File Storage

What is file storage?

File storage is file-level storage that is normally associated with network attached storage (NAS) technology. It's a hierarchical model of storage where we create folders and sub-folders to store files. It is similar to what we have on local hard drives on our laptops and PCs. Though a hard disk on our PC is located and accessible only to us, file storage (or NAS) can be shared among many users.

NAS or Network operating system (NOS) handles rights management, file sharing, file locking, and other operations on files in file storage. It is easy to configure, familiar to most people, and can easily be accessed by a path. To access the files in file storage, we use common file-level protocols such as the new Network File System (NFS) or Server Message Block (SMB).

How is it different from block storage?

One major difference between block storage and file storage is that it cannot be mounted to a hypervisor, so we can't boot an operating system from it, for instance. Moreover, file storage can be shared among nodes (servers and virtual machines, etc.), whereas block ...