CLI¶

The swift tool is a command line utility for communicating with an OpenStack Object Storage (swift) environment. It allows one to perform several types of operations.

For help on a specific swift command, enter:

$ swift COMMAND --help

swift usage¶

Usage: swift [--version] [--help] [--os-help] [--snet] [--verbose]
             [--debug] [--info] [--quiet] [--auth <auth_url>]
             [--auth-version <auth_version> |
                 --os-identity-api-version <auth_version> ]
             [--user <username>]
             [--key <api_key>] [--retries <num_retries>]
             [--os-username <auth-user-name>] [--os-password <auth-password>]
             [--os-user-id <auth-user-id>]
             [--os-user-domain-id <auth-user-domain-id>]
             [--os-user-domain-name <auth-user-domain-name>]
             [--os-tenant-id <auth-tenant-id>]
             [--os-tenant-name <auth-tenant-name>]
             [--os-project-id <auth-project-id>]
             [--os-project-name <auth-project-name>]
             [--os-project-domain-id <auth-project-domain-id>]
             [--os-project-domain-name <auth-project-domain-name>]
             [--os-auth-url <auth-url>] [--os-auth-token <auth-token>]
             [--os-storage-url <storage-url>] [--os-region-name <region-name>]
             [--os-service-type <service-type>]
             [--os-endpoint-type <endpoint-type>]
             [--os-cacert <ca-certificate>] [--insecure]
             [--os-cert <client-certificate-file>]
             [--os-key <client-certificate-key-file>]
             [--no-ssl-compression]
             <subcommand> [--help] [<subcommand options>]

Subcommands:

delete: Delete a container or objects within a container.
download: Download objects from containers.
list: Lists the containers for the account or the objects for a container.
post: Updates meta information for the account, container, or object; creates containers if not present.
copy: Copies object, optionally adds meta
stat: Displays information for the account, container, or object.
upload: Uploads files or directories to the given container.
capabilities: List cluster capabilities.
tempurl: Create a temporary URL.
auth: Display auth related environment variables.

swift optional arguments¶

--version: show program’s version number and exit
-h, --help: show this help message and exit
--os-help: Show OpenStack authentication options.
-s, --snet: Use SERVICENET internal network.
-v, --verbose: Print more info.
--debug: Show the curl commands and results of all http queries regardless of result status.
--info: Show the curl commands and results of all http queries which return an error.
-q, --quiet: Suppress status output.
-A AUTH, --auth=AUTH: URL for obtaining an auth token.
-V AUTH_VERSION, --auth-version=AUTH_VERSION, --os-identity-api-version=AUTH_VERSION: Specify a version for authentication. Defaults to env[ST_AUTH_VERSION], env[OS_AUTH_VERSION], env[OS_IDENTITY_API_VERSION] or 1.0.
-U USER, --user=USER: User name for obtaining an auth token.
-K KEY, --key=KEY: Key for obtaining an auth token.
-R RETRIES, --retries=RETRIES: The number of times to retry a failed connection.
--insecure: Allow swiftclient to access servers without having to verify the SSL certificate. Defaults to env[SWIFTCLIENT_INSECURE] (set to ‘true’ to enable).
--no-ssl-compression: This option is deprecated and not used anymore. SSL compression should be disabled by default by the system SSL library.
--prompt: Prompt user to enter a password which overrides any password supplied via --key, --os-password or environment variables.

Authentication¶

This section covers the options for authenticating with a swift object store. The combinations of options required for each authentication version are detailed below, but are just a subset of those that can be used to successfully authenticate. These are the most common and recommended combinations.

You should obtain the details of your authentication version and credentials from your storage provider. These details should make it clearer which of the authentication sections below are most likely to allow you to connect to your storage account.

