As teams grow and their cloud storage needs scale, seemingly small issues can snowball into bigger problems. We’ve seen common pain points emerge, like struggling to track who accessed files through CDN endpoints, or wrestling with tricky configurations when using third-party tools like the AWS CLI or s3cmd, plus missed audit trails, prolonged troubleshooting, or accidental misconfigurations that can lead to data loss.

That’s why we’ve made two important updates to help simplify and strengthen the way you manage object storage with DigitalOcean Spaces, our S3-compatible object storage solution, built for simplicity, scalability, and affordability. Whether you’re serving up images on a website, storing large media files, managing data backups, or powering developer workflows, Spaces helps you move fast without managing infrastructure.

These new features—the general availability of Spaces access logs and the introduction of the connection wizard—are designed to enhance your visibility, minimize risk, and empower you to work with greater confidence.

Spaces access logs are now generally available

With access logs, you can get detailed, time-stamped records of all file read and write requests, including traffic that flows through both Spaces origin and CDN endpoints.

Previously, there was no easy way to monitor who was accessing your files over the CDN. That made it difficult to troubleshoot, detect suspicious behavior, or meet compliance and audit requirements.

What’s new

• Logs now capture both direct and CDN traffic, so you have a complete view of object activity.

• Spaces Origin access logs are compatible with Amazon S3 Server Access Logs format, while Spaces CDN access logs are compatible with Amazon CloudFront log formats, making it easy to integrate with tools you already use.

• Logs are stored in your existing Spaces buckets, so they fit directly within your existing services and workflows.

Benefits of using Spaces access logs

If you serve public files such as images, videos, downloadable content especially at scale or over a CDN, Access Logs can help you:

• Monitor object storage usage trends

• Detect unusual patterns or spikes

• Audit access to meet compliance needs

Real-world use cases include AdTech and media platforms with high public traffic that need to track downloads and API activity across their CDN endpoints for better performance insights and usage monitoring. Similarly, companies in regulated industries like healthcare, finance, or legal can log every file access request to help ensure full visibility and support audit and compliance requirements.

This feature is a small lift with a big payoff for teams that need more insight without more complexity. Ready to get started? Learn more from documentation and head over to the DigitalOcean console to set up Spaces access logs.

New Spaces connection wizard makes third-party tools easier to use

S3-compatible tools like the AWS CLI are great for managing Spaces—but only when configured correctly. We’ve seen users struggle with setup, run into rate limits, or even risk data loss due to missteps related to the command line tool. Common issues like misconfigured credentials, incorrect endpoint settings, or rate-limiting errors can all lead to failed transfers and time-consuming troubleshooting.

So we built the new Spaces connection wizard, now available in the console, to make setup seamless and foolproof.

What it does

• Walks you through the setup process step by step

• Generates copy-paste-ready commands for tools like the AWS CLI and s3cmd

• Recommends the right settings to avoid common issues

• Helps you confidently use third-party tools to manage your Spaces buckets

Benefits of using the Spaces connection wizard

If you’re already using or plan to use third-party tools with Spaces, the wizard:

• Saves you time on setup

• Reduces the risk of misconfiguration

• Makes your workflows smoother and more reliable

Typical use cases for this feature include a DevOps engineer using the AWS CLI to configure versioning and lifecycle rules who can now avoid misconfigurations stemming from accidentally setting the wrong endpoint parameter.

Check out our documentation or go to the DigitalOcean console to use the Connection Wizard.

No additional cost. Just a better experience.

There’s no added fee for either of these features. Access Logs are stored in your Spaces buckets, so you only pay for what you use. The Connection Wizard is built into the Spaces UI and ready whenever you are.

Whether you’re just starting out or scaling to millions of users, these updates make it easier to manage object storage securely and efficiently. DigitalOcean Spaces is built to give developers and growing teams the power they need without the overhead. And we’re just getting started.

Head over to the DigitalOcean console to set up Spaces Access Logs and use the Connection Wizard. Explore the documentation to learn more, and share your feedback to help us improve the DigitalOcean Spaces experience.

If you’re a DigitalOcean customer looking to get more value from you your IaaS setup, join our Sail to Success webinar: Scale your cloud with Q2 2025 IaaS updates to hear from product experts on the latest updates in compute, networking, and storage. You’ll also get practical tips to scale smarter and manage cloud costs more effectively.