Web Console Getting Started Guide

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This guide walks through navigation and common tasks on Filebase using the Filebase web console.
Signing up for Filebase
Filebase uses a web-based console that can be found at https://filebase.com.
Existing accounts can go directly to https://console.filebase.com.
1. To sign up for a Filebase account, navigate to https://filebase.com. To make a new account, click the ‘Try for Free’ button in the top right corner of the webpage.
2. Next, fill out the fields of the form, including an email address and password, and agree to the Filebase terms to create your account. 
Note: Temporary email addresses cannot be used to create a Filebase account. 
3. You will receive an email with confirmation instructions. Click the link included in the email to confirm your account and finish the registration process. 
Once you’ve completed these steps, your Filebase account has been created. 
Logging into Filebase
1. To login to your Filebase account, navigate to https://filebase.com.
2. At the top right corner of the webpage, select ‘Sign In’. Enter your email address and Filebase password to sign in. 
3. Once signed in, you will be brought to the Filebase dashboard. 
Filebase Dashboard Navigation
Overview
Overview provides a condensed view of a variety of statistics about your Filebase account. These include the total number of buckets on your account, the total number of objects across those buckets, the total amount of storage used by your account (updated hourly), and the total amount of bandwidth consumed by your account within the last 30 days.

Data Usage
Data Usage refers to the total amount of storage and bandwidth used on your account. The values shown here are daily totals and are the ones used for billing purposes. This data allows you to analyze how your total storage usage and bandwidth usage have changed over the past 30 days. 
Recent Activity
Recent Activity shows a history of activity on your account, such as login activity which includes the time and date of logins to your account and the IP address that these logins came from. 

Menu Navigation
On the left side of the screen is the Filebase menu. The menu is broken into three sections: Overview, Data Access, and Your Account. 
Overview: Contains the Filebase Dashboard.
Data Access: Contains the Buckets and Access Keys sections.
Your Account: Contains the Settings, Billing, and Support sections. 
Data Access
Buckets
Buckets are like file folders, they store data and the associated metadata. Buckets are containers for objects.
The Buckets menu option brings you to the Buckets dashboard. From here you can see your existing buckets and create new ones. You can also manage the contents of your existing buckets by uploading or deleting objects inside the buckets. 
Public buckets are not available for free accounts. Users will need to have an active Filebase premium account to create and enable public buckets. 
Object Storage uses objects instead of files. Buckets are containers for those objects. 
Access Keys
Access keys are a pair of unique credentials that are used for authentication through the Filebase S3-compatible API. This access key pair is required for connecting to Filebase through an SDK, third party tool, CLI tool, or any other interaction using the Filebase S3-compatible API. 
The Access Keys menu option brings you to the access keys dashboard. From here you can view, manage, and rotate your access keys.
Filebase currently does not support multiple access key pairs per account but will support this feature in the future. 
Your Account
Settings
In the Settings menu option, you can change the name registered on your Filebase account, as well as change your email address and password. 
Billing
From the Billing menu option, you can update your billing information including your credit card information and billing address. You can also view your billing history and receipts for each invoice.
Support
The Support menu option opens your default email client and populates the email recipient address as [email protected]. This is the best way to contact the Filebase team with any questions or concerns about your account or about Filebase. 
Billing
Starting a Free Trial
Once you create a Filebase account, your account will be a free user by default. Filebase is free to use for all users, who can store up to 5GB of data on Filebase with no credit card required. After 5GB, users will need to upgrade to our subscription model.
Upgrading to a Paid Subscription
1.Visit the Billing page of the dashboard. Enter your payment information using the form provided.
2. Click Save.
3. You will see your payment information saved and an option to select between the Free subscription and the Paid subscription. Paid will be selected by default.
Adding a Payment Method
1.Visit the Billing page of the dashboard. Enter your payment information using the form provided.
2. Click Save.
3. You will see your payment information saved.
Removing a Payment Method
Once a payment method is added, it cannot be removed. A new payment method can be added to replace the pre-existing payment method, but a payment method must be on file once you have selected the Pro subscription.
