S3 Versioning Hands On

Let’s explore S3 versioning in action and see how we can safely update and restore files.

1️⃣ Enable Versioning

• Go to Properties ⚙️

• Scroll to Bucket Versioning 🔄

• Click Edit → Enable Versioning ✅

From now on, any file you overwrite will create a new version.

2️⃣ Update Your Website File

• Edit index.html to change text from:

  "I love coffee" → "I REALLY love coffee" ✏️

  (VSCode → Open folder s3 → edit index.html)

  

• Re-upload the updated index.html file 📄

• ‼️ You can skip deleting index.html its not necessary anyway it will override

💡Refresh your website → now shows "I REALLY love coffee"

👈 Before

👉 After

3️⃣ Check Versions

• Go to your S3 bucket → Objects

• Enable Show Versions toggle 🔍

You will see:

• Files uploaded before versioning → version ID = null 🟢

• Updated files → new version ID 🆕

Example: index.html has 2 versions now

4️⃣ Rollback to Previous Version

• Select the version you want to Delete

• Confirm with permanently delete ✅

Refresh website → content goes back to "I love coffee"

5️⃣ Delete with Delete Marker

• Disable Show Versions

  

• Delete an object (e.g., coffee.jpg) ❌

  

• This adds a delete marker instead of removing the file permanently

  

• Object appears gone on the console and website

  

6️⃣ Restore Deleted Object

• Enable Show Versions 🔍

• Find the delete marker for your object ⚠️

  

• Permanently delete the delete marker ✅

  

• Previous version is restored → object is visible again 📸

  

Refresh website → image appears again

🚀 Tips & Best Practices

• Play around by uploading multiple versions 🆕

• Use delete markers carefully ⚠️

• Always enable versioning for production buckets 🌐

• Rollbacks allow safe website updates and recovery 🛡️

With versioning, S3 becomes a robust tool for safely managing website content and important files.