You probably use some sort of cloud storage facility already, whether that is backing up personal files and images, or as a backup for your business documents. However, there’s more to this online storage option than you might realize.
When you are searching for IT support Melbourne, for instance, to fix a system crash where files seem to have disappeared, you will be glad you had critical files backed up on the cloud. Let’s take a look at what you can use cloud storage for and see if there are other ways you can take advantage of this facility beyond keeping a copy of files you might need if your server crashes.
What are the key benefits?
A good starting point would be to understand some of the main reasons why cloud storage should be considered essential rather than optional.
An obvious advantage is a fact that your hardware costs can be reduced substantially as you will only pay for the storage you actually use. Having access to cloud storage makes it easier for IT to access the amount of storage needed and your information management should be easier when you centralize storage in this way.
Different types of storage options
There are three main types of cloud storage at your disposal.
The most heavily used option is file storage. You can create large content repositories that can be used in a number of different ways. You can store documents and media, or create user home directories to organize your files in the way you want. Also, you can create a development environment where you can work on specific projects and IT developments without any concerns over local capacity.
Another option is object storage. It is often the case that when you develop an application in the cloud it opens up valuable access to the enormous level of scalability and metadata characteristics that this storage option offers.
What this means is that object storage allows you the opportunity to build an application from the ground up and without any worries over scale or flexibility. Having this type of cloud storage also enables you to import any existing data stores for integration, or simply to archive or backup.
The other main type of cloud storage is block storage.
It is often the case that ERP systems or certain enterprise applications, such as databases, often need a dedicated storage option that delivers low latency. Network latency is when a delay occurs before a transfer begins. A suitable block-based cloud storage solution means that each individual virtual server will address that issue and offer very low latency, which will prove beneficial when it comes to processing high-performance workloads.
How will you use cloud storage?
Using cloud storage for backup and recovery will continue to be a no-brainer when you consider the data safety and flexibility that it offers. In addition, you might decide to take advantage of how it becomes easier to carry out software testing and development.
Other uses include cloud data migration to reduce network costs. Big data is also an application where cloud storage seems to be tailor-made for what you might need for a large-scale project.
There seems to be no question that the use of cloud storage warrants being an integral aspect of your IT requirements and solutions.