Keystone v3¶

swift --os-auth-url https://api.example.com:5000/v3 --auth-version 3 \
      --os-project-name project1 --os-project-domain-name domain1 \
      --os-username user --os-user-domain-name domain1 \
      --os-password password list

swift --os-auth-url https://api.example.com:5000/v3 --auth-version 3 \
      --os-project-id 0123456789abcdef0123456789abcdef \
      --os-user-id abcdef0123456789abcdef0123456789 \
      --os-password password list

Manually specifying the options above on the command line can be avoided by setting the following combinations of environment variables:

ST_AUTH_VERSION=3
OS_USERNAME=user
OS_USER_DOMAIN_NAME=domain1
OS_PASSWORD=password
OS_PROJECT_NAME=project1
OS_PROJECT_DOMAIN_NAME=domain1
OS_AUTH_URL=https://api.example.com:5000/v3

ST_AUTH_VERSION=3
OS_USER_ID=abcdef0123456789abcdef0123456789
OS_PASSWORD=password
OS_PROJECT_ID=0123456789abcdef0123456789abcdef
OS_AUTH_URL=https://api.example.com:5000/v3

Keystone v2¶

swift --os-auth-url https://api.example.com:5000/v2.0 \
      --os-tenant-name tenant \
      --os-username user --os-password password list

Manually specifying the options above on the command line can be avoided by setting the following environment variables:

ST_AUTH_VERSION=2.0
OS_USERNAME=user
OS_PASSWORD=password
OS_TENANT_NAME=tenant
OS_AUTH_URL=https://api.example.com:5000/v2.0

Legacy auth systems¶

You can configure swift to work with any number of other authentication systems that we will not cover in this document. If your storage provider is not using Keystone to provide access tokens, please contact them for instructions on the required options. It is likely that the options will need to be specified as below:

swift -A https://api.example.com/v1.0 -U user -K api_key list

Specifying the options above manually on the command line can be avoided by setting the following environment variables:

ST_AUTH_VERSION=1.0
ST_AUTH=https://api.example.com/v1.0
ST_USER=user
ST_KEY=key

It is also possible that you need to use a completely separate auth system, in which case swiftclient cannot request a token for you. In this case you should make the authentication request separately and access your storage using the token and storage URL options shown below:

swift --os-auth-token 6ee5eb33efad4e45ab46806eac010566 \
      --os-storage-url https://10.1.5.2:8080/v1/AUTH_ced809b6a4baea7aeab61a \
      list

Note

Leftover environment variables are a common source of confusion when authorization fails.

CLI commands¶

Auth¶

Usage: swift auth

Display authentication variables in shell friendly format. Command to run to export storage URL and auth token into OS_STORAGE_URL and OS_AUTH_TOKEN: swift auth. Command to append to a runcom file (e.g. ~/.bashrc, /etc/profile) for automatic authentication: swift auth -v -U test:tester -K testing.

swift stat¶

Usage: swift stat [--lh] [--header <header:value>]
                  [<container> [<object>]]

Displays information for the account, container, or object depending on the arguments given (if any). In verbose mode, the storage URL and the authentication token are displayed as well.

Positional arguments:

[container]: Name of container to stat from.
[object]: Name of object to stat.

Optional arguments:

--lh: Report sizes in human readable format similar to ls -lh.
-H, --header <header:value>: Adds a custom request header to use for stat.

swift list¶

Usage: swift list [--long] [--lh] [--totals] [--prefix <prefix>]
                  [--delimiter <delimiter>] [--header <header:value>]
                  [<container>]

Lists the containers for the account or the objects for a container. The -p <prefix> or --prefix <prefix> is an option that will only list items beginning with that prefix. The -d <delimiter> or --delimiter <delimiter> is an option (for container listings only) that will roll up items with the given delimiter (see OpenStack Swift general documentation <https://docs.openstack.org/swift/latest/> for what this means).

The -l and --lh options provide more detail, similar to ls -l and ls -lh, the latter providing sizes in human readable format (For example: 3K, 12M, etc). The latter two switches use more overhead to retrieve the displayed details, which is directly proportional to the number of container or objects listed.

Positional arguments:

[container]: Name of container to list object in.

