Here's the situation - I run an online store that frequently updates its product offerings, resulting in a high turnover rate. This has led to an abundance of product images on my servers, and while I don't want to remove any products or images, I also don't want them to eat up all my disk space. Unfortunately, there isn't enough room on the DS-ke, and the images alone are taking up tens of gigabytes.
Despite this, outdated products aren't frequently accessed by users, so it makes sense to store the images on a slow, fault-tolerant, but cheap service. Do you know of any hosting options that can help me solve this issue?
Tens of gigabytes are insignificant. The most cost-effective option is to obtain a dedicated server from OHV or Hetzner, where hundreds of gigabytes can be stored inexpensively, even if opting for an HDD instead of an SSD.
However, a large disk in a dedicated server is still costly, even if only minimal disk space is required. Moreover, switching servers is complicated due to installation board interference. It is actually advantageous to rent a dedicated server for an extended period.
Another option would be a specialized file storage service that charges based on actual storage and traffic.
The specific type of storage required remains ambiguous. If it's solely FTP/SFTP, Hetzner and ihor (1 GB = 1 penny) have been recommended previously, alongside Runtelecom (Germany).
For those who favor S3/swift storage alternatives, OVH, Selectel, and others may be worth considering. Additionally, a number of VPS options with ample disk space are readily available. If necessary, I can provide a list of potential choices.
Furthermore, CDN is a viable option for managing large volumes, as previously discussed.
The rack contains around 8 servers, which were previously used in a large storage web project. The tenant has since moved out and the question remains whether or not to sort through it all.
Typical server configurations include Xenon 5130 x 2 and higher, with E5520*2 also available. The servers come equipped with either 2.5 8x600 SAS 10k or 3.5 disks with 8x2TV 7200 SATA, totaling 4.8TB and 16TB respectively. Additionally, each server has two SSDs with 256GB for caching and 16-24GB of RAM.
The server rack has a 1 Gbit anlim channel per rack, 8 IPV4 addresses, and an internal gigabit network. All equipment is located in Europe and has remote access in "next day" mode. Physical access is granted approximately once a week.
This is a very common scenario in the digital era where data grows exponentially. You are describing an archiving or cold storage solution, where infrequently accessed data is stored at a lower cost. Here are a few options:
Amazon S3 Glacier and Glacier Deep Archive: Amazon Web Services (AWS) offers reliable, low-cost archive storage to meet long-term backup and archiving needs. S3 Glacier is optimized for infrequently accessed data where a retrieval time of a few hours is suitable. For even less frequently accessed data, Glacier Deep Archive provides the lowest cost storage but increases retrieval time to 12 hours.
Google Cloud Storage Nearline, Coldline, and Archive: These are data archiving services from Google Cloud Platform with different access and pricing terms. Nearline storage is for data that your business expects to access less than once a month. Coldline Storage is for data your business expects to access less than once a quarter. For even less frequently accessed data, Archive Storage is the cheapest, but with the slowest access times.
Azure Archive Storage: Azure Archive Storage is an Azure Blob Storage tier that optimizes costs by storing data that is rarely accessed and has flexible latency requirements.
Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage: Backblaze's B2 is a generic cloud storage service that competes directly with the likes of Amazon S3 and Google Cloud Storage. While it doesn't specifically differentiate between different types of storage like hot or cold, it has competitive pricing.
All of these options provide high durability, meaning they ensure the safety of your data, and you can set up lifecycle policies to automatically transition your data to these storage types based on how frequently they are accessed.
If the options I have previously mentioned still don't exactly meet your need, or if you prefer other providers, there are also several other good options available in the market:
IBM Cloud Storage: IBM offers an object-storage solution for scalable storage capacity. It includes Smart Tier, which automatically moves data between tiers based on usage patterns. When data becomes less frequently accessed, it moves it to cheaper, slower tiers.
Oracle Archive Storage: This is a cloud service that provides secure and scalable storage for infrequently accessed data, and it's cost-effective for long-term retention of data backups.
Wasabi Hot Cloud Storage: Unlike other options, Wasabi doesn't have separate tiers for more or less frequently accessed data - it's all "hot" (frequently accessed), but the pricing is very comparable to or cheaper than the cool and cold tiers of other services. It might be an option to consider, depending on how much data you have.
DigitalOcean Spaces: This is an S3-compatible object storage service that lets you store and serve large amounts of data. They also offer a CDN (Content Delivery Network) to distribute your data closer to users, improving access times.
Alibaba Cloud Object Storage Service (OSS): Alibaba Cloud OSS is an easy-to-use service that enables you to store, backup, and archive large amounts of data in the cloud. It is a cost-effective choice for the storage of infrequently accessed data, offers high durability and reliability, and they have data centers located worldwide.
Hetzner Storage Boxes: Hetzner is a German-based hosting provider recognized for its cost-effectiveness. Their Storage Boxes offer up to 10TB storage and could be a suitable option for geo-located businesses or those with a larger audience in Europe.
Scaleway C14 Cold Storage: Scaleway is another European-based cloud service, focusing on offering efficient and cost-effective solutions. Their C14 Cold Storage service offers very inexpensive storage targeted at data that is seldom accessed.
When implementing one of these solutions, you should also be careful with how you design the system. The system design should allow for rapid changes from the cheap storage to the regular one in case a product gets back in stock and the user request increases.
All the proposed solutions should ideally have an automatic archiving system. It means that they move the files that are not frequently accessed to the less expensive 'cold' storage automatically, and you don't have to organize this process manually. However, using a Content Delivery Network (CDN) might be of use for recent and therefore more accessed pictures, by using edge servers near the client to serve up the images.
In conclusion, it would help if you compared these services regarding pricing, performance, reliability, and how well they integrate with your existing infrastructure before making a decision.