How to set up Backblaze B2 cloud storage and manage it with Nubbo

Backblaze B2 is an affordable object storage service that’s fully S3-compatible and known for its low prices and generous free egress. In this guide, you’ll set everything up from zero and connect it to Nubbo so you can manage your files from a clean, modern interface.

What is Backblaze B2?

Backblaze B2 is an object storage service designed to be simple and cheap. It exposes an S3-compatible API, so any tool that works with AWS S3 also works with B2. What makes it stand out:

• Low pricing: $6/TB per month ($0.006/GB), among the lowest in the market.
• Generous free egress: downloads are free up to three times the data you store each month, then $0.01/GB.
• Free tier: the first 10 GB of storage are free, no credit card required to start.
• S3-compatible API: works seamlessly with any S3-compatible tool, including Nubbo.
• Regions in the US, Europe and Canada: pick the one closest to you.

Common use cases:

• Backups: a reliable, low-cost destination for automated backups.
• Media storage: keep images, videos and audio accessible with generous free egress.
• Active archives: store large datasets without cold storage penalties.
• File distribution: share large files with clients at predictable costs.

Step 1: Create a Backblaze account

If you already have a Backblaze account, skip to the next step.

1. Go to backblaze.com and sign up.
2. Open B2 Cloud Storage from your account dashboard.
3. The first 10 GB of storage are free, so you can start without a credit card.

Step 2: Create a bucket

1. Go to Buckets and click Create a Bucket.
2. Choose a name (bucket names are globally unique) and keep it Private.
3. Click Create a Bucket to confirm.
4. Open the bucket and note its endpoint, for example s3.us-west-004.backblazeb2.com. The part between s3. and .backblazeb2.com is your region.

Step 3: Set the lifecycle to keep only the last version

By default, B2 keeps every version of a file. That means deletions don’t actually free space, they just hide the file. To avoid surprises:

1. In the bucket, open Lifecycle Settings.
2. Choose Keep only the last version of the file.

This way, when you delete a file, B2 removes the old versions automatically.

Step 4: Generate an application key

1. Go to Application Keys and click Add a New Application Key.
2. Give it a name and allow access to your bucket with Read and Write.
3. Save the keyID (your access key) and the applicationKey (your secret). The secret is only shown once.

Step 5: Configure CORS

CORS lets Nubbo upload files directly from your browser to B2. This is the one step where B2 differs from other providers: the console CORS form only allows downloads, so you need to set custom rules that include the upload operation (s3_put) using the Backblaze B2 command-line tool.

1. Install the B2 command-line tool and run b2 account authorize with your keyID and applicationKey.
2. Apply the following CORS rules to your bucket:

[
  {
    "corsRuleName": "nubbo",
    "allowedOrigins": ["*"],
    "allowedOperations": ["s3_get", "s3_head", "s3_put", "s3_post", "s3_delete"],
    "allowedHeaders": ["*"],
    "exposeHeaders": ["etag"],
    "maxAgeSeconds": 3600
  }
]

3. Run b2 bucket update YOUR_BUCKET --cors-rules '<the JSON above on one line>'.

For extra security, replace * in allowedOrigins with https://app.nubbo.app to restrict uploads exclusively to Nubbo. CORS changes can take a few minutes to apply.

Step 6: Connect to Nubbo

Everything is ready on the Backblaze side. Now connect your bucket to Nubbo.

1. If you don’t have an account yet, sign up for free on Nubbo.
2. Once inside, click Add Provider in the sidebar.
3. Select Backblaze B2 as the provider type.
4. Nubbo includes a built-in step-by-step guide inside the setup wizard that you can check at any time.
5. Give the connection a descriptive name (for example, “My Backblaze B2 Storage”).
6. Enter the credentials from Step 4: your keyID and applicationKey.
7. Select the region that matches your bucket endpoint.
8. Type the bucket name from Step 2.
9. The endpoint is generated automatically based on the region you select.
10. Click Test connection to verify everything works, then save the provider.

From now on, you’ll be able to browse your files, upload with drag & drop, preview images and videos, search files, share them with public links, create photo galleries, receive files through file requests, and much more, all from the Nubbo interface.

Backblaze B2 pricing at a glance

B2’s pricing is among the cheapest in cloud storage, with a generous free egress allowance that suits backups and media workloads.

Summary

In six steps you’ve set up everything you need:

1. Backblaze account created (with 10 GB free).
2. Bucket created and its region noted.
3. Lifecycle set to keep only the last version.
4. Application key generated.
5. CORS configured with the B2 command-line tool to allow browser uploads.
6. Bucket connected to Nubbo and ready to use.

Nubbo also supports AWS S3, Cloudflare R2, DigitalOcean Spaces, Wasabi and any S3-compatible or self-hosted server, so if you use multiple providers you can manage them all from the same place.

Ready to get started? Create your free account and connect your first bucket in minutes.