Optional arguments:

-l, --long: Long listing format, similar to ls -l.
--lh: Report sizes in human readable format similar to ls -lh.
-t, --totals: Used with -l or –lh, only report totals.
-p <prefix>, --prefix <prefix>: Only list items beginning with the prefix.
-d <delim>, --delimiter <delim>: Roll up items with the given delimiter. For containers only. See OpenStack Swift API documentation for what this means.
-H, --header <header:value>: Adds a custom request header to use for listing.

swift upload¶

Usage: swift upload [--changed] [--skip-identical] [--segment-size <size>]
                    [--segment-container <container>] [--leave-segments]
                    [--object-threads <thread>] [--segment-threads <threads>]
                    [--header <header>] [--use-slo] [--ignore-checksum]
                    [--object-name <object-name>]
                    <container> <file_or_directory> [<file_or_directory>] [...]

Uploads the files and directories specified by the remaining arguments to the given container. The -c or --changed is an option that will only upload files that have changed since the last upload. The --object-name <object-name> is an option that will upload a file and name object to <object-name> or upload a directory and use <object-name> as object prefix. If the file name is “-“, client reads content from standard input. In this case --object-name is required to set the name of the object and no other files may be given. The -S <size> or --segment-size <size> and --leave-segments are options as well (see --help for more).

Positional arguments:

<container>: Name of container to upload to.
<file_or_directory>: Name of file or directory to upload. Specify multiple times for multiple uploads.

Optional arguments:

-c, --changed: Only upload files that have changed since the last upload.
--skip-identical: Skip uploading files that are identical on both sides.
-S, --segment-size <size>: Upload files in segments no larger than <size> (in Bytes) and then create a “manifest” file that will download all the segments as if it were the original file.
--segment-container <container>: Upload the segments into the specified container. If not specified, the segments will be uploaded to a <container>_segments container to not pollute the main <container> listings.
--leave-segments: Indicates that you want the older segments of manifest objects left alone (in the case of overwrites).
--object-threads <threads>: Number of threads to use for uploading full objects. Default is 10.
--segment-threads <threads>: Number of threads to use for uploading object segments. Default is 10.
-H, --header <header:value>: Adds a customized request header. This option may be repeated. Example: -H “content-type:text/plain” -H “Content-Length: 4000”.
--use-slo: When used in conjunction with –segment-size it will create a Static Large Object instead of the default Dynamic Large Object.
--object-name <object-name>: Upload file and name object to <object-name> or upload dir and use <object-name> as object prefix instead of folder name.
--ignore-checksum: Turn off checksum validation for uploads.

swift post¶

Usage: swift post [--read-acl <acl>] [--write-acl <acl>] [--sync-to]
                  [--sync-key <sync-key>] [--meta <name:value>]
                  [--header <header>]
                  [<container> [<object>]]

Updates meta information for the account, container, or object depending on the arguments given. If the container is not found, the swiftclient will create it automatically, but this is not true for accounts and objects. Containers also allow the -r <read-acl> (or --read-acl <read-acl>) and -w <write-acl> (or --write-acl <write-acl>) options. The -m or --meta option is allowed on accounts, containers and objects, and is used to define the user metadata items to set in the form Name:Value. You can repeat this option. For example: post -m Color:Blue -m Size:Large

For more information about ACL formats see the documentation: ACLs.

Positional arguments:

[container]: Name of container to post to.
[object]: Name of object to post.

Optional arguments:

-r, --read-acl <acl>

Read ACL for containers. Quick summary of ACL syntax: .r:*, .r:-.example.com, .r:www.example.com, account1 (v1.0 identity API only), account1:*, account2:user2 (v2.0+ identity API).

-w, --write-acl <acl>

Write ACL for containers. Quick summary of ACL syntax: account1 (v1.0 identity API only), account1:*, account2:user2 (v2.0+ identity API).

-t, --sync-to <sync-to>

Sync To for containers, for multi-cluster replication.

-k, --sync-key <sync-key>

Sync Key for containers, for multi-cluster replication.

-m, --meta <name:value>

Sets a meta data item. This option may be repeated.

