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Version: 1.1.1

StorageLink Installation

Introduction

StorageLink is a pre-configured server that transfers files to Cloud Storage (S3, Blob Storage & Google Cloud Storage).

To start, you provision StorageLink from the Cloud Marketplace. This takes you to the VM creation wizard in your respective marketplace.

This guide will focus on getting started with a Single Instance StorageLink setup for testing.

Before you begin

You will need to create an EC2 Key Pair in order to SSH into your instances. Although most StorageLink configuration is via the web interface, there may be times when you need command line access.

To create an EC2 key pair:

  1. Log into AWS and go to the EC2 console.

  2. In the navigation panel, under the Network & Security section, go to Key Pairs.

  3. Click Create Key Pair.

  4. Enter a name for the new key pair and click Create.

    Note: When you click Create, your browser will download a private key file. This must be kept secure in a place where you can always find it. If this file is lost or deleted, it is difficult to regain access to your EC2 instance.

Subscribe

You first need to subscribe to the StorageLink product. Doing so allows your AWS account to use the StorageLink AMI.

Click here to open the AWS Marketplace page for StorageLink.

Click the Continue to Subscribe button.

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Click the Accept Terms button.

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Once you are subscribed, click Continue to Configuration.

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Under the Fulfillment option, select an CloudFormation Template option:

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

Click Continue to Launch.

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On the Launch this software page, under Choose Action, select Launch CloudFormation and click Launch.

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This will take you to the CloudFormation service in the AWS console.

Spinning up an StorageLink CloudFormation stack

If you followed the instructions in the previous section, you should now be in the CloudFormation service within the AWS console.

The Template source should be pointing to a location on S3 corresponding to the CloudFormation template you specified.

specify-template.png

To spin up a Single Instance (Existing Network) CloudFormation stack of StorageLink:

  1. The Template source is already selected, so click Next to continue.

  2. Enter the details for the stack:

    • Stack name: The name of your CloudFormation stack.

    • Bucket Access: The default is restricted, which limits access to S3 buckets following a naming convention. Choose open to allow access to all S3 buckets.

    • EC2 Type: Defaults to t3.medium. We recommend using m5.large for production workloads.

    • Disk Volume Size (GB): This must be 32 (the volume size of the AMI) or higher. You can always increase this at a later time.

    • Key Pair. Choose the EC2 key pair you created in the Before you begin section. You will need the private key in order to SSH into the server.

    • VPC: Select a VPC that has a public subnet.

    • Subnet ID: Select a public subnet in the above VPC.

    • Web Input CIDR: An IP range that allows inbound HTTP and HTTPS traffic to your EC2 instance. If you support multiple users, it may be more practical opening this to the public (0.0.0.0/0).

    • Ssh Input CIDR: An IP range that allows inbound SSH traffic to your EC2 instance. We recommend obtaining your computer's public IP from http://checkip.dyndns.org/ and then appending /32 (a CIDR range of a single address).

    • Web Admin Username: The Web Admin Username you'll use to sign into the StorageLink UI with.

    • Web Admin Password: The Web Admin Password you'll use to sign into the StorageLink UI with.

  3. Stack Options: The stack options page can be left as is. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click Next.

  4. Review and create stack.

    • You must check the box that reads I acknowledge that AWS CloudFormation might create IAM resources to give CloudFormation permission to create IAM resources.

      IAM

      Click Submit to create the stack.

The stack creation progress can be monitored by selecting the stack and viewing the Events tab. Any errors that occur during creation will appear in the event log.

The next step is to go through the First Launch Experience to sign into the StorageLink Interface.