A local SSD is an ephemeral, locally attached form of block storage for VMs and containers. Compared to other block storage options, it offers superior performance, very high IOPS, and very low latency. The typical use cases for local SSDs are flash-optimized databases, hot caching layers for analytics, or application scratch disks.
Google Cloud Storage
GCS is ultra-low-cost, highly reliable, and secure object storage with high-speed access speeds where customers can store any amount of data. Object storage cannot be used as a boot disk for GCE VMs. GCS offers multiple types of storage classes.
The following GCS concepts are common in all classes:
- Object: Pieces of data uploaded to GCS.
- Storage class: This is a piece of metadata that is used by every object.
- Bucket: Buckets are the primary containers that store your data. Everything that is stored in GCS must be contained in a bucket.
- Unlimited storage with no minimum object size.
- Worldwide accessibility and worldwide storage locations.
- Low latency (time to the first byte is typically tens of milliseconds).
- High durability (99.999999999% annual durability).
- Geo-redundancy if the data is stored in a multi-region (more than two regions) or dual-region (exactly two regions).
- A uniform experience with GCS features, security, tools, and APIs.
Google Cloud describes in detail and keeps documentation up to date about exact locations of multi-region and dual-region pairs. Visit the following URL to learn more about exact multi-region and dual-region locations: https://cloud.google.com/storage/docs/locations#available-locations
Now that we know all the common features in GCS, we need to understand when to use each type of storage and their main features:
- Standard: Standard storage is best for frequently accessed data (“hot” data) and stored for brief periods. The ideal use cases for standard storage are “hot” data that’s accessed frequently, including websites, streaming videos, and mobile apps.
- Nearline: Nearline storage is low-cost storage. It is suitable for data stored for at least 30 days, including data backup and long-tail multimedia content.
- Coldline: Coldline storage is a very low-cost storage option. It is suitable for data that can be stored for at least 90 days, including disaster recovery.
- Archive: Archive storage is a good choice for data that can be stored for at least 365 days, including regulatory archives.
With all the options described in this section, we can find the right storage options with the desired functionality and best price range.
The choice of three storage categories already shows us how complex cloud products can be. In this section, we focused on each product’s main options. We could multiply these selections by various dimensions, and would still be able to find something tailored to us.
A Cloud Billing account is one of the prerequisites for consuming any Google Cloud resource. Without it, we can’t create any VM, utilize the free trial period, or use resources under the Google Cloud Free Tier.
One aspect that might be of interest to those leaning toward the ACE certification is the free trial.