diff --git a/python/vyos/remote.py b/python/vyos/remote.py
index f683a6d5a..0bc2ee7f8 100644
--- a/python/vyos/remote.py
+++ b/python/vyos/remote.py
@@ -1,214 +1,413 @@
 # Copyright 2021 VyOS maintainers and contributors <maintainers@vyos.io>
 #
 # This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
 # modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public
 # License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either
 # version 2.1 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
 #
 # This library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
 # but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
 # MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
 # Lesser General Public License for more details.
 #
 # You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public
 # License along with this library.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
 
 from ftplib import FTP
+import math
 import os
+import shutil
 import socket
 import sys
 import tempfile
 import urllib.parse
-import urllib.request
+import urllib.request as urlreq
 
 from vyos.util import cmd, ask_yes_no
 from vyos.version import get_version
 from paramiko import SSHClient, SSHException, MissingHostKeyPolicy
 
 
-known_hosts_file = os.path.expanduser('~/.ssh/known_hosts')
+
+# This is a hardcoded path and no environment variable can change it.
+KNOWN_HOSTS_FILE = os.path.expanduser('~/.ssh/known_hosts')
+CHUNK_SIZE = 8192
 
 class InteractivePolicy(MissingHostKeyPolicy):
     """
     Policy for interactively querying the user on whether to proceed with
-    SSH connections to unknown hosts.
+     SSH connections to unknown hosts.
     """
     def missing_host_key(self, client, hostname, key):
-        print(f"Host '{hostname}' not found in known hosts.")
-        print('Fingerprint: ' + key.get_fingerprint().hex())
+        print_error(f"Host '{hostname}' not found in known hosts.")
+        print_error('Fingerprint: ' + key.get_fingerprint().hex())
         if ask_yes_no('Do you wish to continue?'):
             if client._host_keys_filename and ask_yes_no('Do you wish to permanently add this host/key pair to known hosts?'):
                 client._host_keys.add(hostname, key.get_name(), key)
                 client.save_host_keys(client._host_keys_filename)
         else:
             raise SSHException(f"Cannot connect to unknown host '{hostname}'.")
 
+
+## Helper routines
+def print_error(str='', end='\n'):
+    """
+    Print `str` to stderr, terminated with `end`.
+    Used for warnings and out-of-band messages to avoid mangling precious
+     stdout output.
+    """
+    sys.stderr.write(str)
+    sys.stderr.write(end)
+    sys.stderr.flush()
+
+def make_progressbar():
+    """
+    Make a procedure that takes two arguments `done` and `total` and prints a
+     progressbar based on the ratio thereof, whose length is determined by the
+     width of the terminal.
+    """
+    col, _ = shutil.get_terminal_size()
+    col = max(col - 15, 20)
+    def print_progressbar(done, total):
+        if done <= total:
+            increment = total / col
+            length = math.ceil(done / increment)
+            percentage = str(math.ceil(100 * done / total)).rjust(3)
+            print_error(f'[{length * "#"}{(col - length) * "_"}] {percentage}%', '\r')
+            # Print a newline so that the subsequent prints don't overwrite the full bar.
+        if done == total:
+            print_error()
+    return print_progressbar
+
+def make_incremental_progressbar(increment: float):
+    """
+    Make a generator that displays a progressbar that grows monotonically with
+     every iteration.
+    First call displays it at 0% and every subsequent iteration displays it
+     at `increment` increments where 0.0 < `increment` < 1.0.
+    Intended for FTP and HTTP transfers with stateless callbacks.
+    """
+    print_progressbar = make_progressbar()
+    total = 0.0
+    while total < 1.0:
+        print_progressbar(total, 1.0)
+        yield
+        total += increment
+    print_progressbar(1, 1)
+    # Ignore further calls.
+    while True:
+        yield
+
+def get_authentication_variables(default_username=None, default_password=None):
+    """
+    Return the environment variables `$REMOTE_USERNAME` and `$REMOTE_PASSWORD` and
+     return the defaults provided if environment variables are empty or nonexistent.
+    """
+    username, password = os.getenv('REMOTE_USERNAME'), os.getenv('REMOTE_PASSWORD')
+    # Fall back to defaults if the username variable doesn't exist or is an empty string.
+    # Note that this is different from `os.getenv('REMOTE_USERNAME', default=default_username)`,
+    #  as we want the username and the password to have the same behaviour.
+    if not username:
+        return (default_username, default_password)
+    else:
+        return (username, password)
+
+def get_port_from_url(url):
+    """
+    Return the port number from the given `url` named tuple, fall back to
+     the default if there isn't one.
+    """
+    defaults = {"http": 80, "https": 443, "ftp": 21, "tftp": 69,\
+                "ssh": 22, "scp": 22, "sftp": 22}
+    if url.port:
+        return url.port
+    else:
+        return defaults[url.scheme]
+
+
 ## FTP routines
-def transfer_ftp(mode, local_path, hostname, remote_path,\
-                 username='anonymous', password='', port=21, source=None):
+def upload_ftp(local_path, hostname, remote_path,\
+               username='anonymous', password='', port=21,\
+               source=None, progressbar=False):
+    size = os.path.getsize(local_path)
     with FTP(source_address=source) as conn:
         conn.connect(hostname, port)
         conn.login(username, password)
-        if mode == 'upload':
-            with open(local_path, 'rb') as file:
-                conn.storbinary(f'STOR {remote_path}', file)
-        elif mode == 'download':
-            with open(local_path, 'wb') as file:
-                conn.retrbinary(f'RETR {remote_path}', file.write)
-        elif mode == 'size':
-            size = conn.size(remote_path)
-            if size:
-                return size
+        with open(local_path, 'rb') as file:
+            if progressbar and size:
+                progress = make_incremental_progressbar(CHUNK_SIZE / size)
+                next(progress)
+                callback = lambda block: next(progress)
             else:
-                # SIZE is an extension to the FTP specification, although it's extremely common.
-                raise ValueError('Failed to receive file size from FTP server. \
-                Perhaps the server does not implement the SIZE command?')
+                callback = None
+            conn.storbinary(f'STOR {remote_path}', file, CHUNK_SIZE, callback)
 
