Storage classes and locations

As an organization's data needs grow, a common problem they must tackle is how to manage that data effectively. Some of the major considerations when designing data storage solutions include infrastructure cost, operations cost, availability requirements, and security. A traditional approach to this problem is to distinguish between hot data that is in active use, and cold data that is not in active use, but needs to be persisted for other reasons such as auditing, archiving, and disaster recovery.

Each category of data has specific needs that must be taken into consideration when evaluating storage solutions. By distinguishing between hot and cold data, each category can be dealt with in the most appropriate manner. Because hot data is in active use, priority tends to be given to availability, latency, and throughput. On the other hand, cold data can often sacrifice availability for lower costs.

Today, there are many managed solutions for both hot and cold storage...