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Object Storage Service:OSS tools

Last Updated:Aug 21, 2023

This topic describes the common tools that can be used to streamline Object Storage Service (OSS) operations. The following table describes the tools.

Tool

Description

ossutil

A command-line tool used to manage objects and buckets.

  • Provides a wide range of simple and convenient commands to manage objects and buckets and ensures high performance of operations.

  • Supports concurrent upload and resumable upload of files.

  • Allows you to upload and download directories.

ossbrowser

A graphical object management tool.

  • Provides features similar to those of Windows Explorer.

  • Allows you to browse objects.

  • Allows you to upload and download directories.

  • Supports concurrent upload and resumable upload of files.

  • Allows you to configure authorization policies and grant permissions to RAM users on a GUI.

  • Supports Windows, Linux, and macOS.

Limits:

  • The transmission speed and performance of ossbrowser are not as good as those of ossutil because ossbrowser is a graphical tool.

  • Only objects smaller than 5 GB in size can be moved or replicated.

  • You can upload a single file up to 48.8 TB in size.

Signature tool

The OSS console provides the following signature tools:

  • Signature in Authorization Header

    After you specify the required parameters, the system automatically generates and verifies a request signature. For more information, see Signature in Authorization Header.

  • PostObject Policy Signature

    After you use the signature tool to specify the parameters, the system automatically generates a request signature for the upload task by using an HTML form and verifies the request signature. For more information, see PostObject Policy Signature.

  • URL Signature

    You can use the signature tool to generate a signed object URL for temporary access. When you generate a signed URL, you can specify the validity period of the URL to limit the period in which visitors can use the URL to access resources. For more information, see URL Signature.

ossimport

A tool used to synchronize data to OSS.

  • Allows you to synchronize data from a third-party data source to OSS.

  • Supports distributed deployment. You can use multiple servers to migrate data at the same time.

  • Supports migration of more than terabytes of data.

  • Supports Windows and Linux.

  • Applicable to Java 7.

ossfs

A tool used to attach a bucket to the local file system. After you attach an OSS bucket to the local file system of Linux, you can perform operations on objects in the bucket to access or share these objects by using the local file system.

  • Supports most features of POSIX-compliant file systems, including file reads and writes, directories, link-related operations, permissions, UIDs, GIDs, and extended attributes.

  • Allows you to use multipart upload to upload large files.

  • Supports MD5 verification to ensure data integrity.

Limits:

  • Archive, Cold Archive, and Deep Cold Archive buckets cannot be attached to local file systems by using ossfs.

  • If you use ossfs to edit an uploaded object, the object is re-uploaded.

  • The performance of metadata-related operations, such as listing directories, is compromised because you must remotely access the OSS server.

  • Errors may occur if you rename an object or a directory. Operation failures may cause data inconsistencies.

  • ossfs is unsuitable for scenarios that require highly concurrent read and write operations.

  • If an OSS bucket is attached to multiple clients, you must maintain data consistency. To prevent multiple clients from writing to the same object at the same time, we recommend that you schedule the time when users can use objects.

  • Hard links are not supported.

ossftp

An FTP-based tool used to manage objects in OSS.

  • You can use FTP clients such as FileZilla, WinSCP, and FlashFXP to manage objects in OSS.

  • ossftp is an FTP server that receives FTP requests and performs operations on objects and directories in OSS.

  • ossftp is based on Python 2.7 or later.

  • Supports Windows, Linux, and macOS.

RAM Policy Editor

A tool used to automatically generate OSS-related authorization policies. We recommend that you use this tool to generate custom authorization policies.

  • Generates an authorization policy based on the specified requirements. You can use this tool to create an authorization policy. You can add the policy to a custom RAM policy.

  • Supports the following browsers: Google Chrome, Firefox, and Safari.

osscmd (unavailable)

A command-line tool used to manage objects and buckets.

  • Provides a wide range of commands to manage objects and buckets.

  • Supports Windows and Linux.

Limits:

  • osscmd is compatible only with Python 2.5, 2.6, and 2.7. osscmd is incompatible with Python 3.x.

  • osscmd does not support new features of OSS, such as the Infrequent Access (IA), Archive, Cold Archive, or Deep Cold Archive storage class, cross-region replication (CRR), and mirroring-based back-to-origin.

Important

The osscmd operation commands have been integrated into ossutil. osscmd has been unavailable since July 31, 2019. Alibaba Cloud regrets the inconvenience caused, and appreciates your patience and understanding.