How does Apps using Google App engine, cloud storage, datastore operate in China?

Question

Developing enterprise wide mobile application (android/iOS/Web) that would use Google Plaform - appengine, cloud endpoints, cloud storage, datastore etc.

Are following Google services blocked in China:

1. Google App Engine
2. Google Cloud Storage
3. Google Cloud DataStore

If no, can we

1. Store data collected by users of China outside china? Data contains personal information of the users
2. Use reverse proxy to serve users in China

How do application utilizing Google services (GAE, GCS) operate in china? Do they use AWS?

Thanks

Pareira

SnapChat banned in china since it stores personal user data for Chinese citizens on servers outside China. So does google provides storage servers in china? – Pareira

Answer 1

Check out AppScale (http://www.appscale.com). It lets you run GAE applications outside of Google's infrastructure. Current users/customers of AppScale either run in Amazon or in their own datacenter to get around China's firewall. See http://go.appscale.com/resources/use-case/chicos for the white paper.

Stingo

Answer 2

The domain appspot.com is blocked in China. You can overcome this by using a custom domain. This does not work with Cloud Endpoints because you can't use custom domains for Cloud Endpoints. You should also be able to use CNAME records for custom domains with Cloud Storage and Cloud Datastore.

As long as your applications abide by Chinese law, you should have no problem using Google services with custom domains.

Sympathin

Are you sure? I think chinese firewalls are blocking the IP address pool of GAE so they are not going to be fooled by a CNAME – Rotow

"Getting around" the firewall may make the app work, but also puts your app at risk of being banned in China for not complying with China's privacy laws (generally requiring user data to be stored and processed in China). Using AppEngine behind a custom URL isn't advised. – Kelter