Accessing CephRDS via Graphical S3 Clients

Scope: Research Computing Services Audience: UCR Faculty, Postdocs, Researchers & Students Last Updated: Aug 19, 2026

layout: default title: “Accessing CephRDS via Graphical S3 Clients” parent: Knowledge Base —

While command-line tools like rclone offer maximum performance, many researchers prefer the ease of a visual, drag-and-drop interface for managing their data.

Since CephRDS uses the S3 protocol, you must use an S3-compatible graphical client.

Mac & Windows: Cyberduck

Cyberduck is our officially recommended graphical client for macOS and Windows. It is free, open-source, and extremely reliable for managing S3 connections.

Connection Settings for Cyberduck:

1. Open Cyberduck and click Open Connection.
2. From the dropdown at the top, select Amazon S3.
3. Server: rds.ucr.edu
4. Port: 443 (Ensure the URL shows https://)
5. Access Key ID: Enter your provisioned Ceph Access Key
6. Secret Access Key: Enter your provisioned Ceph Secret Key
7. Click Connect.

Linux: Universal S3 UI (us3ui)

For Linux users, we recommend Universal S3 UI (us3ui). It is a lightweight, native, and fast open-source client that handles large bucket listings effortlessly.

Installation

You can download the pre-compiled binary for Linux from the official GitHub repository.

Connection Settings for us3ui:

1. Launch the application and click the + button to add a new connection.
2. Name: CephRDS (or your preference)
3. Endpoint: rds.ucr.edu
4. Access Key: Enter your provisioned Ceph Access Key
5. Secret Key: Enter your provisioned Ceph Secret Key
6. Bucket Name: Enter your specific bucket name (e.g., your_netid-hdd-bucket)
7. Region: (Leave blank)
8. Prefix: (Leave blank)
9. Use SSL (HTTPS): MUST BE CHECKED
10. Click Connect.