amazon aws

Amazon S3, Glacier, and Cloudfront User Interface Options

amazon awsAmazon web services (AWS) provides management consoles for its S3 (simple storage service), Glacier (deep storage), Cloudfront (streaming), and other services that are satisfactory for cursory use, but are not well suited for extended managment, large file uploads, etc.

Most users turn to a third-party interface to manage their Amazon S3, Glacier, and Cloudfront accounts.

Cyberduck is a cross-platform client for accessing S3.

Here’s an assessment of Windows-based software (with a list of un-reviewed Mac-based software at the end of the post).

The Firefox extension S3Fox Organizer is free, but not very powerful (e.g., uploads are slow). After download and installation, you fill find the organizer in the Firefox tools menu. The interface is intuitive

S3 Browser (free for non-commercial use; $30 pro version) is a simple and good interface for S3 storage and Cloudfront distribution. The free version uploads data two chunks at a time to an S3 bucket, which is still fairly slow; the pro version uploads much more quickly; see faster upload times with pro. Cloudfront distribution options are in the tools menu. Tcost includes upgrades and support for one year.

FastGlacier, which is free for personal (non-commercial, non-government) use, allows full-bandwith uploads to a Glacier account. For personal use, FastGlacier may be a good choice for deep backups. The Pro version is $30.

Cloudberry Explorer (freemium and $40 pro version) is a powerful and popular interface for Amazon S3, Glacier, and Cloudfront. Transfer between S3 buckets in different accounts is easy, as is transfer between S3 and Glacier.

I highly recommend the interface; the license is valid on only one computer; however, discounts are available for mutliple licenses ($35 for 2-6 licenses), and, for an $8 annual maintenance fee, one is entitled to free upgrades each year. The Pro version is required for fast rapid uploads.

Cloudberry allows easy management of, and transfers between, buckets in different S3 accounts, which I find very useful (note that bucket names cannot be changed, but new buckets can be created and files copied from one bucket to another, which is easy with Cloudberry’s multiple bucket/account management.

Bucket Explorer (one month free trial; then $70), is also a powerful premium plugin, but for Amazon S3 and Cloudfront only (not Glacier). For transfer between buckets and accounts, use the Transfer panel icon. Here is a good description of Cloudfront distribution.

The license is good for a single user on multiple computers, but is only valid for upgrades for one year, after which a new license must be purchased for future upgrades. Note that Bucket Explorer requires installation of JAVA on your system.

Some notes about features. In Bucket Explorer, upload operations open in new windows and are thus separate from other operations; thus, you can manage different operations separately. In Cloudberry, the operations are handled sequentially. Bucket explorer also opens a new window for bucket to bucket (and account to account) operations.

Summary: For all around functionality, I recommend the Cloudberry Explorer freemium version for casual users, and pro version for serious users (with a management subscription for upgrades). The pro version is almost necessary for large files. Bucket Explorer Pro functionality is free for one month; good for short term use.

Note: Cloudberry offers discounts to non-profit and educational organizations.

Mac-Based Software

Here are some Mac-based solutions recommeded by others, but I’ve not been able to review them. Please help by providing your comments.

Transmit ($40) – Mac only

Forklift ($29.95) – Mac only

Migration between Accounts in the Cloud

Migration of S3 buckets from one account to another, or from Amazon S3 to Amazon Glacier storage, is possible using various methods:

Access Key Management

For uploads and streaming, I set up different IAM users (stands for Identify Access Management) with their own access credentials (user ID and secret key) for each software program or access point that I set up. This way, the user can be deleted, or permissions changed, as needed. To start, I attach an IAM policy of power user access, and then modify the policy as needed (e.g., for read/write or bucket restrictions).

Specific commonly used access credentials can follow the format below, with a specific bucket added for ‘mybucket’ (consider removing the PutObject and DeleteObject actions when setting up streaming credentials):

{
 "Statement": [
 {
 "Effect": "Allow",
 "Action": ["s3:GetBucketLocation", "s3:ListAllMyBuckets"],
 "Resource": "arn:aws:s3:::*"
 },
 {
 "Effect": "Allow",
 "Action": ["s3:ListBucket" ],
 "Resource": [ "arn:aws:s3:::mybucket"]
 },
 {
 "Effect": "Allow",
 "Action": [ "s3:PutObject", "s3:GetObject", "s3:DeleteObject"],
 "Resource": [ "arn:aws:s3:::mybucket/*"]
 }
 ]
}

Another good summary for third party user interfaces is The Best Amazon S3 Tools for Windows, Mac, and Unix, by Digital Inspiration.

Related: Amazon S3-tagged posts

Image Credit: amazon.com

0 replies

Leave a Reply

Want to join the discussion?
Feel free to contribute!

Leave a Reply