Q: Can I use Amazon S3 storage to expand my SnapStream library?
A: Yes! SnapStream supports the use of Amazon S3 storage as part of the SnapStream library. This means that you can place recordings or clips in an S3 bucket through the SnapStream interface, and those items will remain searchable and playable through SnapStream.
Q: What storage tiers can I use with SnapStream?
A: SnapStream supports Standard and Infrequent Access storage tiers. SnapStream does not currently support Glacier or Glacier Deep Archive storage.
Q: How can I add an S3 bucket to SnapStream?
A: To get started, navigate to Admin=> Settings=> Folders and click on the Amazon logo in the Folders section.
You will see this page:
Folder name: this is a "friendly name" that will be used to identify the location in the SnapStream interface. You can use any name you like here.
Access Key & Secret Key: This information should be available from the person who administers your Amazon account.
Region: The geographical location of your S3 storage. NOTE: check with SnapStream support to determine whether this is the same region in which your SnapStream server is located. See below for more information.
Bucket Name & Path: The specific location in your S3 account for this folder.
Accessibility: Privacy setting for items that Snapstream puts in this folder.
Permissions: see Can I restrict access to a specific folder or folders?
Q: Can I use an S3 location as my default recording folder?
A: No. Because S3 uses object storage, SnapStream cannot make new recordings in an S3 location. The Workflows feature can be used to automate operations to move recordings to S3 after they are complete.
Q: What costs do I need to consider when using S3 storage with SnapStream?
A: S3 pricing information can be found on the Amazon Web Services site.
Relevant cost categories include the following:
Item storage: volume of items stored in S3. This category comprises the majority of costs associated with using S3 storage with SnapStream.
Requests & Data Retrievals: this category includes items that are copied to your S3 storage from SnapStream as well as playback requests on items located on S3. For most SnapStream customers, the number of operations is relatively small (well under 10,000 per month) and the associated cost does not exceed a few cents per month. The SnapStream Analytics Report feature (located in Admin=> Actions) can help you estimate your needs in this category.
Data transfer: this category includes data transferred out of your S3 location (data transfer into S3 is free). If your S3 location and your SnapStream server are located in the same AWS region, the majority of these costs are absorbed by SnapStream, with the exception of direct file downloads. This diagram shows the orientation of data transfer in this scenario :
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SnapStream Support can assist in determining the AWS region of your SnapStream server.
In addition to these costs assessed by Amazon, SnapStream will also charge a small index licensing fee in order to add items on S3 to the SnapStream search index. Please contact your SnapStream account manager for pricing.
Q: Anything else I need to know?
A: Unlike the file storage on your SnapStream server, S3 storage is provisioned as needed, and might not be capped at a certain size. So, in order to prevent ballooning storage costs and index licensing issues, you will want to set a limit on the amount of storage used by SnapStream in your S3 location. This can be done using the Expiration settings, in Admin=> Settings=> Expiration.
