This page describes buckets, a resource in Cloud Storage. For a generaloverview of how Cloud Storage works, see theCloud Storage product overview.

Buckets

Buckets are the basic containers that hold your data asobjects.Everything that you store in Cloud Storage must be contained in abucket. You can use buckets to organize your data and control access to yourdata, but unlike directories and folders, you cannot nest buckets.

• There is no limit to the number of buckets you can have in a project orlocation.

  • There are, however,limits to the rate you can create or delete buckets.

• When youcreate a bucket, you give it aglobally-unique name and ageographic location where the bucket and its contents are stored.

  • You cannot change the name of an existing bucket. Instead, youcan create a new bucket with the name you want and move the contentsfrom the old bucket to the new bucket. SeeMove and rename buckets for a step-by-step guide.

• Pricing (such as charges for data storage, data processing, and networkoutbound data transfer) depends on factors such as the bucket's location andthe storage classes of objects within it. For more details, seeCloud Storage pricing.

• You can useIdentity and Access Management (IAM) to control access to individualbuckets.

Bucket names

Your bucket names must meet the following requirements:

• Bucket names can only contain lowercase letters, numeric characters, dashes (-), underscores (_), and dots (.). Spaces are not allowed. Names containing dots requireverification.
• Bucket names must start and end with a number or letter.
• Bucket names must contain 3-63 characters. Names containing dots can contain up to 222 characters, but each dot-separated component can be no longer than 63 characters.
• Bucket names cannot be represented as an IP address in dotted-decimal notation (for example, 192.168.5.4).
• Bucket names cannot begin with the "goog" prefix.
• Bucket names cannot contain "google" or close misspellings, such as "g00gle".

Example bucket names

The following are examples of valid bucket names:

• my-travel-maps
• 0f75d593-8e7b-4418-a5ba-cb2970f0b91e
• test.example.com (Requiresverification of ownership forexample.com)

The following are examples of invalid bucket names:

• My-Travel-Maps (contains uppercase letters)
• my_google_bucket (contains "google")
• test bucket (contains a space)

Bucket name considerations

• Bucket names reside in a single namespace that is shared by allCloud Storage users. This means that:

  • Every bucket name must be globally unique.

    If you try to create a bucket with a name that already belongs to anexisting bucket, such asexample-bucket, Cloud Storageresponds with an error message.

  • Bucket names are publicly visible.

    Don't use user IDs, email addresses, project names, project numbers, orany personally identifiable information (PII) in bucket names becauseanyone can probe for the existence of a bucket.

• Once you delete a bucket, anyone can reuse its name for a new bucket.

  • The time it takes a deleted bucket's name to become available again istypically on the order of seconds; however, keep in mind the following:

    • If you delete the project that contains the bucket, which effectivelydeletes the bucket as well, the bucket name may not be released for weeksor longer.

    • If someone reuses your bucket's name, you cannot restore your deletedbucket even if the bucket has soft delete enabled.

    • If a new bucket with the same name is created in a different location andwithin 10 minutes of the old bucket's deletion, requests made to the newbucket during this 10 minute timeframe might fail with a404-Bucket Not Found error.

    • If your requests go through theXML API, attempts to create a bucketthat reuses a name in a new location might fail with a404-Bucket Not Found error for up to 10 minutes after the old bucket'sdeletion.

  • If someone reuses your bucket's name, they could inadvertentlyreceive data or requests intended for your original deleted bucket. Tomitigate this risk, consider the following best practices:

    • When creating buckets, use a strong naming convention that's not easy toguess or predict.

    • When deleting buckets, make sure to remove all references of thedeleted bucket's name, such as from external documentation or opensource repositories.

    • If you no longer need a bucket, consider emptying all objects fromthe bucket and keeping the bucket instead of deleting it.

• You can use a bucket name in a DNS record as part of aCNAME orAredirect.

  In order to do so, your bucket name should conform to standard DNS namingconventions. This means that your bucket name shouldn't use underscores(_) or have a period next to another period or dash. For example,..,-., and.- are invalid character combinations within DNS names.

Access data in buckets by using folders or directories

Although Cloud Storage stores unstructured data in the form of objects,some features let you access and manage your data using folders or directories.

Hierarchical namespace

When you create buckets, you can optionally enablehierarchical namespacefor the bucket, which lets you usefolders to store your objects ina file system manner. Organizing your objects into folders makes it easier torun operations on large scales of data, improving performance, consistency,and ease of management. Using buckets with hierarchical namespace enabled isespecially beneficial when working with data-intensive and file-orientedworkloads.

To get started using hierarchical namespace, seeCreate buckets with hierarchical namespace enabled.

Cloud Storage FUSE

Cloud Storage FUSE is a FUSE adapter that lets you mount and access buckets aslocal file systems, so applications can read and write objects in your bucketusing standard file system semantics. Cloud Storage FUSE lets you store your datain Cloud Storage with all the service's benefits, all while retainingthe ability to access that data using your application's code without needingchanges.

To learn how to use Cloud Storage FUSE, see theCloud Storage FUSE quickstart.

What's next

• Create Cloud Storage buckets.
• Rename an existing bucket.
• Learn about themetadata associated with a bucket.
• Upload an object.