You can access Google Cloud Storage using the XML API through three request endpoints (URIs). Which one you use depends on the operation you are performing.
Note: The Google Cloud Storage URIs described in this document are subject to change.
Contents
URIs for standard requests
For most operations you can use either of the following URLs to access objects:
storage.googleapis.com/
<bucket>
/
<object>
<bucket>
.storage.googleapis.com/
<object>
Both forms support secure sockets layer (SSL) encryption, which means you can use either HTTP or HTTPS. For a list of XML API requests that can use these URIs, see Reference Methods .
If you are connecting through a proxy, see the FAQ entry on proxies for recommended practices.
URI for CNAME redirects
If you are using a CNAME alias to redirect requests, you must use a special URI to access Google Cloud Storage. A CNAME redirect is a special DNS record that lets you use a URL from your own domain to access a resource (bucket and object) in Google Cloud Storage without revealing the Google Cloud Storage URI. To do this, you must use the following URI in the host name portion of your CNAME record:
c.storage.googleapis.com
For example, let's assume your domain is example.com and you want to make travel maps available to your customers. You could create a bucket in Google Cloud Storage called travel-maps.example.com, and then create a CNAME record in DNS that redirects requests from travel-maps.example.com to the Google Cloud Storage URI. To do this, you publish the following CNAME record in DNS:
travel-maps.example.com CNAME c.storage.googleapis.com
By doing this, your customers can use the following URL to access a map of Paris:
http://travel-maps.example.com/paris.jpg
When creating a bucket that will be used to serve resources for redirect requests, then your bucket name must conform to standard DNS naming conventions. For more information, see Bucket Name Requirements . For an example of configuring a bucket as a web site, see Configuring a Bucket as a Website .
URI for authenticated browser downloads
The Google Cloud Storage authentication and authorization models support authenticated browser downloads for users who do not have Google Cloud Storage accounts. Authenticated browser downloads use cookie-based Google account authentication in conjunction with Google account-based ACLs. To download an object using cookie-based authentication you must use the following URL:
https://storage.cloud.google.com/
<bucket>
/
<object>
.
We recommend using HTTPS for authenticated browser downloads, but both HTTP and HTTPS are supported. For more information about authenticated browser downloads, see Cookie-based Authentication in Authentication.