Object Storage Explained: A Modern Approach to Data Protection
Is your data multiplying faster than your storage can keep up, all while facing the constant risk of breaches? Unfortunately, traditional file and block storage is often costly to scale, time-consuming to manage, and lacks advanced security features to prevent data loss.
Object storage changes that. Built for scalability, immutability, and flexibility, it streamlines your data backup strategy and protects critical information from cyber threats like ransomware. If you're ready to simplify storage management and future-proof your data, explore why object storage is the upgrade your business needs.
What Is Object Storage?
Object storage (also known as Object-Based Storage) is a data storage architecture that organizes information as individual units or "objects." Each object contains the data itself, customizable metadata, and a unique identifier, making it easy to locate across a distributed system.
Unlike traditional storage systems, object storage is designed to handle vast amounts of unstructured data—everything from videos and emails to health records and documents.
This architecture allows for flexible scalability, storing data across multiple devices while remaining easily accessible from a single repository.
How Does Object Storage Work?
Object storage organizes each piece of data as a separate object. In practice, all data is structured as self-contained units, or objects, stored at the same level in a flat environment.
Let's break down how object storage operates through its key components:
Efficient Data Organization with Metadata and Identifiers
Each object in the storage system contains either fixed or customizable metadata that helps store vital information like age, privacy settings, and access rules. With a unique identifier for each object, finding specific data within a large distributed system becomes quick and precise.
Simplified Access and Management Through HTTP APIs
Object storage leverages HTTP-based RESTful APIs to manage data with simple commands like "PUT" (upload), "GET" (retrieve), and "DELETE" (remove). These APIs support both basic CRUD operations and advanced features, ensuring flexibility and seamless access from any internet-connected device.
Scaling Seamlessly to Meet Growing Data Needs
For large datasets — like archives of historical documents — traditional storage systems struggle to keep up. Object storage excels in managing unstructured, static data, and as your archive grows, it scales effortlessly by consolidating storage resources into larger, more efficient pools.
Key Features of Object Storage
- Immutability Through S3 Object Lock: In data security, immutability and versioning are vital, especially in ransomware defense. Attackers often target backup systems to prevent data recovery. S3 Object Lock ensures that backup data remains immutable, strengthening an organization’s resilience against these threats.
- Bucket-Level Policy Setting: Not all data requires the same level of protection or retention. By implementing bucket-level policies, organizations can optimize their backup strategies. It allows data to be categorized based on importance, creating distinct backup tiers and laying the groundwork for future automation.
- Robust APIs: Object storage solutions with robust APIs allow seamless integration of advanced security features. It includes integrating malware scanning into backups and using access patterns to detect potential compromises in admin accounts.
Object-Based Storage Architecture
Object-based storage architecture consists of three key pillars: a storage abstraction layer, custom metadata, and programmability. Each unlocks new possibilities in data management and accessibility.
Storage Abstraction Layer
One main difference that sets object storage apart is data volume. Data volumes are maintained and managed as objects, not blocks or files. The descriptive properties of those objects make the format easy to use. Each object has a unique identifier, making addressing and identifying separate objects more manageable than other data formats.
In particular, the object-based storage architecture separates a system administrator's responsibilities from manual management operations such as building logical volumes. You can achieve it by applying the design principle built on abstracting the lowest storage level away from the applications.
Custom Metadata
Other storage types usually employ fixed metadata. It is often limited to properties like names, dates, or file types. On the other hand, object-based storage strictly separates file metadata from data, opening the door for additional functionalities.
For instance, object storage uses custom metadata within the object to implement data-management policies or centralize storage management across multiple locations. More specifically, an object-based storage device can manage and maintain data at its level by using interface commands to create or delete objects, write/read to and from individual objects, and set attributes (metadata).
Programmability
Within object storage systems, apps can manage and manipulate data to query the required objects wherever they are stored. This is possible thanks to programmatic interfaces, often HTTP-based RESTful APIs. Most implementations are limited to essential read, write, and delete operations. Some extended the functionality to object replication, life-cycle management, etc.
Object Storage Benefits
Optimized Resources for Managing Unstructured Data
Object storage excels at handling large volumes of unstructured data by using a flat architecture with equal access to all units. Unlike traditional storage, which can struggle as environments grow, object storage ensures performance isn't compromised, making it ideal for fields like artificial intelligence and machine learning.
Infinite Scalability
Scaling with object storage is seamless. As your organization grows, you can easily add and configure new hardware without disruption. This practice is even more efficient in cloud environments, where object storage provides unlimited scalability without constant hardware management.
Simplicity and Ease of Use
Object storage simplifies data access with unique identifiers for each piece of data. This means you can easily search and retrieve even the most obscure data points tied to an object without the complexity of navigating traditional hierarchical file systems.
