Filestore

Fully managed NFS file servers for Google Cloud applications

Google Cloud Filestore is a fully managed file storage service for applications running on Compute Engine VMs or Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) clusters.

Overview

Filestore provides network attached storage (NAS) with a traditional file system interface and shared file access using the NFSv3 protocol. It allows you to create fully managed NFS file servers on GCP to provide high-performance file storage for your applications.

Key Features

• Fully managed service: Google handles all the infrastructure management, patching, and maintenance

• High performance: Low latency and high throughput for file operations

• Scalability: Choose service tiers based on performance and capacity needs

• Snapshots: Create point-in-time copies of your file shares for data protection

• Integration: Works seamlessly with Google Compute Engine and Google Kubernetes Engine

Service Tiers

Filestore offers several service tiers to meet different performance, capacity, and availability needs:

Tier	Capacity Range	Performance	Use Cases
Basic	1-63.9 TB	Good	General purpose workloads
Zonal	1-100 TB	High	High-performance computing
Regional	1-100 TB	High with regional redundancy	Production workloads requiring higher availability
Enterprise	1-10 PB	Highest	Large-scale enterprise workloads

Deployment with Terraform

Here's an example of provisioning a Filestore instance using Terraform:

resource "google_filestore_instance" "instance" {
  name = "filestore-instance"
  tier = "BASIC_HDD"
  location = "us-central1-a"
  
  file_shares {
    name = "share1"
    capacity_gb = 1024  # 1 TB
  }
  
  networks {
    network = "default"
    modes   = ["MODE_IPV4"]
  }
}

Mounting a Filestore Share

On Compute Engine

# Install NFS client
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install nfs-common

# Create mount directory
sudo mkdir -p /mnt/filestore

# Mount the Filestore instance
sudo mount -o rw,intr <filestore-ip-address>:/share1 /mnt/filestore

In Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE)

You can use the Filestore CSI driver to automatically provision and mount Filestore instances as PersistentVolumes.

Example PersistentVolumeClaim:

apiVersion: v1
kind: PersistentVolumeClaim
metadata:
  name: filestore-claim
spec:
  accessModes:
    - ReadWriteMany
  resources:
    requests:
      storage: 1Ti
  storageClassName: filestore-csi

Best Practices

1. Right-sizing: Choose the appropriate tier and capacity for your workload requirements

2. Network configuration: Ensure proper network connectivity between your Filestore instance and clients

3. Backup strategy: Set up regular snapshots for data protection

4. Performance tuning: Configure appropriate NFS mount options based on your workload patterns

5. Monitoring: Use Cloud Monitoring to track performance metrics and set up alerts

Common Use Cases

• Content management systems: Store and serve website assets

• Development environments: Shared code repositories and build environments

• Data analytics: Process large datasets using familiar file system interfaces

• Media processing: Store and process video and image files

• Database backups: Store database dumps and backups

Pricing Considerations

• Filestore is billed based on provisioned capacity, not actual usage

• Different tiers have different pricing models

• Snapshots are billed based on the incremental storage they consume

• No ingress/egress charges within the same zone

Limitations

• Currently only supports NFSv3 protocol

• Cannot resize an instance once created (need to create a new instance)

• Availability differs by tier (Basic and Zonal: single zone; Regional: multi-zone)

Integration with DevOps Workflows

Filestore can be integrated into your DevOps workflow using:

1. Infrastructure as Code: Terraform, Deployment Manager

2. Configuration Management: Ansible playbooks to configure mounts

3. CI/CD: GitHub Actions or Cloud Build to deploy configurations

Alternatives in GCP

• Cloud Storage: Object storage (not a file system)

• Persistent Disk: Block storage attached to specific VMs

• Cloud SQL: Managed relational database service

• Cloud NetApp Volumes: NetApp's high-performance file storage on GCP (third-party)