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Getting started with Object Storage

Stephanie R.
Updated

Learn how to create an Object Storage container and manage it.

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

 

Instructions

If you wish to use the OVHcloud Terraform provider, you can follow this guide.

Preparation

To use the AWS CLI

AWS CLI and SDK compatibility warning

Recently, Amazon Web Services (AWS) implemented a change that strengthens checksums when using the S3 API. These new integrity checks are currently being integrated into our platform. The following headers are not supported:

  • x-amz-content-sha256 with value STREAMING-UNSIGNED-PAYLOAD-TRAILER
  • x-amz-sdk-checksum-algorithm with value CRC32

Until our Object Storage service is updated, we recommend that you use the maximum supported versions of the CLI, SDK, and other AWS tools below:

  • boto3 1.35.99
  • legacy aws cli 1.36.40
  • aws cli 2.22.35
  • aws-sdk-go 1.72.3
  • aws-sdk-java 2.29.52
  • aws-sdk-js-v3 3.726.1
  • aws-sdk-net 3.7.962.0
  • aws-sdk-php 3.336.15
  • aws-sdk-ruby 1.177.0

Find out more here.

Follow OVHcloud-related updates here.

Check installation

user@host:~$ aws --version

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

 

Collect Credentials

  • To access your Object Storage resources, you will need your user's Access key and Secret key. You can retrieve this information from the OVHcloud Control Panel under Public Cloud > Object Storage > Object Storage users.
  • You will also need your url_endpoint and the region. If you have already created your container, you can access this information from the My containers tab in the details of your container. Otherwise, follow this guide.

 

Where to find the Endpoint URL of a container

To view the details and content of a container, you can:

  • Click the name of the container, or
  • Click the more options ... button and select Display objects.

manager_objectStorage_container_moreOptions.png

The endpoint URL and the contents of the container will be displayed.

manager_objectStorage_container_displayObjects.png

 

Configuration

To use the interactive configuration, run the following command: aws --configure

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

user@host:~$ cat ~/.aws/credentials

[default]
aws_access_key_id = <access_key>
aws_secret_access_key = <secret_key>
user@host:~$ cat ~/.aws/config

[default]
region = <region_in_lowercase>
endpoint_url = <url_endpoint>
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 that you can specifically set:

Variable Type Value Definition
max_competitor_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 bit 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, refer to this page.

 

Usage

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

To use the OVHcloud Control Panel

To manage an Object Storage bucket, log in to your OVHcloud Control Panel and open your Public Cloud project.

 

Listing your buckets

Via AWS CLI

Via AWS s3

aws s3 ls

 

Via AWS s3api

aws s3api list-buckets --query "Buckets[].Name" // remove --query to get more information than the name

Via the OVHcloud Control Panel

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

manager_objectStorage.png

 

Create a bucket

Via AW CLI

Via AWS s3

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

Via AWS s3api

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

Via the OVHcloud Control Panel

Navigate to the OVHcloud Control Panel and select your Public Cloud project.

Choose Object Storage from the left-hand menu and click + Create an object container.

manager_objectStorage.png

Select your solution and click Next. For more information on the storage classes, see this guide.

objectStorage_createContainer_selectSolution.png

Select a deployment mode and click Next.

objectStorage_createContainer_selectDeploymentMode.png

Select a region and click Next.

objectStorage_createContainer_selectRegion.png

Choose to either activate or disable versioning and click Next. For more information on versioning, see this guide.

objectStorage_createContainer_versioning.png

Next, Link a user to the container and click Next.

If you don't have an existing Object Storage user to add, you can + Create User.

NOTE: Clicking the View credentials button will display the Access key and Secret key for that user.

objectStorage_createContainer_linkUser.png

Choose to either activate or disable encryption and click Next. For more information about OVHcloud SSE-OMK, see this guide.

objectStorage_createContainer_encryptData.png

Name your container, following the character limitation guidelines, and click Create the container.

Bucket names are global; it is not possible to give the same name to two buckets across regions.

objectStorage_createContainer_containerName.png

Congratulations! Your container is now created.

 

 

Uploading your files as objects in your bucket

Differences between storage classes:

  • Designed for general-purpose storage with a balance of cost and performance.
  • Suitable for workloads with moderate access frequency.
  • Provides durability and availability, but may have slightly higher access latency.
  • Best for backups, archiving, and infrequently accessed data.
  • Optimized for low-latency and high-throughput workloads.
  • Ideal for frequent and intensive read/write operations.
  • Suitable for data analytics, AI/ML workloads, and real-time applications.
  • Typically costs more than Standard storage but offers better performance.

Via AWS CLI

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 /datas/test1 s3://<bucket_name>

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

aws s3 cp /datas/test1 s3://<bucket_name>/other-filename

 

Via AWS s3api

# 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

Via OVHcloud Control Panel

Click on the name of your container.

manager_objectStorage.png

Click on + Add objects.

manager_objectStorage_container_displayObjects.png

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

manager_objectStorage_addObject.png

 

Downloading an object from a bucket

Via AWS CLI

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>/test1 s3://<bucket_name_2>

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>

Via the OVHcloud Control Panel

Click on the more options ... button on the object line, then click Download.

manager_objectStorage_object_moreOptions.png

 

Synchronizing buckets

Via AWS s3 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.

Via AWS CLI

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 simple 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 all version IDs, you can use the following command:

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

With the previous delete-object command, you will have to iterate over all your object versions. Alternatively, you can 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 simple delete operation on your objects will not delete them permanently.

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}}')"

Via the OVHcloud Control Panel

Deleting a bucket:

In the list of object storage containers, click on the ... button on the containers line, then click Delete.

manager_objectStorage_container_moreOptions.png

Click on Confirm.

Deleting objects:

Go to the relevant bucket and click on the ... button on the object line, then click Delete.

manager_objectStorage_object_moreOptions.png

Click on Confirm.

 

Manage tags

Via AWS s3api CLI

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

 

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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