What is Cloud Storage?

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 service. It’s delivered on
demand with just-in-time capacity and costs, and eliminates buying and managing your own
data storage infrastructure. This gives you agility, global scale and durability, with “anytime,
anywhere” data access.

How Does Cloud Storage Work?

Cloud service providers maintain large data centers in multiple locations around the world.
When customers purchase cloud storage from a provider, they turn over most aspects of the
data storage to the vendor, including security, capacity, storage servers and computing
resources, data availability and delivery over a network. Customer applications can access the
stored cloud data through traditional storage protocols or application programming indicators
(APIs), or they can also be moved to the cloud.

How cloud storage works varies depending on the type of storage used. The three main types
are block storage, file storage and object storage:

 Block storage divides large volumes of data into smaller units called blocks. Each block is
associated with a unique identifier and placed on one of the system's storage drives. Block
storage is fast, efficient and provides the low latency required by applications such as
databases and high-performance workloads.

 File storage organizes data in a hierarchical system of files and folders; it is commonly
used with personal computer storage drives and network-attached storage (NAS). Data in
a file storage system is stored in files, and the files are stored in folders. Directories and
subdirectories are used to organize the folders and locate files and data. A file storage-
based cloud can make data access and retrieval easier, with this hierarchical format being
familiar to users and required by some applications.

 Object storage stores data as objects, which consist of three components: data stored in a
file, metadata associated with the data file and a unique identifier. Using the RESTful API,
an object storage protocol stores a file and its associated metadata as a single object and
assigns it an identification (ID) number. To retrieve content, the user presents the ID to the
system and the content is assembled with all its metadata, authentication and security.
Object-based storage systems allow metadata to be customized, which can streamline data
 access and analysis. With object storage, data can be stored in its native format with
massive scalability.

Cloud Storage Requirements

Ensuring your company's critical data is safe, secure, and available when needed is essential.
There are several fundamental requirements when considering storing data in the cloud.

Durability. Data should be redundantly stored, ideally across multiple facilities and multiple
devices in each facility. Natural disasters, human error, or mechanical faults should not result
in data loss.

Availability. All data should be available when needed, but there is a difference between
production data and archives. The ideal cloud storage will deliver the right balance of retrieval
times and cost.

Security. All data is ideally encrypted, both at rest and in transit. Permissions and access
controls should work just as well in the cloud as they do for on premises storage.

Challenges
Storing the data in cloud is not that simple task. Apart from its flexibility and
convenience, it also has several challenges faced by the customers. The customers
must be able to:
 Get provision for additional storage on-demand.
 Know and restrict the physical location of the stored data.
 Verify how data was erased.
 Have access to a documented process for disposing of data storage hardware.
  Have administrator access control over data.

Advantages and disadvantages of cloud storage

Cloud storage provides many benefits that result in cost savings and greater convenience for
users, compared with a traditional storage area networks (SAN). There also are shortcomings
with cloud storage -- particularly, the public services -- that make organizations hesitant to use
these services or limit how they use them.

Advantages

 Pay as you go. With a cloud storage service, customers only pay for the storage they use,
eliminating the need for big capital expenses. While cloud storage costs are recurring,
rather than a one-time purchase, they are often so low that, even as an ongoing expense,
they may still be less than the cost of maintaining an in-house system.

 Utility billing. Because customers only pay for the capacity they use, cloud storage costs
can decrease as usage drops. This is in stark contrast to using an in-house storage system,
which will likely be over configured to handle anticipated growth. A company will pay for
more than it needs initially, and the cost of the storage will never decrease.

 Global availability. Cloud storage is typically available from any system, anywhere and
at any time; users do not have to worry about operating system (OS) capability or complex
allocation processes.

 Ease of use. Cloud storage is easy to access and use, so developers, software testers and
business users can get up and running quickly without having to wait for an IT (information
technology) team to allocate and configure storage resources.

 Off-site security. By its very nature, public cloud storage offers a way to move copies of
data to a remote site for backup and security purposes. Again, this represents a significant
cost savings when compared to a company maintaining its own remote facility.

Disadvantages

 Security. Data security is the most cited factor that may make companies cautious about
using public cloud storage. The concern is that once data leaves a company's premises, it
no longer has control over how the data is handled and stored. Storing regulated data is also
a concern. Service providers have tried to allay those fears by enhancing their security
 capabilities with data encryption, multifactor authentication (MFA), data storage in
multiple locations and improved physical security.

 Data access. Maintaining access to data stored in the cloud can also be an issue and could
significantly increase the cost of using cloud storage. A company may need to upgrade its
connection to the cloud storage service to handle the volume of data it expects to transmit.
For instance, the monthly cost of an optical link can run into the thousands of dollars.

 Performance degradation. A company may run into performance issues if its in-house
applications need to access the data it has stored in the cloud. In those cases, it will likely
require either moving the servers and applications into the same cloud or bringing the
necessary data back in-house.

 Cost. If a company requires a lot of cloud storage capacity and frequently moves its data
back and forth between on-premises systems and the cloud, the monthly costs can be high.
Compared to deploying the storage in-house, the ongoing costs could eventually surpass
the cost of implementing and maintaining the on-premises system.