Cloud storage - wikipedia Cloud storage This article is about enterprise - level cloud data storage. For consumer - level file hosting services, see file hosting service. Cloud storage is a model of computer data storage in which the digital data is stored in logical pools. The physical storage spans multiple servers ( sometimes in multiple locations ), and the physical environment is typically owned and managed by a hosting company. These cloud storage providers are responsible for keeping the data available and accessible, and the physical environment protected and running. People and organizations buy or lease storage capacity from the providers to store user, organization, or application data. Cloud storage services may be accessed through a colocated cloud computing 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 systems. Contents 1 History 2 Architecture 3 Advantages 4 Potential concerns 4.1 Attack surface area 4.2 Supplier stability 4.3 Accessibility 4.4 Other concerns 5 See also 6 References History Cloud computing is believed to have been invented by Joseph Carl Robnett Licklider in the 1960s with his work on ARPANET to connect people and data from anywhere at any time. In 1983, CompuServe offered its consumer users a small amount of disk space that could be used to store any files they chose to upload. In 1994, AT&T launched PersonaLink Services, an online platform for personal and business communication and entrepreneurship. The storage was one of the first to be all web - based, and referenced in their commercials as, `` you can think of our electronic meeting place as the cloud. '' Amazon Web Services introduced their cloud storage service AWS S3 in 2006, and has gained widespread recognition and adoption as the storage supplier to popular services such as SmugMug, Dropbox, and Pinterest. In 2005, Box announced an online file sharing and personal cloud content management service for businesses. Architecture A high level architecture of cloud storage. This section may be too technical for most readers to understand. Please help improve it to make it understandable to non-experts, without removing the technical details. ( December 2016 ) Cloud storage is based on highly virtualized infrastructure and is like broader cloud computing in terms of accessible interfaces, near - instant elasticity and scalability, multi-tenancy, and metered resources. Cloud storage services can be utilized from an off - premises service ( Amazon S3 ) or deployed on - premises ( ViON Capacity Services ). Cloud storage typically refers to a hosted object storage service, but the term has broadened to include other types of data storage that are now available as a service, like block storage. Object storage services like Amazon S3, Oracle Cloud Storage and Microsoft Azure Storage, object storage software like Openstack Swift, object storage systems like EMC Atmos, EMC ECS and Hitachi Content Platform, and distributed storage research projects like OceanStore and VISION Cloud are all examples of storage that can be hosted and deployed with cloud storage characteristics. Cloud storage is : Made up of many distributed resources, but still acts as one, either in a federated or a cooperative storage cloud architecture Highly fault tolerant through redundancy and distribution of data Highly durable through the creation of versioned copies Typically eventually consistent with regard to data replicas Advantages Companies need only pay for the storage they actually use, typically an average of consumption during a month. This does not mean that cloud storage is less expensive, only that it incurs operating expenses rather than capital expenses. Businesses using cloud storage can cut their energy consumption by up to 70 % making them a more green business. Also at the vendor level they are dealing with higher levels of energy so they will be more equipped with managing it in order to keep their own costs down as well. Organizations can choose between off - premises and on - premises cloud storage options, or a mixture of the two options, depending on relevant decision criteria that is complementary to initial direct cost savings potential ; for instance, continuity of operations ( COOP ), disaster recovery ( DR ), security ( PII, HIPAA, SARBOX, IA / CND ), and records retention laws, regulations, and policies. Storage availability