Object storage

Object storage is a storage architecture that manages data as objects, where an object is defined as a file with its metadata, and a globally unique identifier called the object ID.

Examples of metadata are filename, date and time stamps, owner, access permissions, the level of data protection, and replication settings to for instance a different geography.

Object storage stores and retrieves data using a REST API over HTTP, served by a webserver, and is designed to be highly scalable.

Where a traditional file system provides a structure that simplifies locating files (for example, a log file is stored in /var/log/proxy/proxy.log), in object storage, a file’s object ID must be administered by the application using it. Using the object ID, the object can be found without knowing the physical location of the data. For example, an application has administered that its log file is stored in object ID 8932189023.

Using object IDs enables simplicity and massive scalability of the storage system, as the object ID is a link to an object that can be stored anywhere.

Data in object storage can’t be modified. Instead, if a file is modified, the original file must be deleted, and a new file must be created, leading to a new object ID. This makes object storage unsuitable for frequenty changing data. But it is a good fit for data that doesn't change much, like backups, archives, video and audio files, and virtual machine images.
Object storage allows for high availability using commodity servers with direct attached disk drives. It can be setup to replicate objects across multiple servers and locations (typically, at least three copies of every file are stored in mutiple geographical zones). If one or more servers or disks fail, data can still be made available, without impact to the application or the end user.

While object storage was not designed to be used as a file system, some systems emulate a file system using object storage. For instance, Amazon’s S3FS creates a virtual filesystem, based on S3 object storage, that can be mounted to an operating system in the traditional way, however, with significant performance degradation. A much better solution is to use object storage with applications designed for it.


This entry was posted on Friday 07 October 2016

Earlier articles

Quantum computing

Security at cloud providers not getting better because of government regulation

The cloud is as insecure as its configuration

Infrastructure as code

DevOps for infrastructure

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

(Hyper) Converged Infrastructure

Object storage

Software Defined Networking (SDN) and Network Function Virtualization (NFV)

Software Defined Storage (SDS)

What's the point of using Docker containers?

Identity and Access Management

Using user profiles to determine infrastructure load

Public wireless networks

Supercomputer architecture

Desktop virtualization

Stakeholder management

x86 platform architecture

Midrange systems architecture

Mainframe Architecture

Software Defined Data Center - SDDC

The Virtualization Model

What are concurrent users?

Performance and availability monitoring in levels

UX/UI has no business rules

Technical debt: a time related issue

Solution shaping workshops

Architecture life cycle

Project managers and architects

Using ArchiMate for describing infrastructures

Kruchten’s 4+1 views for solution architecture

The SEI stack of solution architecture frameworks

TOGAF and infrastructure architecture

The Zachman framework

An introduction to architecture frameworks

How to handle a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack

Architecture Principles

Views and viewpoints explained

Stakeholders and their concerns

Skills of a solution architect architect

Solution architects versus enterprise architects

Definition of IT Architecture

What is Big Data?

How to make your IT "Greener"

What is Cloud computing and IaaS?

Purchasing of IT infrastructure technologies and services

IDS/IPS systems

IP Protocol (IPv4) classes and subnets

Infrastructure Architecture - Course materials

Introduction to Bring Your Own Device (BYOD)

Fire prevention in the datacenter

Where to build your datacenter

Availability - Fall-back, hot site, warm site

Reliabilty of infrastructure components

Human factors in availability of systems

Business Continuity Management (BCM) and Disaster Recovery Plan (DRP)

Performance - Design for use

Performance concepts - Load balancing

Performance concepts - Scaling

Performance concept - Caching

Perceived performance

Ethical hacking

The first computers

Open group ITAC /Open CA Certification


Recommended links

Ruth Malan
Gaudi site
Esther Barthel's site on virtualization
Eltjo Poort's site on architecture


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The postings on this site are my opinions and do not necessarily represent CGI’s strategies, views or opinions.

 

Copyright Sjaak Laan