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Version: 1.1.6

StorageLink CloudFormation Usage Instructions

TLDR

Purpose: Deploy StorageLink on AWS using CloudFormation templates from the AWS Marketplace.

Template Options:

  • Single Instance Existing Network — One EC2 in existing VPC
  • High Availability Existing Network — Auto-scaling group in existing VPC
  • High Availability New Network — Auto-scaling group with new VPC

Key Parameters:

  • Instance type: t3.medium (test) / m5.large (production)
  • Bucket Access: restricted (single bucket) or open (all buckets)
  • Input CIDR: Your IP + /32 for security group rules

Deployment: AWS Marketplace → Subscribe → Continue to Configuration → Launch CloudFormation

Product: StorageLink by Thorn Technologies — cloud storage gateway for secure file sharing

Overview​

This guide walks you through launching StorageLink with CloudFormation from the [AWS Marketplace][marketplace-redirect].

When deploying StorageLink, you have the option to use 3 different CloudFormation templates:

  • StorageLink (Single Instance Existing Network)
  • StorageLink (High Availability Existing Network)
  • StorageLink (High Availability New Network)

Select the template which suits you best and click Continue to Launch.

Launch this software | Choose Action​

On this page, you only have one form field:

configure-this-software.png

Select Launch CloudFormation, and click Launch.

This takes you to the CloudFormation Create Stack wizard, with the template pre-loaded. Click Next.

Configure CloudFormation parameters​

On the Specify stack details page, you will need to configure some CloudFormation parameters.

Stack name​

This is the name of your CloudFormation stack.

Default Bucket​

Enter the name of your S3 bucket. You can use either a new or existing bucket.

Here are some restrictions on naming your S3 bucket:

  • Cannot contain uppercase letters
  • Can contain lowercase letters, numbers, periods (not recommended), and hyphens
  • Must be between 3 and 63 characters
  • Must be globally unique

Bucket Access​

This parameter determines whether S3 permissions are broad or restrictive.

  • open: StorageLink is granted S3 Full Access. This is helpful if you plan on using a different S3 bucket for each user. We recommend [locking down S3 access][restrict-s3-access] after your users are configured.
  • restricted: S3 access is limited to the default bucket. This improves your security posture by protecting your other S3 buckets from administrators with shell access to the StorageLink instance.

EC2Type​

For testing, use a t3.medium. The t3 class is cheaper, but cannot handle sustained traffic.

For production, use an m5.large or better.

Disk Volume Size​

This is set to 32 GB by default. Set this to a higher value if you plan on transferring large batches of data.

For a single instance stack, you can [increase the size of your instance volume][resize-ebs] later on.

Key Pair​

Select a key pair of which you own the private key

VPC​

Select the option with the IP address range of 172.31.0.0/16. This is your default VPC, which is public by default.

Subnet ID​

Select any option with the IP address range of 172.31.x.0/20. These subnets belong to the default VPC.

Input CIDR​

Get your current IP address from http://checkip.dyndns.org/.

Then enter this IP address, followed by /32. For example, 1.2.3.4/32. The /32 suffix represents a network range of a single address.

Web Admin Password​

Enter an admin password. You'll later use this to log into the web interface for user management.