Amazon Web Services Inc. has launched a feature called Amazon S3 Files that will make it easier for customers to manage the data they keep in its cloud.
The capability rolled out on Tuesday.
Most applications keep their data in a file system or an object storage repository. A file system organizes records into folders. Object storage, meanwhile, places user’s records in a single repository called a bucket. It attached metadata, or descriptive information, to each record that facilitates data operations such as searches.
The technologies also have other significant differences. A file system makes it possible to edit the records in a folder, whereas the only way to update a record in object storage is to delete it and replace it with a new one. The former technology also completes certain data management tasks faster.
Usually, companies that require both file and object storage have to operate a separate data environment for each. AWS’ new S3 Files feature removes that requirement. It embeds a file system into the Amazon S3 object storage service, which means that users can now store files and objects in the same place.
Besides removing the need to maintain separate file and object environments, the feature also provides other benefits. Syncing a record from an object environment to a file system or vice versa usually requires copying it. S3 Files skips that step. Additionally, it enables applications that were originally designed to process files to interact with objects stored in S3.
S3 Files makes S3 objects accessible to workloads through a file system interface. When an application sends commands to the file system interface, S3 Files translates them into instructions that that underlying S3 repository can understand. In some cases, it skips the translation phase and sends requests directly to S3.
When an application asks to read records, S3 Files moves them from S3 to high-speed storage infrastructure that can process the request faster. According to AWS, the feature can provide throughput of up to several terabytes per second. Data write requests are processed in a similar way. S3 Files routes each request to the high-speed storage and then syncs them back to S3.
“For files not stored on high performance storage such as those needing large sequential reads, S3 Files automatically serves those files directly from Amazon S3 to maximize throughput,” AWS developer advocate Sebastien Stormacq wrote in a blog post. “For byte-range reads, only the requested bytes are transferred, minimizing data movement and costs.”
S3 Files works with Amazon EC2 instances, containers and AWS Lambda serverless functions. It’s generally available in 34 cloud regions.
Photo: Tony Webster/Flickr
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