What is Private Cloud Storage?

Posted on by Ronald Caldwell | Updated:
Reading Time: 4 minutes

Private Cloud Storage is a scalable and redundant storage solution where data is stored on remote servers dedicated to a single customer. Because of this, it is considered more secure than public cloud storage solutions where servers are shared across many customer accounts. The servers powering a private cloud storage solution are also flexible since they can be located virtually anywhere – in your office, your company’s data center, or another company’s data center.

Pros and Cons of Private Cloud Storage

Today’s storage options do not skimp on features. As a result, shopping for the best data storage for your business and comparing each option can become overwhelming. Here is a quick, at-a-glance rundown of private cloud advantages and disadvantages.

Advantages

  • More Control: Private cloud storage offers users more control over data, user sub-accounts, and other IT assets.
  • Increased Security: Since the private cloud offers users a single-tenant environment, data and files are much more secure than in a public cloud. Users also have more control over the configuration of private cloud security, which adds an additional layer of protection.
  • Compliance: Private cloud environments make it easy to abide by strict industry compliance standards. Companies working in finance, healthcare, or government can feel confident that their data is much more secure on a private cloud than on a public cloud.
  • Less Downtime: Tools like VMware hosting allow users to keep their systems running while migrating stored data. Other server options may need to go offline during upgrades. Leveraging VMware with private cloud storage enables you to simply migrate data to another virtual server during upgrades or maintenance. As a result, your system can be scaled and updated without your business skipping a beat. For more information on what VMware does, contact Liquid Web today.

Disadvantages

  • Resources depend on your provider: While most providers have more than enough resources available to accommodate growth, the fact remains that your storage capacity is still dependent upon your resources. If your business rapidly grows, you may outgrow the hardware limitations of your provider, forcing you to go elsewhere for your storage needs. 
  • Vendor lock-in: Once users sign on with a particular private cloud vendor, they may have to continue with that vendor to avoid migrating their data and settings. Vendor lock-in is more prevalent when hardware and infrastructure are outsourced to a third-party provider and can be a significant obstacle to adopting private cloud storage.

What Makes Private Cloud Storage Different?

The main difference between what private cloud storage is and public cloud storage is that the servers running a private cloud storage solution are dedicated to a single customer. The servers running public cloud storage are shared among many customers. For this reason, private cloud storage is inherently more secure than public cloud storage solutions. 

Private cloud storage can also deliver better performance. Hosting providers can finely tune underlying server resources to the specific performance requirements of client workloads since they don’t need to be shared with other customers.

When Should I Use a Private Cloud Storage Solution

Private cloud storage solutions are ideal for mission-critical data that requires a higher level of security. It is also an ideal solution when your data's input and output (I/O) performance is crucial.

These are some real-world use cases where private cloud storage would thrive:

  • Industries with strict compliance regulations: Industries like finance and healthcare have laws governing the strict management of personally identifiable information (PII). Organizations like HIPAA also require data to be managed with additional layers of security. The increased security of private cloud data storage addresses these regulatory concerns. Additionally, government offices and contractors may be required to use private cloud storage to put their clients’ and customers’ minds at ease.
  • High-performance uses: Specific industries and organizations may require more speed from their data and IT services. For example, private cloud may be best if your business requires you to work with large file formats like video and large databases. Also, speed may be a method to overtake your competitors in specific industries. An example might be an investment fund participating in high-speed stock or options trading. A private cloud is a valuable tool in helping you gain that edge over your competition.
  • Custom hardware: Customizations are limited in a public cloud environment. Private cloud storage affords users much more control over resources and the configuration of their systems. Private cloud is for you if your business requires specific hardware or settings.

Are There Different Types of Cloud Storage Solutions?

There are two different types of private cloud storage solutions that you can choose from for your business:

  • Object-based private cloud storage utilizes a storage architecture that stores data as objects that can be manipulated through programmatic API calls from other applications. This type of storage architecture became popular with companies like Facebook (which utilizes it to store images), Spotify (which uses it for song storage), and Dropbox (which utilizes it to store files). However, its best use case is for applications that rely on massive amounts of unstructured data.
  • Block-based private cloud storage utilizes a storage architecture that stores data in volumes or blocks that appear like a hard drive. For this reason, block-based private cloud storage is ideal for applications that rely on structured data like file systems and databases.

Which Cloud Storage Solution is Right for My Business?

The answer to this question largely depends on the type of data that you are storing. If your data is mainly unstructured (e.g., images, audio, etc.), then an object-based private cloud storage solution is ideal for your business. On the other hand, block-based private cloud storage would be better if your data is primarily structured (e.g., files, databases, etc.).

Liquid Web offers several cloud storage solutions. Our team can even guide you on how to create cloud storage. So no matter what your cloud storage needs are, contact Liquid Web today.

Avatar for Ronald Caldwell

About the Author: Ronald Caldwell

Ron is a Technical Writer at Liquid Web working with the Marketing team. He has 9+ years of experience in Technology. He obtained an Associate of Science in Computer Science from Prairie State College in 2015. He is happily married to his high school sweetheart and lives in Michigan with her and their children.

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