and data protection is intrinsic to object storage architecture, so depending on the application, the additional technology, effort and cost to add availability and protection can be eliminated. Storage maintenance tasks, such as purchasing additional storage capacity, are offloaded to the responsibility of a service provider. Cloud storage provides users with immediate access to a broad range of resources and applications hosted in the infrastructure of another organization via a web service interface. Cloud storage can be used for copying virtual machine images from the cloud to on - premises locations or to import a virtual machine image from an on - premises location to the cloud image library. In addition, cloud storage can be used to move virtual machine images between user accounts or between data centers. Cloud storage can be used as natural disaster proof backup, as normally there are 2 or 3 different backup servers located in different places around the globe. Cloud storage can be mapped as a local drive with the WebDAV protocol. It can function as a central file server for organizations with multiple office locations. Potential concerns Main article : Cloud computing security Attack surface area Outsourcing data storage increases the attack surface area. When data has been distributed it is stored at more locations increasing the risk of unauthorized physical access to the data. For example, in cloud based architecture, data is replicated and moved frequently so the risk of unauthorized data recovery increases dramatically. Such as in the case of disposal of old equipment, reuse of drives, reallocation of storage space. The manner that data is replicated depends on the service level a customer chooses and on the service provided. When encryption is in place it can ensure confidentiality. Crypto - shredding can be used when disposing of data ( on a disk ). The number of people with access to the data who could be compromised ( e.g., bribed, or coerced ) increases dramatically. A single company might have a small team of administrators, network engineers, and technicians, but a cloud storage company will have many customers and thousands of servers, therefore a much larger team of technical staff with physical and electronic access to almost all of the data at the entire facility or perhaps the entire company. Decryption keys that are kept by the service user, as opposed to the service provider, limit the access to data by service provider employees. As for sharing multiple data in the cloud with multiple users, a large number of keys has to be distributed to users via secure channels for decryption, also it has to be securely stored and managed by the users in their devices. Storing these keys requires rather expensive secure storage. To overcome that, key - aggregate cryptosystem can be used. It increases the number of networks over which the data travels. Instead of just a local area network ( LAN ) or storage area network ( SAN ), data stored on a cloud requires a WAN ( wide area network ) to connect them both. By sharing storage and networks with many other users / customers it is possible for other customers to access your data. Sometimes because of erroneous actions, faulty equipment, a bug and sometimes because of criminal intent. This risk applies to all types of storage and not only cloud storage. The risk of having data read during transmission can be mitigated through encryption technology. Encryption in transit protects data as it is being transmitted to and from the cloud service. Encryption at rest protects data that is stored at the service provider. Encrypting data in an on - premises cloud service on - ramp system can provide both kinds of encryption protection. Supplier stability See also : Financial Analysis Companies are not permanent and the services and products they provide can change. Outsourcing data storage to another company needs careful investigation and nothing is ever certain. Contracts set in stone can be worthless when a company ceases to exist or its circumstances change. Companies can : Go bankrupt. Expand and change their focus. Be purchased by other larger companies. Be purchased by a company headquartered in or move to a country that negates compliance with export restrictions and thus necessitates a move. Suffer an irrecoverable disaster. Accessibility Performance