---
title: Read-only URL repository
description: You can use a URL repository to give a cluster read-only access to snapshot data exposed through a URL, including file, http, https, and ftp locations...
url: https://www.elastic.co/elastic/docs-builder/docs/3466/deploy-manage/tools/snapshot-and-restore/read-only-url-repository
products:
  - Elasticsearch
applies_to:
  - Elastic Stack: Generally available
---

# Read-only URL repository
You can use a URL repository to give a cluster read-only access to snapshot data exposed through a URL, including `file`, `http`, `https`, and `ftp` locations. Because URL repositories are always read-only, they're a safer and more convenient alternative to registering a read-only shared filesystem repository.
Use Kibana or the [create snapshot repository API](https://www.elastic.co/docs/api/doc/elasticsearch/operation/operation-snapshot-create-repository) to register a URL repository.
```json

{
  "type": "url",
  "settings": {
    "url": "file:/mount/backups/my_fs_backup_location"
  }
}
```


## Repository settings

The `url` repository type supports a number of settings to customize how data is stored, which may be specified when creating the repository.
Repository settings cover the snapshot root URL (including supported protocols), HTTP retries and timeouts for remote URLs, compression, throughput limits, and the maximum number of snapshots. Remote `http`, `https`, and `ftp` URLs must be allowed by the [`repositories.url.allowed_urls`](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-builder/docs/3466/reference/elasticsearch/configuration-reference/url-repository-settings#repositories-url-allowed) setting.
For a complete list of all read-only URL repository settings, refer to [Read-only URL repository settings](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-builder/docs/3466/reference/elasticsearch/configuration-reference/url-repository-settings#repository-url-repository-settings).