Enable Time-Bound Access to Images Using Amazon S3

Introduction

Time-bound access means that you can grant the user temporary access to specific objects or some data. Here we are discussing enabling time-bound access using S3. S3 is used for storing data in the form of objects, and Amazon S3 provides pre-signed URLs, which means that you can provide them to generate temporary access to a specific S3 object.

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What are pre-signed URLs?

A pre-signed URL is a URL that you can provide to your users to provide temporary access to a specific S3 object. Using the URL, a user can either WRITE an object (or update an existing object) or READ the object. The URL contains specific parameters that are set by your objects.

Why we are used pre-signed URLs?

By default, all objects are private means only the bucket account owner initially has access to the object. If you want a user to have access to objects or a specific bucket without making them public, you can create a Pre-signed URL meaning users can interact with objects without the need for IAM permissions or AWS credentials.

Step-by-Step Guide

Step1

Go to the search bar and search S3.

Step2 3. Click on Create Bucket and give your unique bucket name and block public access.

step3 4. Go to your bucket and upload your image.

step4

The image is successfully uploaded now we are ready to generate the Pre-signed URL. Go to your image and select object actions.

step5

Here you can see the share with a pre-signed URL, so click on the pre-signed URL, and you can see the time interval. which means, using the S3 console, you can share an object with a pre-signed URL until your session expires. As you can see, there are two options. minutes and hours, which means you can set your own time interval for pre-signed URLs. Here I am setting a 30-minute time interval for temporary object access. After 30 minutes, the session will expire.

step5b

Here you can see copy pre-signed URLs, so copy the pre-signed URLs and send them to the user to access the image.

step5c

Access your website with pre-signed URLs.

step6

Conclusion

In this blog, we have seen a discussion of pre-signed URLs and also seen how to generate pre-signed URLs. Here is the conclusion of the pre-signed URL that you can provide temporary access to a specific S3 object with time intervals. A user can READ the object using the URL.

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FAQs

1. When does Amazon S3 check the time of a pre-signed URL and expiration date?

ANS: – Amazon S3 checks the expiration time and date of a pre-signed URL at the time of the HTTP request. for example, if the client begins to download a large file immediately before the expiration time, the download should complete even if the expiration time passes during the download. If the connection failed and the client tries to restart the download after the expiration time passes, the download will fail.

2. How long will pre-signed URL be valid?

ANS: – It will be valid for up to six hours. The URL expires even if the URL was created after the expiration time.

3. How can I use a pre-signed URL?

ANS: – An HTML or program page can download the S3 object by using the pre–signed URL as part of an HTTP GET request.

4. How do I access the S3 bucket without public access?

ANS: – A user who does not have AWS permission or credentials to access an S3 object can be granted temporary access by using a pre-signed URL.

WRITTEN BY Shaikh Mohammed Fariyaj Najam

Mohammed Fariyaj Shaikh works as a Research Associate at CloudThat. He has strong analytical thinking and problem-solving skills, knowledge of AWS Cloud Services, migration, infrastructure setup, and security, as well as the ability to adopt new technology and learn quickly.