Canceling a Subscription
Downgrading your account is simple. To start, your account must be using 5 GB of less to fit within our free tier. You will not be able to downgrade until your account is consuming 5GB or less. Then, follow these 3 easy steps:
1.Visit the Billing page of the dashboard.​
2.Select the Free option from the Plan section. This will cancel your paid subscription.
3.Click Save.
Accepted Currencies
Filebase currently only accepts payment in United States Dollars (USD). Filebase does not accept payment in other currencies or cryptocurrencies. 
Creating and Working with Buckets
Creating a Bucket
1. Click on the ‘Buckets’ option from the menu to open the Buckets dashboard.
2. Once at the Buckets dashboard, create a new bucket by clicking the ‘Create Bucket’ option in the top right corner.
3. Enter a bucket name and choose your storage network. 
Bucket names must be unique across all Filebase users, be between 3 and 63 characters long, and can contain only lowercase characters, numbers, and dashes.
Filebase currently has 4 different decentralized storage networks to choose from:
​IPFS: Files stored on IPFS are publicly accessible through IPFS gateways. Recommended for storing data related to Web3 assets, such as NFTs, metadata, or decentralized website data.
​Storj: Private by default. Recommended for larger datasets. 
​Skynet: Files stored on the Skynet network and in Skynet buckets include Skylinks, which are public by default. Recommended for easier file sharing. 
​Sia: Private by default. Recommended for data privacy. 
Each storage network geo-distributes your data automatically. All data is encrypted at rest and at transit.
4. Once you have filled out these fields, click ‘Create Bucket’. 
Buckets are private by default. To create a public bucket, you must be a paid user. 
Emptying a Bucket
1. To empty a bucket of all objects inside of it, start by clicking on the ‘Buckets’ option from the menu to open the Buckets dashboard.
2. Once at the Buckets dashboard, find the bucket you want to empty the contents of and click the 3 dots on the right side of the screen to toggle the options of the bucket.
3. Select the ‘Empty Bucket’ option. 
4. Confirm that you want to empty the bucket by responding to the prompt with the response “permanently delete” in the text input field. 
5. Click ‘Empty Bucket’. 
Deleting a Bucket
1. To delete a bucket, start by clicking on the ‘Buckets’ option from the menu to open the Buckets dashboard.
2. Once at the Buckets dashboard, find the bucket you want to delete and click the 3 dots on the right side of the screen to toggle the options of the bucket.
3. Select the ‘Delete’ option. 
4. Confirm that you want to delete the bucket by responding to the pop up prompt with the ‘Ok’ option. 
Making a Bucket Public or Private
Public buckets are not available for free accounts. Users will need to have an active Filebase premium account to create and enable public buckets.
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1. To toggle the privacy of a bucket, start by clicking on the ‘Buckets’ option from the menu to open the Buckets dashboard.
2. From the Buckets dashboard, each bucket on your account will be listed with information including the bucket name, access, storage network, and date created. Under access is an orange toggle icon to toggle between private and public accessibility for each bucket.
All buckets are private by default. Public bucket functionality is only available to paid subscription users. All files stored in IPFS and Skynet buckets, even if the bucket is private, are publically accessible. IPFS files are available through IPFS CIDs and IPFS gateways. Skynet files are available through Skylinks. 
3. Click the toggle icon to toggle public or private access. 
Buckets can be referenced and accessed (if public) through a URL in the following format:
https://bucket-name.s3.filebase.com
Uploading Objects to a Bucket
1. To upload objects to a bucket, start by clicking on the ‘Buckets’ option from the menu to open the Buckets dashboard.
2. Click on the bucket name that you want to upload objects to. 
3. After clicking on the bucket name, you will see all objects that are currently in the bucket. To upload more objects to the bucket, click on the ’Upload’ button in the top right corner. 
4. Select the files you want to upload to the bucket.
Uploading a File to IPFS Through Filebase
1. Start by clicking on the ‘Buckets’ option from the menu to open the Buckets dashboard.
2. Select your IPFS Bucket.  
3. After clicking on the bucket name, you will see any previously uploaded files. To upload another file, select 'Upload', then select 'File' from the options. 
