Preparing to configure cloud-container storage pools for Google Cloud Storage

Before you configure cloud-container storage pools to use the Google Cloud Storage cloud computing system, you must obtain information for the configuration process from Google.

1. Sign up for a Google Cloud Storage account by going to the Google Cloud Storage site and creating an account, key file, and bucket.
2. To create a service account and private key file, go to the navigation pane and locate the Service Accounts section that is typically in the IAM & Admin section.
   1. Click + CREATE SERVICE ACCOUNT.
   2. Enter appropriate information in the Service account name, Service account ID, and Service account description fields, and click CREATE.
   3. Select the Storage Administrator role to give the service account authority to manage Google Cloud Storage resources. Click CONTINUE.
   4. Optional: Specify the user access settings for the service account and click DONE.
   5. Locate the service account that you created and click Edit to create the private service account key. Ensure that you select the JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) key type.
   6. Click ADD KEY.
      Tip: To help ensure that you can restore the database and recover your storage environment after a disaster, save the key file and the path to the key file in a separate and secure location. Avoid moving the key file because the file might be required later to reestablish the connection between IBM Spectrum Protect and the cloud object storage.
3. Create a bucket in Google Cloud Storage. The IBM Spectrum Protect server does not create Google Cloud Storage buckets. Complete the following steps:
   1. Navigate to the Storage > Browser menu and click + CREATE BUCKET. Follow the naming restrictions for Google Cloud Storage and select settings for location, storage class, and access control. Then, click CREATE.
      Tip: In the optional Advanced settings section, the Customer-managed key option is not supported. The Retention policy setting on the bucket is also not supported.
   2. After the bucket is created, go to the PERMISSIONS page and ensure that the service account that you created has access to the bucket with a Storage Administrator role.
   After the service account is created, a private key file is generated, and the bucket is created with appropriate permissions, the key file can be used by IBM Spectrum Protect to access Google Cloud Storage.
4. If you plan to configure storage pools by using the Add Storage Pool wizard in the Operations Center, use the following values for the parameters:
   • Cloud type: Google
   • Bucket name: The name of a Google Cloud Storage bucket
   • Key source file: In the drop-down list, look for a string that ends with .json and is similar to the following example: /home/tsminst1/spectrumprotectdev-de4bbf31824b.json
5. If you plan to configure storage pools by using the DEFINE STGPOOL command, use the following values for the command parameters:
   • CLOUDTYPE: GOOGle
   • Bucket name: The name of a Google Cloud Storage bucket
   • KEYLOCATION: The name of the file that contains the Google Cloud Storage service account key in JSON format, similar to this example: /home/tsminst1/spectrumprotectdev-de4bbf31824b.json