Module VI - Data Management¶
S3 (Simple Storage Service) object storage has become a de facto standard since its introduction by Amazon Web Services in 2006. IaaS cloud infrastructures and cloud software provide S3-compatible object storage nearly universally. SlipStream takes advantage of these services and its own CIMI resource database to provide a multi-cloud object storage solution.
Benefits of the SlipStream multi-cloud object storage include:
- Global queries/views of your data across clouds, enabled by the centralized storage of object metadata in SlipStream.
- Uniform access control across all clouds, using SlipStream users’ identities and roles.
- Efficient IO via direct access to the S3 storage service holding an object by any client.
- All data access is via HTTPS, so no special client software or APIs are required.
- Easy replication and caching strategies enabled by Write-Once, Read-Mostly (WORM) semantics.
- Definition of rich object metadata via optional use of the SlipStream Service Catalog.
- Low complexity to facilitate use.
- Scalable architecture to handle large datasets.
With this solution, you can take advantage of cloud-native storage from multiple providers without the pain of manual bookkeeping and application-level authorization.
Note
This functionality is in active development. Feedback on all aspects of the multi-cloud object storage solution is welcome, but real-world feedback on the existing implementation is especially useful.