What makes cloud storage different?

?What is Storage?

Storage is a mechanism that enables a computer to retain data, either temporarily or permanently. It allows users to preserve all kinds of information like videos, documents, pictures, and raw data there are several storage options available to AWS cloud computing customers. These are:

o??AWS Simple Storage Service (S3)

o??Elastic Block Store (EBS)

o??Elastic File System (EFS)

o??Storage Gateway (used for Hybrid Cloud Storage)

o??Amazon WorkDocs (Fully managed, Enterprise Storage)

In This article, I will share an in-depth introduction to AWS S3 which is a secure, scalable, and Available from anywhere storage service from Amazon Web Services. I hope you will find it useful.

S3 (simple storage service) is the most popular and widely used service for all kinds of businesses whether it’s a big enterprise or startup because the amount of data storage in amazon s3 is unlimited on pay only for what you use basis. In this blog, I will explain the working principle of Amazon s3 cloud storage.

If you are a first-time user of s3 then some concepts may be unfamiliar to you so let’s have an overview of how amazon S3 works.

Introduction of S3

·????????S3 is one of the main building blocks of AWS. Many websites use amazon s3 as a backbone for the following reasons:

·????????S3 is an easy-to-use, scalable, and cheap storage service

·????????This service can be used to store and retrieve any amount of data from anywhere on the internet.

·????????It is used for a wide range of use cases like:

·????????Static website hosting

·????????Data archival s

·????????Versioning

·????????Multi-part upload (an excellent feature that allows uploading a single object as a set of parts)

S3 is an object storage service that stores data as objects (files) within buckets (containers in which these objects are stored).

Objects

An object is a file and its metadata that describes the file. Each object has a key, which is the unique identifier for the object within a bucket The key is composed of (prefix + object name)

The maximum object size is 5TB (500GB). If you want to upload more than 5TB then must use multi-part- upload.

Buckets

o??In S3, files are stored in buckets. Buckets are similar to folders on your computer.

o??Every bucket is globally unique across all accounts in AWS and can be used only once.

o??Buckets are defined at the regional level.

·????????No Uppercase case

·????????No underscore

·????????Should not be an I.P address

·????????It should consist minimum of 3 characters, maximum of a 63 characters

·????????Must start with a lower case letter or number

·????????An unlimited number of files can be stored in a bucket.

·????????Buckets also provide additional features such as version control and?policies.

·????????You can have up to 100 buckets in one account.

·????????Object storage is “flat” or non-hierarchical means all files are stored in a single folder or “bucket.”

Some of the benefits of Aws S3 are listed below:

Durability:?it provides 99.999999999 percent durability

Availability: ?99.99 percent availability of objects.

Saves Cost: ?S3 lets you store data in different types of storage classes. AS data that is not used frequently can be stored in cheaper storage options, which saves cost.

Scalability:?S3 charges you only for what resources you actually use, and you can easily scale your resource according to your requirement.

Security: S3 offers encryption features that provide protection to your data

Flexibility: S3 is used for a wide range of uses like data storage, data backup, data archiving, disaster recovery, website hosting, mobile applications, IoT devices, and many more

There are multiple reasons to use S3. Now, let’s move on and have a look at the different storage types used in the AWS S3 storage service.

S3 Storage Types

S3 has six storage classes based on general use cases.

S3 Standard

·????????S3 Standard is the default storage plan you will be put into when you start using S3. The standard storage class has excellent performance, durability, and availability.

·????????S3 Standard is best if you have data that you have to access frequently.

S3 Intelligent Tiering

·????????This type of storage is used for automatic cost saving for data with unknown or changing pattern access

S3 Infrequent Access (S3-IA)

·????????S3 Infrequent Access offers a lower price for data compared to the standard plan. You can use S3-IA for data that you need less often.

·????????S3-IA is great for use cases such as backups and disaster recovery.

·????????S3 one zone infrequent access

·????????This type of storage is used for non-critical data and infrequently accessed data.

?Glacier Instant retrieval is used for archive data that need to be immediately accessed

Glacier flexible Retrieval is used for rare accessed long-term data that does not require immediate access

S3 glacier deep archive is the least expensive storage option and is designed for long-term archival storage. Here data retrieval can take hours but it is a great option for the least required data archival.

Let’s look at some other important features of S3 and understand why it's so popular among enterprises and startups alike.

It Has Versioning

Versioning is used for keeping multiple copies of a file and tracking its changes over time. This is useful, especially when you handle sensitive data. Its use-cases are listed below:

It can help you recover objects from accidental deletion or overwrite files

S3 versioning must be activated on the bucket before AWS backup can back it up.

However, if you enable versioning, you are storing multiple copies of the same document. This can have an effect on pricing as well as read/write requests you make.

?

There are many possible scenarios where setting up cross- region replication will prove helpful

Cross Region Replication

·????????This feature can replicate the data from one bucket to another bucket in a different region.

·????????It provides asynchronous copying of objects from source bucket to destination bucket.

·????????For Cross-region replication don’t forget to enable versioning.

Points to be remembered: you can only copy the object from the source bucket to the destination bucket. If you will upload any object in the destination bucket it will not be replicated in the source bucket.

Use cases

·????????Minimize latency if you have customers all around the world then making objects available to them is important by enabling cross-region replication you can enable your customers to get objects from the nearest location.

·????????Disaster recovery having data in more than one region will help prepare and handle data loss due to some unpredicted circumstances.

·????????Enhance availability: If accidentally your data is deleted from the source bucket it will not be deleted in the destination bucket.

Static Website Hosting

·????????S3 can be used as a static website hosting platform. Static websites are used only for displaying information.

·????????You can host a complete web app on S3, often free of charge.

Elastic Block Store (EBS)

·????????The other primary storage is known as Amazon Elastic Block Store which provides storage to EC2 instances Via EBS volumes.

·????????EBS provides persistent and durable block level storage.

·????????EBS volumes can be attached to EC2 instances, and are mainly used for the data that is rapidly changing and may require specific input/output operations per second (IOPS).

·????????EBS offers the ability to provide point-in-time backups of the entire volume known as snapshots. If you lost access to your EBS volume then you can create a new volume from that snapshot.

?

Elastic File System (EFS)

An elastic file system is a simple, serverless, elastic file system. It allows you to create and configure file systems quickly.

It is designed to be highly available and durable for multiple Ec2 instances.

Conclusion

?Thus we can say, AWS provides various storage services and all have specific use cases among all S3 is a great tool to work with web or mobile application storage requirements. Nowadays, working virtually is an integral part of all kinds of businesses and marketers and s3 caters to all as it provides storage that you can access from anywhere over the internet. From the Government sector to the private sector all trust S3 due to its durability and availability.

Pravin Mishra Shefali Arora Aditi Anand Nitin Kumar Madhuradas Bhavesh Atara Ruchita Tandon Satish Pandey Amit Mehta Thank you so much all for your all time support and guidance.You all are doing commendable job to helping people learn and grow.

#amazonwebservices #cloud #storage #amazon #S3 #awsglobalcommunity #amazonindia #certificaciones #aws #training