-def upload_ftp(*args, **kwargs):
-    transfer_ftp('upload', *args, **kwargs)
+def download_ftp(local_path, hostname, remote_path,\
+                 username='anonymous', password='', port=21,\
+                 source=None, progressbar=False):
+    with FTP(source_address=source) as conn:
+        conn.connect(hostname, port)
+        conn.login(username, password)
+        size = conn.size(remote_path)
+        with open(local_path, 'wb') as file:
+            # No progressbar if we can't determine the size.
+            if progressbar and size:
+                progress = make_incremental_progressbar(CHUNK_SIZE / size)
+                next(progress)
+                callback = lambda block: (file.write(block), next(progress))
+            else:
+                callback = file.write
+            conn.retrbinary(f'RETR {remote_path}', callback, CHUNK_SIZE)
 
-def download_ftp(*args, **kwargs):
-    transfer_ftp('download', *args, **kwargs)
+def get_ftp_file_size(hostname, remote_path,\
+                      username='anonymous', password='', port=21,\
+                      source=None):
+    with FTP(source_address=source) as conn:
+        conn.connect(hostname, port)
+        conn.login(username, password)
+        size = conn.size(remote_path)
+        if size:
+            return size
+        else:
+            # SIZE is an extension to the FTP specification, although it's extremely common.
+            raise ValueError('Failed to receive file size from FTP server. \
+            Perhaps the server does not implement the SIZE command?')
 
-def get_ftp_file_size(*args, **kwargs):
-    return transfer_ftp('size', None, *args, **kwargs)
 
