CLOUD STORAGE VS LOCAL STORAGE (SERVER) ANALYSIS

WHAT IS..?

CLOUD STORAGE LOCAL STORAGE

 Refers to any program owned by a third  Includes physical hardware such as
party that allows you to upload your data external hard drives, flash drives, and
using the Internet. CDs.
 For example Google Drive, Apple iCloud,  As its name suggests, local storage is kept
Dropbox, Zip Cloud and Sugar Sync. nearby.

IN TERM OF SERVERS

CLOUD LOCAL SERVER

 Remote (usually in Data Centers),  Buy and own physically, as well as have
meaning you access it via the internet. on site with you
 You are renting the server space, rather
than owning the server.

PROS

CLOUD LOCAL SERVER

 Maintenance & upgrades  Up/download speed
 Data stored remotely  System set-up control
 Accessible wherever there is  Security
internet access

CONS

CLOUD LOCAL SERVER

 If you want to store a lot of information,  It is more difficult to share data with
you’ll probably have to pay for storage others
 Third-party storage is vulnerable to theft  The user is completely responsible for the
and hardware failure safety of the data
CLOUD SERVER
A cloud server is a logical server that is built, hosted and delivered through a cloud computing platform
over the Internet. Cloud servers possess and exhibit similar capabilities and functionality to a typical server
but are accessed remotely from a cloud service provider. A cloud server may also be called a virtual server.

Regarding the pros and cons, using a cloud is that the cloud provider handles all of the maintenance and
upgrades. This means we have one less thing to worry about. It is also easy to up or downscale the amount
of space in the cloud. So, we are just paying for the amount we need.
The data is also stored remotely and never stored on your computer, meaning it is not occupying space
unnecessarily. If there are technical issues on site, your data will be safe in the cloud. A final pro is that
you can access the data stored in the cloud from wherever there is an internet connection.

On the other side of the accessing via the internet, a con can be that if our internet connection is not very
strong we could have trouble accessing the data. However, with some software, we are still able to access
the data offline. But we will either be unable to edit the data offline or we can edit it and then it will sync
later. We will also need to check how easy it would be to transfer the data elsewhere should you stop
using the cloud. Besides that, regarding the security. Security and privacy of the data you store in the
cloud may be a concern. The recent government data access scandal and the vulnerability of the
Heartbleed bug calls into question the protection of your data. There could be a vulnerability if an
employee leaves your company. You need to consider how you manage and control access to files and
whether any data is proprietary or sensitive in nature.

LOCAL SERVER
A local area network (LAN) server is a program (and by implication usually the computer it runs in) that
"serves" the resources (files, storage, application programs, printers, and other devices) for a number of
attached workstations.

Speed is the main pros to local server. The speed refers to that with which we can upload/download data
to the server. We also have total control the system setup, to make sure it fits our exact needs.

The control also extends to our backups, and everything else to do with the data since we own the server
completely. It may also feel more secure to have a local server, onsite, since only we and our team can
physically, and of course digitally, access it. Although, if we back our data up with a trusted provider, the
cons of local server are non-existent. We have no upfront expenditures, and they handle everything for
us.

The main con of installing a local server is needing to install it and then maintain it. Sometimes the
hardware can be costly and if problems arise, we will need to do the troubleshooting. However, this
would, of course, be where our IT team would come to save the day.
HIGHLIGHT POINTS

 If we need to collaborate with others and share files, cloud storage is the most efficient method
to handle this need.
 Local network server could be safer for security threats than cloud server, as long as updates and
patches are being applied in a timely way. Keep our company’s proprietary data files and
information stored locally (there are many devices available to assist with hardware backups for
this information.)
 If we have a critical data or information stored in the cloud, play it safe by also storing it on our
local drive in our laptop or mobile device.

EVALUATION

We should understand that no matter which type of server we use, either can fail us at a critical
time. Develop a written policy on what information or data should be stored. Make sure our data,
regardless of where it is stored, has a regularly scheduled back up plan and check that it is functioning as
we planned.

Based on my opinion, the cloud offers considerable potential, but few small businesses can leverage what
the cloud has to offer. Inflexible operations, inexperience and basic business needs often mean a local
server is the better hosting solution. These are the reasons why we should still use the local server.

1. Performance
 This is especially true when it comes to disk IO. With most cloud systems, the network
and underlying storage are shared among customers. This can cause disk I/O to be
unpredictable. If another customer starts to send large amounts of write requests to the
storage array, we may see slowdowns. The upstream network is shared so we can
experience bottlenecks there too.
 Most cloud vendors give us more storage, not faster storage.
 While we can easily scale up CPU and RAM with most cloud vendors, scaling disk IO is
often not possible.
 In short, if our operations are relatively simple, a single local server with RAID 10 will
usually out perform more costly and complex cloud offerings.

2. Costs
 This is true for many small businesses, especially web development and design firms.
 Consider a web marketing firm that hosts their customer’s sites. Typically we will have
common applications such as WordPress, Joomla, Drupal and other popular CMS
programs. We also probably need a hosting control panel such as Plesk or cPanel.
 When we examine the technical requirements needed to ensure reliable performance for
our sites, we will often find that local servers give us the best bang for the money.
 The main reason is disk performance. I often see VPS or cloud systems struggle with either
a large number of sites or high concurrency. We can solve disk IO issues with cloud by
building RAID arrays out of the storage units, but this drives up costs. By the time we add
bandwidth, control panels and IP addresses, the cost savings starts to evaporate.
 3. Scalability
 One of the chief marketing points for cloud services is scalability. While we can scale our
computing resources or operations may not be ready to scale.
 If we use a hosting control panel, our scalability options are limited. We can increase our
CPU/RAM or add a local database, but we already have these options with local servers.
Cloud just makes it easier.
 Scaling disk IO is often not available or limited with cloud. In our performance
optimization work, disk IO is often the main performance problem, especially with shared
hosting operations.
 Don’t be fooled by the advertising. We cannot simply plant our operations in a cloud
vendor’s and expect it to grow magically.
 We must build applications and manage them with scalability in mind.

CONCLUSION

We are a small business with relatively simple operations, then don’t ignore local servers. I know the
pressure from outside to use the cloud is powerful, but that’s because they only see the marketing hype.
The reality is that a local server, properly managed, will generally provide greater performance and
reliability at lower costs than current cloud service options.