Uploading to S3 from within an EC2 VPC

Question

If we're uploading files to S3 from within our AWS VPC, do we have to do anything special other than initiate an upload through the S3 API on the standard URL?

We're planning on using the aws-s3 Ruby gem to do the transfer and just trying to figure out if there are changes we need to make in order to ensure that the data transfer is free.

Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

Data transfer in the form of uploads is always free whether you are in or out of the AWS network. You do however have to pay for LIST/PUT/COPY/POST requests both in and out of network.

You get free transfer OUT of S3 when it is sent to AWS instance, and this is done in the same manner you would do it if you were GETing data outside AWS. They do the resolution to the S3 url and route it internally, no different syntax needed. Again you still pay for the GET request but this time you save money on the transfer bandwidth.

Please do note however if you are connecting to S3 outside the AWS region you are in (IE connecting to S3 Northern VA -> AWS West) you will have to pay for outbound S3 traffic.