

OP said they DON’T want LUKS. I’m also missing how the admin of the server (OP) wouldn’t have or store the keys unless and have these mounts available at all times?
You seem to be suggesting there is some way for a remote user to mount a LUKS image on its host, which is not a thing unless you’re first SSH’ing to said host and mounting it and making it available for export mount elsewhere, which is clearly not what OP is asking for here when they just want space for people to store media. Maybe I’m misunderstanding.
There Hook, Filen, Yeetfile, BatchIT…tons of these self-hosted stacks that do this with auth and user management built in. That’s what OP is asking about.




Bud…been doing this for 20 years. Don’t need your explainer.
The fact you didn’t mention the barest of minimums in your comment if where the issue lies. You’re just adding stacks on stacks of things by using any other network mount and having the user manage an encrypted image inside that mount. Also absent from what you were trying to explain. I’d work on that.
Point being, for a multi-user/tenant utility like OP is asking for, there are better tools for the job, of which I just named a couple standalone options. If they are running TrueNAS, Synology, or QNAP, or even NextCloud, there are already built-ins for this purpose, and apps to match.
If not, any of the other solutions I mentioned are much better suited for the use-case, especially, and if not only because, OP specifically said they DID NOT want exactly what you’re describing.