Storage

In a computer, data storage is the place where data is held in an electromagnetic or optical form for access by a computer processor.

Storage is frequently used to describe the devices and data connected to the computer through input/output (I/O) operations — that is, hard disk and tape systems and other forms of storage that don’t include computer memory and other in-computer storage. For the enterprise, the options for this kind of storage are of a much greater variety and expense than those related to memory.

COMPUTER STORAGE

Temporary storage

Supplied as memory, or RAM. Memory is where the processor does its work, where programs run, and where information is stored while it’s being worked on.

Long-term storage

Provided by storage media. Storage media includes disk drives, flash drives, media cards, and CDs and DVDs. Long-term storage allows information to be saved and recalled for later use — like putting clothes in a closet or all your junk in a storage unit.

Cloud Storage

Cloud storage is a model of data storage in which the digital data is stored in logical pools, the physical storage spans multiple servers, and the physical environment is typically owned and managed by a hosting company.

Cloud storage services may be accessed through a co-located cloud computer service, a web service application programming interface(API) or by applications that utilize the API, such as cloud desktop storage, a cloud storage gateway or web based content management system.

Cloud Data Management Interface

The Cloud Data Management Interface (CDMI) is a standard that specifies a protocol for self-provisioning, administering and accessing cloud storage.

CDMI defines operations for assessing the capabilities of the cloud storage system, allocating and accessing containers and objects, managing users and groups, implementing access control, attaching metadata, making arbitrary queries, using persistent queues, specifying retention intervals and holds for compliance purposes, using a logging facility, billing, moving data between cloud systems, and exporting data via other protocols such as NFS. Transport security is obtained via TLS.

Cloud Database

A cloud database is a database that typically runs on a cloud computing platform, access to it is provided as a service.

Database services take care of scalability and high availability of the database. Database services make the underlying software-stack transparent to the user.

With a database as a service model, application owners do not have to install and maintain the database themselves. Instead, the database service provider takes responsibility for installing and maintaining the database, and application owners are charged according to their usage of the service