Object Storage - Getting started with Object Storage
Objective
This guide is designed to familiarise you with the management of your containers/objects.
Learn how to create an Object Storage bucket and manage it.
If you are using legacy SWIFT Object Storage, then:
- for Standard object storage - SWIFT API storage class, follow this guide.
- for Cloud Archive - SWIFT API storage class, follow this guide.
For new projects, we highly recommend using our S31-compatible Object Storage which benefits from our latest innovations and new features.
Requirements
- A Public Cloud project in your OVHcloud account
- Access to the OVHcloud Control Panel
- An Object Storage user already created
Instructions
If you wish to use the OVHcloud Terraform provider, you can follow this guide.
Preparation
To use the AWS CLI
To find out how to install the AWS CLI in your environment, we recommend you to read the official AWS documentation.
Check installation
If you need more information about AWS CLI installation, read the AWS documentation.
Collect Credentials
- You will need your user's Access key and Secret key. You can access this information in the
Object Storage userstab in your OVHcloud Control Panel. - You will also need your url_endpoint. If you have already created your bucket, you can access this information from the
My containerstab, then in the details of your bucket. Otherwise, follow this guide.
Where to find the Endpoint URL of a bucket?
Click on the name of your bucket and view its details in the General information tab:

Configuration
You can either use the interactive configuration to generate the configuration files or manually create them.
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:
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: 8MB | The size threshold that the CLI uses for multipart transfers of individual files. |
| multipart_chunksize | Integer String | Default: 8MB Minimum for uploads: 5MB | 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.
Using the OVHcloud Control Panel
To manage an Object Storage bucket, first log in to your OVHcloud Control Panel and open your Public Cloud project.
Listing your buckets
Via AWS s3
Via AWS S3api
Click on Object Storage in the navigation bar on the left and then on the My containers tab.
Create a bucket
Via AWS s3
Via AWS S3api
Click Create Object Container:

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.
You can then set the configuration parameters for your bucket.

If you have selected the 3AZ deployment mode, an additional option appears to configure offsite replication.
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, and you must explicitly enable it. Find more information about versioning on our dedicated 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.
Uploading your files as objects in your bucket
As part of the object upload process to an Object Storage bucket, users can select the desired storage class for their objects, providing control over storage characteristics such as availability, redundancy, and cost. To help you in choosing the best class for your requirements, check the documentation here.
To upload an object:
Via AWS s3
By default, objects are named after files, but they can be renamed.
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 s3api
By default, objects are named after files, but can be renamed.
Click on the name of your container, then click the Add objects button in the Objects tab.
A window will appear where you can add a prefix to your object's name (the object name is the same as the file name). Select the file you are about to upload and click the Import button.
Downloading an object from a bucket
Via AWS s3
Downloading an object from a bucket:
Uploading an object from one bucket to another bucket:
Downloading or uploading an entire bucket to the host/bucket:
Via AWS s3api
Downloading an object from a bucket:
Uploading an object from one bucket to another bucket:
Click on the download icon (down arrow in a blue base) on the object line.
Synchronising buckets
Deleting objects and buckets
A bucket can only be deleted if it is empty.
Via AWS s3
Deleting objects and buckets:
Deleting objects and buckets with versioning enabled:
If versioning is enabled, a simple delete operation on your objects will not permanently remove them.
In order to permanently delete an object, you must specify a version id:
To list all objects and all version IDs, you can use the following command:
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:
Via AWS s3api
Deleting objects and buckets
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:
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.
Deleting a bucket
In the list of Object Storage containers, click the ... button on the container line, then click Delete.
Enter TERMINATE to confirm your choice and click Confirm.
Deleting objects
Go to the bucket and open the Objects tab.
Click the delete icon (trash can) on the object line, type PERMANENTLY DELETEto confirm permanent deletion, then click Delete.
Manage tags
Setting tags on a bucket:
Deleting tags on a bucket:
Setting tags on an object:
Deleting tags on an object:
Go further
If you need training or technical assistance to implement our solutions, contact your sales representative or click on this link to get a quote and ask our Professional Services experts for assisting you on your specific use case of your project.
Join our community of users.
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