Using the Java S3 SDK, I can create buckets and put objects in them and list contents and delete buckets. The only thing I cannot do is create the same bucket again after deleting it.
In the stack trace shown below, I have previously created a bucket named gormanm-0709-r-o-o-t, used it, then deleted it via s3.deleteBucket("gormanm-0709-r-o-o-t"). I then attempt to recreated it via s3.createBucket("gormanm-0709-r-o-o-t", "us-standard") but get the error shown below.
com.amazonaws.services.s3.model.AmazonS3Exception: Container gormanm-0709-r-o-o-t exists (Service: Amazon S3; Status Code: 409; Error Code: BucketAlreadyExists; Request ID: 1be8b569-3db4-4eff-bf1e-c4b8dac20272), S3 Extended Request ID: null
at com.amazonaws.http.AmazonHttpClient$RequestExecutor.handleErrorResponse(AmazonHttpClient.java:1588)
at com.amazonaws.http.AmazonHttpClient$RequestExecutor.executeOneRequest(AmazonHttpClient.java:1258)
at com.amazonaws.http.AmazonHttpClient$RequestExecutor.executeHelper(AmazonHttpClient.java:1030)
at com.amazonaws.http.AmazonHttpClient$RequestExecutor.doExecute(AmazonHttpClient.java:742)
at com.amazonaws.http.AmazonHttpClient$RequestExecutor.executeWithTimer(AmazonHttpClient.java:716)
at com.amazonaws.http.AmazonHttpClient$RequestExecutor.execute(AmazonHttpClient.java:699)
at com.amazonaws.http.AmazonHttpClient$RequestExecutor.access$500(AmazonHttpClient.java:667)
at com.amazonaws.http.AmazonHttpClient$RequestExecutionBuilderImpl.execute(AmazonHttpClient.java:649)
at com.amazonaws.http.AmazonHttpClient.execute(AmazonHttpClient.java:513)
at com.amazonaws.services.s3.AmazonS3Client.invoke(AmazonS3Client.java:4187)
at com.amazonaws.services.s3.AmazonS3Client.invoke(AmazonS3Client.java:4134)
at com.amazonaws.services.s3.AmazonS3Client.createBucket(AmazonS3Client.java:1021)
at com.amazonaws.services.s3.AmazonS3Client.createBucket(AmazonS3Client.java:973)
at com.ibm.saas.file.cos.CosFile.createBucket(CosFile.java:794)
at com.ibm.saas.file.cos.CosFile.ensureBucketExists(CosFile.java:781)
at com.ibm.saas.file.cos.CosFile.mkdirs(CosFile.java:665)
at com.ibm.saas.file.cos.CosFileServiceTest.testDir(CosFileServiceTest.java:148)
at com.ibm.saas.file.cos.CosFileServiceTest.testRootOperations(CosFileServiceTest.java:82)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:62)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:498)
at org.junit.runners.model.FrameworkMethod$1.runReflectiveCall(FrameworkMethod.java:47)
at org.junit.internal.runners.model.ReflectiveCallable.run(ReflectiveCallable.java:12)
at org.junit.runners.model.FrameworkMethod.invokeExplosively(FrameworkMethod.java:44)
at org.junit.internal.runners.statements.InvokeMethod.evaluate(InvokeMethod.java:17)
at org.junit.internal.runners.statements.RunBefores.evaluate(RunBefores.java:26)
at org.junit.internal.runners.statements.RunAfters.evaluate(RunAfters.java:27)
at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner.runLeaf(ParentRunner.java:271)
at org.junit.runners.BlockJUnit4ClassRunner.runChild(BlockJUnit4ClassRunner.java:70)
at org.junit.runners.BlockJUnit4ClassRunner.runChild(BlockJUnit4ClassRunner.java:50)
at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner$3.run(ParentRunner.java:238)
at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner$1.schedule(ParentRunner.java:63)
at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner.runChildren(ParentRunner.java:236)
at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner.access$000(ParentRunner.java:53)
at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner$2.evaluate(ParentRunner.java:229)
at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner.run(ParentRunner.java:309)
at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.junit4.runner.JUnit4TestReference.run(JUnit4TestReference.java:86)
at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.junit.runner.TestExecution.run(TestExecution.java:38)
at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.junit.runner.RemoteTestRunner.runTests(RemoteTestRunner.java:459)
at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.junit.runner.RemoteTestRunner.runTests(RemoteTestRunner.java:675)
at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.junit.runner.RemoteTestRunner.run(RemoteTestRunner.java:382)
at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.junit.runner.RemoteTestRunner.main(RemoteTestRunner.java:192)I know for sure I deleted it (as the code did not throw any exception and I don't see the bucket appearing in the Bluemix/Softlayer console) and I know for sure no one else "jumped on" my bucket name since I have done this testing over and over again.
My guess is that there is some period of time before the bucket name becomes available for use again but I'm only guessing about that and, even if that were true, there should be some documentation somewhere explaining the rules.
Speaking of documentation, the Getting Help page says to go here (https://developer.ibm.com/answers/smartspace/public-cloud-object-storage/) for questions but that page does not exist.
In IBM COS there is a 10-minute period after bucket deletion where the name is reserved. This delay prevents possible caching issues where a command might write to a deleted bucket. The chances of this are small, and we might shrink this window down a bit, but generally speaking it's not a great practice to be deleting and recreating buckets. Is there a particular reason you need to be able to do this in your workflow?
And yes, as mentioned by @jarmod in the top level comments, this behavior is due to the large number distributed logical appliances that control the slicing and reassembly of objects. The bucket deletion is still mostly immediately consistent, as writes and listings will be not be possible upon receiving the 204 response, but this behavior could be better documented.
While Michael's answer refers to AWS S3, the information is more or less accurate for our implementation as well.