Learn About Shared Storage in the Cloud

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Learn About Shared Storage in the Cloud

In typical enterprise workloads, multiple users or applications might need access to the same data. You can store the data generated and consumed by such applications in a single, shared location.

The Need for Shared Storage in the Cloud

Almost all organizations need shared storage today. Shared storage has been used for on-premise deployments for a long time. Enterprise applications typically need access to a common set of data that is stored on a server.

Multiple users, either people or applications, mount the data as a local volume and they have access to the common set of data. In this way, the storage system is independent of its users. You don’t have to copy data to each server that needs access to the data, which makes it easier to manage the data and helps to optimize the usage of storage. Unlike with direct-attached storage, where you might have unutilized storage capacity associated with some servers, with shared storage, you utilize what you need and can scale up when required.

The use case for shared storage in the cloud is similar to on-premise enterprise deployments. It offers the same benefits. Shared storage makes data management simpler, faster, more efficient, and easier to scale. Besides, some shared storage solutions enable you to implement strategies for high availability and disaster recovery.

About the Shared Storage Options on Oracle Cloud

The shared storage solutions that work best vary depending on the infrastructure that you use. In Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, you can attach block volumes to multiple instances in read-write mode, while in Oracle Cloud at Customer you can’t. This difference has an impact on the shared storage solutions that you can implement.

Another aspect to consider is the network latency when accessing shared storage on one infrastructure service from the applications deployed on another infrastructure. For example, if you’ve implemented shared storage in Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, it might not make sense to access this storage from compute instances in an Oracle Cloud at Customer rack.

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Learn about shared storage options in the cloud

E93746-04

October 2019

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