Summary and Quiz

In this lesson, we’ll summarize what we have learned about storage. Also, we'll test our knowledge through a quiz.

Summary

Here is a summary of key takeaways from the storage section:

• Types of storage: There are three most common types of storage

  • Object storage: Object storage allows us to dump any type of data in a container-like structure. The container has a flat structure that allows us to fetch objects through unique URLs. It is ideal for storing large amounts of unstructured data.

  • Block storage: Block storage manages data in fixed-sized blocks like hard disks. It is commonly used as a dedicated storage device in Virtual Machines (VM) with a high I/O rate.

  • File storage: File storage is a type of data storage that organizes and stores data in a hierarchical structure using directories and files.

• Elastic Block Store (EBS): AWS offers a block storage service. There are four main types of EBS volumes:

  • General-purpose SSD volumes: These are SDD volumes commonly used for general-purpose testing and development. It includes gp2 and gp3 volumes, ideal for general-purpose use cases.

  • Provisioned IOPS volumes: These are SDD volumes optimized for IOPS. It provides three options: io1, io2, io2 block express.

  • Throughput-optimized HDD volumes: These are throughput-optimized HDD volumes commonly used for large-size, sequential workloads.

  • Cold HDD volumes: These HDD-based volumes are ideal for long-term data retention at a low cost.

• EBS Snapshots: These allow us to back up the data stored in EBS volumes. Snapshots are incremental and are stored in S3 buckets.

• Elastic File System (EFS): It is a file storage service offered by AWS. EFS can connect to multiple compute instances simultaneously through mount targets.

• EFS file system types: Given below are the main types of EFS instances:

  • Regional file system: This type of file system can connect to multiple compute resources deployed across an availability zone.

  • One Zone file systems: These are located in a single zone and can only have one mount target in the zone. They are highly available within the specified zone.

• EFS storage classes: EFS offers three types of storage classes tailored to the user’s requirements:

  • EFS Standard: EFS Standard has a sub-millisecond latency and is ideal for frequent read-and-write operations

  • EFS Infrequent Access (IA): EFS Infrequent Access is used for data accessed once a quarter of a year.

  • EFS Archive: The EFS Archive is used for data accessed once a year.

• AWS Elastic Disaster Recovery: It is a fully managed service that allows us to create disaster recovery subnets for data centers located on-premises or on the cloud. The disaster recovery lifecycle consists of three main phases:

  • Data Replication: The process involves copying teh data from stoarge disks to the EBS volumes of the staging subnet. The data from the staging subnet is then copied to the EBS volumes of the recovery instances.

  • Data Drills: This process simulates the disaster to ensure recovery configuration works as expected.

  • Data Recovery: For the failover process, The DRS spins up recovery instances as soon as the disaster occurs to take over as the standby. As soon as the original system is restored, the DRS initiates a failback process to redirect to the original system and terminate recovery instances.

• AWS FSx: Amazon FSx is a fully managed service that simplifies and makes it affordable to initiate, operate, and expand high-performance file systems in the cloud that are rich in features. Key features include:

  • Managed service: AWS FSx eliminates the overhead of managing file storage infrastructure, allowing users to focus on their applications.

  • High performance: It delivers consistently high performance for file-intensive workloads, with SSD and HDD storage options.

  • Integration: Seamlessly integrates with other AWS services such as Amazon S3, AWS Backup, and AWS Directory Service.

• AWS Storage Gateway: Amazon Storage Gateway is a service that bridges your local environment with the cloud, offering access to virtually limitless storage in the cloud. Key features include:

  • Hybrid cloud storage: Provides a bridge between on-premises environments and AWS cloud storage, enabling seamless data transfer and access.

  • Scalability: Scales elastically to accommodate growing data volumes, ensuring consistent performance.

  • Data transfer: Facilitates efficient and secure data transfer between on-premises storage and AWS, optimizing resource utilization.

• AWS Backup: AWS Backup is a service that provides data protection across AWS and hybrid environments. Key features comprise:

  • Automated backups: Streamlines backup processes with automated scheduling and retention policies, ensuring data integrity and compliance.

  • Cross-service backup: Supports backup for various AWS services, including Amazon EBS, Amazon RDS, Amazon DynamoDB, and more, providing a comprehensive backup solution.

  • Cost optimization: Optimizes backup costs with flexible pricing options and efficient resource utilization.

Test your knowledge

Now that you have a firm grip on storage services offered by AWS, solve the quiz below to test your knowledge.