 ## SFTP/SCP routines
 def transfer_sftp(mode, local_path, hostname, remote_path,\
-                  username=None, password=None, port=22, source=None):
+                  username=None, password=None, port=22,\
+                  source=None, progressbar=False):
     sock = None
     if source:
         sock = socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_STREAM)
         sock.bind((source, 0))
         sock.connect((hostname, port))
+    callback = make_progressbar() if progressbar else None
     try:
         with SSHClient() as ssh:
             ssh.load_system_host_keys()
-            if os.path.exists(known_hosts_file):
-                ssh.load_host_keys(known_hosts_file)
+            if os.path.exists(KNOWN_HOSTS_FILE):
+                ssh.load_host_keys(KNOWN_HOSTS_FILE)
             ssh.set_missing_host_key_policy(InteractivePolicy())
             ssh.connect(hostname, port, username, password, sock=sock)
             with ssh.open_sftp() as sftp:
                 if mode == 'upload':
-                    sftp.put(local_path, remote_path)
+                    sftp.put(local_path, remote_path, callback=callback)
                 elif mode == 'download':
-                    sftp.get(remote_path, local_path)
+                    sftp.get(remote_path, local_path, callback=callback)
                 elif mode == 'size':
                     return sftp.stat(remote_path).st_size
     finally:
         if sock:
             sock.shutdown()
             sock.close()
 
 def upload_sftp(*args, **kwargs):
     transfer_sftp('upload', *args, **kwargs)
 
 def download_sftp(*args, **kwargs):
     transfer_sftp('download', *args, **kwargs)
 
 def get_sftp_file_size(*args, **kwargs):
     return transfer_sftp('size', None, *args, **kwargs)
 
+
 ## TFTP routines
-def upload_tftp(local_path, hostname, remote_path, port=69, source=None):
+def upload_tftp(local_path, hostname, remote_path, port=69, source=None, progressbar=False):
     source_option = f'--interface {source}' if source else ''
+    progress_flag = '--progress-bar' if progressbar else '-s'
     with open(local_path, 'rb') as file:
-        cmd(f'curl {source_option} -s -T - tftp://{hostname}:{port}/{remote_path}',\
+        cmd(f'curl {source_option} {progress_flag} -T - tftp://{hostname}:{port}/{remote_path}',\
             stderr=None, input=file.read()).encode()
 
-def download_tftp(local_path, hostname, remote_path, port=69, source=None):
+def download_tftp(local_path, hostname, remote_path, port=69, source=None, progressbar=False):
     source_option = f'--interface {source}' if source else ''
+    # Not really applicable but we pass it for the sake of uniformity.
+    progress_flag = '--progress-bar' if progressbar else '-s'
     with open(local_path, 'wb') as file:
-        file.write(cmd(f'curl {source_option} -s tftp://{hostname}:{port}/{remote_path}',\
+        file.write(cmd(f'curl {source_option} {progress_flag} tftp://{hostname}:{port}/{remote_path}',\
                        stderr=None).encode())
 
 # get_tftp_file_size() is unimplemented because there is no way to obtain a file's size through TFTP,
-# as TFTP does not specify a SIZE command.
+#  as TFTP does not specify a SIZE command.
+
 
 ## HTTP(S) routines
-def download_http(urlstring, local_path):
-    request = urllib.request.Request(urlstring, headers={'User-Agent': 'VyOS/' + get_version()})
-    with open(local_path, 'wb') as file:
-        with urllib.request.urlopen(request) as response:
-            file.write(response.read())
+def install_request_opener(urlstring, username, password):
+    """
+    Take `username` and `password` strings and install the appropriate
+     password manager to `urllib.request.urlopen()` for the given `urlstring`.
+    """
+    manager = urlreq.HTTPPasswordMgrWithDefaultRealm()
+    manager.add_password(None, urlstring, username, password)
+    urlreq.install_opener(urlreq.build_opener(urlreq.HTTPBasicAuthHandler(manager)))
+
+# upload_http() is unimplemented.
+
+def download_http(local_path, urlstring, username=None, password=None, progressbar=False):
+    """
+    Download the file from from `urlstring` to `local_path`.
+    Optionally takes `username` and `password` for authentication.
+    """
+    request = urlreq.Request(urlstring, headers={'User-Agent': 'VyOS/' + get_version()})
+    if username:
+        install_request_opener(urlstring, username, password)
+    with open(local_path, 'wb') as file, urlreq.urlopen(request) as response:
+        size = response.getheader('Content-Length')
+        if progressbar and size:
+            progress = make_incremental_progressbar(CHUNK_SIZE / int(size))
+            next(progress)
+            for chunk in iter(lambda: response.read(CHUNK_SIZE), b''):
+                file.write(chunk)
+                next(progress)
+            next(progress)
+        # If we can't determine the size or if a progress bar wasn't requested,
+        #  we can let `shutil` take care of the copying.
+        else:
+            shutil.copyfileobj(response, file)
 
