Functions

Advanced, powerful features, and useful management tools

  • On-Cloud Data Management

    Manage data on cloud using REST APIs and SDKs. Enjoy a robust third-party ecosystem.

    Manage data on cloud using REST APIs and SDKs. Enjoy a robust third-party ecosystem.

  • Flexible Storage Classes

    Take advantage of different storage classes for a range of scenarios. Pay only for what you use.

    Take advantage of different storage classes for a range of scenarios. Pay only for what you use.

  • Scalability and Integration

    Enjoy linearly, infinitely scalable storage resources. Enable in-depth integration with other services.

    Enjoy linearly, infinitely scalable storage resources. Enable in-depth integration with other services.

  • Data Protection

    Keep your data secure with powerful, flexible security measures and fine-grained access control.

    Keep your data secure with powerful, flexible security measures and fine-grained access control.

  • High Availability

    Ensure availability by using highly reliable data centers and configuring cross-data center disaster recovery.

    Ensure availability by using highly reliable data centers and configuring cross-data center disaster recovery.

  • Easy-to-Use Policies

    Efficiently manage your data with convenient storage policies.

    Efficiently manage your data with convenient storage policies.

About OBS

OBS Overview

Object Storage Service (OBS) is a scalable service that provides secure, reliable, and cost-effective cloud storage for massive amounts of data.

OBS provides unlimited storage capacity for objects of any format, catering to the needs of common users, websites, enterprises, and developers. There is no limitation on the storage capacity of the entire OBS system or of a single bucket, and any number of objects can be stored. As a web service, OBS supports APIs over Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) and Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS). You can use OBS Console or OBS tools to access and manage data stored in OBS anytime, anywhere. With OBS SDKs and APIs, you can easily manage data stored in OBS and develop upper-layer applications.

Huawei Cloud deploys OBS infrastructures in multiple regions across the globe, delivering high scalability and reliability. You can deploy OBS in specific regions for faster access at an affordable price.

Product Architecture

OBS basically consists of buckets and objects.

A bucket is a container for storing objects in OBS. Each bucket is specific to a region and has specific storage class and access permissions. A bucket is accessible through its access domain name over the Internet.

An object is the fundamental storage unit in OBS. An object consists of the following:

A key that specifies the name of an object. An object key is a UTF-8 string up to 1,024 characters long. Each object is uniquely identified by a key within a bucket.

Metadata that describes an object. The metadata is a set of key-value pairs that are assigned to objects stored in OBS. There are two types of metadata: system-defined metadata and custom metadata.

System-defined metadata is automatically assigned by OBS for processing objects. Such metadata includes Date, Content-Length, Last-Modified, ETag, and more.

You can specify custom metadata to describe the object when you upload an object to OBS.

Data that refers to the content of an object.

By means of secondary development based on OBS REST APIs, OBS Console, SDKs, and a variety of tools are provided for you to use OBS. You can also use OBS SDKs and APIs to develop applications customized for your business needs.

Figure 1 Product architecture

Storage Classes

OBS offers the storage classes below to meet your requirements for storage performance and cost. For transitions between storage classes, see Changing Storage Classes. For more information about billing for different storage classes, see Storage Space.

Standard: The Standard storage class features low latency and high throughput. It is therefore good for storing frequently (multiple times per month) accessed files or small files (less than 1 MB). Its application scenarios include big data analytics, mobile apps, hot videos, and social apps.

Infrequent Access: The Infrequent Access storage class is for storing data that is infrequently (less than 12 times per year) accessed, but when needed, the access has to be fast. It can be used for file synchronization, file sharing, enterprise backups, and many other scenarios. This storage class has the same durability, low latency, and high throughput as the Standard storage class, with a lower cost, but its availability is slightly lower than the Standard storage class.

Archive: The Archive storage class is ideal for storing data that is rarely (once per year) accessed. Its application scenarios include data archive and long-term backups. This storage class is secure, durable, and inexpensive, so it can be used to replace tape libraries. To keep cost low, it may take hours to restore data from the Archive storage class.

