seaweedfs

Table of Contents

Copy to Filer
Copy files within Filer

HTTP API Copy

Register a file on Filer

Filer is similar to common file systems and people may ask for similar tools.

Copy to Filer

weed filer.copy can copy one or a list of files or directories to filer.

// copy all go files under current directory to filer's /github/ folder.
// The directory structure is copied also.
> weed filer.copy -include *.go . http://localhost:8888/github/
...
Copy ./unmaintained/change_replication/change_replication.go => http://localhost:8888/github/./unmaintained/change_replication/change_replication.go
Copy ./unmaintained/fix_dat/fix_dat.go => http://localhost:8888/github/./unmaintained/fix_dat/fix_dat.go
Copy ./unmaintained/see_idx/see_idx.go => http://localhost:8888/github/./unmaintained/see_idx/see_idx.go
Copy ./weed/command/backup.go => http://localhost:8888/github/./weed/command/backup.go
Copy ./weed/command/benchmark.go => http://localhost:8888/github/./weed/command/benchmark.go
Copy ./weed/command/command.go => http://localhost:8888/github/./weed/command/command.go
Copy ./weed/command/compact.go => http://localhost:8888/github/./weed/command/compact.go
...

The above weed copy command is very efficient. It will contact the master server for a fileId, and submit the file content to volume servers, then just create the entry on filer. Also, the file copying will also split large files into chunks automatically.

This put very little loads on filer and the master server. Data is only transmitted between the local machine and the volume server.

Copy files within Filer

SeaweedFS also supports copying files within the filer using the HTTP API. This is useful for creating backups, duplicates, or templates without downloading and re-uploading files.

HTTP API Copy

# Copy a file to a new location
curl -X POST 'http://localhost:8888/path/to/destination?cp.from=/path/to/source'

# Copy with automatic name resolution
curl -X POST 'http://localhost:8888/backup/?cp.from=/important/config.json'
# Creates: /backup/config.json

Features:

Efficient: Server-side copy without client data transfer
Independent chunks: Creates new chunk copies (not shared references)
Atomic operation: Either succeeds completely or fails with no partial state
Preserves metadata: File attributes, timestamps, and permissions maintained

Comparison of copy methods:

Method	Use Case	Data Transfer	Performance
`weed filer.copy`	Local files → Filer	Client → Volume Server	Good for initial uploads
`cp.from` HTTP API	File → File within Filer	Volume Server → Volume Server	Excellent for server-side copies

For more details, see the Filer Server API documentation.

Register a file on Filer

As mentioned above, the (path, fileId, fileSize) can be registered on filer with this gRPC call.

filer_pb.SeaweedFilerClient.CreateEntry()

The code example can be found in filer_copy.go file.

Introduction

API

Configuration

Filer

Filer Stores

Management

Advanced Filer Configurations

FUSE Mount

WebDAV

Cloud Drive

AWS S3 API

Server-Side Encryption

AWS IAM

Machine Learning

TensorFlow with SeaweedFS

HDFS

Replication and Backup

Async Replication to another Filer [Deprecated]
Async Backup
Async Filer Metadata Backup
Async Replication to Cloud [Deprecated]
Kubernetes Backups and Recovery with K8up