Google Cloud Storage: https://cloud.google.com/storage/docs

NOTE: Due to the specific functionality related to Google Cloud APIs, this guide assumes a base level of familiarity with Google Cloud Storage features, terminology, and pricing.

Understanding Soft Delete and Cost Considerations

1. Soft Delete: A feature for protecting against accidental data loss. Deleted objects are retained for a defined period before permanent deletion. This adds safety but carries potential additional storage costs.
2. Cost Analysis: This script evaluates the relative cost increase within each bucket if soft delete is enabled. Considerations include:
   • Your soft delete retention window
   • Amount of data likely to be soft-deleted
   • Proportions of data in different storage classes (e.g., Standard, Nearline)

How to Use the Script

Prerequisites

 1. A Google Cloud Platform (GCP) Project with existing buckets.
 2. Permissions on your GCP project to interact with Google Cloud Storage and Monitoring APIs.
 3. A Python environment (https://cloud.google.com/python/setup)

Command-Line Arguments

• project_name - (Required): Specifies your GCP project name.
• --cost_threshold - (Optional, default=0): Sets a relative cost threshold.
• --soft_delete_window - (Optional, default= 604800.0 (i.e. 7 days)): Time window (in seconds) for considering soft-deleted objects..
• --agg_days - (Optional, default=30): The period over which to combine and aggregate results.
• --lookback_days - (Optional, default=360): Time window (in days) for considering the how old the bucket to be.
• --list - (Optional, default=False): Produces a simple list of bucket names.

Note: In this sample, if setting cost_threshold 0.15 would spotlight buckets where enabling soft delete might increase costs by over 15%.

    $ python storage_soft_delete_relative_cost_analyzer.py [your-project-name] 

To disable soft-delete for buckets flagged by the script, follow these steps:

# 1. Authenticate (if needed): If you're not already authenticated or prefer a specific account, run:
gcloud auth application-default login

# 2. Run the analyzer to generate a list of buckets exceeding your cost threshold:
python storage_soft_delete_relative_cost_analyzer.py [your-project-name] --[OTHER_OPTIONS] --list=True > list_of_buckets.txt

# 3. Update the buckets using the generated list:
cat list_of_buckets.txt | gcloud storage buckets update -I --clear-soft-delete

Important Note: Disabling soft-delete for flagged buckets means when deleting it will permanently delete files. These files cannot be restored, even if a soft-delete policy is later re-enabled.