How to configure lifecycle policies

Enabling object versioning uses more storage space since multiple versions of objects are stored. To help manage storage usage when using versioning, you can implement lifecycle policies to automatically expire (delete) versions after a certain period.

This guide covers how to create and apply lifecycle policies to your buckets using two different tools: AWS CLI (which uses JSON format) and s3cmd (which uses XML format).

Using AWS CLI

For AWS CLI Installation and setup, refer to our guide Connecting to an UpCloud Object Storage instance using AWS CLI

Note: Starting with version 2.23.0, AWS CLI changed how it handles Content-MD5 headers for S3 operations. This causes a “Missing required header for this request: Content-MD5” error. If you’re using a newer version, either downgrade to AWS CLI version 2.22.32 or earlier, or use the s3cmd method below.

To create a lifecycle policy for a versioned bucket using AWS CLI, you need to create a JSON file that defines the lifecycle rules. Here’s an example of a lifecycle policy JSON file (lifecycle.json) that expires non-current object versions after 30 days:

{
    "Rules": [
        {
            "ID": "DeleteOldVersions",
            "Status": "Enabled",
            "Prefix": "",
            "NoncurrentVersionExpiration": {
                "NoncurrentDays": 30
            }
        }
    ]
}

To apply this lifecycle policy to your versioned bucket, use the following command:

aws s3api put-bucket-lifecycle-configuration --bucket {bucket-name} --lifecycle-configuration file://{filepath-of-policy} 

# Example:
aws s3api put-bucket-lifecycle-configuration --bucket my-bucket --lifecycle-configuration file://lifecycle_policy.json

You can confirm that the lifecycle policy has been applied by retrieving the bucket’s lifecycle configuration:

aws s3api get-bucket-lifecycle-configuration --bucket {bucket-name}

# Example:
aws s3api get-bucket-lifecycle-configuration --bucket my-bucket

{
    "Rules": [
        {
            "ID": "DeleteOldVersions",
            "Prefix": "",
            "Status": "Enabled",
            "NoncurrentVersionExpiration": {
                "NoncurrentDays": 30
            }
        }
    ]
}

To remove a lifecycle policy if needed:

aws s3api delete-bucket-lifecycle --bucket {bucket-name}

# Example:
aws s3api delete-bucket-lifecycle --bucket my-bucket

Using s3cmd

For s3cmd Installation and setup, refer to our guide Connecting to an UpCloud Object Storage instance using s3cmd

When using s3cmd, lifecycle policies must be defined in XML format instead of JSON. Below is an example of a lifecycle policy XML file (lifecycle.xml) that expires non-current object versions after 30 days:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<LifecycleConfiguration>
    <Rule>
        <ID>DeleteOldVersions</ID>
        <Status>Enabled</Status>
        <Prefix></Prefix>
        <NoncurrentVersionExpiration>
            <NoncurrentDays>30</NoncurrentDays>
        </NoncurrentVersionExpiration>
    </Rule>
</LifecycleConfiguration>

To apply this lifecycle policy to your versioned bucket:

s3cmd setlifecycle lifecycle.xml s3://{bucket-name}

# Example:
s3cmd setlifecycle lifecycle.xml s3://my-bucket

You can confirm that the policy has been applied:

s3cmd getlifecycle s3://{bucket-name}

# Example:
s3cmd getlifecycle s3://my-bucket

To remove a lifecycle policy if needed:

s3cmd dellifecycle s3://{bucket-name}

# Example:
s3cmd dellifecycle s3://my-bucket