Creating an Import Manifest File

You provide your job information, how to transfer your data between your storage device and AWS, by creating a manifest file. The job information includes several pieces of information such as where you want to upload your data. As an extra precaution you may instruct AWS to erase your storage devices after the data upload. These are also called manifest options. You describe these options using name/value pairs in a manifest file.

Import and export manifest files contain options that are unique to each, and some that are common to both. AWS Import/Export has a predefined set of manifest options for you to describe your import job. A small subset of these options are required. For a complete list of manifest options, go to Manifest File Options.

This is a sample import to Amazon S3 manifest file with only the required options specified.

manifestVersion: 2.0
accessKeyId: 11118346FH746RYTE34
returnAddress:
   name: Amazon.com ATTN Joe Random 
   street1: 120 Nosuch Ave S.
   city: Seattle
   stateOrProvince: WA
   postalCode: 91111
   phoneNumber: 206-266-0000
   country: USA
deviceId: 49382
eraseDevice: no
bucket: myBucket

You save this manifest in a text file and send it along with your CreateJob request.

For a complete list of manifest options, see Manifest File Options. For examples of commonly used manifest options, see Examples of Import Manifest Options.

You can create an import job using the AWS Import/Export Web Service Tool. This command line tool allows you create a job without writing any code. The Getting Started section provides step-by-step instructions to create an import job using this tool. For more information, see Getting Started If your application requires programmatic interface, you can use AWS SDK or use the REST API. For examples, see Creating Amazon S3 Import Jobs.