Checking the existence of a bucket
You use the HTTP HEAD method to check the existence of a bucket. To successfully check the existence of a bucket, you need read permission for the bucket.
If the bucket you specify in the HEAD request does not exist, HCP returns a 404 (Not Found) status code. If the bucket exists but you do not have read permission for it, HCP returns a 403 (Forbidden) status code.
Request line
Depending on whether the bucket name is included in the hostname in the S3 compatible request, a request to check the existence of a bucket has either of these formats:
- With the bucket name included in the hostname:
HEAD / HTTP/1.1
- With the bucket name following the hostname:
HEAD /bucket-name HTTP/1.1
Required headers
Authorization
Specifies user credentials or requests anonymous access.
Date
Specifies the date and time when the request is being made according to the requester. Normally, this is the current date and time.
The date and time must always be specified using Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).
To specify the date and time, use this format:
DDD, dd MMM yyyy HH:mm:ss (+0000|GMT)
In this format:
DDD
The three-letter abbreviation for the day of the week, with an uppercase first letter (for example, Mon).
dd
The two-digit day of the month.
MMM
The three-letter abbreviation for the month, with an uppercase first letter (for example, Feb).
yyyy
The four-digit year.
HH
The hour on a 24-hour clock.
mm
The number of minutes.
ss
The number of seconds.
For example:
Thu, 23 Mar 2017 14:27:05 +0000
All S3 compatible requests must include either a
Date
header or anx-amz-date
header. If a request includes both headers, HCP uses the date and time in thex-amz-date
header.Host
Specifies the hostname for the request. The host name identifies either a tenant or a bucket.
For a tenant, use this format:
tenant-name.hcp-domain-name
For a bucket, use this format:
bucket-name.tenant-name.hcp-domain-name
x-amz-date
Specifies the date and time at which the request is being made according to the requester. Normally, this is the current date and time.
For the valid values for this header, see the description of the
Date
header above.
Response headers
Content-length
Specifies the size, in bytes, of the response body. In response to a successful request to store an object, the value of this header is always
0
(zero).Date
The date and time when HCP responded to the request, in Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). The date and time are returned in this format:
DDD dd MMM yyyy HH:mm:ss GMT
For example:
Fri, 18 Sep 2020 14:27:05 GMT
Return codes
The table below describes HTTP status codes that can be returned in response to a request to check the existence of a bucket.
Code | Meaning | Description |
200 | OK | The specified bucket exists. |
403 | Forbidden |
Possible reasons include:
|
404 | Not Found | The specified bucket does not exist. |
500 | Internal Server Error |
An internal error occurred. If this error persists, contact your tenant administrator. |
503 | Service Unavailable |
HCP is temporarily unable to handle the request, probably due to system overload, maintenance, or upgrade. Try the request again, gradually increasing the delay between each successive attempt. If this error persists, contact your tenant administrator. |
Example: Checking the existence of a bucket
Here’s a sample HEAD request that checks the existence of a bucket named finance.
Request with s3curl command line
./s3curl.pl --id=lgreen --head -- -k "https://finance.europe.hcp.example.com"
Request headers
HEAD / HTTP/1.1 Host: finance.europe.hcp.example.com Date: Fri, 07 February 2020 17:19:26 +0000 Authorization: AWS bGdyZWVu:N2UfjwTaydEqS45O5vgcoGerZKw=
Response headers
HTTP/1.1 200 OK Date: Fri, 07 February 2020 17:19:26 GMT Content-Length: 0