3.1.1.4. Hybrid Storage Solutions for Performance

💡 First Principle: Hybrid storage solutions bridge on-premises infrastructure with AWS, optimizing data access performance, managing costs, and meeting compliance by leveraging both environments' strengths.

Hybrid storage solutions bridge on-premises infrastructure with AWS, optimizing data access performance, managing costs, and meeting compliance by leveraging both environments' strengths.

Hybrid storage solutions are designed for organizations that need to integrate their existing on-premises storage with the scalability, durability, and cost-effectiveness of AWS cloud storage. These solutions often involve caching frequently accessed data on-premises for performance while tiering less frequently accessed data to the cloud.

Key AWS Services for Hybrid Storage:

• AWS Storage Gateway: A hybrid cloud storage service that enables on-premises applications to seamlessly use AWS cloud storage. Offers low-latency file access to cloud storage from on-premises by caching frequently used data locally while storing the primary data in Amazon S3 or Amazon EBS. Supports File Gateway (NFS/SMB), Volume Gateway (iSCSI), and Tape Gateway (virtual tape library).
• AWS DataSync: An online data transfer service that simplifies, automates, and accelerates moving data between on-premises storage and AWS storage services, or between AWS storage services. Provides high-speed, secure data transfer between on-premises storage and AWS. Ideal for initial bulk data migration or recurring transfers.
• AWS Snow Family: A collection of physical devices that help migrate petabytes of data into and out of AWS, and perform compute in disconnected environments or locations lacking consistent network connectivity. Accelerates large-scale data migrations and edge computing, enhancing performance for massive datasets.

Scenario: An enterprise utilizes AWS Storage Gateway to provide on-premises applications with low-latency file access to frequently used data stored in Amazon S3, while automatically tiering older, less-accessed data to S3 Glacier for cost-effective archiving.

Visual: Hybrid Storage Solutions

Loading diagram...

⚠️ Common Pitfall: Using the wrong Storage Gateway type. For example, trying to connect to a file share using a Volume Gateway (which exposes iSCSI blocks).

Key Trade-Offs:

• Online vs. Offline Migration (DataSync vs. Snow Family): DataSync is for online, network-based transfers. Snow Family is for offline, very large-scale transfers where network bandwidth is a constraint.
• Local Caching vs. Direct Cloud Access: Storage Gateway provides local caching for performance but adds a virtual appliance. Direct cloud access (e.g., mounting S3) might have higher latency but no local infrastructure.

Reflection Question: How do hybrid storage solutions like AWS Storage Gateway and AWS DataSync balance immediate data access needs with long-term archival strategies and cost efficiency by leveraging both on-premises caching and cloud storage tiers?