# Amazon S3 Bucket Storage in Astera
Amazon S3 is a storage service designed to store and retrieve data efficiently. Astera provides cloud connectivity to Amazon S3 Bucket Storage, allowing for quick access and easy data storage.
In this document, we will explore the methods Astera provides to connect to Amazon S3 buckets.
### Connecting to Amazon S3 in Astera
1. Drag and drop the *Cloud Connection* object from the *Resources* section of the toolbox onto the dataflow.
2. Right-click on the *Cloud Connection* object and select *Properties* from the context menu,
3. The *Cloud Connection Properties* window will open. Select *Amazon S3* as your cloud provider from the *Provider* drop-down.
4. Choose between the two authentication methods:
* AccessKey
* RoleBased
5. Follow the steps below to obtain credentials for AccessKey or RoleBased authentication from your Amazon account.
{% tabs %}
{% tab title="AccessKey Authetication" %}
1. Go to *AWS Management Console > Security, Identity, and Compliance > IAM*.
2. An *Identify and Access Management (IAM)* dashboard will open. Open *Access Management > Users*. Select the user to get the access keys.
3. A *Summary* page would open, from here, select *Security Credentials*.
4. On this page, you can create your access key by selecting the *Create Access Key* option.
Alongside the access key, the *Access key ID* is also required.
{% hint style="info" %}
**Note**: You cannot retrieve a lost key. You will have to create a new key and make your previous key inactive. You can only have two active keys at a time.
{% endhint %}
5. The access key will open in a new pane. There is an option to download the key in a .csv file or you can just save it with you by copying it.
You can now use the created access key to connect to Amazon S3 Bucket in Astera.
{% endtab %}
{% tab title="RoleBased Authentication" %}
1. Go to *AWS Management Console > Security, Identity, and Compliance > IAM*.
2. An *Identify and Access Management (IAM)* dashboard will open. Open *Access Management > Users*. Select the user to get the access keys.
3. A *Summary* page would open, from here, select *Security Credentials*.
4. On this page, you can create your access key by selecting the *Create Access Key* option.
Alongside the access key, the *Access key ID* is also required.
{% hint style="info" %}
**Note**: You cannot retrieve a lost key. You will have to create a new key and make your previous key inactive. You can only have two active keys at a time.
{% endhint %}
5. The access key would open in a new pane. There is an option to download the key in a .csv file or you can just save it with you by copying it.
6. Now, go to *Access Management > Roles*. Here, you can click on the Amazon S3 role to get the ARN.
7. On the screen that appears, copy the ARN.
You can now use the credentials to connect to Amazon S3 Bucket in Astera.
{% endtab %}
{% endtabs %}
6. For AccessKey authentication, provide the credentials for the *Amazon S3* cloud. The credentials require:
* *Access Key ID*
* *Access Key*
7. Alternatively, for RoleBased authentication, provide the following credentials for Amazon S3 cloud:
* App Key
* App Secret
* IAM Role ARN
8. Test the connection.
*Root Path:* This is used to keep confidential data and information secure from access by unauthorized users. It lets you point out the particular file needed while keeping all the other folders protected.
9. Click *OK* and the *Cloud Connection* object will be configured.
This concludes the authentication and connection of the Amazon S3 Bucket Storage in Astera.
