The existing storage types available in our clouds are:
* [[Working_with_volumes | Volume storage]]: The standard storage unit for cloud computing; can be attached to and detached from an instance.
* Ephemeral/Disk storage: Virtual local disk storage tied to the lifecycle of a single instance on a hypervisor's local disk ("c" flavor local disk can be lost)
* [[Arbutus object storage | Object storage]]: Non-hierarchical storage where data is created or uploaded in whole-file form.
* [[Arbutus_CephFS | Shared filesystem storage]]: Private network attached storage space (similar to NFS/SMB shares); must be configured on each instance where it is mounted.
Attributes of each storage type are compared in the following table:
{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Attribute !! Volume storage !! Ephemeral/Disk storage !! Object storage !! Shared filesystem storage
|-
| Default storage option || Yes || Yes || No || No
|-
| Can be accessed via a web browser || No || No || Yes || No
|-
| Access can be restricted for specific source IP ranges || N/A || N/A || Yes (S3 ACL) || N/A
|-
| Can be mounted on a single VM || Yes || Yes || No || Yes
|-
| Can be mounted on multiple VMs (and across projects) simultaneously || No || No || No || Yes
|-
| Automatic backups || No (manually with snapshots) || No || No || Yes (nightly to tape)
|-
| Suitable for write once, read only, and public access || No || No || Yes || No
|-
| Suitable for data/files that change frequently || Yes || Yes || No || Yes
|-
| Hierarchical filesystem || Yes || Yes || No || Yes
|-
| Suitable for long-term storage || Yes || No || Yes || Yes
|-
| Suitable mountable dedicated storage for individual servers || Yes || Only for temporary data || No || No
|-
| Deleted automatically upon deletion of VM || No || Yes || No || No
|-
| Standard magnitude of allocation || GB || GB || TB || TB
|-
| Multi-disk fault tolerance || Yes || c-flavors No; p-flavors Yes || Yes || Yes
|-
| Physical disk-level encryption || No || No || No || No
|-
|}
[[Category:Cloud]]