File registration

File registration is used to reflect read-only, external data collections in a Onedata space. Space users can register files by providing the location of a regular file on external storage, along with optional attributes. Upon registration, the file becomes accessible in the space under the requested path. No data is copied in the process; instead, a metadata entry is created in the space, containing a reference to the external storage. The Oneprovider will contact the external storage backend whenever the file is accessed.

The typical use case for file registration is exposing publicly available data lying on an HTTP server via a Onedata space, by providing URLs to the files during registration.

NOTE

Registration of directories is not supported.

File registration is available only for storage backends that support the space and that are configured as imported storage with manual import mode (as opposed to auto import mode, where the registration is done automatically).

Registration API

Currently, the REST API (opens new window) is the only way to register files in a space. Space users can specify a file from a data collection that they want to make accessible via Onedata and invoke the registration on an Oneprovider that supports the space. The file will become visible immediately.