What Is Cloud Storage and How Does It Work?

These days everyone seems to be talking about “the cloud.” But even though that seems to be a hot buzzword, you still might be left wondering “what is cloud storage and how does it work?” This is a common question and it’s important to know the answer if you run a business. 

Cloud storage can help reduce your costs, lower your carbon footprint, and keep your data secure. Are you looking to know more? If you are, then keep on reading and we’ll go over everything that you’re going to want to know about cloud storage. 

What Is Cloud Storage?

Cloud storage is an offsite platform that utilizes a multi-tenant, highly virtualized infrastructure. It does this to provide companies with scalable storage solutions that can be dynamically provisioned as deemed necessary by the business.

This service is being offered by a wide variety of cloud storage providers.

Normally, IT departments that manage capacity-limited data centers would just add more physical storage solutions. Unfortunately, that solution is costly. It can also be difficult to find a location to store the storage hardware and it can also be hard to find whatever it is that you’re looking for. 

Unlike dedicated physical tools, cloud storage provides:

• Metered resources
• Multi-tenancy
• Scalability
• Elasticity

The provisioning of cloud storage solutions is done via a web-based platform. Cloud storage contains several distinct characteristics that make it appealing for businesses that are trying to compete in today’s data-intensive business environment.

With cloud storage, data replication can eventually become consistent to ensure availability. The resources are also easily replicated for fault tolerance and disaster recovery.

How Does Cloud Storage Work?

Cloud storage involves at least one data server that a person connects to through the internet. That person sends files over the web to the data server. The files are then forwarded to various servers. 

The stored information is then going to be accessible through an internet-based interface.  

A large number of data centers are used as cloud storage systems in order to ensure their availability. This is in order to make sure that the data can be available, even if one server fails or is undergoing maintenance.

For example, Amazon AWS Cloud spans 77 Availability Zones (AZs) within 24 geographic regions.

The data in a public cloud can be replicated in various physical locations for disaster recovery and fault tolerance purposes. However, the local or primary location is usually closer to the company’s physical space so that the data can be processed more quickly. It can also save costs.

Types of Cloud Storage

There are four main kinds of cloud storage. They include public cloud storage, private cloud storage, personal cloud storage, and hybrid cloud storage.

Personal Cloud Storage

This is a kind of cloud storage that works thanks to a network-attached tool that lets users store different kinds of personal information.

Examples of cloud storage include music, video, photos, graphics, and text. The user controls and owns the tool and they can access it from anywhere with the internet.

Private Cloud Storage

Private cloud storage makes use of onsite storage servers. These are under the control of the business that owns them. Similar to public data centers and cloud storage, private cloud storage makes use of virtual machines. 

Private clouds are usually used by companies that want to take advantage of the scalability and flexibility that cloud storage provides. However, they do this under direct management and control of the company that owns it.

Businesses that are worried about security issues might prefer to manage their own cloud storage solutions instead of using a public cloud system.

Public Cloud Storage

Public cloud storage is available from a third-party provider as a service. Many of the biggest tech companies are also popular cloud storage platforms. 

These public cloud storage platforms are available as a service. The infrastructure is owned, maintained, built, and managed by cloud storage companies. Many cloud storage sites can also be found online. 

These free cloud storage services all offer plenty of space and security for people who are looking to start storing data in the cloud. 

Hybrid Cloud Storage

Hybrid cloud storage is a combination of public and private cloud storage solutions. It usually combines resources that are managed and owned by the company with public cloud storage services that are run by a third party.

Companies combine the two strategies in order to balance the need for securing certain assets with the cost advantages, scalability, and elasticity public cloud storage provides.

Cloud Storage vs Cloud Computing

The goal of cloud storage is to save copies of information as a backup. This way, if the original file gets ruined, a backup can be recovered. 

Cloud computing is when you get your computing power through the cloud. For example, you might work off of an application that you accessed through the cloud instead of through your desktop.

While these two solutions are similar, it’s important to know their differences.

Answering the Question: What Is Cloud Storage and How Does It Work?

Hopefully, after reading the above article, you now have an answer to the question: What is cloud storage and how does it work?

Cloud storage can make your company more scalable and can save you money in the long-run too.

Are you looking for other helpful tech articles like this one? If you are, then make sure to check out the rest of our site today for more!