Namespace access protocols

HCP supports access to namespace content through several industry-standard protocols:

A RESTful HTTP API (simply referred to as HTTP in the HCP documentation)

HS3, which is a RESTful, HTTP-based API that’s compatible with Amazon® S3

Hswift, which is a RESTful, HTTP-based API that’s compatible with OpenStack Swift.

WebDAV

CIFS

NFS

These protocols support various operations: storing data, creating directories, viewing object data and metadata, viewing directories, modifying certain metadata, and deleting objects. You can use these protocols to access data with a web browser, third-party applications, Windows Explorer, and other native Windows and Unix tools.

HCP can be configured to allow special-purpose access to a namespace through the SMTP protocol. This protocol is used only for storing email. HCP automatically generates directory paths and object names for email objects stored this way. For information on how HCP names email objects, see Naming conventions for email objects.

Objects added to the namespace through any protocol are immediately accessible through any other protocol.

The namespace access protocols are configured separately for each namespace and are enabled or disabled independently of each other. If you cannot access a namespace through a given protocol, you can ask your tenant administrator to enable that protocol.

The HTTP, HS3, and CIFS protocols can be configured to require authentication. To use a protocol that requires authentication, users and applications must present valid credentials for access to the namespace.

If the HTTP, HS3, or CIFS protocol is enabled but is not configured to require authentication, users and applications can access the namespace anonymously, without presenting any credentials.

The WebDAV and NFS protocols do not support authenticated access; when you use these protocols, you always access the namespace anonymously. For the WebDAV protocol, this is true even when WebDAV basic authentication is enabled for the namespace.

To find out the authentication requirements for the namespace you want to access, contact your tenant administrator.

For more information on:

The HTTP protocol, see HTTP

The WebDAV protocol, see WebDAV

WebDAV basic authentication, see Basic authentication with WebDAV

The CIFS protocol, see CIFS

The NFS protocol, see NFS

The HS3 Protocol, see Using the HCP HS3 API

The HSwift Protocol, see Using the HCP OpenStack HSwift API

The figure below shows the relationship between original data, objects in a namespace, and the supported namespace access protocols.

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