Provided by: cephfs-shell_19.2.1-0ubuntu0.24.04.2_all 
NAME
cephfs-shell - Shell-like tool talking with CephFS
SYNOPSIS
cephfs-shell [options] [command]
cephfs-shell [options] -- [command, command,...]
DESCRIPTION
CephFS Shell provides shell-like commands that directly interact with the Ceph File System.
This tool can be used in interactive mode as well as in non-interactive mode. In former mode,
cephfs-shell opens a shell session and after the given command is finished, it prints the prompt string
and waits indefinitely. When the shell session is finished, cephfs-shell quits with the return value of
last executed command. In non-interactive mode, cephfs-shell issues a command and exits right after the
command's execution is complete with the command's return value.
Behaviour of CephFS Shell can be tweaked using cephfs-shell.conf. Refer to CephFS Shell Configuration
File for details.
OPTIONS
-b, --batch FILE
Path to batch file.
-c, --config FILE
Path to cephfs-shell.conf
-f, --fs FS
Name of filesystem to mount.
-t, --test FILE
Path to transcript(s) in FILE for testing
NOTE:
Latest version of the cmd2 module is required for running cephfs-shell. If CephFS is installed
through source, execute cephfs-shell in the build directory. It can also be executed as following
using virtualenv:
[build]$ python3 -m venv venv && source venv/bin/activate && pip3 install cmd2 colorama
[build]$ source vstart_environment.sh && source venv/bin/activate && python3 ../src/tools/cephfs/shell/cephfs-shell
COMMANDS
NOTE:
Apart from Ceph File System, CephFS Shell commands can also interact directly with the local file
system. To achieve this, ! (an exclamation point) must precede the CephFS Shell command.
Usage :
!<cephfs_shell_command>
For example,
CephFS:~/>>> !ls # Lists the local file system directory contents.
CephFS:~/>>> ls # Lists the Ceph File System directory contents.
mkdir
Create the directory(ies), if they do not already exist.
Usage :
mkdir [-option] <directory>...
• directory - name of the directory to be created.
Options :
-m MODE
Sets the access mode for the new directory.
-p, --parent
Create parent directories as necessary. When this option is specified, no error is reported
if a directory already exists.
put
Copy a file/directory to Ceph File System from Local File System.
Usage :
put [options] <source_path> <target_path>
•
source_path - local file/directory path to be copied to cephfs.
• if . copies all the file/directories in the local working directory.
• if - Reads the input from stdin.
•
target_path - remote directory path where the files/directories are to be copied to.
• if . files/directories are copied to the remote working directory.
Options :
-f, --force
Overwrites the destination if it already exists.
get
Copy a file from Ceph File System to Local File System.
Usage :
get [options] <source_path> <target_path>
•
source_path - remote file/directory path which is to be copied to local file system.
• if . copies all the file/directories in the remote working directory.
•
target_path - local directory path where the files/directories are to be copied to.
• if . files/directories are copied to the local working directory.
• if - Writes output to stdout.
Options:
-f, --force
Overwrites the destination if it already exists.
ls
List all the files and directories in the current working directory.
Usage :
ls [option] [directory]...
•
directory - name of directory whose files/directories are to be listed.
• By default current working directory's files/directories are listed.
Options:
-l, --long
list with long format - show permissions
-r, --reverse
reverse sort
-H human readable
-a,-all
ignore entries starting with .
-S Sort by file_size
cat
Concatenate files and print on the standard output
Usage :
cat <file>....
• file - name of the file
ln
Add a hard link to an existing file or create a symbolic link to an existing file or directory.
Usage:
ln [options] <target> [link_name]
• target - file/directory to which a link is to be created
• link_name - link to target with the name link_name
Options:
-s, --symbolic
Create symbolic link
-v, --verbose
Print name of each linked file
-f, --force
Force create link/symbolic link
cd
Change current working directory.
Usage :
cd [directory]
•
directory - path/directory name. If no directory is mentioned it is changed to the root directory.
