MinIO
MinIO is an S3-compatible object storage server, used in homelabs as a target for backups (Restic, rclone, Loki chunks) and as a local S3 for development. The mc client works with any S3-compatible service.
Documentation: MinIO AIStor docs, mc reference, Project
Check the Current Licence and Release State First #
The old min.io/docs/minio/linux/ URLs now redirect to the AIStor documentation, and the AIStor pages state it is licensed under the MinIO Software License. They say nothing about the community edition, AGPL, source-only distribution or console changes, so none of that is verified here. Before you deploy, read the LICENSE and README in the project repository and check how prebuilt images and binaries are distributed today. Alternatives such as Garage, SeaweedFS and RustFS exist but were not checked here.
Server #
Server flags and environment variables below are the long-standing MinIO ones and were not re-checked against the AIStor docs. Confirm with minio server --help.
services:
minio:
image: IMAGE_YOU_HAVE_VERIFIED
command: server /data --console-address ":9001"
environment:
MINIO_ROOT_USER: ROOT_USER
MINIO_ROOT_PASSWORD: LONG_RANDOM_PASSWORD
ports:
- "9000:9000"
- "9001:9001"
volumes:
- minio-data:/data
volumes:
minio-data:| PORT | USE |
|---|---|
9000 | S3 API |
9001 | Web console (when --console-address is set; may not exist in every edition) |
Put TLS in front of the S3 API (reverse proxy) and use a dedicated access key per application, not the root credentials.
mc Client #
Verified from the AIStor mc docs: mc alias set, mc admin info and the command list below. Config lives in ~/.mc/config.json (or --config-dir / MC_CONFIG_DIR). Global flags include --insecure, --json, --debug and --resolve.
| COMMAND | DESCRIPTION |
|---|---|
mc alias set <ALIAS> https://s3.example.com ACCESS_KEY SECRET_KEY | Save a server (secret key at least 8 characters) |
mc admin info <ALIAS> | Test the connection and show server info |
mc mb <ALIAS>/<BUCKET> | Make a bucket |
mc ls <ALIAS>/<BUCKET> | List objects |
mc cp <FILE> <ALIAS>/<BUCKET>/ | Copy a file in (--recursive for folders) |
mc mirror <DIR> <ALIAS>/<BUCKET> | Sync a folder, similar to rsync |
mc rm --recursive <ALIAS>/<BUCKET>/<PREFIX> | Delete objects under a prefix |
mc rb <ALIAS>/<BUCKET> | Remove a bucket |
mc anonymous | Manage public (anonymous) access to a bucket |
mc version | Manage bucket versioning |
mc ilm | Manage lifecycle rules (expiry, tiering) |
mc retention | Object retention |
mc replicate | Bucket replication |
mc share | Pre-signed URLs |
mc quota | Bucket quotas |
mc admin | Server administration (users, policies) |
mc cp treats * literally. Use --recursive with a prefix. Exact subcommand syntax for mc admin user add, mc admin policy, mc anonymous set, mc version enable and mc ilm was not read here, so use mc <COMMAND> --help.
Use It as a Backup Target #
Restic and rclone both speak S3. With restic the repository is s3:https://s3.example.com/BUCKET with AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID and AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY set. Keep a copy of backups off the host that runs the object store. See Restic and rclone.