Changing settings for IBM Cloud accounts

To change settings for a cloud account to IBM Cloud®, you can use either the management GUI or the command-line interface.

When settings are changed on the cloud account, any snapshot versions of volumes that are stored on the cloud become unavailable. Before you change any settings that are related to the cloud account, ensure that you restore data from the cloud storage or delete the cloud snapshots from cloud storage before you proceed. After the changes are completed to the cloud account, new cloud snapshots can be created of volume data. Situations do require updating certain settings on the cloud account. For example, if a cloud service provider updates credential information, then changes to the cloud account information on the system are required. For some settings, the system restricts any updates.

For an IBM Cloud account, the following settings cannot be changed:
Tenant
A tenant is a container that is used to store objects that are created for a particular account. Tenant names are defined by the cloud service provider and represent the underlying storage that is used by the account. Tenant names must remain consistent or data that is stored on the cloud cannot be accessed.
Container prefix
Container prefixes are added to the beginning of the tenant name to identify which tenants are associated with the system. Prefixes can also be used to identify multiple systems that use the same cloud account to store snapshots of volume data. Like with tenant names, these prefixes must remain consistent to access data on the cloud.
Encryption
After encryption is set for a cloud account, it cannot be changed.

Using the management GUI

To change settings for an IBM Cloud account, complete these steps:

  1. In the management GUI, select Settings > System > Transparent Cloud Tiering.
  2. On the Transparent Cloud Tiering page, verify that the state of the cloud account is online. If the cloud account is not online, the connection to the cloud service provider is not available. Select Monitoring > Events to investigate the cause of the problem. You might need to access the cloud service provider to determine the connection problem.
  3. Expand Account information to view settings that are related to the account. The following settings can be updated:
    Object storage URL
    Enter the new URL to the repository for your account. This URL is provided in your service contract with the cloud service provider. If the cloud service provider changes the URL or domain name server entries are updated, you can update this field to the new location.
    User name
    Enter the new user name that is associated with the account. The user name is used to identify clients that can access content that is stored by the cloud service provider.
    API key
    Enter the new API key and give access to the APIs that the cloud service provider uses. An API key is associated with the user name and authenticates that user to cloud resources that are associated to the cloud account. The API key can be generated on the IBM Cloud interface by using either the customer portal or an API call that creates the key. Keys can be updated on the cloud servicer provider, which requires the key to be updated on the system. For more information, see the IBM Cloud documentation. To update the API key, click Edit.
  4. Click Save.
  5. On the Force Changes page, click Force to accept the changes or click Cancel to discard the changes and retain the original settings.

Using the command-line interface

To change the object storage URL, the user name, and API key for the cloud account, enter the following command:
chcloudaccountswift -endpoint https_endpoint_URL -username username -password 'password' cloud_account_id_or_name
where https_endpoint_URL is the new object storage URL, username is the new user name, and 'password' is the new API key for the account. The cloud_account_id_or_name parameter is either the name or the system-assigned identifier for the cloud account.