Object Lock for Immutability and Data Protection
Object lock ensures that your data backups are immutable, preventing any changes or deletions for a set period. It is crucial for use cases like data backup and recovery, as it provides complete immutability of objects, ensuring data integrity over time.
Flexible Data Protection
Object storage offers flexible data protection through techniques like erasure coding and data replication. These methods allow for tailored protection levels depending on the data type, ensuring both ransomware resilience and flexibility across the storage environment.
Object Storage vs. File Storage vs. Block Storage
To understand what sets object storage apart, it is essential to compare it first to file and block storage. Explore the unique use cases of each storage type to help you make informed decisions about your data storage strategy.
Block Storage
Block storage focuses on performance and precision, using high-speed transport protocols like NVMe-oF, Fiber Channel, or iSCSI. It requires a Storage Area Network (SAN) to operate, but the payoff is low-latency, high-speed data access. It makes block storage ideal for scenarios where rapid data retrieval is critical:
- Databases: Block storage's low-latency design ensures fast and efficient data retrieval, making it perfect for database-driven applications.
- Server Storage: It excels at distributing data across multiple volumes, making it ideal for virtualized systems and server environments.
- Email Servers: With its ability to handle vast amounts of data, block storage is perfect for managing high-performance email servers.
File Storage
File storage is known for its simplicity and ease of use. It offers a familiar structure for organizing and accessing data by operating on standard transport protocols like TCP/IP and file-level protocols like NFS and SMB. This makes it an excellent choice for:
- Managing Local Files: File storage simplifies file sharing and organization, especially in smaller environments where ease of use is key.
- Document Collaboration: It enables real-time document collaboration, making it easier for teams to work together without complicated workflows.
- Backup & Disaster Recovery: File storage is reliable for managing backups and ensuring data recovery in case of unexpected events.
Object Storage
Object storage is built for scalability and accessibility, using TCP/IP protocols and HTTP/REST APIs for easy management. Its ability to scale effortlessly across LAN and WAN networks makes it the go-to solution for:
- Video Surveillance: With the ability to handle massive volumes of video data, object storage is perfect for video surveillance systems.
- Backup & Recovery: Object storage provides the scalability and security needed for reliable data backup and ransomware recovery.
- Media & Entertainment: In industries with large multimedia assets, object storage's scalability ensures efficient management and fast access to content libraries.
Why Is Object Storage Best for Backup and Recovery
Object storage is best for backup and recovery use cases because:
- Immutability: S3 native Object Lock. Secure, resilient, and purpose-built means data is isolated and untouchable.
- Scalability: Object-based systems anticipate horizontal scalability, which never sacrifices performance for capacity.
- Up-to-date: Bugs, quirks, or limitations of a traditional file system are absent in object-based architectures.
- On-Prem-to-Cloud: Secure and seamless on-premises-to-cloud data copy in S3 format with no overhead.
- Reliability: The S3 protocol guarantees data delivery (unlike SMB or NFS), so businesses have end-to-end data reliability.
- Availability: Natively solves many availability needs organizations consider when implementing backup storage and the 3-2-1 backup rule.
Ootbi: Best Object Storage for Veeam Backup and Recovery
Ransomware-proof and immutable out-of-the-box, the Ootbi appliance by Object First delivers secure, simple, and powerful on-premises object storage for Veeam customers with no security expertise required.
Compared to other vendors, Ootbi has been specifically designed for data backup and recovery use cases, where large amounts of data need to be written and read from one place.
Object storage’s S3 native immutability, unlimited scalability, lower cost of storing large volumes of data, seamless on-premises-to-cloud data copy, simplified management, reliability, and availability made it our only choice when we built Ootbi.
Read our whitepaper and learn why Ootbi is the Best Storage for Veeam.
FAQ
Why Is Object Storage Important?
Object storage is important for managing large volumes of unstructured data, offering scalability and cost-effectiveness without the complexity of traditional systems. It simplifies data management, breaks down data silos, and ensures easy access to analysis and cloud-native applications.
What Is S3 Object Lock in Object Storage?
S3 Object Lock is a crucial feature in object storage, ensuring the immutability of stored objects. This protection prevents unauthorized changes or deletions, providing robust data integrity and security, particularly against threats like ransomware.
How Can Object Storage Enhance Data Security in Backups?
Object storage backup solutions enhance data security by offering immutable backups, robust APIs, and policy management capabilities. These features fortify data against evolving threats and ensure reliable backup and recovery processes.
Are There Any Disadvantages to Object Storage?
Yes, object storage can have lower performance compared to block or file storage, often resulting in increased latency. Additionally, customization is limited once objects are created, and cloud-based solutions can become costly when retrieving large amounts of data.