4. Select the file you want to upload to the IPFS.
5. Once uploaded, you will be able to view and copy the IPFS CID from the 'CID' category, as seen below. 
Uploading a Folder to IPFS Through Filebase
1. Start by clicking on the ‘Buckets’ option from the menu to open the Buckets dashboard.
2. Select your IPFS Bucket.  
3. After clicking on the bucket name, you will see any previously uploaded files. To upload another file, select 'Upload', then select 'Folder' from the options. 
4. Select the folder you'd like to upload to IPFS.
5. Once uploaded, the folder will look similar to IPFS individual files. 
6. Copy the IPFS CID for your folder, then navigate to https://ipfs.filebase.io/ipfs/[CID]. The contents of your folder will be listed.
Viewing an Object’s Overview
1. Once an object has been uploaded to a bucket, you can view the object’s overview. Start by clicking on the ‘Buckets’ option from the menu to open the Buckets dashboard.
2. Click on the bucket name containing the object you want to view.
3. After clicking on the bucket name, you will see all objects that are currently in the bucket. Click on the object name you want to view. 
4. This will open the object’s overview. 
From this overview, you can view information on the object such as:
Owner: The Filebase user who uploaded the object.
Etag: The entity tag of the object. 
Last Modified: The time and date that the object was last modified. 
Size: The size of the object in bytes.
Key: The name of the object. 
Skylink: The object's Skylink if located in a Skynet Bucket.
IPFS CID: The object's IPFS CID if uploaded in an IPFS bucket.
Object URL: The Filebase object URL. If this object is stored in a public bucket, this link can be used to share the file with others.
Object Map:  A graphic that shows how many pieces the object has been broken into and a geographical map of where the pieces of this object are located; Currently only available for objects uploaded to the Storj network.
Object Metadata: Any user-defined metadata on the object will be listed under the Object Metadata header, such as the content-type of the object. 
Editing Object Metadata
1. Once an object has been uploaded to a bucket, you can edit the object’s metadata. Start by clicking on the ‘Buckets’ option from the menu to open the Buckets dashboard.
2. Click on the bucket name containing the object you want to view.
3. After clicking on the bucket name, you will see all objects that are currently in the bucket. Click on the object name you want to view. 
4. This will open the object’s overview. From this overview, you can edit the metadata of the file by selecting the ‘Manage Metadata’ option on the right side of the webpage. 
5. This will bring up a Metadata editing page where you can change the content-type and cache-control metadata options for the object, as well as add any additional metadata fields to the object.
 
Viewing an Object
1. To view the content of an object once uploaded to a bucket, start by clicking on the ‘Buckets’ option from the menu to open the Buckets dashboard.
2. Click on the bucket name containing the object you want to view.
3. After clicking on the bucket name, you will see all objects that are currently in the bucket. Click on the object name you want to view. 
4. This will open the object’s overview. You can open the file by clicking the ‘Open’ button in the top right corner of the webpage. 
Downloading an Object
1. To download an object from a bucket, start by clicking on the ‘Buckets’ option from the menu to open the Buckets dashboard.
2. Click on the bucket name containing the object you want to download.
3. After clicking on the bucket name, you will see all objects that are currently in the bucket. Click on the object name you want to download. 
4. This will open the object’s overview. You can download the file by clicking the ‘Download’ button in the top right corner of the webpage. 
Sharing an Object 
1.To share an object from a bucket, start by clicking on the ‘Buckets’ option from the menu to open the Buckets dashboard. 
To share objects using link sharing, the bucket will need to have accessibility set to public.
2. Click on the bucket name containing the object you want to share. 
3. After clicking on the bucket name, you will see all objects that are currently in the bucket. From here, there are two ways to get the object’s sharable link. 
You can click on the three ellipses dots on the far right of the name of the object and select ‘Share’.
4. You can also click on the object name you want to share.
5. This will open the object’s overview. You can share the file by clicking the ‘Share’ button in the top right corner of the webpage. This will copy the URL for the object.
Deleting an Object
1. To delete an object from a bucket, start by clicking on the ‘Buckets’ option from the menu to open the Buckets dashboard.
