Do you want to enable cloud storage? Eight decision weighing factors for reference

Why would you consider using cloud-computing storage services for at least some of your data and applications? Well, unless you've been living in isolation for the last six years, you're bound to have a deep understanding of the benefits of cloud storage.

Public cloud computing can bring significant economic benefits because you only need to pay for the resources you need and use, saving the cost of new storage systems and the space, energy, and cooling costs needed to accommodate and run the system. The unlimited amount of virtual capacity offered by most vendors enables you to efficiently and cost-effectively expand your data storage to meet your growing business needs.

In addition to providing other management tasks to vendors, various cloud computing storage services (although the cloud storage offerings such as the Amazon Simple Storage service are not listed here, but some of the more advanced services do) also enable you to provide the ability to uninstall data protection tasks such as backup and replication, This reduces the cost associated with hardware, software, and management.

However, we often hear a more intractable question from IT managers: How should I choose between cloud computing and traditional data center storage when it comes to issues such as new lines, significant growth and expansion, or regular technical updates? Should I stick with the networked (or sometimes directly connected) storage methods that are already deployed and managed in my organization, or do I plan to store at least some of my data in the public cloud?

While there is no single right answer to this question, it is essential and beneficial to carefully consider certain trade-offs before making a decision. Here are eight key decision tradeoffs that your organization can use to make decisions about using cloud computing storage services:

1. What are your main application cases? is backup, disaster recovery (DR), collaboration, or primary storage? This is a first and most critical issue because the answer to this question will focus on your application and simplify your decision-making process. For example, the requirements of a vendor to meet a cloud backup application are much different from that of a primary storage application.

2. What kind of information do I store? is the data stored as user and application data? Will my application also run in cloud computing? If the answer is the latter, then you might think more about cloud-based storage services, such as Amazon Elastic block Storage (EBS), This service can be used to support Amazon's resilient cloud computing.

3. Do I choose object Storage services for the cloud computing architecture applications, or do you choose a data block or file based storage service for traditional applications? The former may be better suited to storage services in public cloud computing, accessed in the form of rest or soap APIs. The latter requires access through protocols based on block or file storage.

4. Is the public cloud storage service able to meet my data availability requirements? This problem means that you need to know the specific terms of the service level Agreement (SLA) of the vendor concerned, and that you have to make sure which resources you have are not meeting the content of the terms.

5. What are your data security and confidentiality requirements? You will review the cryptographic capabilities provided by the vendor, which covers the data of the transmission state and the stored state. What types of access control and authorization methods are in use?

6. Does using a public cloud computing store allow me to comply with relevant industry regulations such as HIPAA or Oxley? Are there any internal IT policies that you have to follow in your organization?

7. Is the supplier able to meet my recovery time requirements? If I am using cloud computing for backup and restore applications, will the vendor's SLAs support my request for recovery time and recovery point objectives?

8. What about primary storage? If at least some of the data is primary, does the vendor provide a gateway device or service to implement a usage experience similar to access to local storage objects? Can you meet the requirements for IOPS and response times during peak periods?

If the answers to the eight questions above for a particular dataset and use case don't satisfy you, you might want to consider choosing an internal storage solution. More likely, you will find that some use cases and datasets are ideal for using cloud data storage, while others are unsuitable.

For example, many users already use cloud computing storage in their backup applications, especially those that they consider to be "non-critical" datasets. Remember that cloud computing gateways can serve as a "bridge" between cloud computing and internal storage, such as secure access, local cache elevation performance, and support for legacy protocols (for example, file-oriented network file systems (NFS) and iSCSI for Block storage).

Some gateways are targeted for specific use cases, such as backup or disaster recovery applications, while others are tailored to accommodate a variety of storage requirements.

While this article focuses on public cloud computing, you may also want to consider private cloud computing storage. Although there are not many related choices in the marketplace, you can still find them if you pay special attention. For example, the Cloudcomplete provided by Nirvanix company is a private cloud computing storage product with management functions.

Currently, most private cloud computing products are managed by vendors whose storage nodes and functions are usually located in your own device. You have access to scalability, easy management and cost-effectiveness of public cloud computing storage, including savings in equipment capital expenditures. However, you may need to pay for the associated operating costs.

However, if you have an in-house storage solution, you can enjoy more control, data security, and easier compliance with industry regulations than with a public cloud solution. By adding storage nodes in other locations, Nirvanix also provides the ability to extend the size of private cloud computing storage services, all of which are in the same namespace.

One of the additional benefits of private cloud computing storage is that it is a stepping stone to the cloud-storage hybrid model, where we can implement data storage and migration between private cloud computing and public cloud computing on demand. Private cloud computing storage can be implemented through software from companies such as Caringo, EMC Atmos, Mezeo software, or scality.

While using private cloud computing storage access is still an early stage of cloud computing, it can be one of your choices if the answers to these eight questions do not support making a clear decision.