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Getting started with Object Storage

Stephanie R.
Updated

Learn how to create and manage Object Storage buckets and objects.

If you are using legacy Swift Object Storage, follow this guide.

For new projects, we highly recommend using our S3™*-compatible Object Storage, which benefits from our latest innovations and new features.

 

Requirements

OVHcloud Control Panel Access

 

Instructions

If you wish to use the OVHcloud Terraform provider, see our Manage an Object Storage bucket with Terraform guide.

Preparation

To use the AWS CLI

To find out how to install the AWS CLI in your environment, we recommend you read the official AWS documentation.

Check installation

aws --version

If you need more information about AWS CLI installation, read the AWS documentation.

 

Collect Credentials

  • Retrieve your user's Access key and Secret key. You can retrieve this information from the OVHcloud Control Panel under Public Cloud > Object Storage > Users.
  • You will also need your endpoint_url and the region. If you have already created your container, find this information in the My containers tab in the details of your container. If needed, see our Object Storage - Endpoints and geoavailability guide.

 

Where to find the Endpoint URL of a container

Click the name of the container and then the General information tab.

objectStorage_container_generalinformationTab-1.png

 

Configuration

Use the interactive configuration to generate the configuration files, or create them manually.

To use the interactive configuration, run the following command: aws --configure or aws configure --profile <profile_name>

The configuration file format in the AWS client is as follows:

cat ~/.aws/credentials

[default]
aws_access_key_id = <access_key>
aws_secret_access_key = <secret_key>
cat ~/.aws/config

[default]
region = <region_in_lowercase>
endpoint_url = <endpoint_url>
services = ovh-us-east-va-archive

[profile <profile_name>]
region = us-east-va
output = json
services = ovh-us-east-va

[services ovh-us-east-va-archive]
s3 =
  endpoint_url = https://s3.us-east-va-archive.io.cloud.ovh.us/
  signature_version = s3v4

s3api =
  endpoint_url = https://s3.us-east-va-archive.io.cloud.ovh.us/

[services ovh-us-east-va]
s3 =
  endpoint_url = https://s3.us-east-va.io.cloud.ovh.us/
  signature_version = s3v4

s3api =
  endpoint_url = https://s3.us-east-va.io.cloud.ovh.us/

Here are the configuration values you can set:

Variable Type Value Definition
max_concurrent_requests Integer Default: 10 The maximum number of simultaneous requests.
max_queue_size Integer Default: 1000 The maximum number of tasks in the task queue.
multipart_threshold Integer
String		 Default: 8 MB The size threshold that the CLI uses for multipart transfers of individual files.
multipart_chunksize Integer
String		 Default: 8 MB
Minimum for uploads: 5 MB		 When using multipart transfers, this is the byte size that the CLI uses for multipart transfers of individual files.
max_bandwidth Integer Default: None The maximum bandwidth that will be used to load and download data to and from your buckets.
verify_ssl Boolean Default: true Enable / Disable SSL certificate verification

For a list of endpoints by region and storage class, see the Object Storage - Endpoints and geoavailability guide.

 

Usage

If you have more than one profile, add --profile <profile_name> to the command line.

Using the OVHcloud Control Panel

To manage an Object Storage bucket, navigate to Object Storage in the left-hand menu.

 

Listing your buckets

Via AWS s3

aws s3 ls

Via AWS S3API

aws s3api list-buckets --query "Buckets[].Name" # Remove --query to display the full output.

Click on Object Storage in the navigation bar on the left and then on the My containers tab.

See our Getting Started with OVHcloud CLI guide to learn about the OVHcloud CLI.

Enter the following command:

ovhcloud cloud storage-s3 list

 

Create a bucket

Via AWS s3

aws s3 mb s3://<bucket_name>
aws --profile <profile_name> s3 mb s3://<bucket_name>

Via AWS S3API

aws s3api create-bucket --bucket <bucket_name>
aws s3api create-bucket --bucket <bucket_name> --profile default

Click + Create an object container.

objectStorage_serviceList.png

You can enter the name of your bucket (optional) and then select your offer.

Select a deployment mode.

OVHcloud provides multiple deployment modes to meet different needs in terms of resilience, availability and performance. Each mode is optimized for specific use cases and offers varying levels of redundancy and fault tolerance.

Select a region.

Regions can vary depending on the chosen deployment mode.

objectStorage_createContainer-1.PNG

You can then set the configuration parameters for your bucket.

At this stage, you can decide whether or not to enable versioning.

Versioning allows you to keep multiple variants of an object in the same bucket. This feature helps preserve, retrieve, and restore every version of every object stored in your buckets, making it easier to recover from unintended user actions or application failures. By default, versioning is disabled on buckets; enable it if needed. For more information about versioning, see our Object Storage - Getting started with versioning guide.

