Preparing to configure cloud-container storage pools for IBM Cloud Object Storage with S3 (off premises)

You can set up cloud-container storage pools to use IBM Cloud Object Storage off premises with the Simple Storage Service (S3) protocol.

About this task

The off-premises implementation of IBM Cloud Object Storage is managed through IBM Cloud. In this setup, only the owner of the IBM Cloud account can create buckets and administrators.

Use the credentials from your IBM Cloud account when you configure the storage pools in the Operations Center or with the DEFINE STGPOOL command. For more information, see the IBM Cloud Storage page. To use this configuration, select Cloud Object Storage - S3 API from the IBM Cloud Order Object Storage page.

Procedure

  1. Log into the IBM Cloud Customer Portal.
  2. Click the Storage menu and select Object Storage.
  3. From the Object Storage page, select an S3 account.
  4. From the Cloud Object Storage page, click Manage Buckets and then click the + symbol to create the bucket you want to use with the new cloud-container storage pool.
  5. Click Show Credentials to create administrator credentials for your new bucket.
  6. Click Add Credential.
  7. Locate the Access Key ID, the Secret Access Key, and the Public Authentication Endpoint. Record the values in those fields so that you can use them when you configure storage pools. If you are inside the IBM Cloud network, you can use a private authentication endpoint.
  8. To configure storage pools by using the Add Storage Pool wizard in the Operations Center, select Off-premises cloud. Use the following values for the parameters:
    • Cloud type: IBM Cloud Object Storage - S3 API
    • Access key ID: access_key_ID
    • Secret access key: secret_access_key
    • Bucket name: bucket_name (from step 4)
    • URL: us-geo_authentication_endpoint
      Note: Only one cloud provider endpoint is needed with this configuration. If all of your servers are inside the IBM Cloud network, you can use a private authentication endpoint.
  9. If you configure storage pools by using the DEFINE STGPOOL command, use the following values for the command parameters:
    • CLOUDTYPE: S3
    • IDENTITY: access_key_ID
    • BUCKETNAME: bucket_name (from step 4)
    • PASSWORD: secret_access_key
    • CLOUDURL: us-geo_authentication_endpoint
      Note: Only one cloud provider endpoint is needed with this configuration. If all of your servers are inside the IBM Cloud network, you can use a private authentication endpoint.

What to do next

Configure cloud-container storage pools for IBM Cloud object storage by following the instructions in Configuring a cloud-container storage pool for data storage.