# File Systems

FileSystem is an abstraction provided by Pinot to access data stored in distributed file systems (DFS).

Pinot uses distributed file systems for the following purposes:

* **Batch ingestion job**: To read the input data (CSV, Avro, Thrift, etc.) and to write generated segments to DFS.
* **Controller**: When a segment is uploaded to the controller, the controller saves it in the configured DFS.
* **Server**:- When a server(s) is notified of a new segment, the server copies the segment from remote DFS to their local node using the DFS abstraction.

## Supported file systems

Pinot lets you choose a distributed file system provider. The following file systems are supported by Pinot:

* [Amazon S3](/release-1.1.0/basics/data-import/pinot-file-system/amazon-s3.md)
* [Google Cloud Storage](/release-1.1.0/basics/data-import/pinot-file-system/import-from-gcp.md)
* [HDFS](/release-1.1.0/basics/data-import/pinot-file-system/import-from-hdfs.md)
* [Azure Data Lake Storage](/release-1.1.0/basics/data-import/pinot-file-system/import-from-adls-azure.md)

## Enabling a file system

To use a distributed file system, you need to enable plugins. To do that, specify the plugin directory and include the required plugins:

```
-Dplugins.dir=/opt/pinot/plugins -Dplugins.include=pinot-plugin-to-include-1,pinot-plugin-to-include-2
```

You can change the file system in the `controller` and `server` configuration. In the following configuration example, the URI is `s3://bucket/path/to/file` and `scheme` refers to the file system URI prefix `s3`.

```
#CONTROLLER

pinot.controller.storage.factory.class.[scheme]=className of the pinot file system
pinot.controller.segment.fetcher.protocols=file,http,[scheme]
pinot.controller.segment.fetcher.[scheme].class=org.apache.pinot.common.utils.fetcher.PinotFSSegmentFetcher
```

```
#SERVER

pinot.server.storage.factory.class.[scheme]=className of the Pinot file system
pinot.server.segment.fetcher.protocols=file,http,[scheme]
pinot.server.segment.fetcher.[scheme].class=org.apache.pinot.common.utils.fetcher.PinotFSSegmentFetcher
```

You can also change the file system during ingestion. In the ingestion job spec, specify the file system with the following configuration:

```
pinotFSSpecs
  - scheme: file
    className: org.apache.pinot.spi.filesystem.LocalPinotFS
```


---

# Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation

If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question.

Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter:

```
GET https://docs.pinot.apache.org/release-1.1.0/basics/data-import/pinot-file-system.md?ask=<question>
```

The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.

Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.