CloudBerry Explorer: Fast, Effective File Manager for Amazon S3 and the Cloud

This is the third of our sponsored series on CloudBerry's cloud backup, storage and synchronization services. In this episode, we'll dive into CloudBerry Explorer, a Windows application that make accessing and managing your data in the cloud much easier.If you'd like you can read part one: Backup to Amazon S3, Azure and Google With CloudBerry Backupand part two:CloudBerry Box: Securely Synchronize Data From Windows in the Amazon, Azure and HP Clouds.

CloudBerry Explorer for Amazon S3

CloudBerry Explorer provides a fully featured file explorer user interface to your cloud storage accounts at Amazon S3 and Glacier, allowing you to access, move, compare, manage and script files across your local storage and remote cloud repositories.It also works well with other cloud storage providers such asMicrosoft Azure,Google CloudandOpenStack.

What Features Does It Offer?

The exact feature set varies a bit depending on your cloud storage provider. Here's a feature summary for the free Amazon S3 Explorer application. This gives you an idea of the depth of features Explorer can add to your cloud storage usage scenarios.

• S3 Bucket Management.Create, browse, delete buckets and share them with other Amazon S3 users.
• CloudFront Manager.Configure and manage CloudFront distributions, streaming distributions, object invalidation, root objects and more.
  
• PowerShell and Command Line Interface.Automate withPowerShell snap-inandCommand Line Interface.
  
• Versioning and Lifecycle.Leverage Amazon versioning and lifecycle rules to archive objects to Glacier or delete.
• Bucket Policy and ACL Editor.Create and edit conditional rules for managing access to the buckets and objects in a few simple steps.
• Multi-Object Delete Support.Save on request cost. You can send only one delete request to remove up to 1,000 files.
• Search, Open and Edit Files in S3 Buckets.Open your Word, Excel or other files to edit directly on Amazon S3 and Explorer will upload the updated version upon file save.
• Object Expiration.Schedule the deletion of your objects after a pre-defined time period.
• RRS Support.Reduce your costs by storing non-critical, reproducible data at lower levels of redundancy than Amazon S3's standard storage.
• AWS Import/Export Support.Create and manage AWS Import/Export jobs.
• Static Website on S3 and File Sharing.Host static web-sites on S3 by setting bucket as a web-site and generate time limited/signed, CNAME or default web URLs to share files.
• Server Side Encryption and SSE-C Support.Encrypt data on Amazon S3 sever using automatically generated key or with a user defined key.
• Reporting.Security assessments reports and capacity reports. Amazon S3 and CloudFront log viewer.

Here's a feature summary of what's in Pro:

• Multipart Upload and Multithreading.Transfer FAST. The Pro version splits large files into smaller parts and upload in parallel threads.
• IAM Manager.Create and manage IAM policies, users and groups in a few clicks, without using the Amazon control panel.
• Encryption and Compression.Enable extra security for your data with a unique user password and encryption before sending files to S3.
• Compare and Sync.Automatically identify updated or new files to transfer across S3 buckets and local folders.
• FTP/SFTP Support.Move files between your local storage and FTP/SFTP server.
• Upload Rules.Optionally enable encryption and compression for selected buckets and also configure the predefined set of HTTP headers for every upload.

Cloudberry has been a life-saver. I was able to easily manage large batches of files I needed to put into S3 buckets on AWS. I just selected several folders, clicked copy, and then went about other business. The application does a good job of monitoring the success of file transfer. The Cloudberry application is a must-have for anyone managing AWS servers and S3 buckets! — Customer Steve

How Much Does It Cost?

The basic application is free. The Pro version adds encryption, compression and multithreading and more for $39.99.

If you'd like to read more about the evolution of Explorer, check out theCloudBerry Explorer Blog. The recent release is summarized inIntroducing CloudBerry Explorer 4.0.6, which added support for Amazon Glacier Range Retrieval, Data Retrieval Policies and GovCloud support.

Getting Started With CloudBerry Explorer

Visit the CloudBerry Explorer website to download the application and run the setup wizard:

Here's the Explorer application window. We've not yet connected any cloud storage devices.

First, we add our S3 Cloud account:

Then, we can browse the S3 bucket in one window pane while viewing another (our local drive) on the other window pane:

CloudBerry Explorer offers a wide variety of features which we won't be able to detail here. If you'd like to learn more, you can check out these videos below:

The CloudBerry Explorer Install And Quick Tour

CloudBerry Explorer: Setup With Your Amazon S3 Account

CloudBerry Explorer: How to Create Your Amazon S3 Buckets

Upload and Distribute Files to Amazon S3, the Easy Way

In Closing

I hope you've enjoyed our series on CloudBerry Labs. If you missed our earlier episodesand Backup to Amazon S3, Azure and Google With CloudBerry BackupCloudBerry Box: Securely Synchronize Data From Windows in the Amazon, Azure and HP Cloudscheck them out.

Please feel free to add your questions and comments below; I generally participate in the discussions.If you'd like to know when my next tutorial arrives, checkmy instructor page.You can also reach me on Twitter@reifmanoremail medirectly.

Related Links

• CloudBerry Explorer
• CloudBerry Drive
• Backup to Amazon S3, Azure and Google With CloudBerry Backup (Tuts+)
• CloudBerry Box: Securely Synchronize Data From Windows in the Amazon, Azure and HP Clouds (Tuts+)