How to Install Swift on NetBSD

Swift is a highly available, distributed, and object-based storage system designed to support large scale data processing workflows. It is an open-source project developed by the OpenStack community. This tutorial will guide you through the process of installing Swift on NetBSD.

Prerequisites

Before proceeding with the installation, ensure that your system meets the following prerequisites:

• NetBSD version 7 or higher
• Root privileges
• A minimum of 4GB of free disk space
• GCC compiler

Installing Dependencies

To build and install Swift, you need to first install some dependencies on your system. Run the following command to install the necessary packages:

# pkg_add git py27-libxml2 py27-libxslt py27-numpy py27-requests py27-setuptools py27-six py27-wheel py27-zmq swig

Installing ProxyFS and Ring

Swift uses a software component called ProxyFS to handle metadata operations and Ring to manage object storage placement. First, clone the ProxyFS repository and compile the code:

# git clone https://github.com/swiftstack/proxyfs.git
# cd proxyfs
# ./build.bash

Next, compile Ring:

# git clone https://github.com/swiftstack/ring.git
# cd ring
# ./build.bash

Installing Swift

Clone the Swift repository using the following command:

# git clone https://github.com/openstack/swift.git

Then, navigate to the cloned directory and build Swift using the following commands:

# cd swift
# sudo python setup.py build
# sudo python setup.py install

Configuring Swift

Swift has several configuration files that need to be set up before you can start using it. Navigate to the /etc/swift directory and create a file named proxy-server.conf using the following command:

# cd /etc/swift
# touch proxy-server.conf
# chmod 640 proxy-server.conf

Open the proxy-server.conf file and add the following contents:

[DEFAULT]
bind_port = 8080

Save and close the file.

Starting Swift

Once the configuration is complete, start the Swift services using the following commands in separate terminal windows:

# /usr/local/bin/proxyfsd /usr/local/etc/proxyfsd/proxyfsd.conf
# swift-init proxy start

Testing Swift

To test Swift, you can use the swift command-line utility to create a container and upload a file:

# swift post mycontainer
# echo "Hello, world!" > myfile.txt
# swift upload mycontainer myfile.txt

To verify that the file was uploaded successfully, list the contents of the container:

# swift list mycontainer

You should see the myfile.txt file listed.

Conclusion

Swift is now successfully installed on your NetBSD system! You can now use it to store and manipulate large volumes of data.

If you want to self-host in an easy, hands free way, need an external IP address, or simply want your data in your own hands, give IPv6.rs a try!

Alternatively, for the best virtual desktop, try Shells!