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How to use Cyberduck and Storj DCS

How to use Cyberduck and Storj DCS #

Cyberduck is a free open-source libre server - a small server system which enables you to run your own internet services independently - cloud storage browser for macOS, Windows and Linux that supports FTP and SFTP, WebDAV, and cloud storage such as Storj DCS and other cloud storage providers.

Users can leverage the Cyberduck services via the user interface (GUI) or CLI (for Linux), including file transfer by drag and drop and notifications via Growl. It is also able to open some files in external text editors.

Users can choose Storj DCS to act as a decentralized cloud storage network target to send files to via the Cyberduck file manager interface, available via Storj’s hosted multitenant gateway ( Gateway MT) that is backward compatible with S3. This means you’ll be able to integrate with the Storj network via HTTP, and you won’t have to run anything extra on your end.

In this brief tutorial, we’ll go over downloading and setting up Cyberduck to integrate with Storj DCS, facilitating easy and intuitive drag-and-drop file transfer to Storj DCS.

Downloading Cyberduck #

As a free solution, Cyberduck gives users the freedom to run, copy, distribute, study, change and improve the software. Those who wish to pay for Cyberduck will receive a registration key as a contributor. Becoming a contributor registers the installed application to your name, disabling donation prompts after downloading or updating.

As noted, Cyberduck supports Windows, macOS as well as Linux. Users can download Cyberduck by navigating to https://cyberduck.io/download/. Here, you can download the given installer for both Windows and macOS.

For those who wish to download via CLI:

Windows #

choco install cyberduck

choco install duck

Requires Chocolatey. See other installation options to download the MSI installer for Windows.

macOS #

brew install duck

Requires Homebrew. See other installation options to download an OS X installer package.

Linux #

RPM Package

echo -e "[duck-stable]\nname=duck-stable\nbaseurl=https://repo.cyberduck.io/stable/\$basearch/\nenabled=1\ngpgcheck=0" | sudo tee /etc/yum.repos.d/duck-stable.repo
sudo yum install duck

Requires Yum Package Manager. See other installation options to download DEB and RPM packages.

DEB Package

echo -e "deb https://s3.amazonaws.com/repo.deb.cyberduck.io stable main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/cyberduck.list > /dev/null
sudo apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys FE7097963FEFBE72
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install duck

Requires APT. See other installation options to download DEB and RPM packages.

Using CyberDuck with Storj - Windows #

Once the download is complete you’ll be able to open the CyberDuck client. By selecting Open Connection to the top left, you’ll be able to establish a connection via Cyberduck. By selecting Amazon S3 from the dropdown, you’ll be prompted to fill out the following:

  • Server:
  • Port:
  • Access Key ID:
  • Secret Access Key:

To configure Storj DCS as the decentralized cloud storage network target you’ll need to generate Storj credentials. Let’s take a look.

Using CyberDuck with Storj - macOS #

Once the Cyberduck download is complete you’ll be able to open the CyberDuck client. By selecting the + button in the bottom left-hand corner of the client, you’ll be able to add a connection bookmark, facilitating the connection between CyberDuck and Storj DCS. Select Amazon S3 from the drop-down.

This is where you will add Server, Access Key ID, and the Secret Access Key for Storj Gateway MT.

To configure Storj DCS as the decentralized cloud storage network target you’ll need to generate Storj credentials. Let’s take a look.

Generate Credentials to the Gateway MT #

One of the most versatile ways to get up and running with Storj DCS is through the hosted multi tenant S3 Gateway known as GatewayMT.

Gateway MT offers the following:

  • Encryption, erasure coding, and upload to nodes occur server-side
  • Supports parallelism for upload and multi transfer for download
  • 1GB upload will result in 1GB of data being uploaded to storage nodes across the network
  • Based on S3 standard

In your Storj DCS dashboard, navigate to the Access page within your project and then click on Create S3 Credentials. A modal window will pop up where you should enter a name for this access grant, permissions and select buckets.

Assign the permissions you want this access grant to have, then click on Encrypt My Access:

If you do not feel comfortable entering this sensitive information into your browser, we understand. Storj does not know or store your encryption passphrase. However, if you are still reluctant to enter your passphrase into our web application, please go back to the main Access page and follow these instructions instead. Otherwise, continue with the next step below.

Generate and Save the Encryption Passphrase. If this is your first access grant, we strongly encourage you to use a mnemonic phrase as your encryption passphrase (The GUI automatically generates one on the client-side for you if you choose “Generate Phrase.”) You will need this passphrase later if you want to again access files uploaded with this encryption phrase. To continue either click on Copy to clipboard or Download .txt.

Confirm that you copied or downloaded your Encryption Phrase and click on Create my Access.

Be sure to download the S3 credentials to save them. You can also click on Learn More to learn how to use S3 credentials.

Configuring Storj + Cyberduck #

Whether using Windows or macOS, you’ll simply add the Storj Gateway S3 credentials into the CyberDuck client to establish the connection. Click the Open Connection button to create a new connection.

  • First start by selecting Amazon S3 from the drop-down menu
  • Enter your S3 Gateway Credentials Endpoint for the Server selection (without https://)
  • Enter your S3 Gateway Credentials Access Key into the Access Key ID selection
  • Enter your S3 Gateway Credentials Secret Key into the Secret Access Key selection

After you have entered all the required data, click Connect.

Use endpoint without https://, i.e. gateway.storjshare.io in the Cyberduck Server entry above, otherwise Cyberduck will revert to WEBDAV (HTTPS) causing a connection error.

As seen here:

For macOS:

Back to the open connection in Cyberduck as we referenced above in Using CyberDuck with Storj - macOS you now have all the information you need to send files to your Storj DCS network.

  • select your saved bookmark: Here, you’ll see the Amazon S3 server window reopen. To move forward, you’ll simply just add in your Storj Gateway S3 credentials that we previously configured.

  • Enter your S3 Gateway Credentials Endpoint for the Server selection

  • Enter your S3 Gateway Credentials Access Key into the Access Key ID selection

  • Enter your S3 Gateway Credentials Secret Key into the Secret Access Key selection

Close the modal window and click the modified bookmark.

If you’ve added in your S3 Gateway Credentials properly, you’ll see your Storj DCS buckets and you can now drag and drop files to your Storj DCS network seamlessly and easily via the Cyberduck GUI. Congrats!