Bucket Lifecycle
Lifecycle Rules allow you to automate object management over time — automatically deleting old objects, removing old versions, or cleaning up incomplete uploads. This is an effective way to control storage costs without manual intervention.
Access the Lifecycle Configuration
Step 1: Go to Simple Storage → Buckets, then click the name of the bucket you want to configure.
Step 2: Open the Lifecycle Config tab in the bucket management section.
Step 3: Click Apply templates to choose a pre-built rule template, or paste custom JSON directly into the editor.
Create a Lifecycle Rule
Each Lifecycle Rule consists of several configuration sections:
Part 1: Basic Information
-
Rule Name: Enter a descriptive name for easy identification, e.g.,
delete-logs-after-30-days,cleanup-tmp-uploads. -
Status: Enable or disable the rule. Choose Enabled to apply the rule immediately.
-
Filter: Determine which objects the rule applies to:
- Apply to all objects: Applies to all objects in the bucket
- Prefix: Applies only to objects whose paths start with a specific prefix (e.g.,
logs/,tmp/uploads/) - Tag: Applies only to objects with a specific tag (e.g.,
type=temporary)
Part 2: Actions
Choose one or more automated actions:
Expiration (Object Expiration):
- Expire current version after N days: Automatically deletes objects after N days from their creation date
- Example: Automatically delete log files older than 90 days
Noncurrent Version Expiration:
- Only applies when the bucket has Versioning enabled
- Delete noncurrent versions after N days: Deletes non-current versions after N days
- Keep only N most recent noncurrent versions: Retain only the N most recent old versions
Abort Incomplete Multipart Uploads:
- Automatically aborts and cleans up interrupted multipart uploads after N days
- Helps avoid accumulating "garbage" data from failed uploads
Delete expired object delete markers:
- Only applies when Versioning is enabled
- Cleans up delete markers that are no longer needed
Part 3: Timeframe
Enter the number of days for each action selected above. The minimum value is 1 day.
Step 4: Click Save Rule to save and apply.
Common Configuration Examples
Auto-delete log files after 30 days
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Rule Name | delete-old-logs |
| Filter | Prefix: logs/ |
| Action | Expiration: 30 days |
Clean up temp files
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Rule Name | cleanup-temp |
| Filter | Prefix: tmp/ |
| Action | Expiration: 7 days |
Version management (combined with Versioning)
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Rule Name | version-management |
| Filter | Entire bucket |
| Action 1 | Noncurrent versions: delete after 30 days |
| Action 2 | Keep only 3 most recent noncurrent versions |
Clean up failed multipart uploads
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Rule Name | abort-incomplete-uploads |
| Filter | Entire bucket |
| Action | Abort incomplete multipart uploads after: 3 days |
Manage Lifecycle Rules
On the Lifecycle page, all rules are listed. You can:
- Enable/disable individual rules using the status toggle
- Edit a rule by clicking Edit
- Delete a rule by clicking Delete
Notes
Lifecycle Rules run at 00:00 UTC each day. An object created today is not deleted until the end of day N (calculated in UTC).
Deletions performed by Lifecycle Rules are permanent (cannot be recovered) unless the bucket has Versioning enabled. Test rules on a test bucket/prefix before applying them to important data.