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# Managing Buckets

The `s3qladm` command performs various operations on S3QL buckets. The file system contained in the bucket must not be mounted when using `s3qladm` or things will go wrong badly.

The syntax is

    s3qladm [options] <action> <storage-url>

where `action` may be either of passphrase, upgrade, clear or download-metadata.

The s3qladm accepts the following general options, no matter what specific action is being invoked:

> `--debug <module>`
> | activate debugging output from <module>. Use `all` to get debug messages from all modules. This option can be specified multiple times.
> `--quiet` | be really quiet
> `--log <target>` | Write logging info into this file. File will be rotated when it reaches 1 MB, and at most 5 old log files will be kept. Specify `none` to disable logging. Default: `none`
> `--authfile <path>`
> | Read authentication credentials from this file (default: `~/.s3ql/authinfo2)`
> `--cachedir <path>`
> | Store cached data in this directory (default: `~/.s3ql)`
> `--version` | just print program version and exit

Hint: run `s3qladm <action> --help` to get help on the additional arguments that the different actions take.

## Changing the Passphrase

To change the passphrase a bucket, use the `s3qladm` command:

    s3qladm passphrase  <storage url>

The passphrase can only be changed when the bucket is not mounted.

## Upgrading the file system

If you have installed a new version of S3QL, it may sometimes be necessary to upgrade the file system metadata as well. Note that in this case the file system can no longer be accessed with older versions of S3QL after the upgrade.

During the upgrade you have to make sure that the command is not interrupted, and that no one else tries to mount, check or upgrade the file system at the same time.

To upgrade a file system from the previous to the current revision, execute

    s3qladm upgrade <storage url>

## Deleting a file system

A file system can be deleted with:

    s3qladm clear <storage url>

This physically deletes all the data and file system structures.

## Restoring Metadata Backups

If the most-recent copy of the file system metadata has been damaged irreparably, it is possible to restore one of the automatically created backup copies.

The command

    s3qladm download-metadata <storage url>

will give you a list of the available metadata backups and allow you to download them. This will create two new files in the current directory, ending in `.db` and `.params`. To actually use the downloaded backup, you need to move these files into the `~/.s3ql/` directory and run `fsck.s3ql`.

Warning

You should probably not use this functionality without having asked for help on the mailing list first (see Further Resources / Getting Help).

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