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What is a Container in Cloud Files?

  • Article ID: 87
  • Last updated on September 21, 2012
  • Authored by: Rackspace Support
  • (9 Comments)

NOTE: This article is written for our First-Generation Cloud Control Panel. A version of this article is also available for our Next-Generation Cloud Control Panel.

A Container is a “storage compartment” for your data and provides a way for you to organize that data. You can think of a Container as analogous to a folder in Windows® or a directory in UNIX®. The primary difference between a Container and these other “file system” constructs is that Containers cannot be nested. You can have up to 500,000 Containers in your account, but they only exist at the “top level” of your account and Containers cannot reside within other Containers.

NOTE:  Containers only scale to about one million objects before peformance degrades.

If you are a developer, you should be aware that Containers can only be removed from Cloud Files if they do NOT contain any storage Objects. In other words, make sure the Container is empty before attempting to delete it. The Rackspace Cloud Control Panel's Cloud Files interface does allow you to delete a Container regardless of it being empty or not. The interface will prompt you prior to removing the Container and deleting storage Objects.



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9 Comments

Is there any max number of files that can be stored in a container ? I need to store about 100 millions html pages .
By johhny on Jul. 30, 2012

To my knowledge there isn't a maximum number of files per container. However, the Cloud Files API only returns 10,000 object names per request. To get a full listing of millions of files in one container a client would have to make a number of subsequent requests. As a practical matter, then, you may be better off creating one container per 10,000 files or so to make file management go more smoothly.
By jered.heeschen on Jul. 30, 2012

Is there a limit on number of containers? We are planning to create a container for each user and that may be growing quickly to more than a million and keep growing.
By Deepan on Jul. 30, 2012

<p>Hello Deepan,</p>
<p>While there is <del>no limit</del> a limit of 500,000 on the number of Cloud Files containers that you can have on your account, the Control Panel will only be able to display a maximum of 10,000 at a time. Using the API, you will have full access to your list of containers at all times. Here is a link to the API guide:</p>
<p><a href="http://docs.rackspace.com/files/api/v1/cf-intro/content/index.html">http://docs.rackspace.com/files/api/v1/cf-intro/content/index.html</a></p>
By ross.diaz on Jul. 30, 2012

Is it possible to rename a container after it is established and has files uploaded to it? I would like to better organize my containers.
By Amy Spear on Jul. 30, 2012

Hello Amy,
Unfortunately, you cannot rename a container. If you need to change the container name, you would need to delete the original container, create a new container with the appropriate name, and then upload your content to the new container. Sorry for any inconvenience.
By ross.diaz on Jul. 30, 2012

According to your API, under "4.2.2. Create Container", it says "You may
create up to 500,000 containers in your Cloud Files account."
However, here you say there is no limit. Which is it?
By KFee on Jul. 30, 2012

Is it possible to move files from one container to another?
By Gautam on Jul. 30, 2012

You can use server-side copy for this method, follow this :

http://docs.rackspace.com/files/api/v1/cf-devguide/content/Copy_Object-d1e2241.html

Thanks
By racker on Oct. 10, 2012

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