OVERVIEW: OpenStack Storage

#OpenStack Storage When creating an instance to run compute jobs, there are many storage types available - it is important to understand the differences and uses of each type of available storage.

Whilst many different configurations and plugins are available, the basic storage types used with OpenStack or Cloud compute clusters are typically:

Storage type | Speed | Purpose | Access :---: | :---: | --- Ephemeral (local disk) | Fast | Non-persistent data, job scratch data, OS files | Within VM - root filesystem Block storage | Medium | Persistent data, job scratch data | Within VM, attached as device e.g. /dev/sdc Object storage | Slow | Persistent data, reference data | Anywhere

It should be noted that whilst generally the above is accurate, results are dependent on the architecture of the cluster together with the current usage of storage services.

##Using OpenStack Storage

• Block storage volumes with OpenStack
• Object storage with OpenStack