What is Managed Cloud Storage Services

A cloud storage service is a company that serves and manages its customers' data and makes that data available over a network, usually the Internet.

Most of these types of services are based on the service storage model. They typically offer scalability and flexible pay-as-you-go pricing. Cloud storage providers also provide unlimited growth and the ability to expand and shrink storage capacity on demand.

Top use cases for a cloud Managed Storage Services include backup, disaster recovery (DR), file sharing and collaboration, archiving, raw data storage, and online storage.

Public and private versus hybrid services

Public cloud storage is a service that is owned and operated by a provider. It is usually suitable for unstructured data that is not subject to constant change. The infrastructure typically consists of low-cost storage nodes connected to base units. Data is stored on multiple nodes for redundancy and is accessible via Internet protocols, usually Representative State Transfer (REST).

Designed for use by many clients, the public cloud storage service supports massive multi-tenancy with data isolation, access, and security for each client. It is typically used for a variety of purposes, from non-core application static data to archived content that still needs to be available for backup and disaster recovery.

Vendors typically charge in dollars or cents per gigabyte per month. Additional charges may apply for data traffic and access charges. Amazon, Microsoft and Google are the three largest providers of public cloud storage. Other examples of public cloud service providers are Apple, AT&T, Box, Barracuda, Certain Safe, Dropbox, eFolder, IBM, Iron Mountain, Mega, Mozy, NTT Communications, Rackspace, SpiderOak, SugarSync, and Virtustream.

Private cloud storage services address the performance and data security concerns of public cloud storage by bringing cloud storage within an organization. A private cloud storage service is best suited for actively used data and data that an organization needs more control over. Here, the storage is in a dedicated infrastructure within the data center, helping to ensure security and performance. An example of a private cloud storage offering is Hitachi Data Systems' cloud service for private file tiers.

Some business users opt for a hybrid cloud storage model that stores unstructured data, for example for backup and archiving purposes, and less sensitive data with a public cloud provider, while a private cloud is used for active data , structured and more sensitive. .

When considering any cloud storage service, you should consider the following:

• Does the service use REST, the most widely used cloud storage API?
• Are you migrating data from an existing file storage product?
• Is it necessary to keep your data in a specific format to meet compliance requirements? That capacity is not commonly available.
• Can the provider deal with large fluctuations in demand for resources?
• Does the provider offer public and private clouds? This can be important if you want to migrate data from one type of service to another.
• Pros / cons of cloud storage
• The advantages of private cloud storage include high reliability and security. But this approach to cloud storage provides limited scalability and requires on-site resources and maintenance.

Public cloud storage offers high scalability and a pay-as-you-go model without the need for a local storage infrastructure. However, performance and security measures may vary by service provider. Additionally, reliability depends on the availability of the service provider and Internet connectivity.