for outsourced storage is likely to be lower than local storage, depending on how much a customer is willing to spend for WAN bandwidth Reliability and availability depends on wide area network availability and on the level of precautions taken by the service provider. Reliability should be based on hardware as well as various algorithms used. Its a given a multiplicity of data storage. Other concerns Security of stored data and data in transit may be a concern when storing sensitive data at a cloud storage provider Users with specific records - keeping requirements, such as public agencies that must retain electronic records according to statute, may encounter complications with using cloud computing and storage. For instance, the U.S. Department of Defense designated the Defense Information Systems Agency ( DISA ) to maintain a list of records management products that meet all of the records retention, personally identifiable information ( PII ), and security ( Information Assurance ; IA ) requirements Cloud storage is a rich resource for both hackers and national security agencies. Because the cloud holds data from many different users and organizations, hackers see it as a very valuable target. Piracy and copyright infringement may be enabled by sites that permit filesharing. For example, the CodexCloud ebook storage site has faced litigation from the owners of the intellectual property uploaded and shared there, as have the GrooveShark and YouTube sites it has been compared to. The legal aspect, from a regulatory compliance standpoint, is of concern when storing files domestically and especially internationally. See also Cloud collaboration Cloud Data Management Interface, better known as CDMI Cloud database Comparison of online backup services File hosting service Mobile cloud storage Cooperative storage cloud References Jump up ^ `` A History of Cloud Computing ''. ComputerWeekly. Jump up ^ Louden, Bill ( September 1983 ). `` Increase Your 100 's Storage with 128K from Compuserve ''. Portable 100. New England Publications Inc. ( Volume 1, Number 1 ) : 22. ISSN 0738 - 7016. Jump up ^ Daniela Hernandez ( May 23, 2014 ). `` Tech Time Warp of the Week ''. Wired. Jump up ^ `` Box.net lets you store, share, work in the computing cloud ''. Silicon Valley Business Journal. December 16, 2009. Retrieved October 2, 2016. Jump up ^ `` On - premises private cloud storage description, characteristics, and options ''. ^ Jump up to : S. Rhea, C. Wells, P. Eaton, D. Geels, B. Zhao, H. Weatherspoon, and J. Kubiatowicz, Maintenance - Free Global Data Storage. IEEE Internet Computing, Vol 5, No 5, September / October 2001, pp 40 -- 49. ( 1 ) ( 2 ) Jump up ^ Kolodner, Elliot K. ; Tal, Sivan ; Kyriazis, Dimosthenis ; Naor, Dalit ; Allalouf, Miriam ; Bonelli, Lucia ; Brand, Per ; Eckert, Albert ; Elmroth, Erik ; Gogouvitis, Spyridon V. ; Harnik, Danny ; Hernandez, Francisco ; Jaeger, Michael C. ; Bayuh Lakew, Ewnetu ; Manuel Lopez, Jose ; Lorenz, Mirko ; Messina, Alberto ; Shulman - Peleg, Alexandra ; Talyansky, Roman ; Voulodimos, Athanasios ; Wolfsthal, Yaron ( 2011 ). `` A Cloud Environment for Data - intensive Storage Services ''. 2011 IEEE Third International Conference on Cloud Computing Technology and Science. doi : 10.1109 / CloudCom. 2011.55. Jump up ^ Vernik, Gil, et al. `` Data On - boarding in Federated Storage Clouds. '' Proceedings of the 2013 IEEE Sixth International Conference on Cloud Computing. IEEE Computer Society, 2013. Jump up ^ Kemme, Bettina, et al. `` Consistency in Distributed Systems ( Dagstuhl Seminar 13081 ). '' ( 2013 ). ^ Jump up to : ZDNet, Nasuni Cloud Storage Gateway By Dan Kusnetzky, June 1, 2010, ( 3 ) Jump up ^ Gupta, P ( 20 October 2013 ). `` The usage and adoption of cloud computing by small and medium businesses ''. International Journal of Information Management. 33 : 861 -- 874. doi : 10.1016 / j. ijinfomgt. 2013.07. 001. Jump up ^ `` Ochs, R. ( 2012 ). The New Decision - Makers. CRN ( June 22, 2012 ). Retrieved on December 10, 2012 ''. Jump up ^ `` 4 reasons why cloud and on - premises storage are different, but equally good for people data ''. 