What is AWS S3: Overview, Features, and Storage Classes Explained | Easy Learning (2023)

What is cloud storage?

cloud storageis a web service where your data can be stored, accessed, and quickly backed up by users on the Internet. It is more reliable, scalable and secure than traditional local storage systems.

There are two modes of cloud storage:

1. Pay only for what you use
2. pay monthly

Now, let's take a look at the different types of storage services offered by AWS.

Types of AWS storage

AWS offers the following storage services:

Storage Services Provided by Amazon

We'll eventually take a deep dive into the S3 service. But before we start, let's see what happens before we can choose to use Amazon S3.

Before AWS S3

It can be difficult for organizations to find, store and manage all your data. Not only that, but running applications, delivering content to customers, hosting high-traffic websites, or backing up email and other files requires a lot of storage space. Maintaining an organization's repository is also expensive and time-consuming for a number of reasons. Challenges include:

1. Hardware and software components must be purchased
2. Requires an expert team for maintenance
3. Lack of scalability according to your requirements
4. Data Security Requirements

These are problems that AWS S3 will eventually solve. So, what exactly is AWS S3?

What is AWS S3?

Amazon S3 (Simple Storage Service) provides object storage for storing and restoring any amount of information or data from anywhere on the Internet. It provides this storage through a web service interface. While designed for developers to enable easier web-scale computing, it provides 99.999999999% durability and 99.99% object availability. It can also store computer files up to 5 TB.

Advantages of AWS S3

Some advantages of AWS S3 include:

• Durability: The S3 offers 99.999999999% durability.
• Low cost: S3 allows you to store data in a series of "storage classes". These categories are based on the frequency and immediacy you need to access your files.
• Scalability: S3 only charges you for the resources you actually use, with no hidden or overage charges. You can scale storage resources to easily meet your organization's changing needs.
• Availability: S3 provides 99.99% object availability
• Security: S3 offers an impressive array of access management tools and encryption for top-notch security.
• Flexibility: S3 is ideal for a wide range of uses such as data storage, data backup, software delivery, data archiving, disaster recovery, website hosting, mobile applications, IoT devices, and more.
• Easy Data Transfer: You don't have to be an IT genius to perform data transfer on S3. The service revolves around simplicity and ease of use.

These are all compelling reasons to sign up for S3. Now, let's move on to look at some of the main components of the AWS S3 storage service.

AWS buckets and objects

Objects consist of data, keys (assigned names), and metadata. a bucket is usedstorage object.When data is added to a bucket, Amazon S3 creates a unique version ID and assigns it to the object.

Object, Bucket and Link Address Examples

Sign in to AWS

Select S3 from the service offering

List of Amazon S3 buckets (usually empty for first-time users); create a bucket by clicking the "Create Bucket" button

Create the bucket by setting the name, region, and other options; press the "Create" button to complete the process

Select the created bucket

Click Upload to select the files to add to the bucket

Select files to add

The file is now uploaded to the bucket

Now let's see how Amazon S3 works.

How does Amazon S3 work?

Like we saw in the example above, first, the user creates a bucket. when thisbucketOnce created, the user will specify the region where the bucket will be deployed. Later, when files are uploaded to the bucket, the user will determine the type of S3 storage class to use for those specific objects. After that, users can define features for the bucket, such as bucket policy, lifecycle policy, version control, etc.

Now, let's talk about the different storage classes offered by Amazon S3.

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What is AWS S3: Amazon S3 Storage Classes

Let's take a school example to look at the different storage classes:

1. Amazon S3 Standard for frequent data access: For use cases where latency should be lower than . Example: Frequently accessed data would be that of student attendance and should be retrieved quickly.
2. Amazon S3 Standard for infrequent data access: It can be used when the data exists for a long time and the access frequency is low. Example: A student's academic records won't be needed every day, but if they do, their details should be quickly retrieved.
3. Amazon Glacier: It can be used where archiving data is required and performance requirements are not high. For example: old records of former students (like admission fees) won't be needed every day, and even if they were, low latency wouldn't be necessary.
4. A Zone-IA Storage Class: It can be used in places where data access is infrequent and stored in one area. For example: A student's transcript is not used on a daily basis and is stored in one availability zone (i.e. school).
5. Amazon S3 Standard Reduced Redundancy storage: For use cases where data is non-critical and replicates quickly. For example: Books in a library are non-critical data that can be replaced if lost.

