get sync status of Dropbox file by typing

~/dropbox.py filestatus Dropbox/test.txt

Generate shareable link for a file by typing

~/dropbox.py sharelink Dropbox/test.txt

You can exclude the directory from syncing by using the following command

~/dropbox.py exclude add Dropbox/dir1

To list excluded directories type following command

~/dropbox.py exclude list

Remove directory from excluded list typing

~/dropbox.py exclude remove Dropbox/dir1

Link Additional Dropbox Account

To link additional Dropbox account run following command then copy the given url in output.

/opt/dropbox/dropboxd

Now go to the URL given in the output and complete the authentication process.
Then add the user inside /etc/default/dropbox file.

sudo nano /etc/default/dropbox

Unlink Dropbox Account

First stop the Dropbox service.

sudo service dropbox stop

Remove the user from /etc/default/dropbox file.

sudo nano /etc/default/dropbox

Then delete Dropbox user directry using following command replacing USERNAME with the real username of system.

sudo rm -r ~/USERNAME/Dropbox

Now start the Dropbox service.

Conclusion

You have successfully learned how to install Dropbox on CentOS 7. If you have any queries don’t forget to comment below.