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diff --git a/content/blog/2023-06-28-backblaze-b2.md b/content/blog/2023-06-28-backblaze-b2.md deleted file mode 100644 index 5793846..0000000 --- a/content/blog/2023-06-28-backblaze-b2.md +++ /dev/null @@ -1,188 +0,0 @@ -+++ -date = 2023-06-28 -title = "Getting Started with Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage" -description = "An introduction to the free ttier of Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage." -+++ - -## Overview - -Backblaze [B2 Cloud -Storage](https://www.backblaze.com/b2/cloud-storage.html) is an -inexpensive and reliable on-demand cloud storage and backup solution. - -The service starts at \$5/TB/month (\$0.005/GB/month) with a download -rate of \$0.01/GB/month. - -However, there are free tiers: - -- The first 10 GB of storage is free. -- The first 1 GB of data downloaded each day is free. -- Class A transactions are free. -- The first 2500 Class B transactions each day are free. -- The first 2500 Class C transactions each day are free. - -You can see which API calls fall into categories A, B, or C here: -[Pricing Organized by API -Calls](https://www.backblaze.com/b2/b2-transactions-price.html). - -For someone like me, who wants an offsite backup of their server's -`/home/` directory and various other server configs that fall -under 10 GB total, Backblaze is a great solution from a financial -perspective. - -## Create An Account - -To start with Backblaze, you'll need to [create a free -account](https://www.backblaze.com/b2/sign-up.html) - no payment method -is required to sign up. - -Once you have an account, you can test out the service with their web -GUI, their mobile app, or their CLI tool. I'm going to use the CLI tool -below to test a file upload and then sync an entire directory to my -Backblaze bucket. - -## Create a Bucket - -Before you can start uploading, you need to create a bucket. If you're -familiar with other object storage services, this will feel familiar. If -not, it's pretty simple to create one. - -As their webpage says: - -> A bucket is a container that holds files that are uploaded into B2 -> Cloud Storage. The bucket name must be globally unique and must have a -> minimum of 6 characters. A limit of 100 buckets may be created per -> account. An unlimited number of files may be uploaded into a bucket. - -Once you click the `Create a Bucket` button on their webpage -or mobile app, you need to provide the following: - -- Bucket Unique Name -- Files in Bucket are: `Private` or `Public` -- Default Encryption: `Disable` or `Enable` -- Object Lock: `Disable` or `Enable` - -For my bucket, I created a private bucket with encryption enabled and -object lock disabled. - -Once your bucket is created, you can test the upload/download feature on -their web GUI or mobile app! At this point, you have a fully functional -bucket and account. - -## Linux CLI Tool - -### Installation - -To install the `b2` CLI tool, you'll need to download it -from the [CLI -Tools](https://www.backblaze.com/docs/cloud-storage-command-line-tools) -page. I recommend copying the URL from the link that says -`Linux` and using wget to download it, as shown below. - -Once downloaded, make the file executable and move it to a location on -your `$PATH`, so that you can execute that command from -anywhere on the machine. - -```sh -wget <b2_cli_url> -chmod +x b2_linux -mv b2_linux /usr/bin/b2 -``` - -### Log In - -The first step after installation is to log in. To do this, execute the -following command and provide your `<applicationKeyId>` and -`<applicationKey>`. - -If you don't want to provide these values in the command itself, you -can simply execute the base command and it will request them in an -interactive prompt. - -```sh -# if you want to provide the keys directly: -b2 authorize-account [<applicationKeyId>] [<applicationKey>] - -# or, if you don't want your keys in your shell history: -b2 authorize-account -``` - -### Upload a Test File - -In order to test the functionality of the CLI tool, I'll start by -uploading a single test file to the bucket I created above. We can do -this with the `upload_file` function. - -The command is issued as follows: - -```sh -b2 upload_file <bucket_name> <local_file> <remote_file> -``` - -In my situation, I executed the following command with my username. - -```sh -b2 upload_file my_unique_bucket /home/<user>/test.md test.md -``` - -To confirm that the file was uploaded successfully, list the files in -your bucket: - -```sh -b2 ls <bucket_name> -``` - -```txt -test.md -``` - -### Sync a Directory - -If you have numerous files, you can use the `sync` function -to perform functionality similar to `rsync`, where you can -check what's in your bucket and sync anything that is new or modified. - -The command is issued as follows: - -```sh -b2 sync <source file location> <B2 bucket destination> -``` - -In my case, I can sync my user's entire home directory to my bucket -without specifying any of the files directly: - -```sh -b2 sync /home/<user>/ "b2://<bucketName>/home/<user>" -``` - -## Caveats - -### Timing of Updates to the Web GUI - -When performing actions over a bucket, there is a slight delay in the -web GUI when inspecting a bucket or its file. Note that simple actions -such as uploading or deleting files may have a delay of a few minutes up -to 24 hours. In my experience (\<10 GB and \~20,000 files), any actions -took only a few minutes to update across clients. - -### Symlinks - -Note that symlinks are resolved by b2, so if you have a link from -`/home/<user>/nas-storage` that symlinks out to a -`/mnt/nas-storage` folder that has 10TB of data, -`b2` will resolve that link and start uploading all 10TB of -data linked within the folder. - -If you're not sure if you have any symlinks, a symlink will look like -this (note the `->` symbol): - -```sh -> ls -lha -lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 20 Jun 28 13:32 nas -> /mnt/nas-storage/ -``` - -You can recursively find symlink in a path with the following command: - -```sh -ls -lR /path/to/search | grep '^l' -``` |