Using Cloud Storage for TechDocs generated files
In the TechDocs architecture you have the option to choose
where you want to store the Generated static files which TechDocs uses to render
documentation. In both the "Basic" and "Recommended" setup, you can add cloud
storage providers like Google GCS, Amazon AWS S3, etc. By default, TechDocs uses
the local filesystem of the techdocs-backend plugin in the "Basic" setup. And
in the recommended setup, having one of the cloud storage is a prerequisite.
Read more on the TechDocs Architecture documentation page.
On this page you can read how to enable them.
Configuring Google GCS Bucket with TechDocs
Follow the official Google Cloud documentation for the latest instructions on the following steps involving GCP.
1. Set techdocs.publisher.type config in your app-config.yaml
Set techdocs.publisher.type to 'googleGcs'.
techdocs:
publisher:
type: 'googleGcs'
2. Create a GCS Bucket
Create a dedicated Google Cloud Storage bucket for TechDocs sites. techdocs-backend will publish documentation to this bucket. TechDocs will fetch files from here to serve documentation in Backstage. Note that the bucket names are globally unique.
Set the config techdocs.publisher.googleGcs.bucketName in your
app-config.yaml to the name of the bucket you just created.
techdocs:
publisher:
type: 'googleGcs'
googleGcs:
bucketName: 'name-of-techdocs-storage-bucket'
3a. (Recommended) Authentication using environment variable
The GCS Node.js client will automatically use the environment variable
GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS to authenticate with Google Cloud. It might
already be set in Compute Engine, Google Kubernetes Engine, etc. Read
https://cloud.google.com/docs/authentication/production for more details.
3b. Authentication using app-config.yaml
If you do not prefer (3a) and optionally like to use a service account, you can follow these steps.
Create a new Service Account and a key associated with it. In roles of the service account, use "Storage Admin".
If you want to create a custom role, make sure to include both get and
create permissions for both "Objects" and "Buckets". See
https://cloud.google.com/storage/docs/access-control/iam-permissions
A service account can have many keys. Open your newly created account's page (in IAM & Admin console), and create a new key. Use JSON format for the key.
A <GCP-PROJECT-ID-random-uid>.json file will be downloaded. This is the secret
key TechDocs will use to make API calls. Make it available in your Backstage
server and/or your local development server and set it in the app config
techdocs.publisher.googleGcs.credentials.
techdocs:
publisher:
type: 'googleGcs'
googleGcs:
bucketName: 'name-of-techdocs-storage-bucket'
credentials:
$file: '/path/to/google_application_credentials.json'
Note: If you are finding it difficult to make the file
google_application_credentials.json available on a server, you could use the
file's content and set as an environment variable. And then use
techdocs:
publisher:
type: 'googleGcs'
googleGcs:
bucketName: 'name-of-techdocs-storage-bucket'
credentials: ${GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS}
4. That's it!
Your Backstage app is now ready to use Google Cloud Storage for TechDocs, to store and read the static generated documentation files.
Configuring AWS S3 Bucket with TechDocs
1. Set techdocs.publisher.type config in your app-config.yaml
Set techdocs.publisher.type to 'awsS3'.
techdocs:
publisher:
type: 'awsS3'
2. Create an S3 Bucket
Create a dedicated AWS S3 bucket for the storage of TechDocs sites. Refer to the official documentation. Terraform example.
TechDocs will publish documentation to this bucket and will fetch files from here to serve documentation in Backstage. Note that the bucket names are globally unique.
Set the config techdocs.publisher.awsS3.bucketName in your app-config.yaml
to the name of the bucket you just created.
techdocs:
publisher:
type: 'awsS3'
awsS3:
bucketName: 'name-of-techdocs-storage-bucket'
3. Create minimal AWS IAM policies to manage TechDocs
To write TechDocs into the S3 bucket the IAM policy needs to have at a minimum permissions to:
s3:ListBucketto retrieve bucket metadatas3:PutObjectto upload files to the bucket
To read TechDocs from the S3 bucket the IAM policy needs to have at a minimum permissions to:
s3:ListBucket- To retrieve bucket metadatas3:GetObject- To retrieve files from the bucket
4a. (Recommended) Setup authentication the AWS way, using environment variables
You should follow the AWS security best practices guide for authentication.
TechDocs needs access to read files and metadata of the S3 bucket. So if you are creating a policy for a user you want to make sure it is granted access to ListBucket, GetObject and PutObject.
If the environment variables
AWS_ACCESS_KEY_IDAWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEYAWS_REGION
are set and can be used to access the bucket you created in step 2, they will be used by the AWS SDK V2 Node.js client for authentication. Refer to the official documentation for loading credentials in Node.js from environment variables.
If the environment variables are missing, the AWS SDK tries to read the
~/.aws/credentials file for credentials.
Refer to the official documentation.
If you are using Amazon EC2 instance to deploy Backstage, you do not need to obtain the access keys separately. They can be made available in the environment automatically by defining appropriate IAM role with access to the bucket. Read more in official AWS documentation for using IAM roles..
The AWS Region of the bucket is optional since TechDocs uses AWS SDK V2 and not V3.
4b. Authentication using app-config.yaml
AWS credentials and region can be provided to the AWS SDK via app-config.yaml.
If the configs below are present, they will be used over existing AWS_*
environment variables and the ~/.aws/credentials config file.
techdocs:
publisher:
type: 'awsS3'
awsS3:
bucketName: 'name-of-techdocs-storage-bucket'
region: ${AWS_REGION}
credentials:
accessKeyId: ${AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID}
secretAccessKey: ${AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY}
Refer to the official AWS documentation for obtaining the credentials.
