docspell/website/site/content/docs/configure/file-backends.md

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File Backends

Docspell allows to choose from different storage backends for binary files. You can choose between:

1. Database (the recommended default)

   The database can be used to store the files as well. It is the default. It doesn't require any other configuration and works well with multiple instances of restservers and joex nodes.

2. S3

   The S3 backend allows to store files in an S3 compatible storage. It was tested with MinIO, which is possible to self host.

3. Filesystem

   The filesystem can also be used directly, by specifying a directory. Be aware that all nodes must have read and write access into this directory! When running multiple nodes over a network, consider using one of the above instead. Docspell uses a fixed structure for storing the files below the given directory, it cannot be configured.

When using S3 or filesystem, remember to backup the database and the files!

Note that Docspell not only stores the file that are uploaded, but also some other files for internal use.

Configuring

{% warningbubble(title="Note") %}

Each node must have the same config for its file backend! When using the filesystem, make sure all processes can access the directory with read and write permissions.

{% end %}

The file storage backend can be configured inside the files section (see the default configs):

files {
  …
  default-store = "database"

  stores = {
    database =
      { enabled = true
        type = "default-database"
      }

    filesystem =
      { enabled = false
        type = "file-system"
        directory = "/some/directory"
      }

    minio =
     { enabled = false
       type = "s3"
       endpoint = "http://localhost:9000"
       access-key = "username"
       secret-key = "password"
       bucket = "docspell"
     }
  }
}

The stores object defines a set of stores and the default-store selects the one that should be used. All disabled store configurations are removed from the list. Thus the default-store must be enabled. Other enabled stores can be used as the target when copying files (see below).

A store configuration requires a enabled and type property. Depending on the type property, other properties are required, they are presented above. The available storage types are default-database, file-system and s3.

If you use the docker setup, you can find the corresponding environment variables to the above config snippet here.

Change Backends

It is possible to change backends with a bit of manual effort. When doing this, please make sure that the application is not used. It is important that no file is uploaded during the following steps.

The cli will be used, please set it up first and you need to enable the admin endpoint. Config changes mentioned here must be applied to all nodes - joex and restserver!

1. In the config, enable a second file backend (besides the default) you want to change to and start docspell as normal. Don't change default-store yet.

2. Run the file integrity check in order to see whether all files are ok as they are in the current store. This can be done using the cli by running:

   dsc admin file-integrity-check
   

3. Run the copy files admin command which will copy all files from the current default-store to all other enabled stores.

   dsc admin clone-file-repository
   

   And wait until it's done :-). You can see the progress in the jobs page when logged in as docspell-system or just look at the logs.

4. In the config, change the default-store to the one you just copied all the files to and restart docspell.

5. Login and do some smoke tests. Then run the file integrity check again:

   dsc admin file-integrity-check
   

If all is fine, then you are done and are now using the new file backend. If the second integrity check fails, please open an issue. You need then to revert the config change of step 4 to use the previous default-store again.

If you want to delete the files from the database, you can do so by running the following SQL against the database:

DELETE FROM filechunk

You can copy them back into the database using the steps above.