TNCS-0036 – S3-Compatible Cloud Services
Created: December 21, 2016 | Updated: July 30, 2018
Since ChronoSync introduced support for Amazon S3 in version 4.7.0, we’ve received several Support inquiries on whether or not ChronoSync works with a particular cloud service provider. Since its inception, the S3 API has become a popular method for object storage. As a result, more and more services have been built to natively support the S3 API.
This tech note details tested configurations for alternate S3-compatible service Connections. We provide additional technical information about setting Region and Signature version schemes as well as Endpoint URL usage details.
Finally, we list additional untested services and storage solutions that you can explore for S3-compatible support in ChronoSync.
ALTERNATE S3 CONNECTION CONFIGURATION DETAILS
Caringo
Caringo was founded in 2005 to change the economics of storage by designing software from the ground up to solve the issues associated with relentless data growth. Caringo’s flagship product, Swarm, decouples data from applications and hardware providing a foundation for continued data access and analysis that continuously evolves while guaranteeing data integrity. Today, Caringo software-defined object storage solutions are used to preserve and provide access to rapidly scaling data sets across many industries by organizations such as NEP, iQ Media, Argonne National Labs, Texas Tech University, Department of Defense, the Brazilian Federal Court System, City of Austin, British Telecom and hundreds more worldwide.
Configuration Tips
Caringo Swarm is an Enterprise Cloud Storage Solution that is installed, setup, and customized for each client. There are specific changes needed when configuring a ChronoSync Connection Profile to connect to Caringo Swarm.
The first issue is the endpoint. Make sure you have a valid URL for your endpoint. If you are using Secure connections (HTTPS), be sure to obtain and install a wildcard Security Certificate for your end-point domain.
Caringo connections require ‘Use path-style URLs’ be enabled on the ‘Advanced’ connection settings in ChronoSync.
Minio
Minio is a high performance distributed object storage server, designed for large-scale private cloud infrastructure. Minio is not a ‘Cloud Serivice’ but a product you install and setup and customize.
Configuration Tips
Minio server configuration should include a Region. This can be set in the Minio ‘config.json’ file. Your ChronoSync Connection should match this region string.
Also of note is that Minio uses the S3 Version 4 signature scheme. ChronoSync S3 connections default to Version 2 signatures unless we are connecting to a known AWS Region. The signature scheme version should also be specified in the ‘Endpoint’ setting. See the further discussion of S3 Region and Signature schemes below.
Minio works out-of-the-box with ChronoSync when the ‘Use path-style URLs’ on the ‘Advanced’ connection settings item is enabled. Also change the “Metadata” setting to “None” on the same panel.
If you want to, or need to use the virtual-hosted-style bucket path names, then you will need to have DNS and domain strings setup in Minio. If secure connections (HTTPS) are desired, a wildcard security certificate is also needed.
Dreamhost DreamObjects
DreamObjects is an inexpensive object storage service great for hosting files, storing backups, and Web app development. A Free trial is available at the above link.
Configuration Tips
DreamObjects is an S3-compatible object store and as such, simply using the S3 Configure and Backup Guide to setup a Connection Profile using the endpoint and credentials provided by DreamHost will get ChronoSync ready to backup to DreamObjects.
Wasabi
Wasabi is the hot storage company. We’re storage experts. We only do cloud storage, but we do it faster, cheaper, and more securely than anyone. Our mission is to make cloud storage a simple, open-standard commodity, much like electricity. A Free trial is available at the above link.
Configuration Tips
Wasabi offers S3-compatible cloud storage so simply using the S3 Configure and Backup Guide to setup a Connection Profile using the endpoint and credentials provided by Wasabi will get ChronoSync ready to backup to Wasabi.
Oracle
Enterprises can innovate faster, improve customer engagement, drive business-process efficiency, and accelerate digital transformation with Oracle Cloud. Oracle is the enterprise technology partner that positions companies for tomorrow, today; empowering businesses of all sizes on their journey of digital transformation. Oracle Cloud provides leading-edge capabilities in software as a service, platform as a service, infrastructure as a service, and data as a service. A Free trial is available at the above link.
Configuration Tips
To create a connection to the Oracle Cloud Service, enable ‘Use path-style URLs’ on the ‘Advanced’ connection settings. Also change the “Metadata” setting to “None” on the same panel.
Also of note is that Oracle uses the S3 Version 4 signature scheme. ChronoSync S3 connections default to Version 2 signatures unless we are connecting to a known AWS Region. The signature scheme version should also be specified in the ‘Endpoint’ setting. See the further discussion of S3 Region and Signature schemes below.
S3 CONNECTIONS AND ADVANCED REGION AND SIGNATURE SETTINGS
ChronoSync uses the AWS Version 2 signature scheme unless the endpoint is a known Version 4 compatible server. The region, which is supplied in parenthesis after the endpoint, is compared against a list of known AWS regions to determine whether v2 or v4 will work.
If the supplied region name is not found, then a /v2 or /v4 can be appended to the region name to force a specific signing method.
Example
Appending:
- ” (region-name/v2)” — forces v2 signing
- ” (region-name/v4)” — forces v4 signing
NOTE: Don’t use the quotation marks. The space before the parenthesis to separate from the endpoint URL is required.
S3 CONNECTION ENDPOINT AND BUCKET URL TECHNICAL DETAILS
There are two supported ways of working with buckets in S3.
- Virtual hosts style URLs pre-pend the bucket name to the Endpoint, separating with a period as in: https://bucket.endpoint.com
- Path style URLs append the bucket name to the Endpoint, separating with a slash as in: https://endpoint.com/bucket
AWS explains the methodologies here: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonS3/latest/dev/UsingBucket.html#access-bucket-intro
ChronoSync defaults to Virtual-Hosted-style URLs. Enabling ‘Use path-style URLs’ on the ‘Advanced’ panel of an S3 Connection Profile to use Path-style URLs. If you are using an S3-compatible server or service and you can’t access the storage in a synchronizer task, try enabling ‘Use path-style URLs’ to see if that resolves the issue.
S3-COMPATIBLE CLOUD SERVICE AND SOLUTION RESOURCES
Below is a list of additional, untested services and storage solutions that are S3-compatible. ChronoSync should be able to connect to all of them. If you’re aware of another, please drop a line to our Support team so we can add it to our list.
S3-Compatible Service Providers
S3-Compatible Storage Solutions
REVISION HISTORY
Aug-15-2022 – Added new services.
Jul-29-2022 – Removed some services.
Jul-30-2018 – Added new services, updated existing services, removed some services.
Dec-21-2016 – Created from Internal Support Notes.