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subin_john_
Asked: 2020-01-31 21:01:23 +0800 CST

How to get a download URL for files in Google Cloud Storage?

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I have created a service using :

storage.Client(project='project_name', credentials=credentials)

https://googleapis.dev/python/storage/latest/client.html

And I'm able to upload, delete and list the files in a users Google Cloud bucket. I've seen an option to download the file to a server, but is there any option to get a downloadable link?

python google-cloud-platform google-cloud-storage

2 Answers

  1. You can get the downloadable link replacing the values of the following string:

    https://storage.googleapis.com/{bucket.name}/{blob.name}

    If you need to limit permissions or time to make the request, you can generate a Signed URL

    A signed URL is a URL that provides limited permission and time to make a request. Signed URLs contain authentication information in their query string, allowing users without credentials to perform specific actions on a resource. When you generate a signed URL, you specify a user or service account which must have sufficient permission to make the request that the signed URL will make. After you generate a signed URL, anyone who possesses it can use the signed URL to perform specified actions, such as reading an object, within a specified period of time.

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  2. You cannot use an access token to sign a URL because access tokens are time limited (about an hour). An alternative to using the private key file to sign a url, is to use IAM's SignBlob functionality. You can use it with “gsutil” by the command ”gsutil signurl -u --” as mentioned in documentation. Note that with this method, the signed url is only valid for 12 hours, as compared to the maximum of 7 days as mentioned in the documentation

    The signBlob service regularly rotates the private key that it uses. Signed URLs generated are usable for at least 12 hours, but may stop working prior to your set expiration time if the expiration time is greater 12 hours. Given this, signed URLs generated from signBlob are best used for short-lived access to resources.

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