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NextELN — Setting Up Your Database & File Storage

A step-by-step guide for lab members and biotech teams. No IT experience required.

Why do I need this?

NextELN is free because your data lives in your own cloud accounts — not ours. You own it, you control it, and you can leave any time with everything intact. This guide walks you through creating the two accounts your lab notebook needs:

  1. A database — stores your notebook text, tables, inventory, and experiment records.
  2. File storage — stores your uploaded files: images, gels, PDFs, spectra, instrument exports.

You do this once, usually in about 15–20 minutes total. You do not need to be technical — every step is "click this button, copy this text." When you're done you'll paste a few lines into NextELN and never think about it again.

What will it cost me? Both have generous free tiers that cover a small lab for a long time:

Free tier covers When you'd pay
Database (Neon) ~0.5 GB — tens of thousands of notebook entries ~$19/mo only if you outgrow it
File storage (Cloudflare R2) 10 GB of files + no download fees ~$0.015/GB/mo after 10 GB

Most academic labs stay on the free tier for years. You are billed directly by these providers — NextELN is never in the middle of your bill, and we never see your payment details.

💡 Prefer not to do any of this? NextELN offers a Managed option where we run a secure, high-availability database and storage for you and bill you at cost + a small margin. Ask us about the Managed plan and skip this guide entirely. The steps below are for teams who want to own their own infrastructure (recommended for full data control and the free tier).

Part 1 — Create your database (pick ONE)

We recommend Neon — it's the simplest, has the best free tier, and takes about 5 minutes. Supabase and Aiven work equally well if you or your institution already use them.

Option A — Neon (recommended) ⭐

  1. Go to https://neon.tech and click Sign Up.

  2. Sign up with your work email (or "Continue with Google" using your lab Google account). Verify your email if asked.

  3. On the "Create your first project" screen:

    • Project name: type your lab or company name (e.g. TaylorLab or RNAImmune).
    • Postgres version: leave the default.
    • Region: pick the one closest to you (e.g. AWS US East for the US East Coast).
    • Click Create project.

  4. You'll land on a page that says "Connection string" with a box of text starting with postgresql://. Click the Copy button (📋) next to it.

    • If there's a "Show password" or "Pooled connection" toggle, turn it on before copying — this gives NextELN the full string it needs.

  5. Paste that connection string somewhere safe for a moment (a sticky note app is fine) — you'll hand it to NextELN in Part 3. It looks like this:

    postgresql://alex:AbC123xyz@ep-cool-name-12345.us-east-2.aws.neon.tech/neondb?sslmode=require

✅ That's your database done. Skip to Part 2.

Option B — Supabase

  1. Go to https://supabase.com → Start your project → sign in with GitHub or email.
  2. New project → give it a name, set a database password (save it!), pick a region → Create.
  3. Wait ~2 minutes for it to finish setting up.
  4. Left sidebar → Project Settings (gear icon) → Database → scroll to Connection string → choose the URI tab → click Copy.
  5. The string has [YOUR-PASSWORD] in it — replace that with the database password you set in step 2. Save the finished string for Part 3.

Option C — Aiven

  1. Go to https://aiven.io → Get started for free → sign up and verify your email.
  2. Create service → PostgreSQL → choose a cloud + region → pick the Free or smallest plan → Create service. Wait until its status turns Running (green).
  3. On the service Overview page, find Service URI → click the copy icon. That's your connection string for Part 3. (It starts with postgres://avnadmin:...)

Part 2 — Create your file storage (pick ONE)

We recommend Cloudflare R2 — it has no download/egress fees (S3 charges those, which can surprise you), a 10 GB free tier, and a friendly dashboard. AWS S3 is the alternative if your institution mandates AWS.

Option A — Cloudflare R2 (recommended) ⭐

Step 1 — Make a Cloudflare account

  1. Go to https://dash.cloudflare.com/sign-up and sign up with your work email. Verify the email.

Step 2 — Turn on R2 (this is the one place they ask for a card, even though the free tier is free) 2. In the left menu click R2 Object Storage. 3. Click Purchase R2 / Enable and add a payment card. You will not be charged inside the free tier (10 GB storage + free downloads). This card is your billing relationship with Cloudflare — NextELN never sees it.

Step 3 — Create a bucket (a "bucket" is just a folder for your files) 4. Click Create bucket. Name it something like taylorlab-eln (lowercase, no spaces). Pick the default location. Click Create bucket.

