manage.flexfs

manage.flexfs is the host management utility for flexFS. It manages systemd services, downloads and installs binary updates, and provides log monitoring. All subcommands except init creds, deinit creds, version, and license require root.

It works with both Enterprise and Community editions.

Subcommands

Subcommand	Description
init creds	Initialize credentials (custom download server)
deinit creds	Remove credentials file
start	Start flexFS systemd services
stop	Stop flexFS systemd services
restart	Stop and start services
status	Show status of flexFS services
clean	Remove temporary files and caches
download	Download flexFS binaries to /tmp
install	Install binaries from /tmp to /sbin
deploy	Deploy mount client binaries to staging/production channels
upgrade	Full upgrade: clean, download, install, then restart the upgraded services
watch	Follow journal logs for a service
version	Print the build version
license	Print license information

Credential Initialization

By default, manage.flexfs downloads binaries from get.flexfs.io. To use a custom download server, initialize a credentials file:

manage.flexfs init creds --downloadAddr download.internal:443

See manage.flexfs init creds for its flags and their defaults.

The credentials file is a TOML file written with 0600 permissions:

downloadAddr = "download.internal:443"

Commands that download binaries (download, deploy, upgrade, install) read this file automatically. Command-line flags override the file value.

deinit creds

manage.flexfs deinit creds

Removes the credentials file. After removal, download commands fall back to get.flexfs.io.

Service Management

Service Order

manage.flexfs manages six flexFS systemd services. Services are started in this order and stopped in reverse order, ensuring that dependents are torn down before the services they depend on:

1. error (flexfs-error.service)
2. stat (flexfs-stat.service)
3. admin (flexfs-admin.service)
4. free (flexfs-free.service)
5. proxy (flexfs-proxy.service)
6. meta (flexfs-meta.service)

The error service starts first and stops last, so it is available to receive reports for the entire lifetime of the other services.

When no service names are specified, commands operate on all services that have unit files installed. Only services with existing systemd units are acted upon.

start

Start flexFS systemd services.

sudo manage.flexfs start              # Start all installed services
sudo manage.flexfs start meta proxy   # Start specific services

stop

Stop flexFS systemd services. Services are stopped in reverse order.

sudo manage.flexfs stop               # Stop all installed services
sudo manage.flexfs stop proxy         # Stop a specific service

restart

Stop and start services again. Pass --vacuum to also vacuum the system journal logs between the stop and start.

sudo manage.flexfs restart
sudo manage.flexfs restart --vacuum   # Also vacuum journal logs
sudo manage.flexfs restart meta       # Restart a specific service

See manage.flexfs restart for its flags and their defaults.

status

Show the status and uptime of flexFS services.

sudo manage.flexfs status

Output shows each installed service with its systemd active state and uptime:

  admin    active       2d 14h
  meta     active       2d 14h
  proxy    active       2d 14h

clean

Remove flexFS temporary files (/tmp/*.flexfs) and optionally vacuum journal logs.

sudo manage.flexfs clean
sudo manage.flexfs clean --vacuum

See manage.flexfs clean for its flags and their defaults.

When --vacuum is used, the command runs journalctl --rotate followed by journalctl --vacuum-time=1s to reclaim journal disk space.

Binary Management

download

Download flexFS binaries to /tmp. Uses the download server address from the credentials file, or get.flexfs.io by default.

sudo manage.flexfs download admin meta proxy mount
sudo manage.flexfs download mount --version v1.9.x --arch amd64
sudo manage.flexfs download mount --install   # Download and install in one step

See manage.flexfs download for its flags and their defaults.

Valid binary names: admin, analyze, configure, dedup, error, find, free, license, manage, meta, mount, proxy, stat, update.

install

Install flexFS binaries from /tmp to /sbin. When binary names are given as arguments, any that are missing from /tmp are downloaded automatically.

sudo manage.flexfs install                    # Install all /tmp/*.flexfs
sudo manage.flexfs install mount meta proxy   # Install specific binaries (downloads missing ones)

See manage.flexfs install for its flags and their defaults.

Only binaries owned by root are installed. The install process removes the existing binary at /sbin before replacing it to avoid “text file busy” errors on running processes. SELinux contexts are set automatically where chcon is available.

deploy

Deploy the latest mount.flexfs binaries to staging and/or production channels within the admin server’s deploy folder. Mount clients poll the admin server for updates from these channels.

sudo manage.flexfs deploy                           # Deploy to both channels
sudo manage.flexfs deploy --channel staging         # Deploy to staging only
sudo manage.flexfs deploy --channel production      # Deploy to production only

See manage.flexfs deploy for its flags and their defaults.

The deploy process downloads both amd64 and aarch64 mount client binaries along with the version file, and atomically swaps them into the channel directory.

upgrade

Full upgrade sequence: clean temporary state, download binaries, install them to /sbin, then stop and start only the services whose binaries were upgraded.

sudo manage.flexfs upgrade                     # Upgrade all installed binaries
sudo manage.flexfs upgrade mount meta proxy    # Upgrade specific binaries
sudo manage.flexfs upgrade --deploy            # Upgrade, then deploy mount.flexfs

See manage.flexfs upgrade for its flags and their defaults.

When no binary names are specified, upgrade scans /sbin for existing flexFS binaries and upgrades all of them.

With --deploy, upgrade runs the equivalent of deploy once the upgrade completes, deploying mount.flexfs for the same --version it just installed. The --channel and --adminPath flags control that deploy step.

Log Monitoring

watch

Follow the systemd journal logs for a flexFS service in real time.

sudo manage.flexfs watch meta
sudo manage.flexfs watch admin --lines 50 --cat

See manage.flexfs watch for its flags and their defaults.

Valid service names: admin, error, free, meta, proxy, stat.

version

Print the build version.

manage.flexfs version