2. Click on the bucket name containing the object you want to delete.
3. After clicking on the bucket name, you will see all objects that are currently in the bucket. Find the object that you want to delete and click on the 3 dots on the right side of the screen to toggle the delete option.
4. From the 3 dot toggle options, select the ‘Delete’ option. Confirm you want to delete the object by clicking ‘Ok’ when prompted. 
Creating a Folder Inside a Bucket
1. To create a folder for objects inside a bucket, start by clicking on the ‘Buckets’ option from the menu to open the Buckets dashboard.
2. Click on the bucket name you want to create a folder inside of.
3. After clicking on the bucket name, select the ‘New Folder’ option in the top right corner of the webpage.
4. Enter the name for the new folder in the prompt and select ‘Create Folder’. 
Deleting a Folder Inside a Bucket
1. To delete a folder from a bucket, start by clicking on the ‘Buckets’ option from the menu to open the Buckets dashboard.
2. Click on the bucket name containing the folder you want to delete.
3. After clicking on the bucket name, you will see the contents of the bucket. Find the folder that you want to delete and click on the 3 dots on the right side of the screen to toggle the delete option.
Deleting a folder will delete all of its contents as well.
4. From the 3 dot toggle options, select the ‘Delete’ option. Confirm you want to delete the folder by clicking ‘Ok’ when prompted. 
Working with Access Keys
Viewing Your Access Keys
1. To view the access key for your Filebase account, start by clicking on the ‘Access Keys’ option from the menu to open the access keys dashboard.
2. Here you can view the access keys for your account. Each access key has two parts, the key and the secret associated with the key. The access key dashboard will also provide information such as the time and date the access key was created on and it’s current status. 
3. To use access keys, you will need to have both the key and the secret associated with that key. 
Rotating Your Access Key
Rotating an access key will create a new access key and secret access key. Your old key will be disabled and will no longer function.
1. To rotate your access key, start by clicking on the ‘Access Keys’ option from the menu to open the access keys dashboard.
2. Click on the ‘Rotate’ button under the ‘action’ section of the access key dashboard. 
3. To confirm the rotation of the access key, respond to the confirmation prompt by inputting the text ‘rotate my keys’ in the text input field. 
API endpoint
The Filebase API endpoint is https://s3.filebase.com​
Glossary of Terms
Access Key: When accessing Filebase through the S3 API, an access key is required to access your Filebase buckets and objects. Your access key has two components - the key and the secret. You will need both, similar to using a username and password.
API: Application Programming Interface; A software intermediary that allows two applications to communicate to one another.
AWS: Amazon Web Services; A component of Amazon’s cloud computing service.
Bucket: In object storage, buckets are similar to a traditional file system’s folders. Buckets are containers for objects and the associated metadata of those objects. Unlike traditional file systems, buckets cannot be nested into one another like file folders can be.
End User: Any individual that uses a product or service.
Erasure Coding: A method of data protection in which data is broken into fragments (also called chunks or shards), encrypted and encoded, then distributed across different locations.
Geo-redundancy: The practice of storing data across multiple data centers or physical locations throughout different geographic locations.
IPFS: InterPlanetary File System; A peer-to-peer network for sharing and storing data over a distributed file system.
Metadata: In object storage, metadata is fully customizable and functional for objects, allowing you to capture application or user specific information for more specific indexing purposes and data management policies.
Nodes: A compute server or otherwise communication endpoint.
Peer-to-Peer Networks: A network topology where a group of nodes that are connected together have equal responsibility, permissions, and access to resources.
Object: In object storage, objects are similar to a traditional file system’s files. They are small entities that contain data and metadata.
Object Storage: A computer storage architecture that stores data in the form of objects, as opposed to file system storage architectures that store data as files located within a hierarchy.
Sharding: Separating data objects into small, individual units referred to as shards.
Shards: a partition or piece of a data file.
Sia: an open source decentralized storage network.
Skynet: a “layer-2” decentralized storage platform that leverages the Sia network.
Storj: an open source decentralized cloud storage network.
S3: S3 technology was originally created by Amazon, but it has since become an open standard. Since then, several companies have created their own non-Amazon based version of the API. All references to S3 in this document refer to the S3 API.
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