This section covers the standard format for backup and archive paths for AWS S3 and S3-compatible object storages, and methods for acquiring the information.
AWS S3
Universal formatting
The general format for an AWS S3 backup or archival path is as follows:
s3://[bucket_name]/[path]?host=s3.[region].amazonaws.com&access_id=[AWS_Access_Key_ID]&access_key=[AWS_Secret_Access_Key]&s3_region=[region]
The following parts of the preceding path must be replaced:
[bucket_name]: The name of the AWS S3 bucket.[path]: The backup prefix that you specify in a bucket.[AWS_Access_Key_ID]: The ID of the AWS access key.[AWS_Secret_Access_Key]: The access key of AWS.[region]: The AWS region for your S3 bucket.
Get relevant information
Access key, secret key ID and the region of the storage
Take the AWS CLI as an example. The information configured by using the aws configure command corresponds to the access key, access key ID, and the region where the bucket is located in the backup path or the archiving path.
When you run the aws configure command, you are prompted to provide the AWS Access Key ID, AWS Secret Access Key, and Default region name. These parameters correspond to [AWS_Access_Key_ID], [AWS_Secret_Access_Key], and [region] in the path format.
For example, the following sample command uses aws configure to set up the access key, secret key ID, and region information:
$ aws configure
AWS Access Key ID [None]: my_fake_access_id
AWS Secret Access Key [None]: my_fake_access_key
Default region name [None]: cn-north-1
Default output format [None]:
Bucket name
Users can list all their buckets with the aws s3 ls command.
Example statement:
$ aws s3 ls
2025-07-07 17:08:50 mybucket1
2025-07-08 14:55:44 mybucket2
As shown in the example, the user owns the mybucket1 and mybucket2 buckets. You can specify a bucket name as the destination for backup based on your requirements by using [bucket_name].
Backup prefix below the bucket
The backup prefix [path] is user-defined. Before creating the prefix, make sure that the prefix is named in accordance with the prefix naming rules and no object exists under the prefix.
Users can list all objects and prefixes in a specified bucket by using the aws s3 ls command.
Statement example:
$ aws s3 ls s3://mybucket
PRE my_prefix/
2025-07-07 17:06:27 88 mydoc.txt
As shown in the example, the root object mydoc.txt and the prefix my_prefix/ exist in the mybucket bucket. You can customize the [path] prefix to any prefix other than my_prefix/, for example, my_prefix/backup/data.
Combine into a complete backup or archive path
By using the preceding method, in the text, the following path information is obtained:
[bucket_name]: mybucket[path]: my_prefix/backup/data[AWS_Access_Key_ID]: my_fake_access_id[AWS_Secret_Access_Key]: my_fake_access_key[region]: cn-north-1
The example of the finally integrated backup or archive path is as follows:
s3://mybucket/my_prefix/backup/data?host=s3.cn-north-1.amazonaws.com.cn&access_id=my_fake_access_id&access_key=my_fake_access_key&s3_region=cn-north-1
Object storage compatible with S3 protocols, such as MinIO
The general format of the backup or archiving path for object storage such as MinIO that is compatible with the S3 protocol is as follows:
s3://[bucket_name]/[path]?host=[endpoint]&access_id=[Access_Key_ID]&access_key=[Secret_Access_Key]
Among them:
[bucket_name]: The name of the storage bucket of the third-party object storage service. For example, mybucket. For more information, see the documentation of the third-party object storage service.[path]: a custom backup prefix set by the user in the storage bucket of the third-party object storage. For example:my_prefix/backup/data. You can obtain it in a similar way to that for AWS S3.[endpoint]: The endpoint for the object storage service of the third-party service.In the AWS CLI, the service endpoint is specified by
[endpoint]. For a locally deployed MinIO server, the endpoint is typically in the format[ip]:[port], such ashttp://127.0.0.1:9000. For endpoints of other object storage services, please consult the respective service provider.An example of accessing minio endpoint in AWS CLI is shown below.
$ aws s3 ls --endpoint http://127.0.0.1:9000 2025-07-07 17:08:50 mybucket1 2025-07-08 14:55:44 mybucket2[Access_Key_ID]: Third-party Object Storage service access key ID. Example: my_fake_access_id. Parameter meaning is the same as AWS S3.[Secret_Access_Key]: Third-party object storage service secret access key, such asmy_fake_access_key. This parameter is the same as the AWS S3 parameter.
For example, the final integrated backup or archival path in MinIO is as follows:
s3://mybucket/my_prefix/backup/data?host=http://127.0.0.1:9000&access_id=my_fake_access_id&access_key=my_fake_access_key