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IBM Cloud Object Storage

IBM Cloud Object Storage is a cloud based storage for backup, application data files, persistence storage for analytics.

Characteristics

  • Cloud Object Storage is a multi-tenant system, and all instances of Object Storage share physical infrastructure
  • Available with three types of resiliency: Cross Region (EU, AP, US), Regional (multiple availability one in a region), and Single Data Center (multiple servers)
  • COS offers REST-based API for reading and writing objects: each storage location has its own set of URLs.
  • Bucket is the container of the data and defines metadata about the storage: resiliency type, scale factor..

Bucket

  • All buckets in all regions across the globe share a single namespace.
  • Bucket configuration defines role based (writer, reader, manager) to control access per user
  • To get access to the content of a bucket using a application, define a ServiceID, under the bucket configuration and the Access policies to control the access rules, or link an existing service ID to the bucket.

Access via CLI

  • Login to IBM Cloud: ibmcloud login -u .... --sso
  • Install cloud object storage plugin if not done before, or if you need to update existing version: ibmcloud plugin install cloud-object-storage
  • To use the COS plugin, we need to configure it with the region to use and the objectstore‘s unique number, known as a CRN. To get the CRN do the following command using the name of the COS service: ibmcloud resource service-instance "Cloud Object Storage-yj"
  Retrieving service instance Cloud Object Storage-yj in all resource groups under account Cloud Client Engagement Team's Account as boyerje@us.ibm.com...
    OK

    Name:                  Cloud Object Storage-yj   
    ID:                    crn:v1:bluemix:public:cloud-object-storage:global:a/98010327e7....
  • ibmcloud cos config crn then enter the crn from previous command in the prompt.
  • Get the list of buckets: ibmcloud cos list-buckets
  • Creating a bucket (name needs to be globally unique): ibmcloud cos create-bucket --bucket mybucket

Access via API

  • Get the API bearer token
 export COS_ADMIN_TOKEN=`ibmcloud iam oauth-tokens | grep IAM | awk '{printf("%s", $4)}'`

  • Get service instance ID (replace "Cloud Object Storage-yj" with your service instance name): export COS_GUID=$(ibmcloud resource service-instance "Cloud Object Storage-yj" | grep GUID | awk '{printf("%s", $2)}')

  • Using curl to access the content of a bucket:

    curl https://s3.us-south.cloud-object-storage.appdomain.cloud/cloud-object-storage-eda-folders -H "Authorization: Bearer $COS_ADMIN_TOKEN"  -H "x-amz-acl: public-read" -H "ibm-service-instance-id: $COS_GUID"

Bucket content

  • Download a file (like access_log.txt): curl -X GET https://s3.us-south.cloud-object-storage.appdomain.cloud/cloud-object-storage-eda-folders/access_log.txt -H "Authorization: Bearer $COS_ADMIN_TOKEN" -H "x-amz-acl: public-read" -H "ibm-service-instance-id: $COS_GUID"
  • Other curl commands explanation.

Fearther readings