Simple Object Storage versioning

Simple Object Storage’s versioning and lock support lets you protect and archive data in your applications. It prevents data loss and enables you to restore objects that are accidentally deleted or overwritten via the user interface or API.

Versioning

By default buckets are un-versioned and versioning needs to be activated. Once activated, it will modify the following behaviors for an object:

• If an object is deleted, SOS will instead keep the object and add the delete marker. Therefore the object could still be restored.
• If an object is overwritten, then SOS will create a new version instead to the object keeping the previous one intact. The previous version can be then restored any time referring to its version ID.

Object Lock

Exoscale SOS implements the S3 compatible object lock feature with the Legal hold feature. An object bearing the lock protection cannot be deleted indefinitely until the legal hold has been explicitly removed.

Pricing considerations

Bucket versioning is a free feature and does not trigger additional charges when activated on a bucket whether it is used or not. However there is a cost implied by having multiple versions of an object. For example, if you have 5 versions of an object, each version 1 GB of storage volume, then your charge will be for 5 GB.

Object lock is as well a free feature, with the normal SOS charge applying for the duration the object is stored on Exoscale.

Getting Started

This guide will walk you through various operations involving bucket versioning and locking using the Minio client, one of the open-source tools compatible with S3 for managing your buckets.

Prerequisites:

• Install the Minio client by referring to the official Minio documentation here.

• Obtain an access key and a secret key to manage your buckets using the Minio client. For detailed instructions, please refer to our guide here.

Configure the Minio client

mc config host add myminio https://sos-de-fra-1.exo.io

Storage API Endpoint: https://sos-{zone}.exo.io

Replace {zone} with the intended value. Available sos zones are : ch-dk-2, ch-gva-2, de-fra-1, de-muc-1, at-vie-1, at-vie-2, bg-sof-1.

Create a bucket

mc mb --with-lock myminio/mylockedbucket

Listing buckets

mc ls myminio

Listing bucket content recursively

mc ls --recursive myminio/mylockedbucket

Verify bucket versioning status

mc stat myminio/mylockedbucket

Name : mylockedbucket
Date : 2023-10-26 22:10:26 CET
Size : N/A
Type : folder

Properties:
Versioning: Enabled
Location: de-fra-1
Anonymous: Disabled
ILM: Disabled

Usage:
Total size: 0 B
Objects count: 0
Versions count: 0

Upload an object to bucket

mc cp file_to_upload.txt myminio/mylockedbucket

List all versions of my objects in a bucket

mc ls --versions myminio/mylockedbucket

Delete a specific version of an object

mc rm myminio/mylockedbucket/file_to_upload.txt --version-id "916619044952888425"

Remove a bucket and all its content

mc rb --force myminio/mylockedbucket

Set up the lock configuration for a bucket

mc retention set --default GOVERNANCE "30d" myminio/mylockedbucket

For additional details on Retention MODE and DURATION, please refer to this guide.

Show bucket configuration

Now that lock configuration was set, the stat command shows its status:

mc stat myminio/mylockedbucket

Name : mylockedbucket
Date : 2023-10-26 23:33:34 CET
Size : N/A
Type : folder

Properties:
Versioning: Enabled
LockConfiguration:
RetentionMode: GOVERNANCE
Retention Until Date: 30DAYS
Location: de-fra-1
Anonymous: Disabled
ILM: Disabled

Usage:
Total size: 0 B
Objects count: 0
Versions count: 0

Alternatively:

mc retention info myminio/mylockedbucket

Object locking 'GOVERNANCE' is configured for 30DAYS.