You can also enable Object Lock to store your objects in WORM (Write Once, Read Many) mode and guarantee their immutability for a defined retention period.

NOTE: This option must be enabled when creating a bucket, it cannot be enabled later.

You must link a user to the bucket.

To do this, you can either:

  • Link an existing Object Storage user. To check the credentials, click on View credentials.
  • Or create a new Object Storage user.

You can now decide whether or not you wish to encrypt your data using SSE-OMK (server-side encryption with OVHcloud Managed Keys).

Once you have finished configuring your bucket, click Create.

objectStorage_createContainer-2.PNG

See our Getting Started with OVHcloud CLI guide to learn about the OVHcloud CLI.

Enter the following command, replacing <region> with your region code (e.g., US-EAST-VA) and <bucket_name> with the desired name:

ovhcloud cloud storage-s3 create <region> --name <bucket_name>

To create a bucket with versioning and encryption enabled:

ovhcloud cloud storage-s3 create <region> --name <bucket_name> --versioning-status enabled --encryption-sse-algorithm AES256

To create a bucket with Object Lock enabled:

ovhcloud cloud storage-s3 create <region> --name <bucket_name> --object-lock-status enabled --object-lock-rule-mode compliance --object-lock-rule-period P30D

The --object-lock-status enabled option must be set at bucket creation time; it cannot be enabled later.

 

Uploading your files as objects in your bucket

When uploading objects, select a storage class to control availability, redundancy, and cost. To help you choose the right storage class for your needs, see the Choosing the right storage class for your needs guide.

The aws s3 cp command will use STANDARD as default storage class for uploading objects. To store objects in the High Performance tier, use the aws s3api put-object command instead, as aws s3 cp does not support the EXPRESS_ONEZONE storage class, which is used to map the High Performance storage tier. To learn more about the storage class mapping between OVHcloud storage tiers and AWS storage classes, you can check our documentation here.

Via AWS s3

To upload an object:

aws s3 cp /data/<object_name> s3://<bucket_name>

By default, objects are named after files, but can be renamed:

aws s3 cp /data/<object_name> s3://<bucket_name>/other-filename

Via AWS S3API

To upload an object:

# upload an object to High Performance tier
aws s3api put-object --bucket <bucket_name> --key <object_name> --body /data/<object_name> --storage-class EXPRESS_ONEZONE

# explicitly upload an object to Standard tier
aws s3api put-object --bucket <bucket_name> --key <object_name> --body /data/<object_name> --storage-class STANDARD

Click on the name of your container, then click + Add objects.

You can add a prefix to your object name (the object name is the same as the file name). Select the storage class. Finally, select the file you are about to download and click on the Import button.

 

Downloading an object from a bucket

Via AWS s3

Downloading an object from a bucket:

aws s3 cp s3://<bucket_name>/<object_name> .

Uploading an object from one bucket to another bucket:

aws s3 cp s3://<bucket_name>/<object_name> s3://<bucket_name_2>/<object_name>

Downloading or uploading an entire bucket to the host/bucket:

aws s3 cp s3://<bucket_name> . --recursive
aws s3 cp s3://<bucket_name> s3://<bucket_name_2> --recursive

Via AWS S3API

Downloading an object from a bucket:

aws s3api get-object --bucket <bucket_name> --key <object_name> <object_name>

Uploading an object from one bucket to another bucket:

aws s3api copy-object --bucket <bucket_name_2> --copy-source <bucket_name>/<object_name> --key <object_name>

Click on the download icon to the right of the object.

 

Synchronizing buckets

Via AWS CLI

aws s3 sync . s3://<bucket_name> # Synchronizing local directory to the S3 bucket
aws s3 sync s3://<bucket_name> . # Synchronizing S3 bucket to the local directory
aws s3 sync s3://<bucket_name> s3://<bucket_name_2> # Synchronizing an S3 bucket to another one

 

Deleting objects and buckets

A bucket can only be deleted if it is empty.

If your bucket has Object Lock enabled, you will not be able to permanently delete your objects. See our documentation to learn more about Object Lock. If you use Object Lock in GOVERNANCE mode and have the permission to bypass GOVERNANCE mode, you will have to add the --bypass-governance-retention option to your delete commands.

Via AWS s3

To delete an object:

aws s3 rm s3://<bucket_name>/<object_name>

To remove all objects from a bucket:

aws s3 rm s3://<bucket_name> --recursive

To delete a bucket, it must be empty:

aws s3 rb s3://<bucket_name>

If the bucket is not removed, you can use the same command with the --force option. This deletes all objects from the bucket, and then deletes the bucket.

aws s3 rb s3://<bucket_name> --force

Deleting objects and buckets with versioning enabled:

If versioning is enabled, a standard delete operation on your objects will not permanently remove them.

