Requirements
What you need before installing BlixtFS.
Server host
- Architecture: x86-64 (amd64) or ARM64.
- Container runtime: a recent Docker Engine or Docker Desktop, or a Kubernetes cluster.
- CPU and memory: a small virtual machine is enough to evaluate BlixtFS. For production, size for the number of clients and the file operations per second you expect, and see Performance tuning.
BlixtFS runs in containers based on Ubuntu 26.04, so it runs on any host that runs Linux containers: Linux directly, or MacOS and Windows through Docker Desktop. See Server platforms.
Local disk
The data directory (/data in the container) holds the metadata database, the
read cache, the write staging area and logs. Put it on a separate volume,
outside the container’s own filesystem, and on fast local storage where
possible. BlixtFS refuses to start if /data is not a mounted volume.
Size it for:
- the working set you want cached, plus
- the largest amount of written but not yet uploaded data you expect, plus
- the metadata database, which grows with the number of files.
Cloud account
- At least one bucket in a supported provider.
- Credentials with access to it. See Cloud credentials.
- Outbound HTTPS from the server to the provider’s storage endpoints.
Network
| Port | Protocol | Needed by |
|---|---|---|
| 2049/tcp | NFS | NFS clients |
| 445/tcp | SMB | SMB clients |
| 2222/tcp | SFTP | SFTP clients (licensed) |
Other ports are internal to BlixtFS and should not be exposed to clients. See Ports.
Clients
Clients need only the operating system’s built-in NFS or SMB support:
- Linux:
nfs-common(Debian, Ubuntu) ornfs-utils(RHEL, Fedora) for NFS;cifs-utilsfor SMB - MacOS: NFS and SMB are built in
- Windows: SMB is built in. For NFS, enable Client for NFS in Windows Features