When archiving data in an Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3) account, you can choose from various storage classes. Each has different associated costs, benefits, and access restrictions. Prices may differ by region. Rapid Recovery release 6.2 extends support of Amazon storage accounts to all storage classes. This is useful when planning to store Rapid Recovery archives in the Amazon cloud.
Understanding storage classes available and the difference in lead times to access those classes is critical to control storage costs effectively while being able to access your archives within acceptable time frames.
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NOTE: Quest provides this information as a courtesy to its Rapid Recovery customers to help raise awareness of storage pricing factors. These concepts can help you plan and budget accordingly. You are responsible for all storage costs on Amazon or for any other cloud service provider. Since Amazon can change prerequisites, requirements, costs, storage tier definitions, and so on, use the Amazon website as the primary and authoritative source for that information. |
In general, Amazon currently offers the following storage classes.
Standard. This storage class is for data you plan to access frequently or access quickly. This class is the default storage option from all Rapid Recovery wizards, windows, and dialog boxes. There are no separate fee to retrieve information in the standard storage class.
Standard Infrequent Access (IA). This storage class is more economical than standard, intended for data that you do not intend to access frequently. There is a retrieval fee associated with accessing data in the storage class. However, availability is immediate. Amazon charges fees for objects deleted from Infrequent Access storage before 30 days.
Glacier. This storage class is for long-term storage of data that does not require real-time access. It is most economical for long-term storage of data that is rarely retrieved. There is a retrieval fee associated with accessing data in this storage class. Amazon charges fees for objects deleted from Glacier before 90 days. Retrieval of data stored in Glacier is not immediate. Standard retrieval times require 3 to 5 hours; bulk retrieval for large amounts of data can take up to 12 hours. Expedited retrievals can take up to 5 minutes. Fees apply to each retrieval option.
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NOTE: Unlike the other Amazon storage classes, Rapid Recovery does not support the creation of a cloud account that is specific to Glacier. To archive data in Glacier, choose an Amazon cloud account, and select the Use Glacier storage option in the Location page of the Archive Wizard. |
Reduced Redundancy Storage (RRS). This category is a lower-cost storage class is designed for noncritical reproducible data with less redundancy than the standard storage class. There is a minimal retrieval fee associated with accessing data in this storage class. A fractional percentage (Amazon cites as much as .01%) of objects stored in this class are expected to be unrecoverable.
For the most recent information, always review materials on Amazon's website.
In general, the following guidelines apply:
- If you expect to restore data on any regular basis from a Rapid Recovery archive, Standard is likely to be the best option.
- From a cost perspective, if you plan to restore data occasionally, consider Standard Infrequent Access.
- Glacier is intended for cold storage of archived recovery points from which you rarely expect to restore. A good example of when to use Glacier storage is when saving data for regulatory compliance. Glacier is available as an archive option from the Archive Wizard.
- For storage of noncritical, reproducible data, consider RRS.