Storage Services in AWS

In today's data-driven world, businesses and developers rely heavily on cloud storage to secure, scale, migrate, manage and store their data efficiently. These vast amounts of data tend to come from sources such as user data, machine learning models and application files. Due to their magnitude and complexity, it is imperative that storage options available to users be flexible, reliable and cost-effective. AWS stands out as one of the leading cloud providers that offers a comprehensive suite of storage services that meet a wide range of needs.

In this article, we'll explore some key AWS Storage Services and discover how they can support your storage needs, streamline cloud adoption, drive efficiency and provide high availability to your applications.

Here's a look at some of the most widely used AWS storage services and the role they play.

1. AWS S3 (Simple Storage Service)

AWS S3 is the leading storage service that many people use when first starting out in the cloud. It's simplicity and versatility makes it a great starting point for cloud newcomers. Amazon S3 stores data as objects. These objects are then stored in buckets. A single object can be as large as 5 Terabytes while a bucket can be of unlimited size. Objects stored in an S3 bucket can be of any form including audio, video, text, images, binary data and more. This is what makes S3 so versatile and flexible. Not only is S3 a versatile storage option, but it also provides security measures that effectively protect your data.

AWS provides standard settings that make data stored in S3 secure. For instance, all objects stored in S3 are private by default. This means that only the owner of the bucket and any user given explicit permissions can access the bucket. S3 Block Public Access is another feature that is enabled by default on new objects. This secures data from being accidentally accessed by the public internet. Additionally, S3 offers encryption options, such as Server-Side Encryption (SSE), to further protect your data at rest.

While these default settings provide a solid foundation to secure your data in Amazon S3, it is recommended to apply additional security measures for an even higher level of security. A common additional security measure used in S3 is the IAM Policy. This is a user-defined permission that governs how much accessibility apps and users can have to objects in your bucket. Usually, IAM policies are written in JSON or YAML formats. The S3 console also provides a visual editor to create IAM policies. This editor guides you through the steps of selecting services, resources and actions, thereby simplifying the process of creating polices. S3 also provides a versioning feature that protects data from accidental deletion. With versioning, when one makes new changes to an object, the previous versions are retained allowing one to revert back to older versions of the object if needed.

Common use cases for S3 include static web hosting, data lakes and big data analytics, data archiving and compliance storage, backup and disaster recovery and log storage and analytics.

2. Amazon EBS (Elastic Block Store)

This is a block-level storage volume offered by AWS. It is designed to be used with EC2 instances. It provides persistent, highly optimized and low-latency storage option, making it an attractive storage option.

EBS provides persistent storage. This means that data continues to exist in an EBS volume even when it has been detached from an EC2 instance. This is different from other storage options like an instance store where data is lost when the instance is stopped or terminated. This feature then makes EBS ideal for mission-critical workloads because it provides a reliable storage.

Another desirable feature of EBS is its high-performance. Commonly used for running databases and mission-critical workloads, EBS offers performance levels that can be optimized for input/output operations per second (IOPS) and throughput. EBS also provides low-latency storage through a combination of factors like network optimization and caching. EBS uses sophisticated network infrastructure to ensure high speed data transfer between EBS volumes and EC2 instances. Additionally, EBS improves the performance of read-heavy workloads by storing frequently accessed data in-memory (caching), reducing the need to access the underlying storage.

Common use cases for EBS include database storage, high-performance computing, application hosting and development, big data and analytics workloads, machine learning and AI workloads, and gaming applications.

3. AWS Storage Gateway

AWS Storage Gateway is a hybrid storage option that provides a seamless transition between on-premises data centers and cloud storage. It allows one to store data in the cloud while maintaining the performance and availability of an on-premises data center. Storage Gateway allows one to simplify their data management strategy and improve disaster recovery without disrupting existing workflows. It provides three types of gateways suited for different storage needs: volume gateway, file gateway and tape gateway.

Storage Gateway Volume Gateway provides cloud-based block storage for on-premises applications by providing volumes that can be mounted as iSCI (internet Small Computer System Interface) devices. An iSCI device is a device that allows data transfer over networks allowing storage to appear as if it is locally attached to a server. Storage Gateway offers two storage volumes namely: cached volumes and stored volumes. Cached volumes store frequently accessed data on-premises for low-latency data access and stores the rest of the data in AWS cloud. Stored volumes store primary data on-premises, and copy the entire primary data in AWS for backup. Hence, cached volumes are ideal for extending your storage infrastructure to AWS without adding hardware, while stored volumes are ideal for backup and disaster recovery.

Storage Gateway File Gateway is ideal for file-based workloads that need to use S3 as their primary storage. It allows one to store and retrieve files as objects in S3 buckets while still accessing them on-premises without requiring changes to existing workflows. To do this, it uses protocols like SMB and NFS. It allows for low-latency access locally with data backup in AWS cloud. Some of its use cases are data archiving, backup, and data processing and analytics for large files.

Storage Gateway Tape Gateway allows organizations to migrate off of physical tapes to virtual tapes in the cloud in Amazon S3. Tape Gateway provides Virtual Tape Libraries (VTL) that allows organizations to use their existing tape-based backup software with a cloud-based storage without having to make any modifications to their existing backup software. It also provides a cost-effective method of storing data without having to handle physical tapes. Some of its use cases include: long-term backup and data archiving, data migration from physical tape libraries to virtual tapes, and disaster recovery,

There you have it! Those are some three commonly used AWS storage services. To summarize, Amazon S3 provides a durable object storage option ideal for static website hosting, data lakes and backup. AWS Storage Gateway makes it easy for businesses to conduct cloud adoption as it provides a bridge between on-premises data centers and the cloud. Meanwhile, EBS provides reliable, low-latency block storage for applications requiring high performance and durability. Together, these services empower organizations to enhance resilience, accessibility and cost management. For more information about other AWS storage services, visit https://aws.amazon.com/products/storage/ .