To permanently delete an object, you must specify a version ID:

aws s3api delete-object --bucket <NAME> --key <KEY> --version-id <VERSION_ID>

To list all objects and their version IDs, you can use the following command:

aws s3api list-object-versions --bucket <NAME>

With the above delete-object command, you will have to iterate over all your object versions. You can also use the following one-liner to empty your bucket:

aws s3api delete-objects --bucket <NAME> --delete "$(aws s3api list-object-versions --bucket <NAME> --query='{Objects: Versions[].{Key:Key,VersionId:VersionId}}')"

Via AWS S3API

Deleting objects and buckets:

# Delete an object
aws s3api delete-object --bucket <bucket_name> --key <object_name>
# Removing all objects from a bucket
aws s3api delete-objects --bucket <bucket_name> --delete "$(aws s3api list-objects-v2 --bucket <bucket_name> --query='{Objects: Contents[].{Key:Key}}')"
# Delete a bucket. To delete a bucket, it must be empty.
aws s3api delete-bucket --bucket <bucket_name>

Deleting objects and buckets with versioning enabled:

If versioning is enabled, a standard delete operation on your objects will not permanently delete them.

To permanently delete an object, you need to specify a version identifier:

aws s3api delete-objects --bucket <bucket_name> --delete "$(aws s3api list-object-versions --bucket <bucket_name> --query='{Objects: Versions[].{Key:Key,VersionId:VersionId}}')"

Deleting a bucket:

In the list of object storage containers, click the more options ... button to the right, then select Delete.

Type TERMINATE to confirm your choice, and click Confirm.

Deleting objects:

Go to the Objects tab of the relevant bucket and click the Delete 🗑️ icon to the right of the object line.

Type PERMANENTLY DELETE to confirm your choice, and click on Delete.

See our Getting Started with OVHcloud CLI guide to learn about the OVHcloud CLI.

Deleting objects

# Delete an object
ovhcloud cloud storage-s3 object delete <bucket_name> <object_name>

# Delete all objects in a bucket
ovhcloud cloud storage-s3 bulk-delete <bucket_name> --all

# Delete objects matching a prefix
ovhcloud cloud storage-s3 bulk-delete <bucket_name> --prefix <prefix>

# Delete specific objects
ovhcloud cloud storage-s3 bulk-delete <bucket_name> --objects "file1.txt,file2.txt"

Deleting a bucket

The bucket must be empty before deletion.

ovhcloud cloud storage-s3 delete <bucket_name>

Deleting objects with versioning enabled

If versioning is enabled, specify the version ID to permanently delete an object:

ovhcloud cloud storage-s3 object version delete <bucket_name> <object_name> <version_id>

To delete all versions of an object, combine the version list and deletion:

ovhcloud cloud storage-s3 bulk-delete <bucket_name> --objects "myfile.txt:<version_id_1>,myfile.txt:<version_id_2>"

 

Manage tags

Via AWS S3API

Setting tags on a bucket:

aws s3api put-bucket-tagging --bucket <bucket_name> --tagging 'TagSet=[{Key=myKey,Value=myKeyValue}]'
aws s3api get-bucket-tagging --bucket <bucket_name>
{
  "TagSet": [
    {
    "Value": "myKeyValue",
    "Key": "myKey"
    }
  ]
}

Deleting tags on a bucket:

aws s3api delete-bucket-tagging --bucket <bucket_name>

Setting tags on an object:

aws s3api put-object-tagging --bucket <bucket_name> --key <object_name> --tagging 'TagSet=[{Key=myKey,Value=myKeyValue}]'
aws s3api get-bucket-tagging --bucket <bucket_name>
{
  "TagSet": [
    {
    "Value": "myKeyValue",
    "Key": "myKey"
    }
  ]
}

Deleting tags on an object:

aws s3api delete-object-tagging --bucket <bucket_name> --key <object_name>

See our Getting Started with OVHcloud CLI guide to learn about the OVHcloud CLI.

The OVHcloud CLI lets you set tags on a bucket at creation time or when editing it via the --tag key=value option (repeatable for multiple tags). Individual tag management (reading, deleting) is not available via the CLI.

Setting tags when creating a bucket

ovhcloud cloud storage-s3 create <region> --name <bucket_name> --tag myKey=myKeyValue --tag otherKey=otherValue

Updating tags on an existing bucket

ovhcloud cloud storage-s3 edit <bucket_name> --tag myKey=myKeyValue

 

Go further

For more information and tutorials, please see our other Object Storage support guides or explore the guides for other OVHcloud products and services.

*S3 is a trademark filed by Amazon Technologies, Inc. OVHcloud's service is not sponsored by, endorsed by, or otherwise affiliated with Amazon Technologies, Inc.

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