Cloud Storage
What is Cloud Storage
Cloud Storage is a service that allows you to store and access data. It is a scalable, durable, and secure object storage service that is designed to store large amounts of data.
You can store any type of data:
- Unstructured Data: Images, videos, audio files, backups, logs, and other large files.
- Semi-Structured Data: JSON, XML, CSV ...
- Structured Data: Databases, tables, parquet files ...
Data are store under form of objects, each object has a unique key that identifies it.
You store objects in containers called buckets, who are associated with a project.
Advantages - Disadvantages
| Advantages | Disadvantages |
|---|---|
| Cost: Pay for what you use | Compliance: Data residency |
| Elasticity: Scale up or down | Latency: Data access time |
| Flexibility: Store any type of data | Control: Data ownership |
| Security: Encryption, IAM, ACL | Outages: Service availability |
| Sustainability: Reduce carbon footprint | |
| Redundancy: Data is replicated |
Use Cases
- Backup and Recovery: Store backups of your data.
- Data Archiving: Store historical data for compliance or analysis.
- Disaster Recovery: Store data in multiple regions for redundancy.
- Data Processing: Store data for processing and analysis.
- Content Distribution: Store and distribute media files.
Storage Classes
A storage class is a piece of metadata that is used by every object. It defines the availability and pricing model for an object.
| Storage Class | API, CLI | Min Storage Duration | Retrieval Fees | Availability |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | STANDARD | None | No | >99.99% multi-regions, 99.99% regions |
| Nearline | NEARLINE | 30 days | Yes | 99.95% multi-regions, 99.9% regions |
| Coldline | COLDLINE | 90 days | Yes | 99.95% multi-regions, 99.9% regions |
| Archive | ARCHIVE | 365 days | Yes | 99.95% multi-regions, 99.9% regions |