Example: -m Color:Blue -m Size:Large

-H, --header <header:value>

Adds a customized request header. This option may be repeated.

Example: -H “content-type:text/plain” -H “Content-Length: 4000”

swift download¶

Usage: swift download [--all] [--marker <marker>] [--prefix <prefix>]
                      [--output <out_file>] [--output-dir <out_directory>]
                      [--object-threads <threads>] [--ignore-checksum]
                      [--container-threads <threads>] [--no-download]
                      [--skip-identical] [--remove-prefix]
                      [--header <header:value>] [--no-shuffle]
                      [<container> [<object>] [...]]

Downloads everything in the account (with --all), or everything in a container, or a list of objects depending on the arguments given. For a single object download, you may use the -o <filename> or --output <filename> option to redirect the output to a specific file or - to redirect to stdout. The --ignore-checksum is an option that turn off checksum validation. You can specify optional headers with the repeatable cURL-like option -H [--header <name:value>]. --ignore-mtime ignores the x-object-meta-mtime metadata entry on the object (if present) and instead creates the downloaded files with fresh atime and mtime values.

Positional arguments:

<container>: Name of container to download from. To download a whole account, omit this and specify –all.
<object>: Name of object to download. Specify multiple times for multiple objects. Omit this to download all objects from the container.

Optional arguments:

-a, --all

Indicates that you really want to download everything in the account.

-m, --marker <marker>

Marker to use when starting a container or account download.

-p, --prefix <prefix>

Only download items beginning with <prefix>

-r, --remove-prefix

An optional flag for –prefix <prefix>, use this option to download items without <prefix>

-o, --output <out_file>

For a single file download, stream the output to <out_file>. Specifying “-” as <out_file> will redirect to stdout.

-D, --output-dir <out_directory>

An optional directory to which to store objects. By default, all objects are recreated in the current directory.

--object-threads <threads>

Number of threads to use for downloading objects. Default is 10.

--container-threads <threads>

Number of threads to use for downloading containers. Default is 10.

--no-download

Perform download(s), but don’t actually write anything to disk.

-H, --header <header:value>

Adds a customized request header to the query, like “Range” or “If-Match”. This option may be repeated.

Example: –header “content-type:text/plain”

--skip-identical

Skip downloading files that are identical on both sides.

--ignore-checksum

Turn off checksum validation for downloads.

--no-shuffle

By default, when downloading a complete account or container, download order is randomised in order to reduce the load on individual drives when multiple clients are executed simultaneously to download the same set of objects (e.g. a nightly automated download script to multiple servers). Enable this option to submit download jobs to the thread pool in the order they are listed in the object store.

swift delete¶

Usage: swift delete [--all] [--leave-segments]
                    [--object-threads <threads>]
                    [--container-threads <threads>]
                    [--header <header:value>]
                    [<container> [<object>] [...]]

Deletes everything in the account (with --all), or everything in a container, or a list of objects depending on the arguments given. Segments of manifest objects will be deleted as well, unless you specify the --leave-segments option.

Positional arguments:

[<container>]: Name of container to delete from.
[<object>]: Name of object to delete. Specify multiple times for multiple objects.

Optional arguments:

-a, --all: Delete all containers and objects.
--leave-segments: Do not delete segments of manifest objects.
-H, --header <header:value>: Adds a custom request header to use for deleting objects or an entire container.
--object-threads <threads>: Number of threads to use for deleting objects. Default is 10.
--container-threads <threads>: Number of threads to use for deleting containers. Default is 10.

swift copy¶

Usage: swift copy [--destination </container/object>] [--fresh-metadata]
                  [--meta <name:value>] [--header <header>] <container>
                  <object> [<object>] [...]

Copies an object to a new destination or adds user metadata to an object. Depending on the options supplied, you can preserve existing metadata in contrast to the post command. The --destination option sets the copy target destination in the form /container/object. If not set, the object will be copied onto itself which is useful for adding metadata. You can use the -M or --fresh-metadata option to copy an object without existing user meta data, and the -m or --meta option to define user meta data items to set in the form Name:Value. You can repeat this option. For example: copy -m Color:Blue -m Size:Large.

