s3fs
s3fs allows Linux and macOS to mount an S3 bucket via FUSE.
s3fs preserves the native object format for files, allowing use of other
tools like AWS CLI.
Features
- large subset of POSIX including reading/writing files, directories, symlinks, mode, uid/gid, and extended attributes
- compatible with Amazon S3, Google Cloud Storage, and other S3-based object stores
- large files via multi-part upload
- renames via server-side copy
- optional server-side encryption
- data integrity via MD5 hashes
- in-memory metadata caching
- local disk data caching
- user-specified regions, including Amazon GovCloud
- authenticate via v2 or v4 signatures
Installation
Many systems provide pre-built packages:
-
Amazon Linux via EPEL:
sudo amazon-linux-extras install epel sudo yum install s3fs-fuse -
Debian 9 and Ubuntu 16.04 or newer:
sudo apt install s3fs -
Fedora 27 or newer:
sudo dnf install s3fs-fuse -
Gentoo:
sudo emerge net-fs/s3fs -
RHEL and CentOS 7 or newer through via EPEL:
sudo yum install epel-release sudo yum install s3fs-fuse -
SUSE 12 and openSUSE 42.1 or newer:
sudo zypper install s3fs -
macOS via Homebrew:
brew cask install osxfuse brew install s3fs
Otherwise consult the compilation instructions.
Examples
s3fs supports the standard
AWS credentials file
stored in ${HOME}/.aws/credentials. Alternatively, s3fs supports a custom passwd file.
The default location for the s3fs password file can be created:
- using a .passwd-s3fs file in the users home directory (i.e. ${HOME}/.passwd-s3fs)
- using the system-wide /etc/passwd-s3fs file
Enter your credentials in a file ${HOME}/.passwd-s3fs and set
owner-only permissions:
echo ACCESS_KEY_ID:SECRET_ACCESS_KEY > ${HOME}/.passwd-s3fs
chmod 600 ${HOME}/.passwd-s3fs
Run s3fs with an existing bucket mybucket and directory /path/to/mountpoint:
s3fs mybucket /path/to/mountpoint -o passwd_file=${HOME}/.passwd-s3fs
If you encounter any errors, enable debug output:
s3fs mybucket /path/to/mountpoint -o passwd_file=${HOME}/.passwd-s3fs -o dbglevel=info -f -o curldbg
You can also mount on boot by entering the following line to /etc/fstab:
s3fs#mybucket /path/to/mountpoint fuse _netdev,allow_other 0 0
or
mybucket /path/to/mountpoint fuse.s3fs _netdev,allow_other 0 0
If you use s3fs with a non-Amazon S3 implementation, specify the URL and path-style requests:
s3fs mybucket /path/to/mountpoint -o passwd_file=${HOME}/.passwd-s3fs -o url=https://url.to.s3/ -o use_path_request_style
or(fstab)
s3fs#mybucket /path/to/mountpoint fuse _netdev,allow_other,use_path_request_style,url=https://url.to.s3/ 0 0
To use IBM IAM Authentication, use the -o ibm_iam_auth option, and specify the Service Instance ID and API Key in your credentials file:
echo SERVICEINSTANCEID:APIKEY > /path/to/passwd
The Service Instance ID is only required when using the -o create_bucket option.
Note: You may also want to create the global credential file first
echo ACCESS_KEY_ID:SECRET_ACCESS_KEY > /etc/passwd-s3fs
chmod 600 /etc/passwd-s3fs
Note2: You may also need to make sure netfs service is start on boot
Limitations
Generally S3 cannot offer the same performance or semantics as a local file system. More specifically:
- random writes or appends to files require rewriting the entire file
- metadata operations such as listing directories have poor performance due to network latency
- eventual consistency can temporarily yield stale data(Amazon S3 Data Consistency Model)
- no atomic renames of files or directories
- no coordination between multiple clients mounting the same bucket
- no hard links
- inotify detects only local modifications, not external ones by other clients or tools
References
- goofys - similar to s3fs but has better performance and less POSIX compatibility
- s3backer - mount an S3 bucket as a single file
- S3Proxy - combine with s3fs to mount Backblaze B2, EMC Atmos, Microsoft Azure, and OpenStack Swift buckets
- s3ql - similar to s3fs but uses its own object format
- YAS3FS - similar to s3fs but uses SNS to allow multiple clients to mount a bucket
Frequently Asked Questions
License
Copyright (C) 2010 Randy Rizun rrizun@gmail.com
Licensed under the GNU GPL version 2