Using R2 to Build a Private Software Mirror Site: From Path Planning to File Upload

Background and Requirements

In daily development and operations work, we often need to distribute various large software packages, ISO images, or internal team artifacts. Whether for cross-team collaboration, multi-location offices, or providing a stable dependency source for CI/CD pipelines, a Standardized, fast, and stable the internal download sites are all crucial.

Directly using official sources or public cloud drives often faces the following problems:

• ❌Slow speed Official sources are abroad, so downloading large files takes a long time.

• ❌Version chaos Different versions of the same software are scattered everywhere, making them difficult to trace.

• ❌Link expired: Cloud drive link expired; official old version has been taken down.

• ❌No verification: Missing integrity verification file, making download corruption hard to detect

This article uses the VMware ESXi 8.0 ISO as an example., demonstrating how to use Cloudflare R2 + rclone to build a standardized, scalable private mirror site. This approach is also applicable to any software distribution scenario, such as Ubuntu ISOs, JDK installation packages, Docker image backups, etc.

Why choose Cloudflare R2?

• No outbound traffic charges: This is the biggest advantage of R2 over AWS S3, especially for distributing large files.

• S3-compatible API: can be used rclone,awscli management of mature tools, etc.

• Built-in CDN acceleration After binding a custom domain, global access speed is guaranteed.

Objective of this paper: Provide standardized, stable, and verifiable software download sources for internal team or public users, and record the complete path planning rationale and operational steps.

Directory Structure Design (Core Experience)

Final directory tree

dl.fishfinal.com
└── vmware/
    └── esxi/
        └── 8.0/
            ├── VMware-VMvisor-Installer-8.0U3e-24677879.x86_64.iso
            └── VMware-VMvisor-Installer-8.0U3e-24677879.x86_64.iso.sha256

The corresponding R2 bucket path is:

cloudflare-r2:fishfinal-dl/vmware/esxi/8.0/

Interpretation of Design Principles

Hierarchy	Example	Design rationale
Domain name	dl.fishfinal.com	dl. Semantic subdomain naming that clearly indicates Download, separate from the main site's business.
Manufacturer	vmware/	Tier 1 category, facilitating future expansion to other vendors (e.g.,centos/,microsoft/)
Product	esxi/	The same vendor may have multiple product lines (vCenter, NSX, Workstation); isolate them in advance.
Major version	8.0/	ESXi major version number; minor version (U3e) goes in the filename, keeping the directory clean.
File naming	VMware-VMvisor-Installer-8.0U3e-...	Retain the official full filename, including the minor version and Build Number, for easy manual identification.

Why not repeat the version number in the path?

Initially considered /vmware/8.0/ structure, but there are two problems:

• Poor scalability: If VMware Tools or patch packages need to be stored in the future, there will be no place to categorize them.

• Data redundancy: The file name already contains 8.0U3e, write it again in the path 8.0 It will cause trouble during script processing.

The final plan is at Script-friendly and human-readable achieved a balance between

Practical operation steps

Preparations

1. R2 bucket creation and domain binding

In the Cloudflare Dashboard:

• Create an R2 bucket (e.g., named fishfinal-dl)

• Bind a custom domain in "R2 → Bucket → Settings".dl.fishfinal.com

• Configure the storage bucket as "Public Access" (if public download is required).

2. rclone Installation and Configuration

# macOS / Linux installation
brew install rclone    # macOS
sudo apt install rclone # Ubuntu/Debian

# Configure R2
rclone config

rclone config For interactive configuration, refer to R2 Official Documentation, the key configuration items are:

• Type: s3

• Provider:Cloudflare

• Access Key ID / Secret Access Key: Generated on the R2 management page

• Endpoint:https://<account-id>.r2.cloudflarestorage.com

File upload

Use rclone copy Command to upload the ISO file to the target path:

rclone copy VMware-VMvisor-Installer-8.0U3e-24677879.x86_64.iso \
  cloudflare-r2:fishfinal-dl/vmware/esxi/8.0 --progress

Parameter Description:

• copy: Copy file (overwrite if the target already exists, and sync behavior is different)

• --progress Display real-time transfer progress

Example output during the upload process:

Transferred:   	        1.2 GiB / 1.2 GiB, 100%, 45 MiB/s, ETA 0s
Transferred:            1 / 1, 100%
Elapsed time:        27.3s

Generate checksum file

To ensure that downloaders can verify file integrity, it is necessary to generate .sha256 Verify the file.

Linux terminal:

sha256sum VMware-VMvisor-Installer-8.0U3e-24677879.x86_64.iso > \
  VMware-VMvisor-Installer-8.0U3e-24677879.x86_64.iso.sha256

macOS Terminal:

shasum -a 256 VMware-VMvisor-Installer-8.0U3e-24677879.x86_64.iso > \
  VMware-VMvisor-Installer-8.0U3e-24677879.x86_64.iso.sha256

Windows PowerShell:

(Get-FileHash -Path "VMware-VMvisor-Installer-8.0U3e-24677879.x86_64.iso" -Algorithm SHA256).Hash + "  VMware-VMvisor-Installer-8.0U3e-24677879.x86_64.iso" | Out-File -FilePath "VMware-VMvisor-Installer-8.0U3e-24677879.x86_64.iso.sha256"

After generation .sha256 File content example:

a1b2c3d4e5f6... (64-bit hash value)  VMware-VMvisor-Installer-8.0U3e-24677879.x86_64.iso

Upload the verification file and verify public access.