4c. Authentication using an assumed role Users with multiple AWS accounts
may want to use a role for S3 storage that is in a different AWS account. Using
the roleArn parameter as seen below, you can instruct the TechDocs publisher
to assume a role before accessing S3.
techdocs:
publisher:
type: 'awsS3'
awsS3:
bucketName: 'name-of-techdocs-storage-bucket'
region: ${AWS_REGION}
credentials:
roleArn: arn:aws:iam::123456789012:role/my-backstage-role
Note: Assuming a role requires that primary credentials are already configured
at AWS.config.credentials. Read more about
assuming roles in AWS.
5. That's it!
Your Backstage app is now ready to use AWS S3 for TechDocs, to store and read
the static generated documentation files. When you start the backend of the app,
you should be able to see
techdocs info Successfully connected to the AWS S3 bucket in the logs.
Configuring Azure Blob Storage Container with TechDocs
Follow the official Azure Blob Storage documentation for the latest instructions on the following steps involving Azure Blob Storage.
1. Set techdocs.publisher.type config in your app-config.yaml
Set techdocs.publisher.type to 'azureBlobStorage'.
techdocs:
publisher:
type: 'azureBlobStorage'
2. Create an Azure Blob Storage Container
Create a dedicated container for TechDocs sites. Refer to the official documentation.
TechDocs will publish documentation to this container and will fetch files from here to serve documentation in Backstage. Note that the container names are globally unique.
Set the config techdocs.publisher.azureBlobStorage.containerName in your
app-config.yaml to the name of the container you just created.
techdocs:
publisher:
type: 'azureBlobStorage'
azureBlobStorage:
containerName: 'name-of-techdocs-storage-container'
3a. (Recommended) Authentication using environment variable
If you do not prefer (3a) and optionally like to use a service account, you can
set the config techdocs.publisher.azureBlobStorage.credentials.accountName in
your app-config.yaml to the your account name.
The storage blob client will automatically use the environment variable
AZURE_TENANT_ID, AZURE_CLIENT_ID, AZURE_CLIENT_SECRET to authenticate with
Azure Blob Storage.
Steps to create the service where the variables can be retrieved from.
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/storage/common/storage-auth-aad for more details.
techdocs:
publisher:
type: 'azureBlobStorage'
azureBlobStorage:
containerName: 'name-of-techdocs-storage-bucket'
credentials:
accountName: ${TECHDOCS_AZURE_BLOB_STORAGE_ACCOUNT_NAME}
3b. Authentication using app-config.yaml
If you do not prefer (3a) and optionally like to use a service account, you can follow these steps.
To get credentials, access the Azure Portal and go to "Settings > Access Keys", and get your Storage account name and Primary Key. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/rest/api/storageservices/authorize-with-shared-key for more details.
techdocs:
publisher:
type: 'azureBlobStorage'
azureBlobStorage:
containerName: 'name-of-techdocs-storage-bucket'
credentials:
accountName: ${TECHDOCS_AZURE_BLOB_STORAGE_ACCOUNT_NAME}
accountKey: ${TECHDOCS_AZURE_BLOB_STORAGE_ACCOUNT_KEY}
4. That's it!
Your Backstage app is now ready to use Azure Blob Storage for TechDocs, to store
and read the static generated documentation files. When you start the backend of
the app, you should be able to see
techdocs info Successfully connected to the Azure Blob Storage container in
the logs.
Configuring OpenStack Swift Container with TechDocs
Follow the official OpenStack Api documentation for the latest instructions on the following steps involving OpenStack Storage.
1. Set techdocs.publisher.type config in your app-config.yaml
Set techdocs.publisher.type to 'openStackSwift'.
techdocs:
publisher:
type: 'openStackSwift'
2. Create an OpenStack Swift Storage Container
Create a dedicated container for TechDocs sites. Refer to the official documentation.
TechDocs will publish documentation to this container and will fetch files from here to serve documentation in Backstage. Note that the container names are globally unique.
Set the config techdocs.publisher.openStackSwift.containerName in your
app-config.yaml to the name of the container you just created.
techdocs:
publisher:
type: 'openStackSwift'
openStackSwift:
containerName: 'name-of-techdocs-storage-container'
3. Authentication using app-config.yaml
Set the configs in your app-config.yaml to point to your container name.
techdocs:
publisher:
type: 'openStackSwift'
openStackSwift:
containerName: 'name-of-techdocs-storage-bucket'
credentials:
username: ${OPENSTACK_SWIFT_STORAGE_USERNAME}
password: ${OPENSTACK_SWIFT_STORAGE_PASSWORD}
authUrl: ${OPENSTACK_SWIFT_STORAGE_AUTH_URL}
keystoneAuthVersion: ${OPENSTACK_SWIFT_STORAGE_AUTH_VERSION}
domainId: ${OPENSTACK_SWIFT_STORAGE_DOMAIN_ID}
domainName: ${OPENSTACK_SWIFT_STORAGE_DOMAIN_NAME}
region: ${OPENSTACK_SWIFT_STORAGE_REGION}
4. That's it!
Your Backstage app is now ready to use OpenStack Swift Storage for TechDocs, to
store and read the static generated documentation files. When you start the
backend of the app, you should be able to see
techdocs info Successfully connected to the OpenStack Swift Storage container
in the logs.