will holdsworth's blog

quick and easy cloud storage with dufs and nixos

posted: 2025/01/28 18:41
edited: 2025/01/28 19:06

dufs[1] -- the distinctive file utility server -- is a decent cloud storage replacement for those looking to move away from third-party services like google drive or proton drive. it supports webdav and https file transfer protocols.

it's very easy to set up and get going in nixos using a docker container.

set up dufs

first, enable docker in your configuration.nix:

virtualisation.docker.enable = true;

then define a docker container, either in your configuration.nix or in a custom module:

virtualisation.oci-containers = {
    backend = "docker";

    containers.dufs = {
        # automatically restart server after reboot
        autoStart = true; 

        image = "sigoden/dufs";

        ports = [
            "5000:5000"
        ];

        # the files i want to serve are in /srv/dufs
        volumes = [
            "/srv/dufs:/data" 
        ];

        # tells dufs to serve the files in the docker volume /data
        cmd = [
            "-A"
            "/data"
        ];
    };
};

rebuild your configuration using nixos-rebuild switch and head on over to http://localhost:5000 to behold your lovely files.

set up tailscale

you can use tailscale[2] to access the files on other devices inside (and outside) of your home network. tailscale is like a crazy-fast vpn with a bunch of other comfort features like magic dns[3], keyless ssh[4] and easy https[5].

to enable it in nixos, add the following to your configuration.nix:

services.tailscale.enable = true;
networking.firewall.trustedInterfaces = [ "tailscale0" ];

once again, rebuild your configuration using nixos-rebuild switch and run tailscale up to start tailscale.

i recommend enabling magic dns in admin console > dns > magic dns, but if you prefer not to, your server's ip address will be visible by running tailscale ip -4.

head over to http://<hostname or ip>:5000 on one of your other machines running tailscale to upload, download, and view your self-hosted files.

dufs clients

as for client recommendations, round sync[6] on android is quite good. it supports both webdav and https remotes, i chose to use webdav when connecting.

thanks for stopping by ^.^

[1] dufs

[2] tailscale

[3] magic dns

[4] tailscale ssh

[5] tailscale https

[6] round sync