Positional arguments:

<container>: Name of container to copy from.
<object>: Name of object to copy. Specify multiple times for multiple objects

Optional arguments:

-d, --destination </container[/object]>

The container and name of the destination object. Name of destination object can be omitted, then will be same as name of source object. Supplying multiple objects and destination with object name is invalid.

-M, --fresh-metadata

Copy the object without any existing metadata, If not set, metadata will be preserved or appended

-m, --meta <name:value>

Sets a meta data item. This option may be repeated.

Example: -m Color:Blue -m Size:Large

-H, --header <header:value>

Adds a customized request header. This option may be repeated.

Example: -H “content-type:text/plain” -H “Content-Length: 4000”

swift capabilities¶

Usage: swift capabilities [--json] [<proxy_url>]

Displays cluster capabilities. The output includes the list of the activated Swift middlewares as well as relevant options for each ones. Additionally the command displays relevant options for the Swift core. If the proxy-url option is not provided, the storage URL retrieved after authentication is used as proxy-url.

Optional positional arguments:

<proxy_url>: Proxy URL of the cluster to retrieve capabilities.
--json: Print the cluster capabilities in JSON format.

swift tempurl¶

Usage: swift tempurl [--absolute] [--prefix-based]
                     <method> <seconds> <path> <key>

Generates a temporary URL for a Swift object. method option sets an HTTP method to allow for this temporary URL that is usually GET or PUT. time option sets the amount of time the temporary URL will be valid for. time can be specified as an integer, denoting the number of seconds from now on until the URL shall be valid; or, if --absolute is passed, the Unix timestamp when the temporary URL will expire. But beyond that, time can also be specified as an ISO 8601 timestamp in one of following formats:

Complete date: YYYY-MM-DD (e.g. 1997-07-16)
Complete date plus hours, minutes and seconds: YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ss (e.g. 1997-07-16T19:20:30)
Complete date plus hours, minutes and seconds with UTC designator: YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ssZ (e.g. 1997-07-16T19:20:30Z)

Please be aware that if you don’t provide the UTC designator (i.e., Z) the timestamp is generated using your local timezone. If only a date is specified, the time part used will equal to 00:00:00.

path option sets the full path to the Swift object. Example: /v1/AUTH_account/c/o. key option is the secret temporary URL key set on the Swift cluster. To set a key, run swift post -m "Temp-URL-Key: <your secret key>". To generate a prefix-based temporary URL use the --prefix-based option. This URL will contain the path to the prefix. Do not forget to append the desired objectname at the end of the path portion (and before the query portion) before sharing the URL. It is possible to use ISO 8601 UTC timestamps within the URL by using the --iso8601 option.

Positional arguments:

<method>

An HTTP method to allow for this temporary URL. Usually ‘GET’ or ‘PUT’.

<seconds>

The amount of time in seconds the temporary URL will be valid for; or, if –absolute is passed, the Unix timestamp when the temporary URL will expire.

<path>

The full path to the Swift object.

Example: /v1/AUTH_account/c/o or: http://saio:8080/v1/AUTH_account/c/o

<key>

The secret temporary URL key set on the Swift cluster. To set a key, run ‘swift post -m “Temp-URL-Key:b3968d0207b54ece87cccc06515a89d4”’

Optional arguments:

--absolute: Interpret the <seconds> positional argument as a Unix timestamp rather than a number of seconds in the future.
--prefix-based: If present, a prefix-based tempURL will be generated.