-def get_http_file_size(urlstring):
-    request = urllib.request.Request(urlstring, headers={'User-Agent': 'VyOS/' + get_version()})
-    with urllib.request.urlopen(request) as response:
+def get_http_file_size(urlstring, username=None, password=None):
+    """
+    Return the size of the file from `urlstring` in terms of number of bytes.
+    Optionally takes `username` and `password` for authentication.
+    """
+    request = urlreq.Request(urlstring, headers={'User-Agent': 'VyOS/' + get_version()})
+    if username:
+        install_request_opener(urlstring, username, password)
+    with urlreq.urlopen(request) as response:
         size = response.getheader('Content-Length')
         if size:
             return int(size)
         # The server didn't send 'Content-Length' in the response headers.
         else:
             raise ValueError('Failed to receive file size from HTTP server.')
 
+
 # Dynamic dispatchers
-def download(local_path, urlstring, source=None):
+def download(local_path, urlstring, source=None, progressbar=False):
     """
-    Dispatch the appropriate download function for the given URL and save to local path.
+    Dispatch the appropriate download function for the given `urlstring` and save to `local_path`.
+    Optionally takes a `source` address (not valid for HTTP(S)).
+    Supports HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, SFTP, SCP (through SFTP) and TFTP.
+    Reads `$REMOTE_USERNAME` and `$REMOTE_PASSWORD` environment variables.
     """
     url = urllib.parse.urlparse(urlstring)
+    username, password = get_authentication_variables(url.username, url.password)
+    port = get_port_from_url(url)
+
     if url.scheme == 'http' or url.scheme == 'https':
         if source:
-            print('Warning: Custom source address not supported for HTTP connections.', file=sys.stderr)
-        download_http(urlstring, local_path)
+            print_error('Warning: Custom source address not supported for HTTP connections.')
+        download_http(local_path, urlstring, username, password, progressbar)
     elif url.scheme == 'ftp':
-        username = url.username if url.username else 'anonymous'
-        download_ftp(local_path, url.hostname, url.path, username, url.password, source=source)
+        username = username if username else 'anonymous'
+        download_ftp(local_path, url.hostname, url.path, username, password, port, source, progressbar)
     elif url.scheme == 'sftp' or url.scheme == 'scp':
-        download_sftp(local_path, url.hostname, url.path, url.username, url.password, source=source)
+        download_sftp(local_path, url.hostname, url.path, username, password, port, source, progressbar)
     elif url.scheme == 'tftp':
-        download_tftp(local_path, url.hostname, url.path, source=source)
+        download_tftp(local_path, url.hostname, url.path, port, source, progressbar)
     else:
         raise ValueError(f'Unsupported URL scheme: {url.scheme}')
 
-def upload(local_path, urlstring, source=None):
+def upload(local_path, urlstring, source=None, progressbar=False):
     """
     Dispatch the appropriate upload function for the given URL and upload from local path.
+    Optionally takes a `source` address.
+    Supports FTP, SFTP, SCP (through SFTP) and TFTP.
+    Reads `$REMOTE_USERNAME` and `$REMOTE_PASSWORD` environment variables.
     """
     url = urllib.parse.urlparse(urlstring)
+    username, password = get_authentication_variables(url.username, url.password)
+    port = get_port_from_url(url)
+
     if url.scheme == 'ftp':
-        username = url.username if url.username else 'anonymous'
-        upload_ftp(local_path, url.hostname, url.path, username, url.password, source=source)
+        username = username if username else 'anonymous'
+        upload_ftp(local_path, url.hostname, url.path, username, password, port, source, progressbar)
     elif url.scheme == 'sftp' or url.scheme == 'scp':
-        upload_sftp(local_path, url.hostname, url.path, url.username, url.password, source=source)
+        upload_sftp(local_path, url.hostname, url.path, username, password, port, source, progressbar)
     elif url.scheme == 'tftp':
-        upload_tftp(local_path, url.hostname, url.path, source=source)
+        upload_tftp(local_path, url.hostname, url.path, port, source, progressbar)
     else:
         raise ValueError(f'Unsupported URL scheme: {url.scheme}')
 
