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Object Storage Service:Get started by using the OSS console

Last Updated:Dec 22, 2023

You can use Object Storage Service (OSS) to store data such as images, videos, and audio data from your applications, and you can concurrently download a large amount of data that you store in OSS. You can also use OSS with Intelligent Media Management (IMM) and Image Processing (IMG) to process your data in the cloud. This topic describes how to activate OSS, create a bucket, upload an object, download an object, and share an object. In this topic, an image object is used as an example.

Prerequisites

An Alibaba Cloud account is created. For more information, see Sign up to Alibaba Cloud.

Activate OSS

  1. Go to the OSS activation page.

  2. On the OSS activation page, follow the on-screen instructions to activate OSS.

    Important

    After OSS is activated, the default billing method is pay-as-you-go. If you want to reduce OSS fees, we recommend that you use OSS resource plans.

Create a bucket

A bucket is a container for objects stored in OSS. You must create a bucket before you upload an object to OSS.

  1. Log on to the OSS console.

  2. In the left-side navigation pane, click Buckets. On the Buckets page, click Create Bucket.

  3. In the Create Bucket panel, configure the required parameters described in the following table. You can keep the default settings for other parameters or configure the parameters after the bucket is created. Then, click OK.

    Parameter

    Description

    Example

    Bucket Name

    The name of the bucket. The name of a bucket cannot be changed after the bucket is created.

    For more information about bucket naming conventions, see Bucket naming conventions.

    examplebucket

    Region

    The region in which the bucket is located. The region of a bucket cannot be changed after the bucket is created.

    Important

    If you want to create a bucket in a region in the Chinese mainland, you must complete real-name registration by submitting your information on the Real-name Registration page.

    China (Hangzhou)

    Redundancy Type

    The redundancy type of the bucket. Valid values:

    • LRS

      Locally redundant storage (LRS) stores multiple copies of your data on multiple devices of different facilities in the same zone. LRS provides data durability and availability even if hardware failures occur.

    • ZRS (Recommended)

      ZRS stores multiple copies of your data across multiple zones in the same region. Your data is still accessible even if a zone becomes unavailable.

      Important

      ZRS is supported in the following regions: China (Shenzhen), China (Beijing), China (Zhangjiakou), China (Ulanqab), China (Hangzhou), China (Shanghai), China (Hong Kong), Germany (Frankfurt), Japan (Tokyo), Singapore, and Indonesia (Jakarta). ZRS increases your storage costs and cannot be disabled after it is enabled. We recommend that you exercise caution when you select this redundancy type.

      For more information about ZRS, see Create a ZRS bucket.

    ZRS (Recommended)

    After the bucket is created, the Created message is displayed.

Upload an object

You can upload an object up to 5 GB in size by using the OSS console.

  1. Now that the bucket is created, click Go to Bucket. Alternatively, you can click Buckets in the left-side navigation pane and click the name of the created bucket.

  2. On the Objects page, click Upload Object.

  3. On the Upload Object page, configure the parameters described in the following table.

    Parameter

    Description

    Example

    Upload To

    Specify the directory to which you want to upload the object. Valid values:

    • Current Directory: The object is uploaded to the current directory.

    • Specified Directory: The object is uploaded to a specified directory. If the specified directory does not exist, OSS automatically creates the directory and uploads the object to the directory.

    Current Directory

    Object ACL

    Configure the access control list (ACL) for the object.

    For more information, see Object ACLs.

    Private

    Files to Upload

    Select the object or directory that you want to upload.

    You can click Select Files to select a local file or click Select Folders to select a directory. You can also drag the local file or directory that you want to upload to the Files to Upload section.

    Important
    • If you drag a directory to the Files to Upload section to upload it, the files and subdirectories in this directory are all uploaded to the bucket.

    • Do not refresh or close the Upload Object page when objects are being uploaded. Otherwise, the upload tasks are interrupted, and the list of upload tasks is cleared.

    example.jpg

  4. Click Upload Object.

    You can view the upload progress in the Upload Tasks panel. After the object is uploaded, you can go to the directory that contains the object to view the name, size, and storage class of the object.

Download objects

After you upload objects to a bucket, you can download the objects to the default download path of your browser or a specific local path. You can download one or more objects at a time.

  1. In the left-side navigation tree, choose Object Management > Objects.

  2. Download objects.

    • Download one object at a time

      Find the object in the object list and choose more > Download.

    • Download multiple objects at a time

      Select the objects that you want to download and click Download below the object list. You can download up to 100 objects at a time in the OSS console.

    For more information about how to download objects from versioning-enabled buckets, see Configure versioning.

Share an object

After you upload an object to a bucket, you can share the URL of the object with third parties for downloads or previews.

  1. In the left-side navigation tree, choose Object Management > Objects.

  2. On the Objects page, click the name of the object or click View Details in the Actions column.

  3. In the View Details panel, click Copy Object URL.

    Warning

    Check whether the data that you want to share contains sensitive content to prevent leakage of sensitive data.

    If the ACL of the object that you want to share is private, you must configure Validity Period of the URL. The default validity period of a URL is 3,600 seconds (1 hour). The maximum validity period is 32,400 seconds (9 hours). To obtain a URL with a longer validity period, we recommend that you use ossutil, ossbrowser, or OSS SDKs.

    • Preview an object by using the object URL

      To ensure that an object is previewed but not downloaded when third parties use the object URL that you share to access the object, you must map a custom domain name to your bucket and add a CNAME record for the domain name. For more information, see Map custom domain names.

    • Download an object by using the object URL

      If you want an object to be downloaded when third parties use the shared object URL to access the object, set the Content-Disposition field to attachment. For more information, see Configure object metadata.

References

Advanced features