Can't backup GAE application datastore to GS bucket

Question

I'm trying to backup GAE datastore to GS bucket as described here: https://developers.google.com/appengine/docs/adminconsole/datastoreadmin#Backup_And_Restore. I've tried to supply bucket name in forms:

bucket 
/gs/bucket
/gs/bucket/path

but non of it work. Every time I get a message:

There was a problem kicking some off the jobs/tasks:
Invalid bucket name: 'bucket'

What am I doing wrong? Is it possible at all to backup all data (including blob files) to GS without writing custom code for this?

Answer 1

I got it to work by adding the service account e-mail as a privileged user with write permission.

Here's what I did:

1. Create bucket via web interface (STORAGE>CLOUD STORAGE>Storage Browser > New Bucket)
2. Add [email protected] as a privileged user with edit permission (Permissions>Add Member)

Even thought it was part of the same project, for some reason I still had to add the project e-mail as a privileged user.

Answer 2

I suspect the bucket does not exist or else app engine does not have permission to write to the bucket.

Make sure the following are true:

1. You have created BUCKET. Use something like gsutil to create the bucket if necessary.
   • gsutil mb gs://BUCKET
2. Make sure your app engine service account has WRITE access to BUCKET.
   • The service account is of the form APP_NAME@appspot.gserviceaccount.com.
   • Add the service account to your project team with can edit access.
   • Alternatively you can change the bucket acl and the service account there. This option is more complicated.
3. Now start the backup using the form /gs/BUCKET

If you get an Bucket "/gs/BUCKET" is not accessible message then your bucket does not exist, or [email protected] does not have access to your bucket.

NOTE: the form is /gs/BUCKET. The following are wrong: BUCKET, gs://BUCKET, gs/BUCKET etc.

Check that the bucket exists with the right permissions with following command:

gsutil getacl gs://BUCKET  # Note the URI form here instead of a path.

Look for an entry like the following:

<Entry>
  <Scope type="UserByEmail">
    <EmailAddress>[email protected]</EmailAddress>
  </Scope>
  <Permission>WRITE</Permission>
</Entry>

If you don't see one you can add one in the following manner:

gsutil getacl gs://BUCKET > acl.xml
vim acl.xml  # Or your favorite editor
# Add the xml above
gsutil setacl acl.xml gs://BUCKET

Now the steps above will work.