Step 4 — Create an access key (so NextELN can save files into your bucket) 5. On the R2 overview page, find Manage R2 API Tokens (top-right) → Create API Token. 6. Set Permissions to Object Read & Write. Under Specify bucket(s), choose the bucket you just made (safer than "all buckets"). Click Create API Token. 7. You'll see three things — copy all three and save them for Part 3:

  • Access Key ID (a short code)
  • Secret Access Key (a long code — shown only once, don't close the page until copied)
  • Endpoint — an address like https://<accountid>.r2.cloudflarestorage.com (also shown on the R2 page as "S3 API").

✅ That's your storage done. Go to Part 3.

Option B — Amazon S3

S3 is powerful but the sign-up is longer and it charges download fees. Only pick this if you must use AWS.

  1. Create an AWS account at https://aws.amazon.com (needs a card + phone verification).
  2. In the AWS console search bar, go to S3 → Create bucket → give it a globally-unique name (e.g. taylorlab-eln-2026), pick a Region, leave "Block all public access" on → Create.
  3. Now create a limited key: search IAM → Users → Create user (e.g. nexteln-uploader).
  4. Attach a policy that allows read/write on just that bucket (ask us for the exact policy JSON — we provide a copy-paste one so you don't over-grant access).
  5. Open the user → Security credentials → Create access key → choose "Application running outside AWS" → copy the Access key ID and Secret access key.
  6. Save for Part 3: Access Key ID, Secret Access Key, Region (e.g. us-east-1), and your bucket name. (For S3 the endpoint is standard AWS — leave the endpoint field blank in NextELN.)

Part 3 — Connect it to NextELN

  1. Sign in to NextELN. Click your workspace name (top-right) → Settings → Storage & Database (or follow the banner that appears when your trial is ending).
  2. Database: paste the connection string from Part 1 into Database URL, pick the provider you used, and click Connect & migrate. NextELN copies your existing notebook data into your database and switches over automatically. (This can take a minute for large notebooks.)
  3. File storage: choose your provider (R2 / S3 / Supabase) and paste:
    • Bucket name
    • Access Key ID
    • Secret Access Key
    • Endpoint (R2 only — paste the ...r2.cloudflarestorage.com address; leave blank for S3)
    • Region (S3 only)
    • Click Save & test. NextELN uploads a tiny test file to confirm it works, then all future uploads go straight into your bucket.

🎉 Done. Your notebook, tables, and every file you upload now live entirely in your own accounts.

Frequently asked questions

Do I have to do both the database and the storage? Eventually yes, if you upload files. The database holds your notebook text/tables; storage holds uploaded files. During your free trial both live temporarily on NextELN's shared system, but once the trial ends (or you exceed the trial size limit) you'll connect your own so nothing is interrupted.

Is my password/secret safe to paste into NextELN? Yes. Connection strings and storage secrets are encrypted at rest (AES-256) and are only used by the server to reach your database/bucket. NextELN staff cannot read them, and the platform operator only ever sees usage statistics — never your credentials or your data.

Who pays the cloud bill? You do, directly to the provider (Neon/Cloudflare/AWS). This keeps you in full control and keeps your costs at their true price. NextELN is never in your billing path. Free tiers cover most small labs.

What if I pick the wrong region or make a typo? Nothing breaks — you can re-open Settings → Storage & Database and update the values. If a test fails, NextELN tells you exactly which field to fix.

Can I move to a different provider later? Yes. Because it's all standard Postgres and standard S3-compatible storage, you can export and point NextELN at a new database or bucket whenever you like.

I'm stuck / this is too much. Email support@nexteln.com — we'll either walk you through it on a call, or set you up on the Managed plan where we handle the database and storage for you and bill you at cost.

Quick glossary

  • Database (Postgres): the structured store for your notebook entries, tables, and inventory.
  • Connection string / URL: one line of text (postgresql://…) that tells NextELN how to reach your database. Treat it like a password.
  • Object storage / bucket (R2, S3): a place to keep uploaded files — images, PDFs, raw data.
  • Access Key ID / Secret Access Key: a username/password pair that lets NextELN write files into your bucket. The secret is shown only once — copy it immediately.
  • Endpoint: the web address of your storage service (needed for R2; standard for S3).
  • Egress / download fees: what some providers charge to read your files back out. R2 charges $0 for this, which is why we recommend it.

Last updated 7/12/2026