Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3)

Overview

Amazon S3 works like a giant filing system in the cloud. Instead of folders, it uses "buckets" to store your files (which S3 calls "objects"). These buckets can hold virtually any type of file - from simple text documents to large video files, website content, application backups, and more.

Each file you upload to S3 is automatically stored in multiple locations, making it extremely reliable. Even if an entire AWS data center were to fail, your files would still be safe and accessible. This reliability, combined with its ability to serve files quickly, makes S3 one of the most fundamental and widely-used AWS services.

S3 is designed to be simple to use but powerful enough for complex storage needs. You can make files public or private, set up automatic file expiration, create lifecycle rules (like automatically moving older files to cheaper storage), and even use it to host static websites.

Unlike a traditional hard drive where you pay for the full capacity whether you use it or not, with S3 you only pay for what you actually store and transfer. It can scale from storing just a few files to billions of objects without any additional setup.

Example uses

1. Website Hosting: Store and serve static website content like HTML, CSS, images, and JavaScript files directly from S3.

2. Backup and Storage: Keep secure backups of important files, databases, or entire application states.

3. Media Storage: Store and serve images, videos, and audio files for applications or websites.

4. Data Lake: Store large amounts of raw data in its native format for big data analytics.

Integration with other AWS services

S3 integrates seamlessly with many other AWS services, such as:

• Amazon CloudFront: Deliver your S3 content faster by caching it at edge locations around the world.

• AWS Lambda: Automatically process files when they're uploaded to S3 (like resizing images or converting file formats).

• AWS Identity and Access Management: Control who can access which files and what they can do with them.

• Amazon S3 Glacier: Automatically move older, less-accessed files to cheaper long-term storage.

• AWS Backup: Use S3 as a destination for backing up other AWS resources and on-premises data.