An object uploaded to a bucket inherits the storage class of the bucket by default. You can also specify a storage class for an object when you upload it.

Changing the storage class of a bucket does not change the storage classes of existing objects in the bucket, but newly uploaded objects will inherit the new storage class.

Table 1 Comparison between storage classes

Compared Item

Standard

Infrequent Access

Archive

Feature

Top-notch performance, high reliability and availability

Reliable, inexpensive, and real-time storage access

Long-term retention of archived data at a low cost

Application scenarios

Cloud application, data sharing, content sharing, and hot data storage

Web disk applications, enterprise backup, active archiving, and data monitoring

Archive, medical image storage, video material storage, and replacement of tape libraries

99.999999999%

99.999999999%

99.999999999%

99.9999999999%

99.9999999999%

Multi-AZ not supported

99.99%

99%

99%

99.995%

99.5%

Multi-AZ not supported

Minimum storage duration

Not required

30 days

90 days

Data retrieval

N/A

Billed for each GB retrieved.

Data can be restored at a standard or an expedited speed.

Billed for each GB restored.

Image processing

Supported

Supported

Not supported

Feature

Standard

Top-notch performance, high reliability and availability

Infrequent Access

Reliable, inexpensive, and real-time storage access

Archive

Long-term retention of archived data at a low cost

Application scenarios

Standard

Cloud application, data sharing, content sharing, and hot data storage

Infrequent Access

Web disk applications, enterprise backup, active archiving, and data monitoring

Archive

Archive, medical image storage, video material storage, and replacement of tape libraries

Standard

99.999999999%

Infrequent Access

99.999999999%

Archive

99.999999999%

Standard

99.9999999999%

Infrequent Access

99.9999999999%

Archive

Multi-AZ not supported

Standard

99.99%

Infrequent Access

99%

Archive

99%

Standard

99.995%

Infrequent Access

99.5%

Archive

Multi-AZ not supported

Minimum storage duration

Standard

Not required

Infrequent Access

30 days

Archive

90 days

Data retrieval

Standard

N/A

Infrequent Access

Billed for each GB retrieved.

Archive

Data can be restored at a standard or an expedited speed.

Billed for each GB restored.

Image processing

Standard

Supported

Infrequent Access

Supported

Archive

Not supported

How to Access OBS

OBS provides various resource management tools. You can use any of the tools listed in Table 2 to access and manage resources in OBS.

Table 2 OBS resource management tools

Tool

Description

How to Use

OBS Console

OBS Console is a web-based GUI for you to easily manage OBS resources.

OBS Browser (abandoned)

OBS Browser has been abandoned since April 15, 2020. Its functions are inherited by the new client tool OBS Browser+ that provides you with better user experience. Download the latest OBS Browser+. We apologize for any inconvenience and appreciate your understanding.

-

OBS Browser+

OBS Browser+ is an OBS management tool running on the Windows operating system. OBS Browser+ is also a GUI tool that allows you to manage OBS locally and easily.

obsutil

obsutil is a command line tool for accessing OBS. You can use this tool to perform common configurations in OBS. If you are familiar with command line interface (CLI), obsutil is recommended as an ideal tool for batch processing and automated tasks.

obsfs

obsfs, built on the basis of Filesystem in Userspace (FUSE), is a file system tool provided by OBS for mounting parallel file systems to Linux operating systems. It enables you to easily access the infinite storage space in OBS in the same way as you operate a local file system.

SDKs

OBS SDKs encapsulate APIs provided by OBS to simplify user development. Users can directly use API functions provided by the OBS SDKs to obtain the OBS service capabilities.

APIs

With APIs, you can easily access OBS from web applications. By making API calls, you can upload and download data anytime, anywhere, or through any Internet device.

OBS Console

Description

OBS Console is a web-based GUI for you to easily manage OBS resources.

OBS Browser (abandoned)

Description

OBS Browser has been abandoned since April 15, 2020. Its functions are inherited by the new client tool OBS Browser+ that provides you with better user experience. Download the latest OBS Browser+. We apologize for any inconvenience and appreciate your understanding.

