Cloud hosting vs Physical Server

[AyeFinch]

Hi all.

Cloud vs Physical server for a small company?

I would appreciate your opinions on what works for you. The storage solution would basically store files and such, a glorified EXT HDD if you would, probably max of about 50GB at present. Will obviously increase as time goes. Obviously needs to be accessible via VPN or some such while out of office. Security and ease of use is rather important as well.

If Cloud, who do you use and why? Is it service levels, or price, or ease of use, etc that prompted your decision?

 

[koeksGHT]

Why not Google drive/Dropbox?

 

[ozziej]

Yeah, my vote will be with google drive or dropbox. Both are pretty cheap compared to a full VPS server... Unless you need the server to do some processing, don't bother.

 

[AyeFinch]

That's the way I'm leaning myself. I don't require any processing, purely storage and backup.

 

[me_]

If you're worried about security, google Zero knowledge drop box alternatives.
With zero knowledge, you need a key on all the devices that will access the cloud service. The data is encrypted on the client before it's sent to the cloud and decrypted after it's downloaded. The cloud provider does not have the key so even if one of your accounts gets hacked, there is no possibility of someone being able to decrypt it.

Some URLs:
https://www.sync.com/help/what-is-zero-knowledge-cloud-storage/
http://www.cloudwards.net/top-10-secure-dropbox-alternatives/

 

[unskinnybob]

Look at Synology's range of products. From small to big the supported add-on software packages are fantastic. They support cloud sync between the onsite NAS and several cloud storage providers, like Dropbox, Onedrive, etc.

The NAS also supports VPN, though it is capable of setting up all required ports on most commercial home/small office routers via uPNP for access to the cloudsync/backup and other services.

 

[Gnome]

Frankly, I would just create an AWS account.

For 50GB, you can store it with:
Normal S3 for $1.57 per month
Normal - Infrequent Access S3 for $0.9 per month
AWS Glacier - Cold Storage for $0.35 per month

The first year of AWS you get 5GB free for S3 also.
Which brings that price down slightly for the first year.

Backup to S3:

First 1 TB / month $0.0314 per GB (normal storage), $0.0180 per GB (infrequent access), $0.007 (cold storage)
Next 49 TB / month $0.0308 per GB (normal storage), $0.0180 per GB (infrequent access), $0.007 (cold storage)

Normal:
PUT, COPY, POST, or LIST Requests: $0.005 per 1,000 requests
GET and all other Requests: $0.004 per 10,000 requests
Delete Requests: Free

Infrequent Access:
PUT, COPY, or POST Requests: $0.01 per 1,000 requests
GET and all other Requests: $0.01 per 10,000 requests
Lifecycle Transition Requests into Standard – Infrequent Access: $0.01 per 1,000 requests
Data Retrievals: $0.01 per GB

Cold Storage (Glacier):
Glacier Archive and Restore Requests: $0.055 per 1,000 requests
Glacier Data Restores: Free

Cold storage (Glacier) is optimal for store where you never expect to retrieve
Infrequent access for store and very rarely retrieve
Standard for store and constantly retrieve

Use the AWS CLI:
Backup file: (Infrequent access)
aws s3 cp --storage-class STANDARD_IA local_file.txt s3://mybucket/remote_file.txt

Restore file:
aws s3 cp s3://mybucket/remote_file.txt local_file.txt

Seems cheaper than Dropbox to me...
There are also sync tools available for S3.

Dropbox is just built on AWS so may as well choose use them directly

 

[AyeFinch]

Thanks for all the info and advice. Dropbox does seem to be the winner here.