• If '.' moves to the parent directory of the current directory.
cwd
Get current working directory.
Usage :
cwd
quit/Ctrl + D
Close the shell.
chmod
Change the permissions of file/directory.
Usage :
chmod <mode> <file/directory>
mv
Moves files/Directory from source to destination.
Usage :
mv <source_path> <destination_path>
rmdir
Delete a directory(ies).
Usage :
rmdir <directory_name>.....
rm
Remove a file(es).
Usage :
rm <file_name/pattern>...
write
Create and Write a file.
Usage :
write <file_name> <Enter Data> Ctrl+D Exit.
lls
Lists all files and directories in the specified directory.Current local directory files and directories
are listed if no path is mentioned
Usage:
lls <path>.....
lcd
Moves into the given local directory.
Usage :
lcd <path>
lpwd
Prints the absolute path of the current local directory.
Usage :
lpwd
umask
Set and get the file mode creation mask
Usage :
umask [mode]
alias
Define or display aliases
Usage:
alias [name] | [<name> <value>]
• name - name of the alias being looked up, added, or replaced
• value - what the alias will be resolved to (if adding or replacing) this can contain spaces and does
not need to be quoted
run_pyscript
Runs a python script file inside the console
Usage:
run_pyscript <script_path> [script_arguments]
• Console commands can be executed inside this script with cmd ("your command") However, you cannot run
nested "py" or "pyscript" commands from within this script. Paths or arguments that contain spaces must
be enclosed in quotes
NOTE:
This command is available as pyscript for cmd2 versions 0.9.13 or less.
py
Invoke python command, shell, or script
Usage :
py <command>: Executes a Python command. py: Enters interactive Python mode.
shortcuts
Lists shortcuts (aliases) available
Usage :
shortcuts
history
View, run, edit, and save previously entered commands.
Usage :
history [-h] [-r | -e | -s | -o FILE | -t TRANSCRIPT] [arg]
Options:
-h show this help message and exit
-r run selected history items
-e edit and then run selected history items
-s script format; no separation lines
-o FILE
output commands to a script file
-t TRANSCRIPT
output commands and results to a transcript file
unalias
Unsets aliases
Usage :
unalias [-a] name [name ...]
• name - name of the alias being unset
Options:
-a remove all alias definitions
set
Sets a settable parameter or shows current settings of parameters.
Usage :
set [-h] [-a] [-l] [settable [settable ...]]
• Call without arguments for a list of settable parameters with their values.
Options :
-h show this help message and exit
-a display read-only settings as well
-l describe function of parameter
edit
Edit a file in a text editor.
Usage:
edit [file_path]
• file_path - path to a file to open in editor
run_script
Runs commands in script file that is encoded as either ASCII or UTF-8 text. Each command in the script
should be separated by a newline.
Usage:
run_script <file_path>
• file_path - a file path pointing to a script
NOTE:
This command is available as load for cmd2 versions 0.9.13 or less.
shell
Execute a command as if at the OS prompt.
Usage:
shell <command> [arguments]
locate
Find an item in File System
Usage:
locate [options] <name>
Options :
-c Count number of items found
-i Ignore case
stat
Display file status.
Usage :
stat [-h] <file_name> [file_name ...]
Options :
-h Shows the help message
snap
Create or Delete Snapshot
Usage:
snap {create|delete} <snap_name> <dir_name>
• snap_name - Snapshot name to be created or deleted
• dir_name - directory under which snapshot should be created or deleted
setxattr
Set extended attribute for a file
Usage :
setxattr [-h] <path> <name> <value>
• path - Path to the file
• name - Extended attribute name to get or set
• value - Extended attribute value to be set
Options:
-h, --help
Shows the help message
getxattr
Get extended attribute value for the name associated with the path
Usage :
getxattr [-h] <path> <name>
• path - Path to the file
• name - Extended attribute name to get or set
Options:
-h, --help
Shows the help message
listxattr
List extended attribute names associated with the path
Usage :
listxattr [-h] <path>
• path - Path to the file
Options:
-h, --help
Shows the help message
df
Display amount of available disk space
Usage :
df [-h] [file [file ...]]
