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Getting started with Send and IBC S6

· 4 min read
Josh Fraser
info

Prerequisites - before you begin, please ensure:

Overview​

As a secure object storage service, IBC S6 was designed to be integrated into both new and existing applications. Firefox Send is an open-source, secure file-sharing service that integrates cloud object stores like Amazon S3 and Google Cloud Storage for its backend storage.

We've integrated IBC S6 with Send to provide Ionburst Cloud customers the ability to easily and safely share files, while also providing an integration example for our Node.js SDK.

Shared Responsibility Model Breakdown​

Customer Responsibility​

  • You, the customer, are responsible for the secure management of the Ionburst Cloud credentials used by Send to connect with IBC S6.
  • You, the customer, are responsible for the security and administration of the infrastructure running the Send service.

Ionburst Cloud Responsibility​

  • We are responsible for the security of all files stored in IBC S6 through the Send integration.
  • We are responsible for the underlying security and availability of the Ionburst Cloud platform.

Getting Started​

In this tutorial we will cover:

  1. Setting up Send with IBC S6.
  2. Working Send and IBC S6 in development mode.
  3. Preparing Send for production.

1. Setting up Send with IBC S6​

First, we need to clone the Ionburst Cloud Send project, available here.

We then need to install the Node.js dependencies:

git clone https://github.com/ionburstcloud/send.git
cd send
npm install

Once the dependencies are installed, open the Send project in your preferred IDE or editor.

2. Working Send and IBC S6 in development mode​

To try out Send with IBC S6 in the Node.js development mode, we need to complete two configuration steps:

  • Edit the Ionburst SDK config.json file, adding our credentials profile and Ionburst Cloud API endpoint
  • Configure the Send backend to use IBC S6 as its backend storage
  • Start a Redis container to handle Send metadata (optional)

The config.json file can be found at the root of the Send project:

{
"Ionburst": {
"Profile": "send",
"IonburstUri": "https://api.eu-west-1.ionburst.cloud/",
"TraceCredentialsFile": "OFF"
}
}

If you have an existing Ionburst credentials profile, it can be added to the Profile key. Otherwise, add a new profile to the Ionburst credentials file with the name send.

IBC S6 can now be enabled for the Send project by editing the config.js file, found in the server directory. Update the ionburst property's default value to true to enable IBC S6 as the backend storage:

ionburst: {
format: String,
default: 'true'
},

If looking to use Redis for metadata while in development mode, you can also update the redis_host property found on line 91 from localhost to 127.0.0.1 (or the address of your Redis host). This step is optional, as Send will use its own memory store for metadata if the property is left as localhost.

To start a Redis container, the following can be used:

docker run --name send-redis -p 127.0.0.1:6379:6379/tcp -tid redis:latest

Once configured, the Send project can be launched and will be available on http://localhost:8080

npm start

3. Preparing Send for production​

Preparing Send for production is a matter of reviewing and updating the config.js file, found in the server directory. Configuration items to consider are:

  • redis-host on line 91 - it's recommended to use Redis when running Send in production, rather than the built-in memory store. Update this to the address of your Redis node.
  • listen-port on line 136 - Send will run on port 1443 by default in production. It's recommended to run Send behind a load balancer or reverse proxy.
  • base-url on line 167 - change this to the url your Send instance will be available on.

Once happy with the config, a production build of Send can be created:

npm run build

If running Redis on the same host, you can start the container with:

docker run --name send-redis -p 127.0.0.1:6379:6379/tcp -tid redis:latest

You can now start the production build of Send with:

npm run prod

The Send project production build will now be available on http://localhost:1443

Conclusion​

We've covered how to get the Send project up and running with IBC S6, both in development mode, and to prepare it for production deployment. If you have further questions on deploying Send with IBC S6, or integrating Ionburst SDKs with new or existing applications, drop us a line in our community Slack.