What is Cloud Storage? - Amazon AWS

Cloud storage is a cloud computing model that stores data on the Internet through a cloud computing provider who manages and operates data storage as a ... CloudStorage Amethodforstoring,retrievingandsharingdatathat'ssimple,reliableandscalable LearnthebenefitsofmovingyourstoragetotheCloud. ContactSales CreateaFreeAccount BenefitsofCloudStorage CloudStorageRequirements TypesofCloudStorage FiveCloudStorageUseCases WhatisCloudStorage? CloudstorageisacloudcomputingmodelthatstoresdataontheInternetthroughacloudcomputingproviderwhomanagesandoperatesdatastorageasaservice.It’sdeliveredondemandwithjust-in-timecapacityandcosts,andeliminatesbuyingandmanagingyourowndatastorageinfrastructure.Thisgivesyouagility,globalscaleanddurability,with“anytime,anywhere”dataaccess. HowDoesCloudStorageWork? CloudstorageispurchasedfromathirdpartycloudvendorwhoownsandoperatesdatastoragecapacityanddeliversitovertheInternetinapay-as-you-gomodel.Thesecloudstoragevendorsmanagecapacity,securityanddurabilitytomakedataaccessibletoyourapplicationsallaroundtheworld. ApplicationsaccesscloudstoragethroughtraditionalstorageprotocolsordirectlyviaanAPI.Manyvendorsoffercomplementaryservicesdesignedtohelpcollect,manage,secureandanalyzedataatmassivescale. BenefitsofCloudStorage StoringdatainthecloudletsITdepartmentstransformthreeareas: TotalCostofOwnership.Withcloudstorage,thereisnohardwaretopurchase,storagetoprovision,orcapitalbeingusedfor"someday"scenarios.Youcanaddorremovecapacityondemand,quicklychangeperformanceandretentioncharacteristics,andonlypayforstoragethatyouactuallyuse.Lessfrequentlyaccesseddatacanevenbeautomaticallymovedtolowercosttiersinaccordancewithauditablerules,drivingeconomiesofscale. TimetoDeployment.Whendevelopmentteamsarereadytoexecute,infrastructureshouldneverslowthemdown.CloudstorageallowsITtoquicklydelivertheexactamountofstorageneeded,rightwhenit'sneeded.ThisallowsITtofocusonsolvingcomplexapplicationproblemsinsteadofhavingtomanagestoragesystems. InformationManagement.Centralizingstorageinthecloudcreatesatremendousleveragepointfornewusecases.Byusingcloudstoragelifecyclemanagementpolicies,youcanperformpowerfulinformationmanagementtasksincludingautomatedtieringorlockingdowndatainsupportofcompliancerequirements. CloudStorageRequirements Ensuringyourcompany'scriticaldataissafe,secure,andavailablewhenneededisessential.Thereareseveralfundamentalrequirementswhenconsideringstoringdatainthecloud. Durability.Datashouldberedundantlystored,ideallyacrossmultiplefacilitiesandmultipledevicesineachfacility.Naturaldisasters,humanerror,ormechanicalfaultsshouldnotresultindataloss. Availability.Alldatashouldbeavailablewhenneeded,butthereisadifferencebetweenproductiondataandarchives.Theidealcloudstoragewilldelivertherightbalanceofretrievaltimesandcost. Security.Alldataisideallyencrypted,bothatrestandintransit.Permissionsandaccesscontrolsshouldworkjustaswellinthecloudastheydoforonpremisesstorage. TypesofCloudStorage Therearethreetypesofclouddatastorage:objectstorage,filestorage,andblockstorage.Eachofferstheirownadvantagesandhavetheirownusecases: ObjectStorage-Applicationsdevelopedinthecloudoftentakeadvantageofobjectstorage'svastscalablityandmetadatacharacteristics.ObjectstoragesolutionslikeAmazonSimpleStorageService(S3)areidealforbuildingmodernapplicationsfromscratchthatrequirescaleandflexibility,andcanalsobeusedtoimportexistingdatastoresforanalytics,backup,orarchive. FileStorage-Someapplicationsneedtoaccesssharedfilesandrequireafilesystem.ThistypeofstorageisoftensupportedwithaNetworkAttachedStorage(NAS)server.FilestoragesolutionslikeAmazonElasticFileSystem(EFS)areidealforusecaseslikelargecontentrepositories,developmentenvironments,mediastores,oruserhomedirectories. BlockStorage-OtherenterpriseapplicationslikedatabasesorERPsystemsoftenrequirededicated,lowlatencystorageforeachhost.Thisisanalagoustodirect-attachedstorage(DAS)oraStorageAreaNetwork(SAN).Block-basedcloudstoragesolutionslikeAmazonElasticBlockStore(EBS)areprovisionedwitheachvirtualserverandoffertheultralowlatencyrequiredforhighperformanceworkloads. FiveWaystoUseCloudStorage