Basic concepts

Overview

This document introduces fundamental concepts of the Baidu AI Cloud Object Storage (BOS) product to help users better understand it.

Storage space (bucket)

A bucket serves as a container for data storage and can be thought of as a storage bucket. It has a regional attribute and can only exist in one region. Since a bucket’s name and region cannot be changed after creation, it’s advised to locate it close to the business to facilitate uploads, downloads, and enhance access speed. Bucket names must be globally unique. Every object resides in a specific bucket. A user can create up to 100 buckets, with no constraints on the amount or total size of objects stored. Scalability concerns are handled by the system.

File/object (object)

In BOS, an object is the basic unit for user operations. Each object comprises a key, meta, and data. The key is the object's name, meta includes a series of name-value pairs describing the object, and the data represents its content.

Endpoint

Baidu AI Cloud currently supports multiple regions. Please refer toRegion Selection Guide. BOS endpoint supports both HTTP and HTTPS calling methods. To enhance data security, it is recommended to call via HTTPS. For more information on using HTTPS to ensure transmission security, please refer to HTTPS Transmission Encryption Practice. Region refers to the region where the BOS data center is located, and EndPoint refers to the access domain name for BOS external services. The following introduces the corresponding relationship between Region and EndPoint. Regional information is updated continuously. For more information, please refer to [Region and EndPoint](BOS/Developer Guide/Region and Endpoint.md).

Description:

• The BOS API supports two request styles: path-style and bucket virtual hosting. It is recommended to use the bucket virtual hosting request style, which is in the form of bucket + EndPoint. Taking the Beijing region with the name “bos-example” as an example, the bucket virtual hosting style request is “bos-example.bj.bcebos.com”.
• Starting from June 1, 2024, for newly created buckets, when using the official domain name, the path-style domain name is not supported, and only the virtual-hosted-style domain name is supported by default. Buckets created before June 1, 2024 are not affected. For details, see BOS Bucket Domain Name Request Style Update.

Taking GetObject as an example, the request syntax for path-style and bucket virtual hosting styles is as follows:

BOS allows access through custom domain names. When a user binds a custom domain name to a bucket, they can use the BOS API via the custom URL. For instance, binding "abc.com" to "mybucket" enables accessing "abc.com/mypic.jpg" as "mybucket.bj.bcebos.com/mypic.jpg". The corresponding request format for virtual bucket hosting is provided.

1GET /mypic.jpg HTTP/1.1
2Host: abc.com

For information on how to bind a custom domain name to a bucket, please refer to Create Bucket Custom Domain Name.

Access key (AK/SK)

After users activate the BOS service, the system will automatically assign a pair of Access Key ID (AK)/Secret Access Key (SK). This key pair will be used for signature verification when users initiate requests to BOS. The Access Key ID is used to identify the user, and the Secret Access Key is the key used by the user to encrypt the signature string and by the BOS service to verify the signature string. Please refer to Retrieve AK/SK .

In addition to the keys assigned by the system, users can apply for up to 20 additional pairs of AK/SK as needed.

BOS Basic Glossary