Google Apps for Admins - Google App Engine

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What is Google App Engine?

The App Engine is Google's application development and hosting platform. Google App Engine lets you build high traffic web applications without having to manage high traffic infrastructure. Your applications use the same technology that powers Google's websites for speed and reliability. You just provide the code.

Google App Engine is currently in limited preview release and is available to a limited set of developers. This preview release is primarily intended to allow you to develop and test applications. To learn more about App Engine, or sign up for the preview release, please visit the Google App Engine Home.

How do I use Google App Engine with Google Apps?

Google App Engine can be used with Google Apps in two distinct ways.

1. Provide a custom domain name for your internet-facing application, e.g., myapp.com
2. Restrict your application's users and data to a single organization, e.g. myapp.myorg.com

How do I provide a custom domain name for my Google App Engine application?

By default, when you deploy your service on Google App Engine, your service will be accessible at [your-application-id].appspot.com. In order to provide a stronger brand experience for your application, you may also want that application to be available at [my-brand].com or www.[my-brand].com.

In order to set up these branded access locations for your service, you must prove that you own the domain name or purchase the domain name through Google. Google App Engine allows you to prove ownership of your domain and purchase new domain names using Google Apps.

In addition, Google Apps provides a number of communication and collaboration services which can be used to enhance your application. You can communicate via email with your application users using branded email addresses and the Gmail experience. You can also create public wikis for your service using Google Sites. See http://google.com/a for more information about what you can do with Google Apps.

I need to purchase the domain for my Google App Engine application.

This is super simple. On the Google Apps sign-up page, select 'I want to buy a domain name'. Find an available domain name and proceed through registration.

I already have the domain I want to use.

This is also super simple. On the Google Apps sign-up page, select 'Administrator: I own or control this domain' Then, enter the name of your domain and proceed through registration. When you're finished, you'll be viewing the Google Apps Dashboard for your domain. From the Dashboard, you need to verify ownership of your domain. Click 'Verify domain ownership' in your Dashboard to view instructions.

OK, I've claimed my domain in Google Apps. Now what?

Here are step-by-step instructions:

1. Sign in to the Google App Engine admin console.
2. Go to Administration > Versions
3. Click the 'Add Domain...' button under Domain Setup.
4. Enter your domain name in the 'Domain Name:' field
5. Click 'Add Domain'. You will be directed to the Google Apps administrator console to complete the process.
6. Log in to the Google Apps control panel with your administrator account.
7. Accept the terms and specify the access URL you'd like to provide for your application.
8. Click 'Accept'.

At this point, you may need to follow the presented instructions to make changes with your domain registrar if you did not purchase your domain name through Google.

Learn more about access URLs

How do I restrict my application usage to a single organization?

By default, when you create an application with Google App Engine, any pages which require authentication will prompt visitors to supply Google account credentials, such as a Gmail account. However, you may want to build an application which is only available to one organization, such as an internal job search tool. In this case, you may configure your application to prompt for account credentials from a specific existing Google Apps domain.

To create a Google Apps account for your domain, visit www.google.com/a.

Instructions for the App Engine interface:

1. On the initial create application page, select 'Edit' underneath the text explaining that this application is 'Open to all Google Accounts'.
2. Select 'Restricted to the following Google Apps domain:'
3. Type in your domain name.
4. Click 'Save.'

Note: Don't worry if you've already created your application and didn't take this step. You can create a new application with the same application code under a new identifier.

I'm an administrator of the organization that will use this application

With a Google Apps admin account, you can quickly adjust your settings to set up an access URL for your App Engine application. Step-by-step instructions

I'm not an administrator of the organization that will use this application

In the Google App Engine admin console:

1. Go to Administration > Versions
2. Click the 'Add Domain...' button under Domain Setup
3. Enter your domain name in the 'Domain Name:' field
4. Click 'Add Domain'.

At this point, you'll be directed to the Google Apps administrator console to complete the process. Copy and paste the URL from the location field in your web browser and email the URL to a domain administrator to complete the setup process.