Cloud Storage

Cloud Storage

From GoGrid



Cloud Storage Image:Beta.gif
OS N/A
Added On November 12, 2008
Version 0.7

Image: 64x64-storage.gif

Cloud Storage is a mountable, fully-scalable storage device.



Welcome to the GoGrid Cloud Storage Getting Started Guide. You can provision your cloud storage allotment by clicking on the "+" button, then "Cloud Storage" in the user-interface. Once cloud storage has been added, you cannot delete it from the user interface as you can other objects. In order to stop billing for cloud storage utilization, you must reduce your storage utilization to 10 GB or less. Utilizing cloud storage is a two-step process that requires the following:


  1. Connecting each server to your private network- A private network interface on each server you want to connect to cloud storage must be configured to access your private VLAN where cloud storage is available.
  2. Utilizing one of the four transfer protocols - Once connectivity to cloud storage is established on your private network, you can utilize one of the four transfer protocols below to transfer data to and from cloud storage.

Data Center Availability

Cloud storage is currently available in our US-West-1 data center.

Access

Credentials

A username and password to access your cloud storage allotment will be presented in the Password Management Interface in the my.gogrid.com customer portal. You can access this by clicking on "Support" then "Passwords" or by right-clicking on the cloud storage icon and selecting "Passwords". These credentials are automatically generated by GoGrid and cannot be deleted or changed.


NOTE: You cannot ssh or RDP directly into your cloud storage allotment. If you attempt to ssh to cloud storage, you must explicitly enter a CTRL+C command to exit.


Hostname

Each account will have a distinct hostname for their cloud storage allotment. This hostname is presented in the GoGrid user interface under the cloud storage icon and will look similar to this: 

[customer number].cloud.storage.gogrid.com

where [customer number] is your customer ID number as shown in the "Billing" tab of the user interface.


Each hostname is assigned to a single account. Cloud storage is only available via the private network on each GoGrid cloud and is not accessible from servers outside of the GoGrid account's private network.

NOTE: Customers serving cloud storage files directly with Apache should disable EnableMMAP and EnableSendfile in their Apache configuration file. Otherwise, the data being served by Apache may be interrupted. A common symptom of this issue includes slow loading images or other files.

Cloud Storage Billing

A total of 10 GB of cloud storage is included with all GoGrid accounts at no additional fee to customers. Billing for cloud storage begins after users exceed the initial 10 GB storage utilization. You must elect to deploy cloud storage just as you would a server or load balancer. Charges will accrue once the initial free quota of 10 GB has been surpassed. You can deploy your cloud storage allotment by doing the following:


  1. Log in to the customer portal.
  2. Go to the Grid tab.
  3. Click on the "Add" button.
  4. Select the "Cloud Storage" option.
  5. Each GB of data over the initial 10 GB quota will be charged at a rate of $0.15 per GB.


GoGrid will automatically thin provision (scale) your available storage allotment by seamlessly adjusting cloud storage quotas on a daily basis in 100 GB blocks. Whenever you reach 80% utilization of your current quota, cloud storage will increase the quota automatically by 100 GB. For instance, if you have utilized 80 GB of cloud storage and your quota is 100 GB, we will set your new quota to 180 GB.


Please note that users are only billed for storage that is utilized; the quota is adjusted on a daily basis based on current utilization of the service. Users will not be charged for the entire quota, but will be charged for any portion of the quota that is currently utilized. Charges are billed out once per month for the maximum utilization of space during the month. For example, if you use 25 GB for the first 20 days during your billing period, raise your utilization to 40 GB for 3 days then reduce it back down to 25 GB for the remainder of the month, you will be charged for 30 GB (40 GB utilization - 10 GB free storage allotment) for the entire month.


If you plan on needing a larger allotment of cloud storage space beyond what is automatically provisioned for you (i.e., your current quota is 100 GB and you plan on utilizing an additional 200 GB in one day), please submit a support case via the Customer Portal to have your quota adjusted.

Configuring Your Servers on the Private Network

Transferring Data to and from Cloud Storage

  • RSYNC - Allows you to copy/backup your files much faster because instead of copying the whole file, it only copies what has changed since the last time you used RSYNC.
  • FTP - Allows you to connect with any FTP client or through any web browser.
  • SAMBA - Allows you to connect the network storage server as if it were another hard drive attached to your system. You can then use any file manager (like Windows Explorer) to copy or drag and drop files between your system and the network storage server.
  • SCP - Allows you to copy files to and from the network storage server in a secure encrypted manner.
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