Managing cloud accounts

A cloud account is an object on the system that represents a connection to a cloud service provider by using a particular set of credentials. These credentials differ depending on the type of cloud service provider that is being specified. Most cloud service providers require the host name of the cloud service provider and an associated password, and some cloud service providers also require certificates to authenticate users of the cloud storage. Public clouds use certificates that are signed by well-known certificate authorities. Private cloud service providers can use either a self-signed certificate or a certificate that is signed by a trusted certificate authority. These credentials are defined on the cloud service provider and passed to the system through the administrators of the cloud service provider. A cloud account defines whether the system can successfully communicate and authenticate with the cloud service provider by using the account credentials. If the system is authenticated, it can then access cloud storage to either copy data to the cloud storage or restore data that is copied to cloud storage back to the system. The system supports one cloud account to a single cloud service provider. Migration between providers is not supported. You can manage cloud accounts with the management GUI or the command-line interface.

If you configured a cloud account in the management GUI, use the Transparent cloud tiering page to monitor the status and data usage for the account. Use the status values for the cloud account to monitor and troubleshoot connection disruptions between the cloud service provider and the system. You can also display the amount of cloud storage that remains available for cloud snapshots and restore operations. You can also use the command-line interface to manage cloud accounts that are configured on the system.