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 - --