How to Use

-

OBS Browser+

Description

OBS Browser+ is an OBS management tool running on the Windows operating system. OBS Browser+ is also a GUI tool that allows you to manage OBS locally and easily.

obsutil

Description

obsutil is a command line tool for accessing OBS. You can use this tool to perform common configurations in OBS. If you are familiar with command line interface (CLI), obsutil is recommended as an ideal tool for batch processing and automated tasks.

How to Use

obsfs

Description

obsfs, built on the basis of Filesystem in Userspace (FUSE), is a file system tool provided by OBS for mounting parallel file systems to Linux operating systems. It enables you to easily access the infinite storage space in OBS in the same way as you operate a local file system.

How to Use

SDKs

Description

OBS SDKs encapsulate APIs provided by OBS to simplify user development. Users can directly use API functions provided by the OBS SDKs to obtain the OBS service capabilities.

How to Use

APIs

Description

With APIs, you can easily access OBS from web applications. By making API calls, you can upload and download data anytime, anywhere, or through any Internet device.

How to Use

Application Scenarios

OBS solves complex object data storage problems for any scenario

Big Data Analytics

Analysis of Large, Diverse Datasets

OBS provides an elastic storage system that is scalable in real time. When used in combination with big data services on Huawei Cloud, it can dramatically reduce your costs, accelerate innovation, and make data management easier.

Advantages

  • High Performance

    OBS can handle high-volume concurrent connections and sudden traffic bursts. You do not need to worry about capacity. OBS can handle whatever you throw at it.

  • Low Cost

    Scalable resources. You only pay for what you use.

  • High Availability

    OBS delivers 99.995% availability. Your service continuity is guaranteed.

Related Services
Static Website Hosting

Static Website Hosting

OBS offers an affordable and always-available website hosting solution, with auto scaling to cope with variable site traffic. You can use OBS together with CDN and ECS to quickly construct your websites or applications with separately managed dynamic and static content.

Advantages

  • High Performance

    Best possible data access experience: high concurrency, large bandwidth, and low latency

  • Secure and Stable

    With multi-level reliability, OBS delivers excellent data durability and service availability.

  • Low Cost

    Scalable resources. You only pay for what you use.

Related Services
Video on Demand

Video on Demand Streaming

OBS, Media Processing Center (MPC), and Content Delivery Network (CDN) can be used together to build a highly-available VOD platform.

Advantages

  • High Performance

    OBS can handle high-volume concurrent connections and sudden traffic bursts. You do not need to worry about capacity. OBS can handle anything you throw at it.

  • Low Cost

    Scalable resources. You only pay for what you use.

  • High Availability

    OBS delivers 99.995% availability, a level that guarantees the continuity of your services.

Related Services
Gene Sequencing

Gene Sequencing

With a highly reliable, scalable OBS system, you can leverage Huawei Cloud compute services to build a gene sequencing platform that is elastic, efficient, and always available.

Advantages

  • Highly Scalable

    A single bucket can store exabytes of data needed for gene sequencing.

  • Low Cost

    OBS provides lifecycle rules to help you move data into the Archive storage class automatically.

  • Online Distribution

    OBS provides online data distribution. You can deliver data over the Internet with ease.

Related Services
Video Surveillance

Intelligent Video Surveillance

OBS provides highly reliable, inexpensive storage to handle video surveillance data at a massive scale, with high concurrency and low latency.

Advantages

  • High Performance

    OBS supports up to 10 million cameras, without compromising smooth streaming or playback quality.

  • Low Cost

    Scalable resources where you only pay for what you use, and there are no additional hidden O&M costs.

  • Stable

    OBS delivers 12-nines of reliability (99.9999999999%). Your data is extremely secure.

Related Services
Documentation

Videos

Uploading/Downloading (OBS Console)

02:46

Uploading/Downloading (OBS Console)

OBS Permission Control

04:22

OBS Permission Control

Uploading/Downloading (OBS Browser)

03:33

Uploading/Downloading (OBS Browser)

OBS API Quick Start

09:18

OBS API Quick Start