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If you're an IT pro who will be advocating for cloud storage
project funding, or if you just want to get a head start on understanding the
technology, these definitions
will help you gain
a solid understanding of the fundamentals. These cloud terms cover everything
from service-level agreements (SLAs) to the nuts and bolts of a cloud storage
infrastructure, and they can help you sound like a cloud storage professional
when talking to team members, your chief information officer and your vendor.
It's no surprise this term is at the top of our list because
analysts and vendors alike are struggling to determine what cloud storage truly
is. Cloud storage options are broken into three categories -- public cloud, private cloud
and hybrid cloud -- each with its defining factors to help distinguish it from
the others.
Cloud storage is a service model in
which data is maintained, managed and backed up remotely and made available to
users over a network (typically the Internet).
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There are three main cloud storage
models:
- Public cloud
storage services, such as Amazon's Simple Storage Service (S3),
provide a multi-tenant storage environment that’s most suitable for
unstructured data.
- Private cloud
storage services provide a dedicated environment protected behind an
organization’s firewall. Private clouds are appropriate for users who need
customization and more control over their data.
- Hybrid cloud
storage is a combination of the other two models that includes at least
one private cloud and one public cloud infrastructure. An organization might,
for example, store actively used and structured data in a private cloud
and unstructured and archival data in a public cloud.
An enterprise-level cloud storage
system should be scalable to suit current needs, accessible from anywhere and
application-agnostic.
A cloud storage SLA is a service-level agreement
between a cloud storage service provider and a customer that specifies details
of the service, usually in quantifiable terms.
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- Cloud Management
- Negotiating service-level agreements and billing with
cloud providers
- Cloud service provider business models
A typical cloud storage SLA
articulates precise levels of service – such as, for example, 99.9% uptime –
and the recourse or compensation that the user is entitled to should the
provider fail to provide the service as described. Another normal cloud storage
SLA detail is service availability, which specifies the maximum amount of time
a read request can take, how many retries are allowed and so on. The SLA should
also define compensation for users if the specifications aren’t met. Cloud
storage service providers usually offer a tiered service credit plan that gives
users credits based on the discrepancy between SLA specifications and the
actual service levels delivered.
Most public cloud storage services
provide details of the service levels that users can expect on their websites
and these will likely be the same for all users. However, an enterprise
establishing service with a private cloud storage provider may be able to
negotiate a more customized deal. In this case an SLA might include
specifications for retention policies, the number of copies that will be
retained, storage locations and so on.
It’s important to read an SLA
closely and examine the ramifications. For example, 99.9% uptime, a common
stipulation, translates to nine hours of outage per year. For some mission
critical data, that may not be adequate. You should also check to see how terms
are defined. Terri McLure, a senior analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group in
Milford, Mass., explains: “I know of one vendor SLA, for example, that offers
99.9% uptime. It sounds pretty good. But they don't count downtime unless the
client can't access applications for more than 10 minutes. A nine-minute outage
is not considered downtime for them in their SLA.”
A cloud storage service-level agreement is crucial for any organization looking to move to cloud storage.
This contract between a customer and their cloud storage service provider
provides guarantees and details the services being offered, such as 99.9%
uptime.
Cloud washing (also spelled
cloudwashing) is the purposeful and sometimes deceptive attempt by a vendor to rebrand an old
product or service by associating the buzzword "cloud" with it.
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Cloud computing
is a general term that can be applied to any vendor service that involves
delivery over the Internet. (The label "cloud" was inspired by
the symbol for the Internet on a flow chart.) Therefore, if any component of
the vendor's offering relies upon the Internet in order to work, the vendor can
feel justified in associating the product with the label cloud. In
addition to delivering an Internet-based service, however, a true cloud service
also offers:
- User self-provisioning
- Pay-per-use billing
- A multi-tenant
architecture.
- A virtualized
infrastructure.
- Linear scalability.
As the cloud computing delivery
model becomes more popular and the uses for cloud services expand, so will the
number of vendors hoping to present their offerings as having a cloud feature
or function. Cloud washing has been compared to green washing,
the rebranding of products and services as being friendly to the
environment. In both instances, the word "wash" means to apply
a thin layer of paint to freshen something up and make it look new. The
paint, in this case, is a marketing message.
The chances that you’ve been cloud washed are pretty good. It
means a vendor has slapped a cloud label onto a product that isn't truly a
cloud offering. For tips on how to avoid cloud washing, listen to our expert
podcast with ESG senior analyst Terri McClure.