Upload the verification file to the same directory:

rclone copy VMware-VMvisor-Installer-8.0U3e-24677879.x86_64.iso.sha256 \
  cloudflare-r2:fishfinal-dl/vmware/esxi/8.0 --progress

Output example (file is very small, transfer is fast):

Transferred:   	        118 B / 118 B, 100%, 58 B/s, ETA 0s
Transferred:            1 / 1, 100%
Elapsed time:         2.0s

Public network access test: Open the verification file link in a browser and confirm that the content can be read normally:

https://dl.fishfinal.com/vmware/esxi/8.0/VMware-VMvisor-Installer-8.0U3e-24677879.x86_64.iso.sha256

Verification method for downloaders:

# Download verification file
wget https://dl.fishfinal.com/vmware/esxi/8.0/VMware-VMvisor-Installer-8.0U3e-24677879.x86_64.iso.sha256

# Verify ISO integrity (output "OK" means the file is intact)
sha256sum -c VMware-VMvisor-Installer-8.0U3e-24677879.x86_64.iso.sha256

Pitfalls and Optimization

The iterative process of path planning

version	Path example	Question
v1 (first edition)	/vmware/8.0/	Lacks a product layer (ESXi/vCenter) and has poor scalability; version numbers are duplicated in paths and file names.
v2 (Final Version)	/vmware/esxi/8.0/	Introduce a product layer, clear naming, script-friendly

Reflection: in the domain name dl Although the semantics are clear, this limits the possibility of storing non-download data in this bucket in the future. If backup needs arise later, it is recommended to create a separate bucket rather than mixing them.

R2 Usage Precautions

• Public access permission: In the R2 console, explicitly set the bucket to "Public" or "Private" to avoid accidentally exposing sensitive data.

• Request fee: Although R2 waives egress traffic fees, but Class B operations (read requests) It is a paid service. If files are downloaded heavily, it is recommended to set up usage alerts in the Cloudflare dashboard.

• Anti-hotlinking: To prevent others from misusing the link, you can configure it in Cloudflare Referer whitelist or use Signed URL with expiration

• Large file upload optimization: For very large files (>10GB), you can rclone copy add in --multi-thread-streams 8 Parameter enables multithreaded upload

Automation script example

If you need to frequently upload ISO files and generate checksum files, you can use the following script:

#!/bin/bash
# upload-iso.sh - One-click upload ISO and generate checksum file

ISO_FILE="$1"
R2_PATH="cloudflare-r2:fishfinal-dl/vmware/esxi/8.0/"

if [ -z "$ISO_FILE" ]; then
    echo "Usage: $0 <ISO filename>"
    exit 1
fi

# Generate checksum file
sha256sum "$ISO_FILE" > "${ISO_FILE}.sha256"

# Upload ISO
rclone copy "$ISO_FILE" "$R2_PATH" --progress

# Upload verification file
rclone copy "${ISO_FILE}.sha256" "$R2_PATH" --progress

echo "Upload complete!"
echo "ISO: https://dl.fishfinal.com/vmware/esxi/8.0/$ISO_FILE"
echo "校验文件: https://dl.fishfinal.com/vmware/esxi/8.0/${ISO_FILE}.sha256"

Summary and Extension

Current results

Through the operations in this article, we have completed a A standardized, scalable prototype of a VMware mirror site:

• ✅ Clear directory structure (vendor → product → major version → file)

• ✅ Complete file verification (ISO + accompanying .sha256)

• ✅ Publicly accessible download link (via Cloudflare R2 + custom domain)

Future plans

• Multi-product support: Add products such as vCenter, NSX, Workstation, etc. following the same structure.

• Automated synchronization: Use GitHub Actions to periodically check for official new versions and automatically upload

• Index page construction: at /vmware/esxi/8.0/ Generate below index.html List all available files

• Monitoring and Alerting: Configure R2 usage monitoring to avoid unexpected overages

Inspiration for readers

The same methodology can be applied to any software distribution scenario:

• Linux distribution ISO (such as Ubuntu, CentOS, Debian)

• Development tool installation packages (such as JDK, Python, Node.js)

• Container image backup (e.g., Docker image export file)

• Team-internal artifacts (such as build outputs, test data)

Reference resources

• Cloudflare R2 Official Documentation

• rclone official documentation - R2 configuration

• VMware ESXi 8.0 Official Download

Changelog: This article's operations are based on Cloudflare R2 (August 2026) and rclone v1.65. If there are any changes, please refer to the official documentation.