---
title: "Set up file storage"
sidebar_label: "Set up file storage"
---
Mattermost requires a file storage system for storing user files, images, and attachments. Choose one of the following before you install, because moving between them later means migrating existing files:

- S3-compatible object storage (recommended)
- Network file storage
- Local file storage

For guidance on how much storage to provision, see [backing storage benchmarks](/deployment-guide/scale/backing-storage-benchmarks).

## S3-compatible object storage (Recommended)

For production environments, we recommend using S3-compatible object storage such as:

- Amazon S3
- Digital Ocean Spaces
- Other S3-compatible services

When using S3 storage, you'll need:

1.  A bucket created specifically for Mattermost
2.  Access credentials (Access Key and Secret Key)
3.  Appropriate bucket policies configured
4.  The following information for configuration:
    - Bucket name
    - Region (if applicable)
    - Access Key
    - Secret Key
    - Endpoint URL (for non-AWS S3 services)

You configure these values in **System Console > Environment > File Storage**. See the [file storage configuration settings](/administration-guide/configure/environment-configuration-settings#file-storage) documentation for details.

## Network file storage

For production environments that cannot use S3-compatible object storage, we recommend using a Network Addressable Storage (NAS) solution with Network File System (NFS).

You'll need to prepare an NFS server with a dedicated share for Mattermost (e.g. <code>/mnt/mattermost_data</code>) and mount it on all servers that will be running Mattermost.

## Local file storage

For simple deployments, you can use local file storage. However, we don't recommend this for production environments or multi-node deployments, because the files aren't shared between application servers and aren't covered by a separate backup target.

1.  Create a directory for file storage:

    ``` sh
    sudo mkdir -p /opt/mattermost/data
    ```

2.  Set appropriate permissions:

    ``` sh
    sudo chown -R mattermost:mattermost /opt/mattermost/data
    ```

## Next steps

- [Use an image proxy](/deployment-guide/server/image-proxy) to keep clients from contacting third-party servers directly when they load external images.
- Set your [encryption at rest](/deployment-guide/encryption-options) approach for whichever storage system you chose.
- Return to the [preparation checklist](/deployment-guide/server/preparations).