Create a Google Cloud Platform (GCP) Account
To create a Google Cloud Platform (GCP) account, open a browser and go to: https://cloud.google.com/
Click Sign In as shown below:
Create your account by providing your business email address and email:
Panzura suggests creating an account specifically for use with your filers. This ensures that the object store bucket created using this account is dedicated to Panzura Freedom filer operations and not used for any other purpose. This will help to prevent accidental deletion.
Create a Google Cloud Storage Bucket
Once logged in, click Console as shown below:
Once in the Console, go to the menu on the left-hand side and click on Storage as shown below. This will take you to the Google Cloud Storage Console:
Hovering over “Storage” and clicking on “Browser” will also take you to the Google Cloud Storage Console.
In the Google Cloud Storage Browser, click on Create Bucket:
Name your bucket
Enter a universally unique bucket name (you can view Google’s naming guidelines, which includes requirements and considerations for naming buckets and objects) and click CONTINUE:
Choose where to store your data
Select your preferred Location type and associated Location(s) (refer to Google’s Bucket Location documentation and Panzura’s Admin Guide for supported Location types):
Region
Choices include single regions where Google Cloud Storage service is available:
Multi-Region
Provides the highest level of availability across multiple regions.
Dual-Region
Provides high availability across two regions.
Choose a default storage class for your data
Options include Standard, Nearline, and Coldline (learn about Google Cloud Storage storage classes here and Panzura’s Admin Guide for supported storage classes):
Panzura strongly suggests using the “Standard” storage class for Freedom NAS and Freedom Collaboration use cases.
Choose how to control access to objects
Options for the Access control model include: Set permissions uniformly at bucket-level (Bucket Policy Only), Set object-level and bucket-level permissions.
Panzura suggests selecting “Bucket Policy Only”. It is assumed that this bucket will be used for a single Panzura Freedom filer cluster only.
Advanced settings (optional)
- Encryption: Select Google-managed key. Data sent from a Panzura Freedom filer is already encrypted with customer keys on the edge. Any encryption performed here will merely be encrypting the Panzura encrypted data. Choosing the Google-managed key will reduce risk and management overhead for the user.
- Retention policy: Leave “Set a retention policy” checkbox UNCHECKED. Panzura Freedom filers store config data, metadata, and data in an object store. Setting a retention policy may inhibit normal operation of Panzura Freedom filers.
- Labels: Labels are not required by Panzura Freedom filers.
When you are done, click the “Create” button:
Information Required for Panzura Freedom Filer setup
Information from Google Cloud Storage Console
In order to setup a Panzura Freedom Filer, take note of the following Google Cloud Storage information that was generated during the process of creating a Google Cloud Storage bucket:
- Bucket name (from Storage Browser)
- Request endpoint
- Access key
- Secret key
Click on Settings on the left menu. Navigate to the “Interoperability” tab to access other required details:
Panzura Freedom Filer Setup Wizard: Cloud Storage Provider
| Freedom Filer: Cloud Storage Provider Field | Google Cloud Storage Console Field |
| Authorization Key | Access Key |
| Authentication Key | Secret Key |
| Bucket Name | Bucket Name |
| Path | Folder (See Note below) |
Enter a desired path within the bucket. If this path does not already exist, Panzura Freedom filer will create the path within the bucket and use this path to establish the file system. If the path does exist, this indicates that a file system already exists and the Panzura Freedom filer will use the path given.