Amazon Adds Versioning Feature To S3

Amazon.com has just released a great new feature for their Simple Storage System (S3) – Versioning.

This is a follow up to my post on using Amazon’s S3 for backing up your data.

What is Versioning?
This new feature simply allows you to keep an older version of a file on S3 when you over-write it. In other words,when updating a file, instead of simply over-writing it, S3 will save the new file while keeping older versions of that same file.

Retrieving Files
When you want to retreive a file S3 by default will give you the latest version, but you can stipulate an older version if you want.

Security
Versioning also has an extra level of security if you require it. Called MFA (multi-factor authenication), it simply means your older versions are protected in two ways and you will require “your AWS account credentials and a valid six-digit code and serial number from an authentication device in your physical possession” to access it.

WARNING: Once you enable MFA you can only delete it by purchasing a third-party device that automatically updates the authentication code displayed on it (in other words, a token).

Cost
There is no extra cost associated with this service other than the extra storage costs. Because you are storing more than one copy of a file, you will pay for the extra storage this requires (just like it was a different file). You can see S3′s calculation on storage for Versioning here.

Additional Stuff You Need To Know

• Buckets come in three states: unversioned (the default), versioning-enabled, or versioning-suspended. Once you version a bucket you cannot reverse the process, only suspend it.
• Once you enable versioning on a bucket, Amazon S3 automatically adds a unique version ID to every object stored
• Amazon S3 can only retrieve a maximum of 1000 objects at one time – I don’t think this will be an issue with most people who use S3 to backup their data

How To Access This New Feature
In my last post about using S3 to back up your files, I mentioned two free software applications that you can use. Unfortunately, neither of these free products have the ability to enable Versioning at this time.

However, if you are willing to spend a little money (US$39.95 to be precise) you can buy CloudBerry S3 Explorer PRO, which has Versioning enabled.

I will have a snoop around the web and see if there isn’t another way also, and let you know.

Your thoughts?

Image Credit: RogueSun Media