S3 Buckets on Hikube
Hikube S3 Buckets offer a highly available, replicated, and S3-compatible object storage solution for your cloud-native applications, backups, CI/CD artifacts, or analytical data.
The platform provides a sovereign and performant alternative to Amazon S3, with native Kubernetes integration.
🏗️ Architecture and Operation
Distributed Object Storage
Hikube buckets are based on a 100% distributed and replicated S3 architecture across multiple datacenters.
Unlike block volumes used for VMs, object storage is not attached to a machine: it is accessible via standardized S3 APIs from any authorized application or service.
📦 Storage Layer
- Each bucket is hosted on a multi-node infrastructure distributed across several Swiss datacenters
- Objects are automatically replicated across 3 distinct physical zones to guarantee maximum durability
- The system is designed to tolerate the failure of an entire datacenter without data loss or unavailability
🌐 Access Layer
- Buckets are accessible via a unique HTTPS endpoint compatible with S3 v4 signature
- Access is authenticated by S3 Access Keys automatically generated when creating the bucket
- Each bucket is isolated in its Kubernetes tenant and has its own credentials
Multi-Datacenter Architecture
This architecture guarantees availability and durability of data, while remaining entirely operated in Switzerland 🇨🇭.
⚙️ Typical Use Cases
Hikube buckets are designed to cover a wide range of cloud storage scenarios:
| Use Case | Description |
|---|---|
| Backups | Automated backups of applications or persistent volumes |
| CI/CD Artifacts | Storage of images, binaries and GitOps pipelines |
| Static content | Hosting of public files (web assets, PDF, images) |
| Analytical data | Centralization of CSV/Parquet/JSON files for ETL and BI tools |
| Logs and archives | Long-term storage of application logs and audit logs |
| VM Snapshots and exports | Storage of KubeVirt snapshots, RAW or QCOW2 exports |
| S3-compatible applications | Direct use by third-party apps via SDK or AWS CLI |
🔒 Isolation and Security
Separation by Tenant
Each bucket is provisioned in a specific Kubernetes namespace, ensuring strict isolation:
- Credentials are unique per bucket and stored in an automatically generated Kubernetes Secret
- No data or access key is shared between tenants
Encryption and Secure Access
- All access goes through HTTPS/TLS with S3 key authentication
- The endpoint does not allow anonymous access: a valid key is always required
🌐 Connectivity and Integration
Unique S3 Endpoint
All buckets are accessible via the unique endpoint:
https://prod.s3.hikube.cloud
Full Compatibility
Hikube is compatible with standard AWS S3 tools and SDKs:
- AWS CLI :
aws s3 --endpoint-url https://prod.s3.hikube.cloud ... - MinIO Client (
mc) : simple alias configuration with Access Key / Secret Key - Rclone / S3cmd / Velero / Restic : native support via v4 signature
This allows seamless integration into existing CI/CD pipelines, backup tools, and analytical applications, without specific adaptation.
📦 Management and Portability
Simple Lifecycle
- Bucket creation and deletion are done via a simple Kubernetes manifest
- Credentials are automatically generated and stored in a Secret in JSON format (
BucketInfo) - No manual configuration required
Standard Interoperability
Thanks to S3 compatibility, your data remains interoperable with:
- Existing cloud tools (AWS CLI, MinIO, Velero…)
- Standard S3 migration pipelines (rclone sync, s3cmd mirror…)
- External analysis services (Spark, DuckDB, etc.)
🚀 Next Steps
Now that you understand Hikube Buckets architecture:
🏃♂️ Immediate Start → Create your first bucket
📖 Advanced Configuration → Complete API Reference
Use a dedicated bucket per application or environment.