100 Days of AWS - Day 14

100 Days of AWS - Day 14: Object storage: What is it? (An Intro to S3)

It is the beginning of Week 3 and Day 15! We have now learned to run our applications and now it is time to learn how we can save our data. We are starting with the storage service that Amazon is known to be most famous with S3 (Simple Storage Service) by first getting introduced to the model that it is based on: Object Storage.

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The Question

A company needs a highly durable and massively scalable solution to store millions of user-uploaded files, like images and videos. These files must be accessible from anywhere on the internet via a web URL.

Which fundamental storage model is purpose-built for this use case?

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The Correct Answer

The proper solution is (C) Object Storage (similar to S3).

Why It is Right: The Valet Parking of Data.

Object storage is a system of storing unstructured data. It does not use a folder hierarchy in contrast to the rest of the models. Rather it stores data in a flat format in the form of objects in a bucket.

Each object consists of:

Data: This is the file itself (image, video, document, etc.).

Metadata: A collection of information regarding the information (e.g., type of content, date of creation).

A Unique Key: A unique identifier (such as a file name) which is used to access the object.

This is a model that is intended to be done at large scale, to be durable, and easily accessed via the web hence Amazon S3 is an object storage service.

A Comparison: Your Personal Garage vs. Park the Car ���ock.

Block and File Storage are as though your personal garage. Your specific address is( C:\Users\MyStuff). You arrange it in particular that (folders) and are able to edit little items with ease. It's fast for direct access.

Object Storage is a massive valet parking company. You surrender your automobile (your item) and receive a ticket (a distinctive identifier/URL). You do not know, or even care, where the valet parks it; you simply know that the lot is very large indeed, and when you hand in your ticket you receive the very car you had. It fits well to hold a huge amount of individual things.

The Incorrect Options Analysis.

(A) Block Storage (as in EBS): This is the parallel of an unformatted hard disk, which is connected to a server. It stores information in set size block and is utilized in anything that needs frequent and low-latency changes, such as the operating systems and databases.

(B) File storage (such as EFS): This is a shared network drive (NAS). It has a classic folder/file structure and is preferred when various computers should have the chance to access and edit the same set of files at the same time.

(D) Instance Store: This is a temporary space that is temporary and attached to an EC2 instance. It is quick and not permanent thus cannot be used to store valuable user files.

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