Overview of the approaches to managing distributed storage and access to cloud data

Abstract

Currently, the main computing standard for hosting and delivering services over the global Internet has become the widely recognized Cloud Computing technology. Firms and end-users are constantly incorporating Cloud platforms into their technology stack because of their many advantages over traditional computing models. Key advantages of the cloud include nearly unlimited data storage, scalability, cost savings, high availability, and high fault tolerance. However, while cloud solutions offer tremendous opportunities and services to the industry, the landscape of cloud computing research is changing for several reasons, such as the emergence of data-intensive applications, multi-cloud deployment models, and more stringent non-functional requirements for cloud services. The proliferation of cloud computing providers on a global scale has surged significantly. Consequently, selecting an optimal provider that aligns with customer needs and defining appropriate evaluation criteria have become complex endeavors. Current trends reveal an increasing body of research focusing on appraising and ranking cloud-based services based on their ability to cater to user requirements. This paper synthesizes past investigations and recent studies, navigating the intricate landscape of modern cloud architectures. It delves into the dynamics of multiple providers, leveraging the advantages of decentralization. Additionally, it sheds light on the complexities of managing data storage and access within the dynamic context of multi-cloud environments, highlighting ongoing challenges. This comprehensive exploration culminates in a comparative summary of the existing approaches and a proposal for the forthcoming research, that includes a comprehensive set of criteria for the for multi-cloud data storage that involves a wide range of factors that can impact data placement, management, and retrieval across multiple cloud providers, contributing to the ongoing advancement of the field.