MinIO Server

The minio server command starts the MinIO server process:

minio server /mnt/disk{1...4}

For examples of deploying minio server on a bare metal environment, see Install and Deploy MinIO.

For examples of deploying minio server on a Kubernetes environment, see Deploying a MinIO Tenant.

Syntax

Starts the minio server process.

The command has the following syntax:

minio server [FLAGS] HOSTNAME/DIRECTORIES [HOSTNAME/DIRECTORIES..]

The command accepts the following arguments:

HOSTNAME

The hostname of a minio server process.

For standalone deployments, this field is optional. You can start a standalone server process with only the DIRECTORIES argument.

For distributed deployments, specify the hostname of each minio server in the deployment. The group of minio server processes represent a single Server Pool.

HOSTNAME supports MinIO expansion notation {x...y} to denote a sequential series of hostnames. MinIO requires sequential hostnames to identify each minio server process in the set.

For example, https://minio{1...4}.example.net expands to:

https://minio1.example.net
https://minio2.example.net
https://minio3.example.net
https://minio4.example.net

You must run the minio server command with the same combination of HOSTNAME and DIRECTORIES on each host in the Server Pool.

Each additional HOSTNAME/DIRECTORIES pair denotes an additional Server Set for the purpose of horizontal expansion of the MinIO deployment. For more information on Server Pools, see Server Pool.

DIRECTORIES

Required

The directories or drives the minio server process uses as the storage backend.

DIRECTORIES supports MinIO expansion notation {x...y} to denote a sequential series of folders or drives. For example, /mnt/disk{1...4} expands to:

/mnt/disk1
/mnt/disk2
/mnt/disk3
/mnt/disk4

The DIRECTORIES path(s) must be empty when first starting the minio process.

The minio server process requires at least 4 drives or directories to enable erasure coding.

Important

MinIO recommends locally-attached drives, where the DIRECTORIES path points to each drive on the host machine. MinIO recommends against using network-attached storage, as network latency reduces performance of those drives compared to locally-attached storage.

For development or evaluation, you can specify multiple logical directories or partitions on a single physical volume to enable erasure coding on the deployment.

For production environments, MinIO does not recommend using multiple logical directories or partitions on a single physical disk. While MinIO supports those configurations, the potential cost savings come at the risk of decreased reliability.

--address

Optional

Binds the minio server process to a specific network address and port number. Specify the address and port as ADDRESS:PORT, where ADDRESS is an IP address or hostname and PORT is a valid and open port on the host system. MinIO supports both IPv4 and IPv6 addressing, provided that the specified addresses are routable and resolveable.

To change the port number for all IP addresses or hostnames configured on the host machine, specify only :PORT where PORT is a valid and open port on the host.

Changed in version RELEASE.2023-01-02T09-40-09Z: You can configure your hosts file to have MinIO only listen on specific IPs. For example, if the machine’s /etc/hosts file contains the following:

127.0.1.1       minioip
127.0.1.2       minioip

A command like the following would listen for API calls on port 9000 on both configured IP addresses.

minio server --address "minioip:9000" ~/miniodirectory

If omitted, minio binds to port 9000 on all configured IPv4 addresses, IPv6 addresses, and hostnames on the host machine.

--console-address

Optional

Specifies a static port for the embedded MinIO Console.

Omit to direct MinIO to generate a dynamic port at server startup. The MinIO server outputs the port to the system log.

--ftp

Optional

Enable and configure a File Transfer Protocol (FTP) or File Transfer Protocol over SSL/TLS (FTPS) server. Use this flag multiple times to specify an address port, a passive port range of addresses, or a TLS certificate and key as key-value pairs.

Valid keys:

address, which takes a single port to use for the server, typically 8021
(Optional) passive-port-range, which restricts the range of potential ports the server can use to transfer data, such as when tight firewall rules limit the port the FTP server can request for the connection
(Optional) tls-private-key, which takes the path to the user’s private key for accessing the MinIO deployment by TLS

Use with tls-public-cert.
(Optional) tls-public-cert, which takes the path to the certificate for accessing the MinIO deployment by TLS

Use with tls-private-key.

For MinIO deployments with TLS enabled, omit tls-private-key and tls-public-key to direct MinIO to use the default TLS keys for the MinIO deployment. See Network Encryption (TLS) for more information. You only need to specify a certificate and private key to a different set of TLS certificate and key than the MinIO default (for example, to use a different domain).

