AWS Amazon Reseller: A Beginner's Guide to AWS Object Storage AmazonS3

2026-05-27 阅读 26

If you are starting to contact cloud computing, or are looking for a place to store pictures, videos and backup files for your website or App, you must have heard a word:

Amazon S3

When many people first saw the dense list of AWS services, their heads became big in an instant. Don't panic, today we won't talk about complicated architecture or pile up obscure IT terms. We will use the vernacular to dismantle the "big star" in the cloud storage field for you.

What is Amazon S3?

In the most popular terms,

Amazon S3 is a "super disk" hidden in the cloud, with unlimited capacity and never losing files ".

Its full name is

Simple Storage Service

(Simple Storage Service), the first letter of the three words is S, so everyone is used to calling it

What is the difference between it and Baidu's internet disk and Google Drive that we usually use?

Daily use of the net plate is oriented

Regular user

Yes, you must log on to the webpage or App and click on the folder to view it.

Amazon S3 is

Developers and businesses

Of it. It doesn't have a cool interface for watching movies online like Baidu's Internet disk, but it provides a "door" (API interface). Your program, website or mobile phone App can automatically store the avatar uploaded by the user, the backup log of the server and the video slices of the online class through this door.

Core Concept: Understand these two words and you will get started.

The operation logic of S3 is very simple. You only need to understand two core concepts:

Bucket

and

Object

In order to make you understand, we think of it as a "huge electronic locker":

1. Bucket (Bucket) -your exclusive storage box

Buckets are like the exclusive storage bins you request inside S3. If you want to store anything, you have to create a box first.

Uniqueness: The name of the box must be unique globally. If someone else has already created a bucket called my-test-data, you can no longer use it.

Regional: When you create a box, choose a place (for example, Tokyo, Singapore, Virginia). It is recommended to be closer to your users or servers so that you can take and place things as quickly as possible.

2. Object-Items stored in the box

Objects are the files (photos, documents, videos, etc.) you store in the bucket. But in the world of S3, it's not just files, an "object" contains two parts:

Data: The contents of the file itself (such as a cat.jpg image).

Metadata (Metadata): The attribute label of the file. For example, when was it uploaded, how big it was, and who has the right to watch it.

💡

Novice Misunderstanding Tip: In S3, there is no real concept of "folder. You see images/2026/logo.png in the console as a hierarchical directory, but for S3, this is just a file with a long name (Key). S3 is flat storage, this design allows it to find tens of billions of files, still can maintain lightning speed.

Why are developers all over the world using S3?

There are so many cloud storage on the market, why can S3 become the industry benchmark? Because it has done three things to the extreme:

1. Stable as Mount Tai: 11 9 reliability

AWS's official commitment to S3 data persistence is

99.999999999%(11 9 for short)

If you have 10,000 files in S3, it can take 10 million years to lose one of them. Because when you transfer a file to S3, AWS will automatically copy at least 3 copies of the file and store it in different computer rooms (availability zones) in the same region that do not affect each other. Even if one of the computer rooms suffers a sudden power outage or earthquake, your data will still be intact.

2. Unlimited capacity: if you pass it on, I will lose if you don't pretend to be satisfied.

You don't need to calculate "should I buy 100G or 1T" when creating a bucket? ". The capacity of S3 is unlimited. You pass a byte, it receives a byte of money; You pass hundreds of PB(1PB = 1024TB), and it can hold it.

3. Price saving to the bone: saving money ladder system.

S3 is not a one-size-fits-all fee, it has a lot of "money-saving tricks" (storage class).

S3 Standard (Standard): Suitable for frequently accessed hot data (such as images being used by websites).

S3 Infrequent Access (infrequent access): Suitable for data that is only viewed once a month or two (such as last month's financial statements), the storage fee is cheap, but there is a withdrawal fee when it is obtained.

S3 Glacier (Glacier Storage): Suitable for storing years-old data (such as compliance audit files). It is extremely cheap to store, but it needs to be "thawed" several hours in advance when it is used.

Avoidance guide: novice's two most common fatal mistakes

When many novices just use S3, they are easy to pay "tuition fees" because of improper configuration ". Keeping the following two points in mind can save you a lot of money and avoid safety worries:

Error 1: Open permissions lead to "data streaking"

The default settings for S3 are very secure--

All newly created buckets and files are private

However, in order to allow the website to publicly access a certain picture, many novices directly set the permissions of the entire bucket

Public

, even the AWS account's highest authority key (Access Key) is written in the front-end code. This is equivalent to opening the door of your own safe.

The correct approach: must

Open static resources (such as website logos) are placed in a separate bucket. Sensitive data is kept absolutely private, and a "pre-signed URL(Presigned URL)" with a validity period is generated through code for users to access.

Mistake 2: Forgetting to set up "life cycle management" and spending more money.

During the test, the code was adjusted, dozens of g of logs were sent to S3 every day, and after the test, I patted my ass and left. A few months later, when I looked at the bill, hundreds of dollars were gone.

The right thing to do: Make good use of S3 Lifecycle (lifecycle) rules. You can configure a rule: "All files in the logs/directory are automatically deleted after 30 days, or automatically converted to low-cost glacier storage after 14 days". Let the system help you save money automatically.

5 minutes quick hands-on operation

Let's take a look at how the AWS console plays S3 without practicing fake handholds.

[Register/Sign in to AWS ] -> [Go to S3 console] -> [Click "Create Bucket"] -> [Upload File]

Step 1: Create your first bucket

Click Create bucket in the upper-right corner.

Name (remember: globally unique, only lowercase letters, numbers and hyphens, such as my-awesome-app-bucket-2026).

Choose the area closest to you.

Other "Block Public Access Settings" and "Default Encryption" are all kept on by default and pulled directly to the lowest point "Create".

Step 2: Upload and share files

In the list, click the bucket you just created.

Click "Upload" (Upload), drag a picture from your computer into it, and click OK.

After the upload is successful, click on the name of this picture and you will see an "object URL".

At this time, if you copy this URL directly to the browser to open, it will display AccessDenied (access denied). That's right! That means your data is safe.

At the top right of the object, click "Use pre-signed URL operation" and set an expiration time (say 5 minutes). The system will generate a long temporary link, send this link to friends, and they will be able to see it within the time limit.

Summary

Amazon S3 may seem like a place to store files, but it's like the "foundation" of the cloud computing world ". Whether it is to build a static website, store the original data of big data analysis, or do enterprise disaster preparedness, can not do without it.

For beginners, you don't need to memorize those complicated security policies and architecture diagrams at the beginning. Remember it is a

Secure, unlimited, pay-as-you-go cloud locker

Start by creating a bucket and uploading a photo. When you actually run through the first automated upload script

You will find that the door of cloud computing has been opened to you.