From the course: Cloud Architecture: Design Decisions

Designing for storage

From the course: Cloud Architecture: Design Decisions

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Designing for storage

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- In order to make the right design decisions for our cloud storage, we need to define and understand our requirements clearly enough to make informed decisions. Storage is fundamental to cloud computing architecture. Most applications in an architecture leverage storage directly, either using the native interfaces that storage systems provide, or through a database that leverages some type of storage on the backend to store, retrieve and manage data. You have lots of choices regarding the type and size of storage you're looking for. While there are many attributes of cloud-based storage systems to consider, we generally need to assess the following. Capacity is the amount of stuff we need to store, such as files, data, and binaries, such as audio and video. We are looking to employ storage models such as block or object storage. To learn more, you may find it useful to take our Cloud Storage Course. Speed, or how well the storage system needs to perform. This includes the internal systems' performance and the networks that connect you to storage. Disaster recovery refers to how the storage system will recover from outages, such as a flood that causes a cloud-based data center to close. Application interfaces are how you'll access the services of the storage system. Growth model, related to capacity, or how quickly the storage system will have to support data growth. For example, will you grow 10 terabytes a month on average? Management of the storage system or how you're going to monitor it during operations. Security, or how the storage system will support the required security. This can be done either through native features of the storage system, or more likely, external security systems that interact with your storage and other systems. Cloud architects often need to pay more attention to storage due to the basic set of services that storage provides. However, storage is the foundation of your cloud computing architecture, and getting storage right will ensure that the foundation is solid. Ensure you get the requirements right and make the correct design decisions.

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