S3-compatible object storage with automated backup, lifecycle management, and Nginx reverse proxy. Ideal for application data, backups, logs, and media — any workload that needs durable, scalable storage without the AWS bill.
What's Included
Includes: MinIO Server, Nginx reverse proxy, backup agent, mc client
Components:
- MinIO Server with S3-compatible API — drop-in for AWS S3, Backblaze, Wasabi
- Nginx reverse proxy with TLS, rate limiting, and large upload buffering (5GB+)
- Automated backup to remote S3 using
mc mirror(incremental sync) - Bucket lifecycle policies, versioning, and retention rules
- Web console for management and monitoring
- Health checks and automated recovery
Deployment Modes
| Mode | Use Case | Nodes | |------|----------|-------| | Single-node standalone | Dev, personal use, <5TB | 1 | | Single-node with drives | Small team, HA storage | 1 + 4 drives | | Distributed cluster | Production, multi-AZ | 4-16 nodes |
The included stack ships as single-node with drives — ready to scale to distributed when needed. MinIO's erasure coding provides RAID-like protection without hardware RAID.
Backup Strategy
Recommended backup schedule:
- Hourly: Application data and active files (incremental)
- Daily: Full bucket sync to remote S3 or Backblaze B2
- Weekly: Lifecycle transition to archival storage
- Monthly: Immutable snapshot for compliance
The mc mirror command handles incremental sync efficiently:
mc mirror --watch /data/files play/mybucket
Cost Comparison
For 10TB monthly storage with egress: | Provider | Monthly Cost | |----------|-------------| | AWS S3 Standard | ~$230 | | MinIO self-hosted (4x 4TB NVMe) | ~$60 (amortized hardware) | | Backblaze B2 | ~$60 |
Self-hosted MinIO breaks even at approximately 5TB and gets cheaper from there.
Who This Is For
Developers and ops teams who need S3-compatible storage without monthly egress bills. Ideal for backup targets, media storage, log archives, and application data that needs to stay within a private network boundary.
