Post/garage

src/content/blog/garage.md

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+---
+title: "Garage: Self-Hosted Object Storage"
+author: Johannes Karl
+pubDate: 2026-07-30
+tags: ["s3", "sovereignty", "devops", "rust"]
+description:
+  "An introduction to a simple, self-hosted, S3-compatible storage and the
+  organization behind it."
+image: ../../assets/blog/garage.jpg
+---
+
+# Garage
+
+Garage is an S3-compatible, distributed object-storage solution that can be
+easily self-hosted on very limited hardware. The project was started by
+[Deuxfleurs](#deuxfleurs) to create a service that is free from the influence of
+corporations. A service that allows one to host their personal data without
+relying on any cloud services but instead just on the hardware that people own.\
+You can even run Garage on a Raspberry Pi if that's what floats your boat.
+
+Some of the core design goals are to
+
+- provide a service that is both **simple** to understand and operate,
+- be self-contained and light-weight (<small>it is a single binary, written in
+  Rust 💙</small>) and
+- **highly resilient** to network issues and other failures
+
+That makes it a really good choice for self-hosting static websites, as a
+storage backend for tools such as
+[`rsync`](https://github.com/rsyncproject/rsync) or
+[`restic`](https://github.com/restic/restic) and
+[more](https://garagehq.deuxfleurs.fr/documentation/design/goals/#use-cases).
+And while it is compatible with most S3 tooling and features, it does not
+attempt to support all of them to keep the scope manageable. Here's a quick
+overview of the features it does/does not support:
+
+| Feature                                                                                                                       | Supported |
+| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------- |
+| Presigned URLs                                                                                                                | Yes       |
+| [Server-side encryption (SSE-C)](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonS3/latest/userguide/ServerSideEncryptionCustomerKeys.html) | Yes       |
+| Bucket versioning                                                                                                             | _No_      |
+| [Path-style requests](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonS3/latest/userguide/VirtualHosting.html#path-style-access)            | Yes       |
+| Virtual-hosted-style requests                                                                                                 | Yes       |
+
+<small>Source:
+[https://garagehq.deuxfleurs.fr/documentation/reference-manual/s3-compatibility/](https://garagehq.deuxfleurs.fr/documentation/reference-manual/s3-compatibility/)</small>
+
+### Geo-Distribution
+
+One of the key aspects of Garage is the ease with which it can provide a
+geo-distributed object storage, which allows the storage and replication in
+multiple geographical locations. To offer more flexibility, the way Garage
+replicates the data
+([replication factor](https://garagehq.deuxfleurs.fr/documentation/reference-manual/configuration/#replication_factor))
+can be configured via a simple
+[`.toml`](https://garagehq.deuxfleurs.fr/documentation/reference-manual/configuration/)
+file.
+
+### Deploying & Operating
+
+Since Garage is just a single binary, deploying it turns out to be really easy.
+Be it through Kubernetes and the Helm charts provided by them or directly via
+`systemd`, it offers a lot of
+[different options](https://garagehq.deuxfleurs.fr/documentation/cookbook/real-world/).
+They just recommend that a minimum of `3` nodes should be involved when
+deploying it.
+
+For monitoring, the service exposes an Admin API that provides
+Prometheus-compatible metrics that can be scraped.
+
+### Limitations
+
+Obviously, there are some limitations to using Garage. As already mentioned, it
+does not aim to support every S3 feature. If that is a strict requirement, some
+of the alternatives might be more viable. There are also some
+[known issues](https://garagehq.deuxfleurs.fr/documentation/reference-manual/known-issues/)
+that should be kept in mind when evaluating it as an option.
+
+## Deuxfleurs
+
+Deuxfleurs is an experimental, non-profit hosting organization based in Rennes,
+France. They largely rely on funding from organizations such as NLnet or
+projects by the European Union, but also individual donations.
+
+Besides building the tools, they also offer some services like static hosting,
+email or Matrix-based instant messaging.\
+According to them, they use less than 10 refurbished servers to offer these
+services for thousands of people, which is pretty cool if you ask me.
+
+So if you benefit from their work, consider giving back via contributions or
+donations.