2013 - 09 - 09. Retrieved 2013 - 09 - 09. Jump up ^ O'Brien, J.A. & Marakas, G.M. ( 2011 ). Computer Software. Management Information Systems 10th ed. 145. McGraw - Hill / Irwin Jump up ^ Wu CF, Wang YS, Liu GN, Amies, A, 2012, Create solutions on IBM SmartCloud Enterprise : Transfer image assets between different accounts IBM developerWorks, June 6. Jump up ^ `` The Attack Surface Problem ''. Sans.edu. Retrieved 2013 - 07 - 08. Jump up ^ Cyber % 20 Intrusion % 20 Mitigation % 20 Strategies. pdf `` US - CERT ICS - TIP - 12 - 146 - 01 Targeted Cyber Intrusion and Detection Mitigation Strategies '' Check url = value ( help ) ( PDF ). Jump up ^ Chu, Cheng - Kang ; Chow, Sherman S.M. ; Tzeng, Wen - Guey ; Zhou, Jianying ; Deng, Robert H. ( 2014 - 02 - 01 ). `` Key - Aggregate Cryptosystem for Scalable Data Sharing in Cloud Storage ''. IEEE Transactions on Parallel and Distributed Systems. 25 ( 2 ) : 468 -- 477. doi : 10.1109 / TPDS. 2013.112. ISSN 1045 - 9219. Jump up ^ Transfer files from one onedrive account to another. Jump up ^ Butler, Brandon ( 2 June 2014 ). `` Cloud 's worst - case scenario : What to do if your provider goes belly up ''. Network World. Retrieved 20 June 2015. Jump up ^ Gaudin, Sharon ( 12 January 2015 ). `` Verizon gets ' black eye ' in long cloud shutdown ''. ComputerWorld. Retrieved 20 June 2015. Jump up ^ Butler, Brandon ( 1 November 2013 ). `` Free cloud storage service MegaCloud goes dark ''. Network World. Retrieved 20 June 2015. Jump up ^ `` DoDD 5015.2 DOD Records Management Program, Section 5.1. 3 '' ( PDF ). Jump up ^ Mello, John P. `` National Security Agency Pressed to Reveal Details on Google Deal ''. PCWorld. Retrieved 2013 - 07 - 08. Jump up ^ Spring, Tom. `` Google Ditches Microsoft 's Windows Over Security Issues, Report Claims ''. PCWorld. Retrieved 2013 - 07 - 08. Jump up ^ Subashini, S. ; Kavitha, V. ( 2011 - 01 - 01 ). `` A survey on security issues in service delivery models of cloud computing ''. Journal of Network and Computer Applications. 34 ( 1 ) : 1 -- 11. doi : 10.1016 / j. jnca. 2010.07. 006. Jump up ^ Justin Pot ( 7 December 2011 ). `` Codex Cloud : Upload Your Books & Read Them Online Along With Other People 's Uploads ''. MakeUseOf. Jump up ^ Nancy Messieh ( 18 October 2011 ). `` Publishers beware : Is CodexCloud the Grooveshark for ebooks ? ''. NextWeb. Jump up ^ Jones, Hadley. `` When Online File Storage Gets Legal : Regulatory Compliance ''. CloudWedge. Retrieved 2014 - 01 - 16. hide Cloud computing As a service Content as a service Software as a service Platform as a service Infrastructure as a service Desktop as a service Data as a service Mobile backend as a service Network as a service Technologies Cloud database Cloud storage Data centers Distributed file system for cloud Hardware virtualization Internet Networking Security Structured storage Virtual appliance Web APIs Virtual private cloud Applications Box Google G Suite Docs, Sheets and Slides HP Cloud ( closed ) Microsoft Online Oracle Cloud Rackspace Salesforce Zoho Platforms Alpha7 Amazon Web Services AppScale Box Bluemix Cloud Foundry Cocaine ( PaaS ) Engine Yard Helion GE Predix Google App Engine GreenQloud Heroku Inktank Jelastic Mendix Microsoft Azure MindSphere Oracle Cloud OutSystems openQRM OpenShift PythonAnywhere RightScale Force.com SAP Cloud Platform VMware vCloud Air WaveMaker Infrastructure Amazon Abiquo Enterprise Edition CloudStack Citrix Cloud CtrlS DigitalOcean EMC Atmos Eucalyptus Fujitsu GoGrid Google Cloud Platform GreenButton GreenQloud IBM cloud computing iland Joyent Lunacloud Mirantis Nimbula Nimbus OpenNebula OpenStack Oracle Cloud OrionVM Rackspace Cloud Safe Swiss Cloud SoftLayer Zadara Storage libvirt libguestfs OVirt Virtual Machine Manager Wakame - vdc Virtual Private Cloud OnDemand Commons Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cloud_storage&oldid=848389170 '' Categories : Network file systems Outsourcing Cloud storage Hidden categories : Pages with URL errors Wikipedia articles that are too technical from December 2016 All articles that are too technical Articles needing expert attention from December 2016 All articles needing expert attention Talk Contents About Wikipedia বাংলা Български Català Ελληνικά Español 한국어 Italiano עברית नेपाली Norsk Polski Русский Српски / srpski Svenska தமிழ் Türkçe Українська 中文 10 more Edit links This page was last edited on 1 July 2018, at 16 : 31 ( UTC ). 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Question: what is storage as a service in cloud computing
Answer: a model of computer data storage in which the digital data is stored in logical pools