For example:

minio server http://server{1...4}/disk{1...4} \
--ftp="address=:8021"                         \
--ftp="passive-port-range=30000-40000"        \
--ftp="tls-private-key=path/to/private.key"   \
--ftp="tls-public-cert=path/to/public.crt"    \
...

--sftp

Optional

Enable and configure a SSH File Transfer Protocol (SFTP) server. Use multiple times to specify each desired key-value pair.

The following table lists valid keys.

Key	Description	Valid values
`address`	Port to use for connecting to SFTP.	Any valid port number, typically `8022`.
`ssh-private-key`	Path to the user’s private key file.	Absolute path or relative path from current location to the key file to use.
`trusted-user-ca-key`	Specifies a file containing public key of a certificate authority that is trusted to sign user certificates for authentication. The file must contain a user principals list, and the list must include the user(s) that can authenticate with the key.	Absolute path or relative path from current location to the user’s trusted certificate authority public key file.
`pub-key-algos`	Comma-separated list of the public key algorithms to support.	ssh-ed25519 sk-ssh-ed25519@openssh.com sk-ecdsa-sha2-nistp256@openssh.com ecdsa-sha2-nistp256 ecdsa-sha2-nistp384 ecdsa-sha2-nistp521 rsa-sha2-256 rsa-sha2-512 ssh-rsa ssh-dss
`kex-algos`	Comma-separated list in priority order of the key-exchange algorithms to support.	curve25519-sha256 curve25519-sha256@libssh.org ecdh-sha2-nistp256 ecdh-sha2-nistp384 ecdh-sha2-nistp521 diffie-hellman-group14-sha256 diffie-hellman-group16-sha512 diffie-hellman-group14-sha1 diffie-hellman-group1-sha1
`cipher-algos`	Comma-separated list of cipher algorithms to support	aes128-ctr aes192-ctr aes256-ctr aes128-gcm@openssh.com aes256-gcm@openssh.com chacha20-poly1305@openssh.com arcfour256 arcfour128 arcfour aes128-cbc 3des-cbc
`mac-algos`	Comma-separated list in preference order of MAC algorithms to support. Based on RFC 4253 section 6.4 with the exception of `hmac-md5` variants, which are end of life.	hmac-sha2-256-etm@openssh.com hmac-sha2-512-etm@openssh.com hmac-sha2-256 hmac-sha2-512 hmac-sha1 hmac-sha1-96
`disable-password-auth`	Disable password authentication.	`true`

For example:

minio server http://server{1...4}/disk{1...4}                                 \
--sftp="address=:8022" --sftp="ssh-private-key=/home/miniouser/.ssh/id_rsa"   \
--sftp="kex-algos=diffie-hellman-group14-sha256,curve25519-sha256@libssh.org" \
...

--certs-dir, -S

Optional

Specifies the path to the folder containing certificates the minio process uses for configuring TLS/SSL connectivity.

The contents of the specified folder must follow that of the default path structure. For example, the path contents of --certs-dir /etc/minio should resemble the following:

/etc/minio
  private.key
  public.crt
  domain.tld/
    private.key
    public.crt
  CAs/
    full-chain-ca.crt

Omit to use the default directory paths:

Linux/macOS: ${HOME}/.minio/certs
Windows: %%USERPROFILE%%\.minio\certs.

See Network Encryption (TLS) for more information on TLS/SSL connectivity.

Important

MinIO Server RELEASE.2023-12-09T18-17-51Z removes the deprecated --config-dir | -C parameter. Deployments using this flag may start without TLS enabled. Replace those parameters with --certs-dir | -S and restart to re-enable TLS.

--quiet: Optional
Disables startup information.

--anonymous: Optional
Hides sensitive information from logging.

--json: Optional
Outputs server logs and startup information in JSON format.

Note

You can define any of the minio parameters above by setting them in the MINIO_OPTS environment variable. This variable takes as its value a single string that contains any of the above parameters and their values that you want to set when starting the MinIO Server.

Settings

You can perform other customizations to the MinIO Server process by defining additional Configuration Values or Environment Variables.

Many configuration values and environment variables define the same value. If you set both a configuration value and the matching environment variable, MinIO uses the value from the environment variable.