Deploying SeaweedFS, an Open-Source S3 Storage Alternative to MinIO, on Ubuntu 24.04

SeaweedFS is an open-source, distributed object storage system with an S3-compatible API, a filer for POSIX-style hierarchical access, and a small footprint. This guide deploys SeaweedFS using Docker Compose with the master, volume, filer, S3, and admin services behind Traefik for automatic HTTPS on separate admin and S3 domains. By the end, you'll have SeaweedFS serving S3-compatible object storage securely at your domains.

Prerequisite: Two DNS A records pointing at the server — storage.example.com (admin dashboard) and s3.storage.example.com (S3 API). AWS CLI installed on your local machine for testing.

Set Up the Directory Structure

1. Create the project directory:

$ mkdir seaweedfs && cd seaweedfs

2. Generate an access key and a secret key (run twice and save both):

$ openssl rand -hex 16

3. Create the environment file:

$ nano .env

STORAGE_DOMAIN=storage.example.com
LETSENCRYPT_EMAIL=your-email@example.com
ADMIN_PASSWORD=yourpassword

4. Create the S3 identities file:

$ nano s3-config.json

{
  "identities": [
    {
      "name": "admin",
      "credentials": [
        {
          "accessKey": "YOUR_ACCESS_KEY",
          "secretKey": "YOUR_SECRET_KEY"
        }
      ],
      "actions": [
        "Admin",
        "Read",
        "Write",
        "List",
        "Tagging"
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Deploy with Docker Compose

1. Create the Compose manifest:

$ nano docker-compose.yml

services:
  traefik:
    image: traefik:v3.7.0
    container_name: traefik
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "80:80"
      - "443:443"
    volumes:
      - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock:ro
      - ./letsencrypt:/letsencrypt
    command:
      - --providers.docker=true
      - --providers.docker.exposedByDefault=false
      - --entrypoints.web.address=:80
      - --entrypoints.websecure.address=:443
      - --entrypoints.web.http.redirections.entrypoint.to=websecure
      - --entrypoints.web.http.redirections.entrypoint.scheme=https
      - --entrypoints.web.http.redirections.entrypoint.permanent=true
      - --certificatesresolvers.letsencrypt.acme.email=${LETSENCRYPT_EMAIL}
      - --certificatesresolvers.letsencrypt.acme.storage=/letsencrypt/acme.json
      - --certificatesresolvers.letsencrypt.acme.httpchallenge=true
      - --certificatesresolvers.letsencrypt.acme.httpchallenge.entrypoint=web

  master:
    image: chrislusf/seaweedfs:latest
    container_name: seaweed-master
    command: master -ip.bind=0.0.0.0 -port=9333
    volumes:
      - ./master-data:/data
    restart: unless-stopped

  volume:
    image: chrislusf/seaweedfs:latest
    container_name: seaweed-volume
    command: volume -mserver=master:9333 -port=8080 -ip.bind=0.0.0.0
    volumes:
      - ./volume-data:/data
    depends_on:
      - master
    restart: unless-stopped

  filer:
    image: chrislusf/seaweedfs:latest
    container_name: seaweed-filer
    command: filer -master=master:9333 -port=8888 -ip.bind=0.0.0.0
    volumes:
      - ./filer-data:/data
    depends_on:
      - master
      - volume
    restart: unless-stopped

  s3:
    image: chrislusf/seaweedfs:latest
    container_name: seaweed-s3
    command: s3 -filer=filer:8888 -port=8333 -ip.bind=0.0.0.0 -config=/etc/seaweedfs/s3.json
    volumes:
      - ./s3-config.json:/etc/seaweedfs/s3.json
    depends_on:
      - filer
    restart: unless-stopped
    labels:
      - "traefik.enable=true"
      - "traefik.http.routers.s3.rule=Host(`s3.${STORAGE_DOMAIN}`)"
      - "traefik.http.routers.s3.entrypoints=websecure"
      - "traefik.http.routers.s3.tls.certresolver=letsencrypt"
      - "traefik.http.services.s3.loadbalancer.server.port=8333"

  admin:
    image: chrislusf/seaweedfs:latest
    container_name: seaweed-admin
    command: 'admin -masters="master:9333" -port=23646 -adminUser=admin -adminPassword=${ADMIN_PASSWORD} -dataDir=/data'
    volumes:
      - ./admin-data:/data
    depends_on:
      - master
    restart: unless-stopped
    labels:
      - "traefik.enable=true"
      - "traefik.http.routers.admin.rule=Host(`${STORAGE_DOMAIN}`)"
      - "traefik.http.routers.admin.entrypoints=websecure"
      - "traefik.http.routers.admin.tls.certresolver=letsencrypt"
      - "traefik.http.services.admin.loadbalancer.server.port=23646"

2. Add your user to the Docker group and start the stack:

$ sudo usermod -aG docker $USER
$ newgrp docker
$ docker compose up -d
$ docker compose ps

Test the S3 API with AWS CLI

1. Configure a named profile:

$ aws configure --profile seaweedfs

Use the accessKey / secretKey from s3-config.json. Press Enter for region, then enter json for output.

2. Create a bucket and round-trip a file:

$ aws --endpoint-url https://s3.storage.example.com --profile seaweedfs s3 mb s3://test-bucket
$ echo "This is test content." | aws --endpoint-url https://s3.storage.example.com --profile seaweedfs s3 cp - s3://test-bucket/test.txt
$ aws --endpoint-url https://s3.storage.example.com --profile seaweedfs s3 cp s3://test-bucket/test.txt downloaded.txt
$ cat downloaded.txt

A printout of This is test content. confirms upload and download work end-to-end.

Browse the Admin Dashboard

Open https://storage.example.com and sign in with admin / ADMIN_PASSWORD. Use the Buckets tab to manage buckets and the Browser to inspect files.