Introduction
This guide helps you to get started with Google Cloud Platform development using jclouds.
Currently, Google Compute Engine is covered. This is a compute service that allows you to run vitual machines on Google's infrastructure. There is also an implementation of the blob store abstraction for managing key-value storage.
Working with the Google Cloud Platform requires a project. If you do not have a project yet, you can sign up via the Developer Console. There is a free trial availible here.
Running examples
A great starting point for using jclouds on GCE is to run the examples provided on github.
Important Setup
- Create a project on the Developer Console (instruction availible here)
- Go to the Developer Console and choose your project.
- Enable the Google Compute Engine API under APIs & auth > APIs
- Create a service account under APIs & auth > Credentials > Create new Client ID and download the Json key. This is described more throughly below under Authentication.
Once you have completed the setup, checkout the jclouds-examples repository and look at either compute-basic for an example of using the compute service abstraction or google-lb for an example of using the GCE api directly.
If you are having trouble feel free to reach out.
Authentication
Google Cloud Platform uses OAuth2 which gives a variety of choices how to authenticate:
- You can ask a user for consent to perform operations in their name.
- You can create a service account and authenticate using its private key.
- Unless configured otherwise, programs running on a GCE instance can perform operations as the project's default service account (documentation).
You can find all the details in the documentation, in the jclouds-examples repository we focus on option 2: service accounts.
To create a new service account:
- Go to the Developer Console.
- Choose your project.
- Choose API & auth > Credentials.
- Click "Create new Client ID".
- Select "Service account" and click "Create Client ID".
- Details of the new service account will be displayed.
- Download a JSON key for a service account by clicking Generate new JSON key. JSON keys are used for authentication when running jclouds on GCE. Make a note of the service account email address - this is the identity that goes with the key.
If you are having trouble feel free to reach out.
