In this chapter, we will discuss Cloud Storage for Firebase and also its integration with Google Cloud Platform. We will also explore Firebase hosting, which allows you to host your web apps and static content (CDN) on a production-grade environment.
Cloud Storage provides scalable and secure object storage space, as most of the enterprises today need scalable file storage, considering the huge amount of data they collect through mobile apps, web applications, or corporate websites. Even the applications that are deployed on cloud need storage space either for their own assets such as images, JavaScript, CSS, audio, video files, or user-generated content such as documents, videos, or audios.
The Firebase SDK for Cloud Storage uses Google Cloud Storage buckets to store the uploaded files. Google Cloud Platform needs a billing account to use its products though they provide a few trials. The Firebase SDK for Cloud storage uses a default bucket in Google App Engine free tier and hence you don't need a billing account. Once your app starts growing, you can also integrate other products and services such managed to compute as App Engine or Cloud Functions.
Here's a list of topics that we'll cover in this chapter:
- Overview of Google Cloud Storage
- Key Features of Google Cloud Storage
- Storage Classes supported by Google Cloud Storage
- Overview of Security and Access Control List (ACL) in Google Cloud Storage
- Key features of Cloud Storage for Firebase
- Setup of the Cloud Storage
- Integrate Firebase Cloud Storage with HelpDesk Application to Upload and Download files
- Overview of Google App Engine
- Overview Firebase Hosting
- Deploy front-end of HelpDesk Application on Firebase Hosting
Before we deep dive into Cloud Storage for Firebase, let's first discuss Google Cloud Storage and its features.