Comparison of all storage classes

Technology Comparison Between Classes

Now let's look at the different features provided by S3.

AWS S3 features

life cycle management

In lifecycle management, Amazon S3 applies a set of rules to define actions for a set of objects. You can manage and store objects in a cost-effective manner. There are two types of operations:

1. Transition actions

This action gives you the option to move the object to another storage class. With this, you can configure S3 to move data between various storage classes on a defined schedule. Suppose you have some data stored in S3 standard classes. If this data is infrequently used within 30 days, it will be moved to the S3 infrequently accessed class. After 60 days, it moves to Glacier. This helps you migrate data to less costly storage as it ages automatically.

2. Expiration operation

Here, S3 deletes all objects in the bucket when a specified date or time period in the object lifecycle is reached.

Example of how lifecycle management works:

Select manage from your bucket

Select Lifecycle, and click Add Lifecycle Rule.

Add rule name and scope

Configure transaction options

Set expiration details

bucket policy

bucket policy is aI amA policy where you can allow or deny access to Amazon S3 resources. Using bucket policies, you can also define security rules that apply to multiple files within a bucket. Example: If you don't want users to access the "Simpllearn" bucket, you can set permissions with the help of a JSON script. Therefore, the user will be denied access to the bucket.

Generate strategies using online tools. Select the policy type as S3 Bucket Policy. Choose the appropriate effect. In this case, access is denied.

Find the ARN of a bucket

Set additional conditions and set up JSON scripts to deny access to specific users. In this case, "simple learning".

Go back to the bucket and set the bucket policy under Permissions. Then click "Save".

data protection

Amazon S3 provides IT teams with a highly durable, secured, and scalable infrastructure purpose-built for object storage.

Amazon S3 protects your data using two methods:

1. data encryption
2. version control
3. Replication across regions
4. transmission acceleration

Go to your bucket, select properties, and turn on Version Control.

upload object

Upload another file with the same name

Select a file and switch between its current and older versions

1. Data encryption

This refers to securing data both in transit and at rest. It can happen in two ways, client-side encryption (data encryptionat rest) and server-side encryption (encryption of data in motion).

2. Version control

It is used to save, restore, and restore previous versions of every object you store in your AWS S3 bucket. Accidental erasure or overwriting of objects can be easily managed through version control. For example, in a bucket, there may be objects with the same key name but different version IDs.

3. Cross-region replication

Cross-region replication automatically replicates every object uploaded to buckets (source and target buckets) in different AWS Regions. Versioning needs to be turned on to enable CRR.

Create a new bucket in a different region

Select the uploaded file, go to Manage, and copy.

Here, click on Add Rule.

Select source, target, and IAM rules

4. Transmission acceleration

This enables fast, easy and secure long-distance file transfers between your client and your S3 bucket. Edge sites around the world are powered byAmazon cloudUtilized by Transport Acceleration. It works by transferring data through an optimized bridge that keeps running between an AWS edge location (the region closest to your customers) and your Amazon S3 bucket.

Go to properties and select transfer acceleration to enable it

Amazon S3 Console

The Amazon S3 console in AWS Management helps you easily manage objects and buckets. The console provides users with an intuitive browser-based interface that allows you to easily interact with AWS services.

You can use the S3 console to create, configure, and manage buckets, and upload, download, and manage objects. The console also allows you to organize storage using a logical hierarchy.

Competitor Services

AWS S3 isn't the only object software storage service available. These are the main competing options you can choose from:

• Alibaba Cloud Object Storage Service (OSS)
• Azure Blob Storage
• cloud man
• digital ocean space
• Google Cloud Storage
• IBM Cloud Object Storage
• Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Object Storage
• Zadara Storage

Why should I consider Amazon S3?

We have now answered the question "What is AWS S3?" Let's dig into why you should consider using it. There are two main reasons why you should use Amazon S3, and they're points we've covered before but deserve further attention:

• S3 offers 99.999999999% (11 nines) of data durability. This means that if you store 10,000,000 objects in Amazon S3, only one object will be lost every 10,000 years. That is durable!
• S3 will automatically create and store copies of each uploaded object across many systems. This protects your data from errors, glitches and threats while keeping you fully available when you need it.

Plus, it doesn't hurt that Amazon Web Services is the most popular cloud provider today.

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We covered cloud storage, the types of storage AWS offers, how storage worked prior to AWS S3, an overview of AWS S3, objects and buckets, storage classes, and various features of S3.

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