Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) is an object storage service that offers industry-leading scalability, data availability, security, and performance. You can use Amazon S3 to store and retrieve any amount of data at any time, from anywhere.
To get the most out of Amazon S3, you need to understand a few simple concepts. Amazon S3 stores data as objects within buckets. An object consists of a file and optionally any metadata that describes that file. To store an object in Amazon S3, you upload the file you want to store to a bucket. When you upload a file, you can set permissions on the object and any metadata.
Buckets are the containers for objects. You can have one or more buckets. For each bucket, you can control access to it (who can create, delete, and list objects in the bucket), view access logs for it and its objects, and choose the geographical region where Amazon S3 will store the bucket and its contents.
Set up and log into your AWS account
To use Amazon S3, you need an AWS account If you don't already have one, you'll be prompted to create one when you sign up for Amazon S3. You will not be charged for Amazon S3 until you use it.
Create a bucket
Every object in Amazon S3 is stored in a bucket. Before you can store data in Amazon S3, you must create an S3 bucket.
Start building with AWS
Now that you've created a bucket, you're ready to add an object to it. An object can be any kind of file: a text file, a photo, a video, and so on. Read the Getting Started Guide to learn more and start building.
Most customers start developing brand new applications with the AWS developer tools and SDKs. Alternatively, a web-based interface for accessing and managing Amazon S3 resources is available via the AWS Management Console.
Using the AWS SDK
Developers building applications can choose from a wide variety of AWS SDKs that simplify using Amazon S3 in their use case. AWS SDKs for Amazon S3 include libraries, code samples, and documentation for the following programming languages and platforms.
AWS Training: Amazon S3 free online courses
AWS offers free online storage courses to help you learn how to architect and manage highly available storage solutions built on Amazon S3. Progress from the fundamentals to technical deep dives to advance your Amazon S3 expertise and help your organization migrate to the cloud faster.
Learn more by browsing the training progression options below. Visit here for the Object Storage Learning Plan and earn a digital badge upon successful completion of the course and assessment.
Getting started with S3
Learn about S3 and how to upload data, elements of security, and key features.
Managing data in S3
Overview on S3 management, and how to monitor your S3 activity, and storage trends.
S3 storage classes
In this course, you learn about the storage classes, and to how to pick the right one for your use case.
Cost optimization with S3
In this course, you learn about the techniques you can use to optimize your Amazon S3 costs.
Performance optimization for S3
In this curriculum, you learn how to get optimal performance when using S3.
Securing and protecting your data in S3
Learn S3 security best practices and how to prevent access to your data.
Auditing S3 access and security
Learn the features to audit your S3 activity and resources to help improve your security posture.
Business continuity and disaster recovery with S3
How to use, manage, secure, monitor, and optimize Amazon S3.
Getting started tutorials and step-by-step guides
Batch upload files to S3
Easily build your own scripts for backing up your files to the cloud
Host a static website
Host a simple personal or marketing website on AWS
Getting started using Amazon S3 Intelligent-Tiering
Begin storing your data in the Amazon S3 Intelligent-Tiering storage class, so that you can start experiencing automatic storage cost savings
Getting started using the Amazon S3 Glacier storage classes
Begin storing your archive datasets in Amazon S3 Glacier Instant Retrieval, Amazon S3 Glacier Flexible Retrieval, and Amazon S3 Glacier Deep Archive
Protect data on Amazon S3
Protect data on Amazon S3 against accidental deletion or application bugs using S3 Versioning, S3 Object Lock, and S3 Replication
Replicate data with Amazon S3
Replicate data within and between AWS Regions using Amazon S3 Replication
Check the integrity of data in Amazon S3 with additional checksums
Amazon S3 now offers multiple checksum options to accelerate integrity checking of data. The additional algorithms supported by S3 are: SHA-1, SHA-256, CRC32, and CRC32-C. Start verifying that your files were not altered during data transfer or during the upload or download.
Getting started with Amazon S3 Storage Lens
Start using Amazon S3 Storage Lens for organization-wide visibility into object storage usage and activity trends, and get actionable recommendations to improve cost-efficiency and apply data protection best practices
Getting started with Amazon S3 Object Lambda
With Amazon S3 Object Lambda, you can add your own code to S3 GET, HEAD, and LIST requests to modify data as it is returned to an application. You can use custom code to modify the data returned by S3 GET requests to convert data formats, dynamically resize images, redact confidential data, and much more.
Getting started with Amazon S3 Multi-Region Access Points
Start using Amazon S3 Multi-Region Access Points and failover controls
Replicate existing objects in your Amazon S3 buckets with Amazon S3 Batch Replication
Replicate objects already existing in your S3 buckets within the same AWS Region or across different AWS Regions with Amazon S3 Batch Replication
Setting up an Amazon CloudFront content distribution for Amazon S3
Amazon CloudFront works seamlessly with Amazon S3 to accelerate the delivery of your web content and reduce the load on your origin servers. Accelerate your dynamic content loading speed with CloudFront and S3.
Find more getting started tutorials »
Moving data to Amazon S3
AWS provides a portfolio of data transfer services to provide the right solution for any data migration project. The level of connectivity is a major factor in data migration, and AWS has offerings that can address your hybrid cloud storage, offline data transfer, and online data transfer needs.
Hybrid cloud storage
Offline data transfer
The AWS Snow Family is comprised of AWS Snowcone and AWS Snowball. AWS Snowcone and AWS Snowball are small, rugged, and secure portable storage and edge computing devices for data collection, processing, and migration. These devices are purpose-built for use in edge locations where network capacity is constrained or nonexistent and provide storage and computing capabilities in harsh environments.
Online data transfer
AWS DataSync makes it easy and efficient to transfer hundreds of terabytes and millions of files into Amazon S3, up to 10x faster than open-source tools. DataSync automatically handles or eliminates many manual tasks, including scripting copy jobs, scheduling and monitoring transfers, validating data, and optimizing network utilization. Using Snowcone, you can even transfer data online with AWS DataSync from edge locations.
The AWS Transfer Family provides fully managed, simple, and seamless file transfer to Amazon S3 using SFTP, FTPS, and FTP.
Amazon S3 Transfer Acceleration enables fast transfers of files over long distances between your client and your Amazon S3 bucket. Amazon Kinesis and AWS IoT Core make it simple and secure to capture and load streaming data from IoT devices to Amazon S3.
Videos
Stay up to date with AWS webinars »
Using the AWS Partner Network
Amazon S3 is integrated with third-party connectors to help you bring data in and out of the AWS Cloud. The AWS Partner Network (APN) Competency Program is designed to provide AWS customers with top quality technology and consulting providers who have demonstrated technical proficiency and proven success in specialized solutions areas. Partners who have attained an APN Competency offer a variety of services, software, and solutions that are integrated with the AWS Cloud.
AWS Storage Competency Partners can help customers evaluate and use the techniques and technologies to effectively store data in the AWS cloud.
Learn more about AWS Storage Competency Partners »
Blogs
Additional resources
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