Store files and backups

This tutorial gives your files a home in Object Storage and keeps copies of a server that you can restore. You order Object Storage with a first bucket, upload a file in the dashboard, connect the AWS CLI with an access key to upload a whole folder, and take a snapshot of a server. Each section ends with something you can check before you go on.

Object Storage is pay as you go, and ordering it costs nothing. Your account uses some storage and requests free each month, and we bill the use above that once a month (How Object Storage is billed). Snapshots use the snapshot storage that each server plan includes, and more storage is a service of its own (How snapshots are billed). If buckets and snapshots are new to you, read Object storage compared with a disk and How backups and snapshots protect your data first.

• A Coritan account. Create an account if you have none, then sign in. Section 1 needs no credit or card.
• For section 3, a recent AWS CLI on your computer, and outgoing HTTPS allowed on TCP port 7337, or on port 443 where your endpoint has no port.
• For section 4, a game server or a database on App Deployment. Run an app or a database orders one.

1. In the dashboard, go to Object Storage and select Create Object Storage. The Pricing card at the top of the order page lists the rates and what is free each month.
2. Under Region, choose the region closest to the machines and people that use the files. Each bucket answers only at its own region's endpoint.
3. Under First bucket, type backups in Bucket name. Coritan puts your account's prefix in front, and the hint shows the full name, such as We create it as u7-backups.
4. Check the summary under Your order. The Total reads Pay as you go, and nothing is due today.
5. Complete the verification check in the summary, if the page shows one, then select Place order.

The order's page shows Nothing to pay now, and its title becomes Your order is ready once the service is active. Reload the Object Storage page, and the service shows the status active (Order Object Storage).

1. Open the service from the Object Storage page and select the Buckets tab.
2. Select the bucket's name, such as u7-backups, to open its object browser.
3. Select Upload… and choose a file, or drag it from your computer onto the list.

The Transfers panel at the bottom right follows the upload, and the file appears in the list with its Size. Select its name to download it again (Upload, download and delete objects).

The dashboard uploads one file at a time. An S3 client such as the AWS CLI uploads whole folders, and your scripts can use it for backups.

1. On the service's Access keys tab, select Create key….

2. In Label, type where you use the key, such as laptop. Under Permissions, choose Read and write. Under Scope, choose the bucket u7-backups.

3. Select Create key.

4. Under Save the secret key now, the page shows two blocks for a profile called coritan. Paste the first into ~/.aws/credentials and the second into ~/.aws/config on your computer.

5. Store the secret key in a password manager, then select I have saved it. The dashboard never shows it again.

6. Wait a couple of minutes for the key to reach storage, then upload a folder and list the bucket:

   Shell

   aws --profile coritan s3 sync ./site/ s3://u7-backups/site/
   aws --profile coritan s3 ls s3://u7-backups/site/
   

The list shows the files from your folder, and the object browser shows them in a site folder (Create and revoke access keys, Connect an S3 client).

A snapshot is an archive of a server's files. It belongs to your account, so it stays after the server is gone, and you can restore it onto any of your servers.

1. In the dashboard, go to App Deployment, open the server and select the Snapshots tab.
2. Select Take snapshot…. A page opens that shows the server's disk usage against what is left of your allowance, under Estimated size against what is left.
3. Keep the suggested Name, such as snapshot-2026-09-25-1430, or type your own.
4. Tick Lock this snapshot to keep it from being deleted by accident.
5. Select Take snapshot.

The snapshot appears on the server's Snapshots tab and on the account's Snapshots page, with a Locked badge. Select Ready on that page to see only the snapshots you can restore (Take a server snapshot).

A snapshot holds the server's files only. It leaves out the databases on the server's Databases tab, so export those with a MySQL client. A Cloud Compute instance keeps its snapshots and backups on its own tabs (Back up and restore an instance).

InvalidAccessKeyId

The key has not reached storage yet. Wait a couple of minutes, then try again.

NoSuchBucket

The client sent the request to another region's endpoint. Use the endpoint the key's page gave, with its port when it has one (Connect an S3 client).

Not enough snapshot storage

The snapshot would not fit what is left of your allowance. Delete an old snapshot, or select Order more storage (Order more snapshot storage).

• Restore a snapshot onto a server
• Schedule server tasks, to take snapshots on a timetable
• Share a file with a presigned URL
• Set a budget, to get an email as the service's charges grow