Introduction

The first step to getting started with IBM Cloud Object Storage (COS) is to create a COS service instance. The terms resource instance and service instance refer to the same concept, and can be used interchangeably.

The COS service instance is a container that will hold buckets that are created within the instance, along with other COS-related resources like integrations, endpoints, etc. Again, this demonstration script assumes a working knowledge of COS. If these terms are not familiar, refer to other COS training or the COS documentation here.

The main configuration aspect of COS associated with the service instance is the pricing plan. Details about COS pricing can be found in the IBM Cloud Portal here and in the Billing and pricing section of the COS documentation. For this demonstration, the Smart Tier pricing plan was chosen to minimize costs of the demonstration environment. In a client engagement, the client's actual access patterns and other requirements will drive the pricing plan selection. For a longer term archive solution, vault, Cold Vault, Archive, and/or Accelerated archive plans are more likely to be used. Additionally, clients can create multiple service instances that utilize different pricing plans.