Getting Started with the Blobstore Service

You must create a Blobstore service instance before you can attach an application.

1. Sign into your Predix account at https://www.predix.io.
2. Navigate to Catalog > Data Management, then click the Blobstore tile.
3. Choose the plan, then click Subscribe.
4. On the New Service Instance page, enter the information for the Blobstore service instance, and click Create Service.
   • Org – Select your org.
   • Space – Select the space for your application.
   • Service instance name – Enter a unique name for this Blobstore service instance.
     Note: Use only alphanumeric characters, underscores (_), and hyphens (-) for your service instance name.
   • Service plan – Select a plan.

You can create a new service instance from the Cloud Foundry command line. Alternatively, you can create the service by using Predix Console from the New Service Instance page.

1. To create a new instance of the predix-blobstore service with a default Blobstore bucket name, enter the following command:

   cf create-service predix-blobstore <plan> <my_blobstore_instance>

   Where:

   • <plan> is the selected plan option for the service.
   • <my_blobstore_instance> is a unique name for this Blobstore service instance.

   Note: Use only alphanumeric characters, underscores (_), and hyphens (-) for your service instance name.
2. Optionally, to create a new Blobstore instance with a custom bucket name, enter the following command:

   $cf create-service predix-blobstore <plan> <my_blobstore_instance> -c '{"bucket_name":"<String>"}'

   Where the <String> value of bucket_name is:

   • A unique name for the bucket that is 3 to 63 characters long and complies with DNS naming conventions.
   • In a sequence of one or more labels composed of lowercase letters, numbers, and hyphens, with adjacent labels separated by a single period (.). Each label must start and end with a lowercase letter or a number (for example, calif.noam.reskit.com).
   • Not an IP address. (for example, 172.195.25.255).
3. Optionally, to create a new Blobstore instance and enable external non-Predix application access, enter the following command:

   $cf create-service predix-blobstore <plan> <my_blobstore_instance> -c '{"enable_external":"<Boolean>"}'

   where the <Boolean> value of enable_external is:

   • True: Blobstore is accessible to applications external to the Predix network.
   • False (default): Blobstore is not accessible to applications external to the Predix network.
4. Optionally, to create a new Blobstore instance and enable server-side 256-bit AES encryption, enter the following command:

   cf create-service predix-blobstore <plan> <my_blobstore_instance> -c ‘{“data_encryption”:”SSE”}’

   After you run this command, you must edit the manifest.yml file. For details, see Configuring Access and Sample Applications.

   Note: Blobstore provides 256-bit Advanced Encryption Standard (AES-256) only for server-side encryption.
5. Optionally, to create a new Blobstore instance with a custom bucket name that has external access and AES server-side encryption enabled, run the following command:

   cf create-service predix-blobstore <plan> <my_blobstore_instance> -c '{"enable_external”:”<Boolean>”,”data_encryption":"SSE"}'

Blobstore allows both internal and external application access.

1. If needed, create a new instance of the predix-blobstore service.
   For details, see Creating a Blobstore Service Instance or Creating a Blobstore Instance Using the Command Line.
2. To update an existing Blobstore instance to enable external non-Predix application access:

    cf update-service <my_blobstore_instance> -c '{"enable_external":"<Boolean>"}'

   where the <Boolean> value of enable_external is:

   • True: Blobstore is accessible to applications external to the Predix network.
   • False (default): Blobstore is not accessible to applications external to the Predix network.
3. Clone the sample project.

   git clone http://github.com/PredixDev/blobstore-samples.git

4. Change to the blobstore-go-sample subdirectory.

   cd blobstore-samples/blobstore/blobstore-go-sample

5. Edit the manifest.yml file.
   • Enter the name of your Blobstore application.
   • Update the BROKER-SERVICE_NAME value with your Blobstore instance name.
   • Update the ENABLE_SERVICE_SIDE_ENCRYPTION value to enable or disable encryption.
   • Add your Blobstore instance to the services section and enable server-side encryption:

     applications:
       - name: blobstore-go-sample
         memory: 256M
         instances: 1
         timeout: 180
         buildpack: https://github.com/cloudfoundry/go-buildpack.git
         env:
          BROKER_SERVICE_NAME: <my-blobstore-instance>
          ENABLE_SERVER_SIDE_ENCRYPTION: False
         services:
          - <my-blobstore-instance>

   Note: Blobstore provides 256-bit Advanced Encryption Standard (AES-256) only for server-side encryption.

Applications using Blobstore can enable encryption for their data at rest.