 def get_remote_file_size(urlstring, source=None):
     """
-    Return the size of the remote file in bytes.
+    Dispatch the appropriate function to return the size of the remote file from `urlstring`
+     in terms of number of bytes.
+    Optionally takes a `source` address (not valid for HTTP(S)).
+    Supports HTTP, HTTPS, FTP and SFTP (through SFTP).
+    Reads `$REMOTE_USERNAME` and `$REMOTE_PASSWORD` environment variables.
     """
     url = urllib.parse.urlparse(urlstring)
+    username, password = get_authentication_variables(url.username, url.password)
+    port = get_port_from_url(url)
+
     if url.scheme == 'http' or url.scheme == 'https':
-        return get_http_file_size(urlstring)
+        return get_http_file_size(urlstring, username, password)
     elif url.scheme == 'ftp':
-        username = url.username if url.username else 'anonymous'
-        return get_ftp_file_size(url.hostname, url.path, username, url.password, source=source)
+        username = username if username else 'anonymous'
+        return get_ftp_file_size(url.hostname, url.path, username, password, port, source)
     elif url.scheme == 'sftp' or url.scheme == 'scp':
-        return get_sftp_file_size(url.hostname, url.path, url.username, url.password, source=source)
+        return get_sftp_file_size(url.hostname, url.path, username, password, port, source)
     else:
         raise ValueError(f'Unsupported URL scheme: {url.scheme}')
 
 def get_remote_config(urlstring, source=None):
     """
-    Download remote (config) file and return the contents.
+    Download remote (config) file from `urlstring` and return the contents as a string.
         Args:
             remote file URI:
-                scp://<user>[:<passwd>]@<host>/<file>
-                sftp://<user>[:<passwd>]@<host>/<file>
-                http://<host>/<file>
-                https://<host>/<file>
-                ftp://[<user>[:<passwd>]@]<host>/<file>
-                tftp://<host>/<file>
+                tftp://<host>[:<port>]/<file>
+                http[s]://<host>[:<port>]/<file>
+                [scp|sftp|ftp]://[<user>[:<passwd>]@]<host>[:port]/<file>
+            source address (optional):
+                <interface>
+                <IP address>
     """
     url = urllib.parse.urlparse(urlstring)
     temp = tempfile.NamedTemporaryFile(delete=False).name
     try:
         download(temp, urlstring, source)
         with open(temp, 'r') as file:
             return file.read()
     finally:
         os.remove(temp)
+
+def friendly_download(local_path, urlstring, source=None):
+    """
+    Download from `urlstring` to `local_path` in an informative way.
+    Checks the storage space before attempting download.
+    Intended to be called from interactive, user-facing scripts.
+    """
+    destination_directory = os.path.dirname(local_path)
+    try:
+        free_space = shutil.disk_usage(destination_directory).free
+        try:
+            file_size = get_remote_file_size(urlstring, source)
+            if file_size < 1024 * 1024:
+                print_error(f'The file is {file_size / 1024.0:.3f} KiB.')
+            else:
+                print_error(f'The file is {file_size / (1024.0 * 1024.0):.3f} MiB.')
+            if file_size > free_space:
+                raise OSError(f'Not enough disk space available in "{destination_directory}".')
+        except ValueError:
+            # Can't do a storage check in this case, so we bravely continue.
+            file_size = 0
+            print_error('Could not determine the file size in advance.')
+        else:
+            print_error('Downloading...')
+            download(local_path, urlstring, source, progressbar=file_size > 1024 * 1024)
+    except KeyboardInterrupt:
+        print_error('Download aborted by user.')
+        sys.exit(1)
+    except:
+        import traceback
+        # There are a myriad different reasons a download could fail.
+        # SSH errors, FTP errors, I/O errors, HTTP errors (403, 404...)
+        # We omit the scary stack trace but print the error nevertheless.
+        print_error(f'Failed to download {urlstring}.')
+        traceback.print_exception(*sys.exc_info()[:2], None)
+        sys.exit(1)
+    else:
+        print_error('Download complete.')