Storage Providers

This guide covers provider-specific configuration for cloud storage backends that require special setup beyond standard rclone configuration.

Cloudflare R2

Cloudflare R2 is an S3-compatible object storage service with zero egress fees, making it an excellent choice for Django backups.

Important: no_check_bucket requirement

Cloudflare R2 requires no_check_bucket = true in your rclone configuration. Without this setting, uploads will fail with 403 Access Denied errors even when your API token has the correct permissions.

This is because R2's permission model doesn't allow bucket existence checks when using Object Read & Write permissions. Setting no_check_bucket = true tells rclone to skip the bucket check and proceed directly to uploading.

Step 1: Create R2 API Token

1. Go to Cloudflare Dashboard → R2 → Manage R2 API Tokens
2. Click Create API Token
3. Configure the token:
4. Permissions: Object Read & Write (recommended) or Admin Read & Write
5. Bucket: Select specific bucket(s) or apply to all buckets
6. Copy the Access Key ID and Secret Access Key

Permission options: - Object Read & Write - Sufficient for django-rclone operations (recommended) - Admin Read & Write - Includes bucket management permissions (not needed for backups)

For better security, apply the token to specific buckets rather than all buckets.

Step 2: Configure rclone remote

Find your Account ID in Cloudflare Dashboard → R2 → Overview (shown on the right sidebar).

Create the rclone remote with the required no_check_bucket setting:

rclone config create r2_backups s3 \
  provider=Cloudflare \
  access_key_id=YOUR_ACCESS_KEY_ID \
  secret_access_key=YOUR_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY \
  endpoint=https://ACCOUNT_ID.r2.cloudflarestorage.com \
  no_check_bucket=true

Replace: - YOUR_ACCESS_KEY_ID with your R2 Access Key ID - YOUR_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY with your R2 Secret Access Key - ACCOUNT_ID with your Cloudflare Account ID

Interactive configuration:

Alternatively, use rclone config interactively:

rclone config

1. Choose n) New remote
2. Name: r2_backups
3. Storage type: s3
4. Provider: Cloudflare
5. Enter your access key ID and secret access key
6. When prompted for advanced config, choose y) Yes
7. Set no_check_bucket = true
8. Accept defaults for other settings

Step 3: Configure Django settings

DJANGO_RCLONE = {
    "REMOTE": "r2_backups:my-backup-bucket/django-backups",
}

Replace my-backup-bucket with your actual R2 bucket name.

Verification

Test your configuration:

# List remote contents
rclone ls r2_backups:my-backup-bucket

# Run a test backup
python manage.py dbbackup

# Verify it appears in the remote
python manage.py listbackups

If you see 403 Access Denied errors, verify that no_check_bucket = true is set in your rclone config:

rclone config show r2_backups

You should see no_check_bucket = true in the output.

Encryption and compression

You can layer encryption and compression on top of your R2 remote:

# Add compression
rclone config create r2_compressed compress remote=r2_backups:my-backup-bucket

# Add encryption (on top of compression)
rclone config create r2_secure crypt remote=r2_compressed: password=$(rclone obscure your-password)

Then use the layered remote:

DJANGO_RCLONE = {
    "REMOTE": "r2_secure:django-backups",
}

Other providers

Most rclone storage providers work with django-rclone without special configuration. Simply configure the remote with rclone config and reference it in DJANGO_RCLONE["REMOTE"].

If you encounter provider-specific issues or have configuration notes to share, please open an issue or submit a pull request to add documentation.