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What is Object Storage? A Definition and Overview

By Alex Chan

Object storage is a form of cloud storage designed to keep huge amounts of data, which is split into a pool of objects and uses metadata for organization.

What is File Storage? A Definition and Overview

By Alex Chan

Once upon a time, file storage meant your filing cabinet. In some ways, today’s file storage is very different — and in others, it hasn’t changed at all. File storage is a system for keeping data in an organized hierarchy of files and folders. You can share that hierarchy across a network, so multiple people […]

What is Block Storage? A Definition and Overview

By Alex Chan

Block storage is a low-level technology that underpins the majority of modern storage — including whatever device you’re reading this on. It divides data into small units called “blocks,” which provide fast and flexible ways to manage data. It’s ideal for local storage and high-performance workloads. This is the first article in a three-part series […]

10 Free Cloud Databases You Should Consider (And 1 You Shouldn’t)

By Alex Chan

More and more providers are offering free cloud databases, which give you a certain amount of free storage and throughput. Don’t mistake a free database for generosity — this is a sales tactic.

Kinesis vs. Kafka: Which Stream Processor Comes Out on Top?

By Alex Chan

Data processing pipelines have ever-growing requirements for speed and throughput. It’s no longer enough to store data and save it to batch processing at some future time. We need to be able to process data in real time to make snap decisions and get immediate insights.

Is AWS Certification Worth It? Weighing All the Factors

By Alex Chan

AWS certifications are a polarizing topic. Some say a certification is an essential qualification for any cloud engineer; others say it’s a waste of time and money.

What is an ECU? An EC2 Compute Unit, Simply Explained

By Alex Chan

An EC2 Compute Unit (ECU) was Amazon’s first attempt to compare the CPU performance of different EC2 instance types. Find out what an ECU measured, why it was created, and why it was replaced.

What is an Edge Location in AWS? A Simple Explanation

By Alex Chan

AWS edge locations are designed to deliver services with as less latency as possible. Learn more about edge locations, use cases, and where they might make sense for your organization.

What is Amazon Athena? An Introduction and Walkthrough

By Alex Chan

Is Amazon Athena right for your organization? Learn about the pros and cons of the serverless query service to see if it makes sense for your use case.