> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://clickhouse.com/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# clickhouse-static-files-disk-uploader

> Provides a description of the clickhouse-static-files-disk-uploader utility

Outputs a data directory containing metadata for a specified ClickHouse table. This metadata can be used to create a ClickHouse table on a different server containing a read-only dataset backed by a `web` disk.

Don't use this tool to migrate data. Instead, use the [`BACKUP` and `RESTORE` commands](/docs/concepts/features/backup-restore/overview).

<h2 id="usage">
  Usage
</h2>

```bash theme={null}
$ clickhouse static-files-disk-uploader [args]
```

<h2 id="commands">
  Commands
</h2>

| Command                  | Description                                                                               |
| ------------------------ | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `-h`, `--help`           | Prints help information                                                                   |
| `--metadata-path [path]` | The path containing metadata for the specified table                                      |
| `--test-mode`            | Enables `test` mode, which submits a PUT request to the given URL with the table metadata |
| `--link`                 | Creates symlinks instead of copying files to the output directory                         |
| `--url [url]`            | Web server URL for `test` mode                                                            |
| `--output-dir [dir]`     | Directory to output files in `non-test` mode                                              |

<h2 id="retrieve-metadata-path-for-the-specified-table">
  Retrieve metadata path for the specified table
</h2>

When using `clickhouse-static-files-disk-uploader`, you must obtain the metadata path for your desired table.

1. Run the following query specifying your target table and database:

<br />

```sql theme={null}
SELECT data_paths
  FROM system.tables
  WHERE name = 'mytable' AND database = 'default';
```

2. This should return the path to the data directory for the specified table:

<br />

```response theme={null}
┌─data_paths────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ ['./store/bcc/bccc1cfd-d43d-43cf-a5b6-1cda8178f1ee/'] │
└───────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
```

<h2 id="output-table-metadata-directory-to-the-local-filesystem">
  Output table metadata directory to the local filesystem
</h2>

Using the target output directory `output` and a given metadata path, execute the following command:

```bash theme={null}
$ clickhouse static-files-disk-uploader --output-dir output --metadata-path ./store/bcc/bccc1cfd-d43d-43cf-a5b6-1cda8178f1ee/
```

If successful, you should see the following message, and the `output` directory should contain the metadata for the specified table:

```repsonse theme={null}
Data path: "/Users/john/store/bcc/bccc1cfd-d43d-43cf-a5b6-1cda8178f1ee", destination path: "output"
```

<h2 id="output-table-metadata-directory-to-an-external-url">
  Output table metadata directory to an external URL
</h2>

This step is similar to outputting the data directory to the local filesystem but with the addition of the `--test-mode` flag. Instead of specifying an output directory, you must specify a target URL via the `--url` flag.

With `test` mode enabled, the table metadata directory is uploaded to the specified URL via a PUT request.

```bash theme={null}
$ clickhouse static-files-disk-uploader --test-mode --url http://nginx:80/test1 --metadata-path ./store/bcc/bccc1cfd-d43d-43cf-a5b6-1cda8178f1ee/
```

<h2 id="using-the-table-metadata-directory-to-create-a-clickhouse-table">
  Using the table metadata directory to create a ClickHouse table
</h2>

Once you have the table metadata directory, you can use it to create a ClickHouse table on a different server.

Please see [this GitHub repo](https://github.com/ClickHouse/web-tables-demo) showing a demo. In the example, we create a table using a `web` disk, which allows us to attach the table to a dataset on a different server.