Automatic object removal via AWS CLI

Lifecycle policies in Gcore Object Storage automatically delete objects after a configured number of days, following the AWS S3 lifecycle configuration standard.

Lifecycle policy logic

Object removal runs around midnight UTC. Three conditions govern deletion timing:

1. Lifecycle policy set before upload. If the policy is set for 1 day and the object is uploaded on January 2, it is removed on January 4.

2. Lifecycle policy set after upload. If an object is uploaded on January 1 (at any time) and a 1-day expiration policy is then applied, the object is deleted on January 3.

3. Lifecycle policy removed. Deleting the lifecycle policy from the bucket stops automatic removal — objects already in the bucket are kept.

Lifecycle configuration elements

AWS CLI uses a JSON configuration file. The file structure is:

{
  "Rules": [
    {
      "ID": "...",
      "Prefix": "",
      "Status": "Enabled",
      "Expiration": {
        "Days": ...
      }
    }
  ]
}

Field	Description
ID	Unique rule identifier — up to 255 characters, letters, digits, and underscores.
Prefix	Leave empty to apply the rule to the entire bucket; specify a folder name to scope the rule to that folder only.
Status	"Enabled" activates the rule; "Disabled" suspends it without deleting it.
Expiration.Days	Number of days after which objects are automatically deleted.

AWS CLI lifecycle management

AWS CLI provides three commands for managing lifecycle policies: put-bucket-lifecycle to apply a policy, get-bucket-lifecycle-configuration to verify it, and delete-bucket-lifecycle to remove it.

Applying a lifecycle policy

1. Create the configuration file

   Create a lifecycle.json file with the following content:

   {
     "Rules": [
       {
         "ID": "one_day",
         "Prefix": "",
         "Status": "Enabled",
         "Expiration": {
           "Days": 1
         }
       }
     ]
   }
   

   Parameter	Description
   one_day	Rule ID.
   "" (empty prefix)	The rule applies to the entire bucket.
   "Enabled"	The rule is active.
   1	Objects are deleted after 1 day.

   To apply the rule to a specific folder, set "Prefix" to the folder name: "Prefix": "deleteme/".

2. Apply the policy

   Run the following command from the directory containing lifecycle.json, replacing the placeholder values:

   aws s3api put-bucket-lifecycle --bucket my-bucket --lifecycle-configuration file://lifecycle.json --endpoint-url=https://<storage-hostname>
   

   Parameter	Description
   my-bucket	The name of the bucket.
   <storage-hostname>	The storage endpoint hostname from the Details section in the Gcore Customer Portal — all hostnames are listed in S3 URLs.

3. Verify the configuration

   Run the following command to check the current lifecycle configuration:

   aws s3api get-bucket-lifecycle-configuration --bucket my-bucket --endpoint-url=https://<storage-hostname>
   

   The response contains the applied policy as JSON.

Deleting a lifecycle policy

Run the following command to remove the lifecycle policy from the bucket:

aws s3api delete-bucket-lifecycle --bucket my-bucket --endpoint-url=https://<storage-hostname>

Parameter	Description
my-bucket	The name of the bucket.
<storage-hostname>	The storage endpoint hostname.