Terms

This topic describes the basic terms used in Object Storage Services (OSS).

No.	Term	Description
1	Bucket	A bucket is a container for objects that are stored in OSS. Every object in OSS is contained in a bucket. You can configure various properties for a bucket, including the region, access control list (ACL), and storage class. Storage classes are useful when you need to store data that have different access patterns.
2	Object	Objects are the smallest data unit in OSS. Files uploaded to OSS are called objects. Unlike typical file systems, objects in OSS are stored in a flat structure instead of a hierarchical structure. An object is composed of a key, metadata, and the data stored in the object. Each object in a bucket is uniquely identified by the key. Object metadata is a group of key-value pairs that define the properties of an object, such as the size of the object and the time when the object is last modified. You can also specify custom user metadata for objects in OSS.
3	ObjectKey	In OSS SDKs for different programming languages, ObjectKey, Key, and ObjectName indicate the full path of the object. You must specify the full path of an object when you perform operations on the object. For example, when you upload an object to a bucket, ObjectKey indicates the full path that includes the extension of the object, such as abc/efg/123.jpg.
4	Object types	Objects can be classified into the following types based on how the objects are created.
5	Endpoint	An endpoint is a domain name used to access OSS. OSS provides region-specific endpoints that you can use to access your data.
6	AccessKey pair	An AccessKey pair is used to authenticate a requester. An AccessKey pair consists of an AccessKey ID and an AccessKey secret. OSS uses an AccessKey pair to implement symmetric encryption and verify the identity of a requester.