Modern Clouds – Transition Of Storage Solutions From File To Block To Object

Remember when data was just a piece of information stored in a file on your computer? Occasionally, you or your employees would visit the same file to access the information and then get back to work. It was so simple, right?

Today, times have changed. Technology has evolved and so has the means of saving data. The age of data being stored locally on devices is in the past. 

As the world steps into the age of digital transformation, we have innovated a new, modern solution for data storage.

To understand what we have now, we must first have an idea of what we had decades ago.

File Vs Block Vs Object

Data storage can have three different types, the first one being the file storage system. It is as simple as it sounds. All you need to do is give the content a file name, add metadata, and save it within subdirectories of directories.

The naming conventions are used to make it easier to trace the file back to the system and use it as required. What makes this type of storage system incompetent is its inability to provide ubiquitous access to data. Employees working remotely at distant locations do not have access to locally stored data.

IT administrators working over the system can easily specify the shortcomings of the system. Even though this is a type of storage that has been part of the industry since its infancy, leaders today want a centralized data storage solution for flexibility and accessibility. This is how the idea of a block storage structure came into the picture.

Block Storage

Instead of storing data as files, organizations shifted to a block storage system where the data would be divided into smaller chunks and then stored in blocks. 

Most companies use centralized data servers hosted by third-party organizations to save their enterprise data. 

Opting for providers helps to outsource the job of managing and storing data to third-party enterprises, freeing the organization from managing the tedious job themselves.

 The operating system decides which data goes to which block, eliminating the need to add any metadata to the block. This is another way of storing files but it has its limitations.

Firstly, the storage is tied only to a single server at a time. Secondly, you are expected to pay for the block even if you aren’t using it.

This brings us to the third and the preferred form of storage, object-based storage.

 Object-Based Storage

As the name suggests, data is stored in isolated containers which are called objects. Each object has an identifier which makes accessing it from a pool of data simpler and faster. Furthermore, these objects can be saved either in the local storage space or in a remote server that is miles away from the organization.

With an object-based data storage system, you can add flexibility as well as scalability to the entire system. It keeps pace with the growth of data and, surprisingly, you only pay when you use the model. This is one of the reasons why object-based storage has gained tremendous attention.

Tebi: Decentralized Storage Solution

Expanding on that, allow us to highlight the cloud-based solution, Tebi. Decentralization has been the need-of-the-hour as the limitations of the centralized solution have made themselves apparent. Tebi being a geo-distributed data centre facilitates ease of storage as well as ease of access.

Instead of having all your organizational data stored in a single location, the data is distributed across geographical locations and corresponding data centres

This assures that your data is accessible by users across the globe without complications. It extracts the concept of object storage and applies it to the cluster of networks. 

It is one of the leading solutions in the field of storage today and irrespective of what your organization is and how much data you produce, it will help you improve the scalability, reliability, and accessibility on a global level. Read more at bhtnews.com.

Which storage solution is optimal for your business? Hopefully, this article has offered you some insights.

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