• file - name of the file
Options:
-h, --help
Shows the help message
du
Show disk usage of a directory
Usage :
du [-h] [-r] [paths [paths ...]]
• paths - name of the directory
Options:
-h, --help
Shows the help message
-r Recursive Disk usage of all directories
quota
Quota management for a Directory
Usage :
quota [-h] [--max_bytes [MAX_BYTES]] [--max_files [MAX_FILES]] {get,set} path
• {get,set} - quota operation type.
• path - name of the directory.
Options :
-h, --help
Shows the help message
--max_bytes MAX_BYTES
Set max cumulative size of the data under this directory
--max_files MAX_FILES
Set total number of files under this directory tree
CEPHFS SHELL CONFIGURATION FILE
By default, CephFS Shell looks for cephfs-shell.conf in the path provided by the environment variable
CEPHFS_SHELL_CONF and then in user's home directory (~/.cephfs-shell.conf).
Right now, CephFS Shell inherits all its options from its dependency cmd2. Therefore, these options
might vary with the version of cmd2 installed on your system. Refer to cmd2 docs for a description of
these options.
Following is a sample cephfs-shell.conf
[cephfs-shell]
prompt = CephFS:~/>>>
continuation_prompt = >
quiet = False
timing = False
colors = True
debug = False
abbrev = False
autorun_on_edit = False
echo = False
editor = vim
feedback_to_output = False
locals_in_py = True
EXIT CODE
Following exit codes are returned by cephfs shell
┌───────────────────────────────────────┬───────────┐
│ Error Type │ Exit Code │
├───────────────────────────────────────┼───────────┤
│ Miscellaneous │ 1 │
├───────────────────────────────────────┼───────────┤
│ Keyboard Interrupt │ 2 │
├───────────────────────────────────────┼───────────┤
│ Operation not permitted │ 3 │
├───────────────────────────────────────┼───────────┤
│ Permission denied │ 4 │
├───────────────────────────────────────┼───────────┤
│ No such file or directory │ 5 │
├───────────────────────────────────────┼───────────┤
│ I/O error │ 6 │
├───────────────────────────────────────┼───────────┤
│ No space left on device │ 7 │
├───────────────────────────────────────┼───────────┤
│ File exists │ 8 │
├───────────────────────────────────────┼───────────┤
│ No data available │ 9 │
├───────────────────────────────────────┼───────────┤
│ Invalid argument │ 10 │
├───────────────────────────────────────┼───────────┤
│ Operation not supported on transport │ 11 │
│ endpoint │ │
├───────────────────────────────────────┼───────────┤
│ Range error │ 12 │
├───────────────────────────────────────┼───────────┤
│ Operation would block │ 13 │
├───────────────────────────────────────┼───────────┤
│ Directory not empty │ 14 │
├───────────────────────────────────────┼───────────┤
│ Not a directory │ 15 │
├───────────────────────────────────────┼───────────┤
│ Disk quota exceeded │ 16 │
├───────────────────────────────────────┼───────────┤
│ Broken pipe │ 17 │
├───────────────────────────────────────┼───────────┤
│ Cannot send after transport endpoint │ 18 │
│ shutdown │ │
├───────────────────────────────────────┼───────────┤
│ Connection aborted │ 19 │
├───────────────────────────────────────┼───────────┤
│ Connection refused │ 20 │
├───────────────────────────────────────┼───────────┤
│ Connection reset │ 21 │
├───────────────────────────────────────┼───────────┤
│ Interrupted function call │ 22 │
└───────────────────────────────────────┴───────────┘
FILES
~/.cephfs-shell.conf
COPYRIGHT
2010-2025, Inktank Storage, Inc. and contributors. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution Share
Alike 3.0 (CC-BY-SA-3.0)
dev Jun 24, 2025 CEPHFS-SHELL(8)