NAME

       nbdkit-curl-plugin - nbdkit curl plugin (HTTP, FTP, SSH and other protocols)

SYNOPSIS

        nbdkit -r curl url=http://example.com/disk.img

        nbdkit -r curl url=sftp://you@example.com/~/disk.img

DESCRIPTION

       "nbdkit-curl-plugin" is a plugin for nbdkit(1) which turns content served over HTTP, FTP, SSH, and more,
       into a Network Block Device.  It uses a library called libcurl (also known as cURL) to read data from
       URLs.  The exact list of protocols that libcurl can handle depends on how it was compiled, but most
       versions will handle HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, FTPS and SFTP (see: "curl -V").  For more information about
       libcurl, see <http://curl.haxx.se>.

       Note: This plugin supports writes.  However:

       •   For  HTTP, you may not want nbdkit to issue PUT requests to the remote server (which probably doesn't
           understand them).

       •   SFTP helpfully truncates the target file when you open it for writing.  Not useful!

       To force nbdkit to use a readonly connection, pass the -r flag.

   EXAMPLES
       Basic usage is:

        nbdkit -r curl url=http://example.com/disk.img

       which serves the remote disk image as a NBD on TCP port 10809 (to control ports  and  protocols  used  to
       serve NBD see nbdkit(1)).

       You can also access SSH servers.  This uses the SFTP protocol which is built into most SSH servers:

        nbdkit -r curl url=sftp://example.com/~/disk.img

       You may need to specify a username and/or a password.  In this example the password is read from stdin:

        nbdkit -r curl url=sftp://example.com/~/disk.img username=fred password=-

PARAMETERS

       password=PASSWORD
           Set the password to use when connecting to the remote server.

           Note that passing this on the command line is not secure on shared machines.

       password=-
           Ask for the password (interactively) when nbdkit starts up.

       sslverify=0
           Don't verify the SSL certificate of the remote host.

       timeout=SECS
           Set the timeout for requests.

       timeout=0
           Use the default libcurl timeout for requests.

       url=URL
           The  URL  of  the  remote  disk  image.   This  is  passed  to  libcurl directly via "CURLOPT_URL" in
           curl_easy_setopt(3).

           This parameter is required.

       user=USERNAME
           Set the username to use when connecting to the remote server.  This may also be set in the  URL  (eg.
           "http://foo@example.com/disk.img")

SEE ALSO

       curl(1), libcurl(3), nbdkit(1), nbdkit-plugin(3).

AUTHORS

       Richard W.M. Jones

       Parts derived from Alexander Graf's "QEMU Block driver for CURL images".

COPYRIGHT

       Copyright (C) 2014 Red Hat Inc.

LICENSE

       Redistribution  and  use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted provided
       that the following conditions are met:

       •   Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list  of  conditions  and
           the following disclaimer.

       •   Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and
           the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.

       •   Neither  the  name  of  Red  Hat  nor the names of its contributors may be used to endorse or promote
           products derived from this software without specific prior written permission.

       THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY RED HAT AND CONTRIBUTORS ''AS IS'' AND ANY EXPRESS  OR  IMPLIED  WARRANTIES,
       INCLUDING,  BUT  NOT  LIMITED  TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
       PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL RED HAT OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE  FOR  ANY  DIRECT,  INDIRECT,
       INCIDENTAL,  SPECIAL,  EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF
       SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND
       ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT  LIABILITY,  OR  TORT  (INCLUDING  NEGLIGENCE  OR
       OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
       DAMAGE.

nbdkit                                             2015-12-18                              nbdkit-curl-plugin(1)