Cloud insurance is an approach to risk management
in which a promise of financial compensation is made for specific potential
failures on the part of a cloud computing
service provider. The insurance may be included as part of a service
level agreement (SLA) with the
provider or it may be purchase separately through a third-party insurance
company who works with the provider.
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- Cloud Disaster Recovery
- Public Cloud
- Negotiating service-level agreements and billing with
cloud providers
One of the major reasons traditional
IT shops are unwilling to switch to cloud services is the risk associated with
security breaches and outages that result in lost business or harm to a
company’s reputation. Some public cloud providers offer remuneration for time
lost when a system is down, but not for the business that is lost while the
cloud service is unavailable. A cloud insurance policy would cover the
loss of potential business in the event of downtime.
Another approach to cloud insurance
involves data backup and not
financial remuneration. In such a scenario a third-party service provider
periodically takes snapshots of the provider’s cloud environment, including
data and applications. This extra backup “insurance” is intended to
assure potential customers that their data is safe and can never be lost. This
type of insurance seems to appeal to customers who use the cloud for backing up
data that is not sensitive but is still valuable, such as photographs and
video.
Related glossary terms: cloud storage service,
cloud disaster recovery (cloud DR), public cloud storage,
cloud backup (online backup), cloud storage encryption,
cloud storage SLA,
cloud seeding
This is a risk management approach often included in a cloud
service-level agreement. This contractual cloud insurance policy guarantees financial compensation if downtime or failures are made
by the service provider.
Part of the buzz surrounding cloud technology is the opportunity
to reduce your organization's data footprint. Research indicates that the
potential for green storage benefits exist for organizations switching to cloud storage solutions,
including a nearly 40% reduction in data center energy worldwide by 2020.
This refers to mounting a cloud storage option so that it simply
appears as a drive letter for users in the interface. This allows the server to
treat the cloud storage drive as if it were on direct-attached storage (DAS) or a shared storage
filer.
Any company that provides cloud storage services is considered a cloud storage service provider. These services can
range from those supplied by public cloud storage, such as Amazon S3 or Windows
Azure, to offerings from private cloud storage companies such as Hitachi,
Nasuni or StorSimple.
A cloud storage gateway is a
hardware- or software-based appliance located on the customer premises that
serves as a bridge between local applications and remote cloud-based storage.
The products are sometimes called cloud storage appliances or cloud
storage controllers.
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The need for a bridge between cloud
storage systems and enterprise applications arose because of an incompatibility
between public cloud technologies and legacy applications. Most public cloud
providers rely on Internet protocols, usually a REST API over HTTP, rather than
a conventional storage area network (SAN) or network-attached storage (NAS)
protocol. That method is useful for programmers creating new applications but
not compatible with legacy systems.
A cloud storage gateway provides
basic protocol translation and simple connectivity to allow the incompatible
technologies to communicate transparently. The gateway can make cloud storage
appear to be a NAS filer, a block storage array, a backup target or even an
extension of the application itself. Local storage is generally used as a cache
for improved performance.
Cloud gateway product features include:
- Encryption technology to safeguard data.
- Compression. Deduplication.
- WAN optimization for faster performance.
- Snapshots.
- Version control.
- Data protection.
Cloud storage gateways allow users interested in a public cloud solution to form a bridge
of sorts between local applications and remote cloud-based storage. This is a
necessity in certain cases because legacy applications and public cloud
technologies use different protocols, therefore making them incompatible. Be
sure to check out the recent in-depth podcast on cloud gateways that assistant site editor Rachel Kossman conducted with Gartner
research director Gene Ruth.
This Internet-based storage option, often called CFS, is billed as
a pay-per-use service that's best for unstructured or semi-structured data:
documents, emails, spreadsheets, presentations and so on. ESG senior analyst
Terri McClure shared her views on the benefits and best uses cases of cloud document sharing in a recent SearchCloudStorage.com podcast.
Simply put, a cloud infrastructure is the software and hardware components needed to meet the
requirements of a cloud storage model. These requirements can include
virtualization software, servers and operating systems -- yet they
differentiate a cloud storage solution from a normal storage solution in that
the system must be able to access files remotely through a network.
There is no end to the technology and products provided by us (as
of Microsoft partners).If you want more information , pls visit my blog site
frequently, for frequent updates and critical notifications/patches and
software’s.
Best regards
Gurbinder Sharma
Microsoft Cloud Strategy Partner
Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist
M.C.IT Professional
Ramandeep
BCA & PGD(Computer Software Programmer)
