How To Configure and Access Amazon S3 Storage via InterConneX
The Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) is a personal cloud storage service that is a scalable, high-speed, low-cost Web-based service designed for online backup and archiving of data. With Amazon S3, you can store and retrieve any amount of data, at any time, from anywhere on the web.
Connecting and backing up to an Amazon S3 storage provider is quick and easy. This guide will provide all the steps necessary to get you set up with an Amazon S3 account and show you how to set up an InterConneX sharespace to access your S3 data.
SIGN UP FOR AN AMAZON S3 ACCOUNT
If you already have an Amazon S3 account, you can begin with the next step, CREATE A BUCKET. Follow these steps to sign up for an Amazon S3 account:
- Go to the Amazon Web Services website and click on “Get started with Amazon S3.” At the time of this writing, Amazon will give you 5 GB of Standard storage, 20,000 GET requests, and 2,000 PUT, COPY, POST or LIST Requests; and 15GB of Data Transfer Out each month for one year.
- Sign in using your Amazon.com account credentials. (If you don’t have an Amazon.com account, be sure to select “Create a new AWS account”).
- Complete the ‘Contact’ and ‘Payment’ information forms. On the payment form, you must provide your credit card/banking information. You will not be charged unless you exceed your free tier limits.
- Continue to verify your identity. You will receive a phone call from Amazon and you will need to key in a 4-digit PIN supplied to you via your browser.
- Continue to select support plan.
- Continue to the confirmation page.
CREATE A BUCKET
If you already have buckets defined that you wish to access, you can skip to the next section, RETRIEVING ACCESS KEYS.
A ‘Bucket’ is a container for objects stored in Amazon S3. You can create as many buckets as you’d like. In InterConneX, once connected to the S3 service, you’ll select one of your buckets to access.
To create a bucket:
- Click on the ‘Service’ menu at the top of the page. You’ll be presented with a lot of services. Click on ‘S3’ under ‘Storage.’
- Click on ‘Create bucket.’
- Provide a Bucket Name.
Amazon recommends that all bucket names comply with DNS naming conventions and need to be unique. It is not recommended to use periods in the name. We recommend using hyphens, e.g. “smith-fred-pics-graduation”. Amazon bucket creation and naming.
- Select a Region. Make sure to make a note of the region you choose.
- Click on ‘Next.’
- Set ‘properties’ and ‘permissions’, if you wish.
- Review your settings.
- If all looks good, click on ‘Create bucket.’
- You’ll now see your newly created bucket in the list.
RETRIEVING ACCESS KEYS
To make a connection to Amazon S3, InterConneX needs your access key credentials in order to access the buckets under your account. Two keys are required: the ‘Access Key ID’ and the ‘Secret Access Key.’ Follow these instructions to enable your access keys:
- Click on your account name in the top right to activate the menu.
- Choose ‘My Security Credentials.’
- On the popup, choose ‘Continue to Security Credentials.’
- Expand the ‘Access keys (access key ID and secret access key)’ menu.
- Click on “Create New Access Key.”
- Keys are successfully created. Click on ‘Show Access Key’ to see keys.
- Save this information in a secure location. This information will come in handy later. Amazon recommends that you change your access keys every 90 days.
Note: If there will be other users accessing the buckets under your Amazon account, you may want to consider setting up multiple users in the AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) console. Using IAM allows you to grant other people permission to administer and use resources in your Amazon account without having to share your password or access key.
SET UP AN INTERCONNEX SHARESPACE
Now that you have everything set up in Amazon, you can move over to InterConneX and set things up so you can begin accessing your data. Follow the steps below to set up an Amazon S3 sharespace.
- Tap on the ‘+’ to add a new sharespace.
- Choose ‘Amazon S3 account.’
- Tap on ‘Next.’
- Select the region where your S3 bucket is stored from the predefined endpoints.
- Tap on ‘Next.’
- Provide the Access Key and Secret you received in the Amazon S3 Dashboard. TIP: The keys you receive from Amazon are oftentimes long and cryptic, thus making it difficult to type in. In this case, you can open the saved key text file you created and saved above and view it alongside InterConneX via a Slide Over or Split View. Doing this allows you to select the text and then copy/paste it into the ‘Key’ fields for InterConneX.
- ‘Test’ these login settings to verify the credentials work.
- Tap on ‘Next.’
- If you wish to have the connection connect automatically, tap on the ‘Auto Connect’ setting.
- Tap on ‘Next.’
- Provide a unique sharespace name.
- Tap on ‘Next.’
- Review all settings and make any necessary changes.
- Tap on ‘Save’ if everything looks good.
- That’s it! Now you’re connected to your Amazon S3 cloud account. You can view all the files in your S3 buckets within your newly created sharespace!
TECHNICAL SUPPORT
If any of this is unclear or you have other questions or feedback, feel free to contact our technical support team! We don’t mind — we’re here to help!