Why can't I see my EBS volume snapshots in S3 from AWS Management Console?

Question

If EBS volume snapshots are stored in S3, then why can't I see them in the AWS Management Console? Am I missing something here?

Thorndike

Answer 1

EBS snapshots are stored in S3 but not in a user-visible bucket.

To view your snapshots use the AWS api or they are in the EC2/Snapshots tab of the AWS Console. Something like: https://console.aws.amazon.com/ec2/home?region=us-east-1#s=Snapshots, depending on your region.

Gallic

Geoff, does AWS api allow to view snapshots in S3? – Darvon

No, AWS does not. – Underskirt

Answer 2

Did you try "refresh" from within the AWS management app (they have an icon for that I believe, I don't mean refresh your browser). This used to get me sometimes as it doesn't automatically refresh when things change (like adding a new volume, snapshot, etc)

Dews

Hi Rick, I only have one bucket and when I click on that bucket and refresh (using app-icon, not browser) there's no objects in there. – Thorndike

Answer 3

Just a quote from the docs to confirm that they are not visible on the regular S3 bucket interfaces: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/EBSSnapshots.html (archive):

EBS snapshots are stored in Amazon S3, in S3 buckets that you can't access directly. You can create and manage your snapshots using the Amazon EC2 console or the Amazon EC2 API. You can't access your snapshots using the Amazon S3 console or the Amazon S3 API.

Alforja