How to Access S3

52654 November 14, 2023

This feature is only available on FileZilla Pro, if you didn’t buy it yet you can buy FileZilla Pro from our Store →

Below you find a step by step guide, if you prefer you can watch our How to Configure FileZilla Pro to Connect to S3 video tutorial.

In order to connect to S3 follow the following steps.

In the menu bar, click on File > Site Manager….

Click on New Site.

Select S3 – Amazon Simple Storage Service from the Protocol drop-down list.

In the Host field enter the initial region endpoint. If unsure leave it as is.

Leave port as-is.

Copy the Access Key ID from the browser window you just left and paste it into the
Access key ID field in the Site Manager.

In the browser window again, click on Show.

Copy the Secret access key and paste it into the Secret Access Key field in the Site Manager.

Credentials that do not have permission to list available bucket need to directly specify
the target bucket as default remote directory in the Advanced tab.

Click on Connect.

Your file storage buckets will be displayed in the Remote directories section of the FileZilla Pro window.

Server-Side Encryption

With Server-Side Encryption Amazon S3 encrypts your files as they are uploaded and decrypts
on download.

To configure FileZilla Pro to use Amazon S3 Server-Side Encryption:

In Site Manager edit your S3 entry.

In the S3 tab select the encryption type:

No encryption

AWS S3 encryption: use Amazon S3 managed keys.

AWS KMS encrytion: use Amazon S3 keys stored in AWS Key Management
Service (KMS). Select the master key:

Default (AWS/S3): for the AWS managed key.

Custom KMS ARN: for a customer managed key. Enter the ARN (Amazon
Resource Name) for the key in the Custom KMS ARN box.

Customer encryption: use the key specified in the Custom key box. You can specify a Base64 encoded key by prefixing it with base64:

Amazon STS

You can access S3 resources that belong to another user by using temporary credentials provided by the AWS Security Token Service. This is done by assuming a role created by the granting user.

In Site Manager edit your S3 entry.

In the S3 tab enter:

Role ARN (Amazon Resource Name): this identifies the role created by the granting
user. Your user will assume this role.

MFA Device Serial: your MFA (Multi-factor authentication) device identification if the
role trust policy requires multi-factor authentication. This can be either a serial for a
physical device or a registered ARN for a virtual device (eg an authentication app in your smartphone).

When connecting and if the MFA device serial is configured you will be asked to provide
the token code generated by the MFA device:

How to use AWS config and credentials files to connect

FileZilla Pro can also connect using the credentials and settings from the .aws/config and .aws/credentials files.

In Site Manager create or edit your S3 site.

In the Logon type drop down list choose Profile.

In the Profile field enter the configured profile name.

For the default profile enter: default

FileZilla Pro supports the following settings:

aws_access_key_id
aws_secret_access_key
region
source_profile
role_arns
role_session_name
mfa_serial
duration_seconds
aws_session_token

If a setting exists both in credentials and config files for the same profile the settings from the credentials file are used. If any of the settings region, role_arn and mfa_serial exist both in the Site Manager S3 tab and in the files, the settings from the files are used.

FileZilla Pro looks for the AWS_CONFIG_FILE environment variable to locate the config file. Also, it looks for the AWS_SHARED_CREDENTIALS_FILE environment variable to locate the credentials file.

If any of these environment variables are empty, FileZilla Pro looks for the file in the .aws directory in the user’s (or home) directory. On Debian and macOS the user’s directory can be found with the $HOME environment variable. On Windows the user’s directory can be found with the %USERPROFILE% environment variable.

When purchased from the macOS App Store, the app’s home directory can be found at ~/Library/ Containers/org.filezilla-project.filezilla.sandbox/Data/

In this case you may need to create a symbolic link to the ~/.aws directory in the FileZilla Pro’s container. From macOS terminal run the following command:

ln -s ~/.aws ~/Library/Containers/org.filezilla-project.filezilla.sandbox/Data/.aws

You also need to grant to FileZilla Pro access to the .aws directory through the access permissions dialog. To learn how to do that see: Local files not displayed.

For more details about these files consult the AWS documentation.

Connecting with AWS IAM Identity Center (formerly AWS Single Sign-On)

AWS Identity Center provides access to resources without the need for access keys or secret keys.

To connect using the IAM Identity Center:

Create a new site in the Site Manager.

Select S3 via IAM Identity Center from the Protocol drop-down list.

In the Logon type drop down list, choose either Interactive or Profile.

With Interactive type:

Enter the AWS account ID in the Account ID field.

In the S3 tab, S3 via IAM Identity Center section, enter:
- Region: the AWS Region that contains the AWS access portal host. This field can be different from the Region field in the same tab.
- Role name: the role or permission set name.
- Start URL: the URL for the AWS access portal.
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With Profile, enter a configured profile name. See How to use AWS config and credentials files to connect. The required profile fields are: sso_account_id,sso_region,sso_role_name and sso_start_url

Click on Connect.

FileZilla Pro shows the AWS Identity Center window, with a unique session code:

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and launches the default browser.
In the browser, IAM prompts you to login using your IAM credentials. You may need to enter the session code presented in the AWS Identity Center window.