Additional RESTful API standards are emerging that go beyond creating, retrieving, updating, and deleting objects. You can store any number of static files on an object storage instance to be called by an API. (HTTP stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol and is the set of rules for transferring text, graphic images, sound, video, and other multimedia files on the Internet). RESTful APIs use HTTP commands like “PUT” or “POST” to upload an object, “GET” to retrieve an object, and “DELETE” to remove it. These APIs query an object’s metadata to locate the desired object (data) via the Internet from anywhere, on any device. The native API for object storage is an HTTP-based RESTful API (also known as a RESTful Web service). Objects (data) in an object-storage system are accessed via Application Programming Interfaces (APIs). Objects can be stored locally, but most often reside on cloud servers, with accessibility from anywhere in the world.

Object storage removes the complexity and scalability challenges of a hierarchical file system with folders and directories. This allows for unlimited scale, as well as improved data resiliency and disaster recovery. You can aggregate object storage devices into larger storage pools and distribute these storage pools across locations. This information enables an application to locate and access the object. Each object is a simple, self-contained repository that includes the data, metadata (descriptive information associated with an object), and a unique identifying ID number (instead of a file name and file path). There are no folders, directories, or complex hierarchies as in a file-based system. Objects are discrete units of data that are stored in a structurally flat data environment. IBM Cloud Object Storage: Built for business (04:10) How it works With object-based storage, you can store and manage data volumes on the order of terabytes (TBs), petabytes (PBs), and even greater.ĭiscover how IBM can help you on your object storage journey. It offers a level of scalability not possible with traditional file- or block-based storage. Object-based storage has emerged as the preferred method for data archiving and backup. Market research firm IDC estimates that unstructured data is likely to represent as much as 80% of all data worldwide by the year 2025.Įnterprises are finding it challenging to efficiently (and affordably) store and manage this unprecedented volume of data. This content streams continuously from social media, search engines, mobile, and “smart” devices. This includes email, videos, photos, web pages, audio files, sensor data, and other types of media and web content (textual or non-textual).

Today’s Internet communications data is largely unstructured. This is data that does not conform to, or cannot be organized easily into, a traditional relational database with rows and columns. Object storage, often referred to as object-based storage, is a data storage architecture for handling large amounts of unstructured data. Learn how cloud-based object storage is an ideal solution for storing, archiving, backing up, and managing high volumes of static or unstructured data-reliably, efficiently, and affordably.

Database for file storage