Examples¶

In this section we present some example usage of the swift CLI. To keep the examples as short as possible, these examples assume that the relevant authentication options have been set using environment variables. You can obtain the full list of commands and options available in the swift CLI by executing the following:

> swift --help
> swift <command> --help

Simple examples¶

List the existing swift containers:

> swift list

container_1

Create a new container:

> swift post TestContainer

Upload an object into a container:

> swift upload TestContainer testSwift.txt

testSwift.txt

List the contents of a container:

> swift list TestContainer

testSwift.txt

Copy an object to new destination:

> swift copy -d /DestContainer/testSwift.txt SourceContainer testSwift.txt

SourceContainer/testSwift.txt copied to /DestContainer/testSwift.txt

Delete an object from a container:

> swift delete TestContainer testSwift.txt

testSwift.txt

Delete a container:

> swift delete TestContainer

TestContainer

Display auth related authentication variables in shell friendly format:

> swift auth

export OS_STORAGE_URL=http://127.0.0.1:8080/v1/AUTH_bf5e63572f7a420a83fcf0aa8c72c2c7
export OS_AUTH_TOKEN=c597015ae19943a18438b52ef3762e79

Download an object from a container:

> swift download TestContainer testSwift.txt

testSwift.txt [auth 0.028s, headers 0.045s, total 0.045s, 0.002 MB/s]

Note

To upload an object to a container, your current working directory must be where the file is located or you must provide the complete path to the file. In other words, the –object-name <object-name> is an option that will upload file and name object to <object-name> or upload directory and use <object-name> as object prefix. In the case that you provide the complete path of the file, that complete path will be the name of the uploaded object.

For example:

> swift upload TestContainer /home/swift/testSwift/testSwift.txt

home/swift/testSwift/testSwift.txt

> swift list TestContainer

home/swift/testSwift/testSwift.txt

More complex examples¶

Swift has a single object size limit of 5GiB. In order to upload files larger than this, we must create a large object that consists of smaller segments. The example below shows how to upload a large video file as a static large object in 1GiB segments:

> swift upload videos --use-slo --segment-size 1G myvideo.mp4

myvideo.mp4 segment 8
myvideo.mp4 segment 4
myvideo.mp4 segment 2
myvideo.mp4 segment 7
myvideo.mp4 segment 0
myvideo.mp4 segment 1
myvideo.mp4 segment 3
myvideo.mp4 segment 6
myvideo.mp4 segment 5
myvideo.mp4

This command will upload segments to a container named videos_segments, and create a manifest file describing the entire object in the videos container. For more information on large objects, see the documentation here.

> swift list videos

myvideo.mp4

> swift list videos_segments

myvideo.mp4/slo/1460229233.679546/9341553868/1073741824/00000000
myvideo.mp4/slo/1460229233.679546/9341553868/1073741824/00000001
myvideo.mp4/slo/1460229233.679546/9341553868/1073741824/00000002
myvideo.mp4/slo/1460229233.679546/9341553868/1073741824/00000003
myvideo.mp4/slo/1460229233.679546/9341553868/1073741824/00000004
myvideo.mp4/slo/1460229233.679546/9341553868/1073741824/00000005
myvideo.mp4/slo/1460229233.679546/9341553868/1073741824/00000006
myvideo.mp4/slo/1460229233.679546/9341553868/1073741824/00000007
myvideo.mp4/slo/1460229233.679546/9341553868/1073741824/00000008

Firstly, the key should be set, then generate a temporary URL for a Swift object:

> swift post -m "Temp-URL-Key:b3968d0207b54ece87cccc06515a89d4"

> swift tempurl GET 6000 /v1/AUTH_bf5e63572f7a420a83fcf0aa8c72c2c7\
  /firstcontainer/clean.sh b3968d0207b54ece87cccc06515a89d4

/v1/AUTH_/firstcontainer/clean.sh?temp_url_sig=\
9218fc288cc09e5edd857b6a3d43cf2122b906dc&temp_url_expires=1472203614

CLI

CLI¶

swift usage¶

swift optional arguments¶

Authentication¶

Keystone v3¶

Keystone v2¶

Legacy auth systems¶

CLI commands¶

Auth¶

swift stat¶

swift list¶

swift upload¶

swift post¶

swift download¶

swift delete¶

swift copy¶

swift capabilities¶

swift tempurl¶

Examples¶

Simple examples¶

More complex examples¶

python-swiftclient 3.7.1.dev6

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