ECS 3.6.2 Data Access Guide

Create and manage secret keys

Users of the ECS object services require a secret key in order to authenticate with a service.

Secret keys can be created and made available to the object user in the following ways:

• An administrator creates a key and distributes to the object user (Create a key for an object user).
• A domain user creates an object user account by creating a new secret key using the self-service API provided by the self-service API (Create an S3 secrte key: self-service).

It is possible to have two secret keys for a user. When changing (sometimes referred to as "rolling over") a secret key, an expiration time in minutes can be set for the old key. During the expiration interval, both keys are accepted for requests. This provides a grace period where an application can be updated to use the new key.