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Choose and manage a public cloud storage service successfully

Last updated:August 2017

Editor's note

Many enterprises now reap the benefits of a public cloud storage service. These benefits include scalability -- the ability to increase and decrease storage capacity on demand -- as well as more flexible payment models. A public cloud storage service also increases reliability; to minimize downtime risks, enterprises can back up or replicate data in the cloud to fail over to a secondary location.

Since there is competition between public cloud storage providers, they frequently expand their services. While this means more features for users, it can also make it more difficult for enterprises to choose the best public cloud storage service for their needs. After selection, organizations need to carefully manage public cloud storage to optimize both performance and costs.

Use this guide to find the right public cloud storage provider, estimate costs and implement management best practices.

1Implement cloud storage management and security best practices

Once you choose a provider, you need to implement proper management and monitoring strategies for your public cloud storage service. To ensure high performance, admins should use provider-native or third-party management tools, make sure they have adequate bandwidth and, if necessary, redesign their cloud workloads. Additionally, since security is a top priority with public cloud storage, check your provider's security capabilities to ensure your data will be compliant.

2Avoid excessive public cloud storage fees

When you commit to a public cloud storage service, be sure to understand the pricing. There are many aspects that affect public cloud storage costs, and if you can't identify them, you could lose money. First, do your research, and look at providers' prices, as well as how often they change their pricing models. All providers are different, so it is critical to see how their storage billing works and what discounts they offer. Next, look for fees related to data movement; a public cloud storage service might seem cheap, but data retrieval could drive up costs. Lastly, keep an eye on your data. Consider cost management tools to unearth hidden fees and reveal outdated data.

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