Overview

Migrating from Alibaba Cloud OSS to Amazon S3 is common for organizations expanding their global presence beyond Asian markets or consolidating on AWS infrastructure. This guide provides a comprehensive walkthrough of the migration process using Cloney.

Migration Benefits

AWS S3 offers extensive global coverage, mature ecosystem integrations, and comprehensive compliance certifications across regions.

Prerequisites

  • A Cloney account with an active subscription
  • Alibaba Cloud OSS bucket with data to migrate
  • AWS account with an S3 bucket created
  • Appropriate credentials for both services

Setup Access Credentials

Before proceeding, ensure you have configured least privilege access for both services:

Alibaba Cloud OSS: Least Privilege AccessAWS S3: Least Privilege Access Setup

Step 1: Add Your Alibaba OSS Source

  1. Log in to your Cloney dashboard
  2. Navigate to Jobs → Create New Job
  3. Select Alibaba Cloud OSS as your source provider
  4. Enter your Alibaba Cloud credentials:
    • Access Key ID: Your RAM user AccessKey ID
    • Access Key Secret: Your RAM user AccessKey Secret
    • Region: The OSS region (e.g., oss-cn-hangzhou)
    • Bucket Name: The name of your source bucket
  5. Click Validate Connection to verify access

Step 2: Configure Your AWS S3 Destination

  1. Select AWS S3 as your destination provider
  2. Enter your AWS credentials:
    • Access Key ID: Your IAM user access key
    • Secret Access Key: Your IAM user secret key
    • Region: The AWS region for your destination bucket
    • Bucket Name: The name of your destination S3 bucket
  3. Click Validate Connection to verify access

Step 3: Start the Migration

  1. Configure optional settings (prefix filter, storage class, metadata)
  2. Review your migration configuration
  3. Click Start Migration
  4. Monitor progress in the Jobs dashboard
Migration Complete

Once finished, verify your data in the AWS S3 console and update your applications to use the new bucket.

Storage Class Mapping

Alibaba OSS storage classes map to AWS S3 storage classes as follows:

Alibaba OSS ClassRecommended AWS S3 Class
StandardS3 Standard
Infrequent Access (IA)S3 Standard-IA
ArchiveS3 Glacier Flexible Retrieval
Cold ArchiveS3 Glacier Deep Archive

Best Practices

  • Test with a subset first: Run a pilot migration with a small subset of data to validate your configuration.
  • Consider data transfer costs: Cross-region data transfer from China may incur higher costs.
  • Choose appropriate S3 region: Select a region close to your users for optimal performance.
  • Enable versioning: Consider enabling S3 versioning for additional data protection.