Cloud storage overview

Beginner
Developer
Student
Azure

Learn all about data and get an overview of how it's stored, including local and distributed file systems, databases, and object storage.

Learning objectives

In this module, you will:

  • Describe the overall characteristics of data
  • List and classify different data types within the data taxonomy
  • Identify the problems of scale and management in big data
  • Discuss the various application requirements in storage, and map the design choices for storage systems
  • Recall the memory hierarchy in computer systems and explain the tradeoffs of cost, performance, and capacity at each layer
  • Recall the various types of devices used in storage systems
  • Describe the various abstractions exposed to applications in storage systems
  • Discuss the design considerations of local and distributed file systems
  • Compare and contrast different types of databases and their design tradeoffs
  • Identify the characteristics of a relational database system
  • Discuss the concepts of cloud object storage
  • Identify the characteristics of a NewSQL database system

In partnership with Dr. Majd Sakr and Carnegie Mellon University.

Prerequisites

  • Understand what cloud computing is, including cloud service models, and common cloud providers
  • Know the technologies that enable cloud computing
  • Understand how cloud service providers pay for and bill for the cloud
  • Know what datacenters are and why they exist
  • Know how datacenters are set up, powered, and provisioned
  • Understand how cloud resources are provisioned and metered
  • Be familiar with the concept of virtualization
  • Know what the different types of virtualization are
  • Understand CPU virtualization
  • Understand memory virtualization
  • Understand I/O virtualization