Amazon S3 integration
Fileflare allows you to attach your own Amazon S3 server. Doing this allows you to have full control over your storage and bandwidth settings. This means that you will be in control of the pricing for those settings too, while our app is simply the control tool between your store and your server.
If you’re selling large digital files on Shopify, then this is one of the best routes to take.
These are advanced settings. Please only change these if you are familiar with AWS and S3.
Which plan do I need for this feature?
You will need the Growth plan or above. Already installed Fileflare? Upgrade here.
Connecting your own S3 means that you control the storage and bandwidth costs via your Amazon account.
How to do it
Step 1 – Go to the ‘Settings’ page
Once you are on the ‘Settings’ page, click on the button ‘Configure custom S3‘.
About the settings
Use path style endpoint
This feature is only used for legacy compatibility; older S3 clients and tools may default to or require path-style endpoints. This refers to the way requests are structured when accessing S3 buckets and objects. With path-style endpoints, the bucket name is included in the path portion of the URL. In contrast, virtual-hosted style endpoints include the bucket name as part of the domain name (as a subdomain).
Delete files in S3 when removed from the App?
Enabling this setting will delete the files from your S3 bucket when you delete the files inside the Fileflare user interface.
Rename my files to keep their name unique?
Enabling this setting ensures that all files uploaded via the Fileflare uploader are renamed using the UUID4 format when stored in your S3 bucket, eliminating the risk of overwriting existing files with the same name in the bucket. While the UUID4 format is used exclusively within the bucket, the original filenames are retained in Fileflare’s system for display in the app interface and for file delivery to your customers.
If this setting is disabled, files uploaded with duplicate filenames will overwrite existing files in the S3 bucket. Note that UUID4 filenames cannot be reverted to their original names within the bucket.
Step 2 – Create a bucket (if you haven’t already)
Go to AWS and create your bucket. Enter a bucket name and a region.
Step 3 – Configure bucket, copy & paste CORS (if you haven’t got CORS on there already)
If you are using AWS, go to the Permissions tab > scroll down to CORS and click ‘Edit‘.
Copy the CORS config text from the Fileflare S3 page in the app, and paste it into your S3 settings.
Paste the CORS config in the box below, then press ‘Save changes’:
Step 4 – Set up API access to the bucket & assign permissions
Add a user to generate your API keys.
Assign the user permissions to manage the S3 bucket.
There have been reports that AWS has changed the way permissions are assigned to a user.
Step 5 – Copy & paste the API keys into the app
You will be given API keys:
Copy and paste the Key and the Secret from AWS to the Fileflare app.
- The ‘Access key ID‘ goes into ‘Access Key‘
- The ‘Secret access key‘ goes into ‘Secret Key‘.
Step 6 – Copy & paste the bucket details
Find the bucket name and region in the URL (underlined in red below) then copy them into the app.
Paste them as instructed. Numbers are located in the image above:
- The bucket name (1) goes into ‘Bucket‘
- The region (2) goes into ‘Region‘
Step 7 – Get your endpoint URL
You will need to get your endpoint URL to paste it in Fileflare. You can find that on this AWS endpoint page.
Then press ‘Save’.
Step 8 – Test uploading
You should test uploading an asset by going to the ‘Assets’ page and then clicking ‘Upload new asset’.
If everything uploads without any warning or issues, then you have been successful. If you get any errors, please check over the steps again to make sure you have done everything correctly.
Ensure the file has been uploaded by checking in your S3 bucket.
FAQ
What happens if I disconnect the S3 from the app?
If you disconnect the S3, the files will still appear in the app. To completely remove the files from the app, you will need to highlight them all from the Assets page and remove them.
Please check if you had enabled the option “Delete files in S3 when removed from the App?” when you originally connected it because the app may delete all of your files from the S3 if you have this enabled.
Can I change the S3?
Yes, all you need to do is disconnect the old one and then reconnect the new S3. All of your files from the old S3 will still remain in the account.
If you want to remove the old files, you need to go to the “Assets” page, select them all and click remove. You can do this after you have connected the new S3. Just make sure that you will be able to distinguish which file is on the right S3. It would be easy to tell if you checked the “Created” date on the “Assets” page. This will filter the list to show the newest or oldest first.