Learnmoreabouttheusecasesbelow: BackupandRecovery Backupandrecoveryisacriticalpartofensuringdataisprotectedandaccessible,butkeepingupwithincreasingcapacityrequirementscanbeaconstantchallenge.Cloudstoragebringslowcost,highdurability,andextremescaletobackupandrecoverysolutions.EmbeddeddatamanagementpolicieslikeAmazonS3ObjectLifecycleManagementcanautomaticallymigratedatatolower-costtiersbasedonfrequencyortimingsettings,andarchivalvaultscanbecreatedtohelpcomplywithlegalorregulatoryrequirements.Thesebenefitsallowfortremendousscalepossibilitieswithinindustriessuchasfinancialservices,healthcare,andmediathatproducehighvolumesofdatawithlong-termretentionneeds. CaseStudy KingCountygoesTapeless Resources WhitePaper:Backup,ArchiveandRestoreArchitecturesinAWS WhitePaper:BestPracticesforBackupandRecoveryon-premtoAWS LearnmoreaboutBackuptotheCloud. SoftwareTestandDevelopment Softwaretestanddevelopmentenvironmentsoftenrequiresseparate,independent,andduplicatestorageenvironmentstobebuiltout,managed,anddecommissioned.Inadditiontothetimerequired,theup-frontcapitalcostsrequiredcanbeextensive. Someofthelargestandmostvaluablecompaniesintheworldhavecreatedapplicationsinrecordtimebyleveragingtheflexibility,performance,andlowcostofcloudstorage.Eventhesimpleststaticwebsitescanbeimprovedforanamazinglylowcost.Developersallovertheworldareturningtopay-as-yougostorageoptionsthatremovemanagementandscaleheadaches. CaseStudy SmugMugonAWS Resources Whitepaper:BuildingStaticWebsites LearnmoreaboutSoftwareDevelopment. CloudDataMigration Theavailability,durability,andcostbenefitsofcloudstoragecanbeverycompellingtobusinessowners,buttraditionalITfunctionalownerslikestorage,backup,networking,security,andcomplianceadministratorsmayhaveconcernsaroundtherealitiesoftransferringlargeamountsofdatatothecloud.ClouddatamigrationservicesservicessuchasAWSImport/ExportSnowballcansimplifymigratingstorageintothecloudbyaddressinghighnetworkcosts,longtransfertimes,andsecurityconcerns. CaseStudy HessCorporationstreamlinesdivestmentinfrastructure Resources LearnmoreaboutCloudDataMigration. Compliance Storingdatainthecloudcanraiseconcernsaboutregulationandcompliance,especiallyifthisdataisalreadystoredincompliantstoragesystems.ClouddatacompliancecontrolslikeAmazonGlacierVaultLockaredesignedtoensurethatyoucaneasilydeployandenforcecompliancecontrolsonindividualdatavaultsviaalockablepolicy.YoucanspecifycontrolssuchasWriteOnceReadMany(WORM)tolockthedatafromfutureedits.UsingauditlogproductslikeAWSCloudTrailcanhelpyouensurecomplianceandgovernanceobjectivesforyourcloud-basedstorageandarchivalsystemsarebeingmet. CaseStudy NASDAQmeetscompliancerequirementswithAmazonCloudStorage Resources LearnmoreaboutAmazonGlacier'sVaultLock. WhitePapers:AWSCompliance AWSComplanceOverview BigDataandDataLakes Traditionalon-premisesstoragesolutionscanbeinconsistentintheircost,performance,andscalability—especiallyovertime.Bigdataprojectsdemandlarge-scale,affordable,highlyavailable,andsecurestoragepoolsthatarecommonlyreferredtoasdatalakes. Datalakesbuiltonobjectstoragekeepinformationinitsnativeform,andincluderichmetadatathatallowsselectiveextractionanduseforanalysis.Cloud-baseddatalakescansitatthecenterofallkindsdatawarehousing,processing,bigdataandanalyticalengines,suchasAmazonRedshift,AmazonRDS,AmazonEMRandAmazonDynamoDBtohelpyouaccomplishyournextprojectinlesstimewithmorerelevance. CaseStudy FINRA:BigDataon75Brecordsperday Resources LearnmoreaboutAWSandBigData. NextSteps ContactSales ViewaWebinar ReadanOverviewofAWSStorageServices VisittheCaseStudyCenter