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S3-Compatible Connection Settings and Authentication

Connect to Files.com using any S3-compatible client or SDK by supplying the correct endpoint, region, and access credentials.

URL Addressing Style

The URL path to S3-compatible storage can be either path-style or virtual-hosted-style. Path-style is the original standard, and virtual-hosted-style is becoming more widely adopted.

Path-style puts the bucket name in the URL path, after the host: https://s3.files.com/my-bucket/path/to/file

Virtual-hosted-style puts the bucket name as a subdomain of the host: https://my-bucket.s3.files.com/path/to/file

Files.com supports both styles for connections to our S3-compatible endpoint.

Endpoint and Region Configuration

Use the dedicated Files.com S3-compatible endpoint when configuring your client. The endpoint uses HTTPS for all requests. Files.com assigns a region identifier that you supply to your client during configuration.

Endpoint URL

For path-style, the endpoint URLs for S3-compatible connections to your Files.com site are:

  • https://s3-<your_custom_subdomain>.files.com
  • https://s3.files.com

In the above example, replace <your_custom_subdomain> with the value of your site's Custom Subdomain.

For virtual-hosted-style, the endpoint URL is:

  • https://s3.files.com

Region

The region setting is ignored and can be set to any value.

Most S3 clients use a default region of us-east-1.

Access Keys

The S3-compatible endpoint uses Access Key IDs and Secret Access Keys. You can create and revoke S3 compatible API Keys in your Files.com site. Files.com supports two types of API keys: Site-wide keys and User keys. A User API Key corresponds to a Files.com user and inherits that user's permissions, folder access, and restrictions.

You can manage API Keys at any time. When replacing keys, update your automation scripts, SDK configurations, or application secrets.

S3 Authentication Support

Files.com supports the AWS Signature Version 4 (SigV4) authentication model. All S3 clients and SDKs that support SigV4 operate normally with the Files.com S3-compatible endpoint.

Buckets, Folders, and Namespaces

For path-style, your Files.com site presents a single bucket named default. This bucket represents the top-level folder of your site. When used in the URL address, it looks like this:

  • https://s3-mysite.files.com/default/path/to/file

or this:

  • https://s3.files.com/default/path/to/file

For virtual-hosted-style, your site's Custom Subdomain is presented as the bucket name. This bucket represents the top-level folder of your site. When used in the URL address, it looks like this:

  • https://mysite.s3.files.com/path/to/file

Do not specify the bucket name in the endpoint URL. Your S3 client automatically applies the bucket name to the connection URL based on its URL addressing style.

Users only see objects they have permission to access.

Folders inside a bucket appear as object key prefixes. Listing or filtering objects shows only content your user is authorized to access.