Distributed File Metadata Indexer

A lightweight distributed system to index and query file metadata across multiple machines. Each client machine parses its file system, extracts metadata, and sends it to a central C++ server that stores it in a PostgreSQL database. The server supports querying based on file names, sizes, and timestamps.

---

Features

• Recursively scans directories and collects:
  • Filename
  • Size (in bytes)
  • Last modified time
• Sends metadata as JSON to a central server via HTTP POST
• Central server parses JSON using RapidJSON and stores in PostgreSQL
• CLI interface to query files by name, size, or modification time
• Modular design — easily extendable for new attributes or metadata types

---

Requirements

Client-Side

C++17 or later RapidJSON Filesystem library (C++17 )

Server-Side

C++17 libpqxx (PostgreSQL C++ connector) cpp-httplib PostgreSQL 13 or later

Database-setup

psql -U postgres -d postgres -W

CREATE TABLE file_metadata ( id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY, uuid TEXT, file_path TEXT, file_name TEXT, size_bytes BIGINT, modified_time TEXT );

CREATE TABLE machine_ip ( uuid TEXT, ip TEXT );

Sample query

--search

--uuid --path <file_path> --attr <name|size|time|root>

Example