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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Frequently asked questions about centron and S3 Object Storage – general enquiries, login details, and information on buckets and objects.

General​

What is object storage and what is it used for?​

Object storage stores files as objects in buckets and makes them available via an S3-compatible HTTP API. It is particularly well suited to backups, archives, media assets and application data – wherever large volumes of data need to be stored in a scalable and redundant manner.

Is the service compatible with Amazon S3?​

Yes. Tools and SDKs that support the S3 standard (AWS CLI, s3cmd, rclone, MinIO Client, boto3, etc.) can be used directly. You simply need to adjust the endpoint, region and access credentials. Some additional AWS-specific functions may not be available – see Supported S3 Actions.

Where is my data stored?​

The data is stored exclusively in centron data centres in Germany (ISO 27001-certified) and is maintained in a redundant configuration.

How is billing carried out?​

Charged according to storage used, billed per hour or part thereof and per gigabyte or part thereof; a minimum charge applies. For the current price, see the S3 Object Storage price overview. External traffic is free of charge with the S3 Object Storage plan.

Are there any size or quantity limits?​

Yes, there are size and quantity limits, which you can find out more about below.

Number of buckets​

  • Up to 100 buckets per account. To increase this limit, please contact support.
  • No support for centron tags or bucket tags.
  • The name of a bucket that is queued for deletion cannot be reused whilst the deletion process is ongoing (1 week or longer).

Existing enquiry limits​

  • 1,500 requests (per operation) per IP address per second for all buckets in an account.
  • 10 concurrent PUT or COPY requests for each individual object in a bucket.

Existing object and file size limits​

  • PUT requests may be no larger than 5 GB.
  • Each part of a multi-part upload may be no larger than 5 GB.
  • The maximum total size of a multi-part upload is 5 TB.
  • Maximum payload size for PUT requests and individual parts of multi-part uploads via CDN: 8,100 KiB.
  • A maximum of 10 million objects per bucket is permitted.

File deletion​

  • Up to 9,999 files can be deleted at the same time using the Control Panel.

Is the connection encrypted?​

Data is transmitted via TLS (HTTPS). In addition, objects can be encrypted on the server side using a dedicated key via SSE-C.

S3 access credentials​

How do I get my login details?​

You can create an access key and a secret key in centron Cloud-Panel – see Create S3 access credentials.

I’ve lost my secret key – what should I do now?​

For security reasons, the secret key is only displayed once when it is created. It cannot be retrieved again. Create a new key pair, save it in your tools and then delete the old one.

Can I use more than one key pair?​

Yes. It is advisable to use a separate key pair for each application or system. This allows compromised keys to be revoked in a targeted manner without affecting other systems.

What happens when a key pair is deleted?​

Any access attempts using this pair will fail immediately (403 Forbidden or InvalidAccessKeyId). The stored data remains unchanged.

Do keys apply to all buckets?​

A key pair is linked to the relevant project or account and grants access to its buckets. More granular permissions can be configured – where available – via bucket policies.

Buckets & Objects​

What are the rules for bucket names?​

  • 3–63 characters, lower-case letters, numbers and hyphens only
  • Must begin and end with a letter or a number
  • Must not be written in IP address format, and must not contain consecutive full stops
  • Must be unique within the region

As bucket names form part of the URL (https://Bucketname.s3.internet1.de), they should be chosen in accordance with DNS standards.

Can I rename or move a bucket?​

No. Create a new bucket and copy the objects, for example using rclone or mc mirror – see Migration.

Why can’t I delete my bucket?​

Buckets can only be deleted if they are completely empty – including all object versions and delete markers (where versioning is enabled) as well as aborted multipart uploads. Objects with active retention or a legal hold cannot be removed until the protection expires or is lifted.

Are buckets public by default?​

No. New buckets are private. Public read access must be explicitly granted via an ACL or policy – please check carefully beforehand whether the content is suitable for this.

How do I upload very large files?​

About multipart uploads: The file is transferred in parts and reassembled on the server. Common tools (AWS CLI, rclone, SDKs) handle this automatically once a configurable threshold size is reached.

Are there ‘folders’?​

Not in the traditional sense. Slashes in the object key (fotos/2026/urlaub.jpg) create prefixes that are displayed as folders by clients. An empty ‘folder’ therefore does not exist.

How can I share objects publicly without making the bucket public?​

Using presigned URLs: time-limited, signed links to individual objects, e.g. via the AWS CLI:

aws s3 presign s3://mein-bucket/report.pdf --expires-in 3600 \
  --endpoint-url https://s3.internet1.de
Hinweis

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