NetApp : How Storing Data in the Cloud Is Like Washing Your Car

The other day, I took my car to the local car wash. It had rained recently, and my car was a mess. I could have washed it myself, but I had a lot to do that day, and it was faster and easier to take my car to a service. While I was waiting for my car, actually standing at the large glass window and watching my car move along a conveyer belt, an idea came to me. Storing data in the cloud with NetApp® Cloud Volumes ONTAP® (formerly ONTAP Cloud) or with NetApp Cloud Volumes Service is like washing your car.

No, really, let me explain. When it comes to storing your data in the cloud, especially file data like NFS or SMB files, NetApp offers two options: Cloud Volumes ONTAP and Cloud Volumes Service. People often ask me what the difference is between the two, and when a customer would choose one over the other.

I like to answer these questions with my car wash analogy. You can wash your car yourself, which is like using Cloud Volumes ONTAP. Or you can take your car to a car wash service, which is like Cloud Volumes Service.

Cloud Volumes ONTAP is data management software that runs in the cloud. Like washing your car yourself, with Cloud Volumes ONTAP, you manage the cloud storage infrastructure yourself. You set up cloud compute and storage, and then you use Cloud Volumes ONTAP software to manage your cloud storage infrastructure.

As an alternative, Cloud Volumes Service is a cloud-native file data management service. It's like taking your car to the car wash service. With Cloud Volumes Service, you don't need to know anything about cloud storage infrastructure. The service performs all the storage management for you. Cloud Volumes Service frees you up to work on other things that are more important to your business than storage infrastructure management is.

Now, there might be a perfectly good reason why you want to do it yourself (DIY). Maybe you have a classic car, like a 1963 Mustang, for example, that you want to carefully wash yourself-maintaining complete control. Following my analogy, you might have some file data, for example, that for governance or for other reasons, you want to store in a cloud repository that you manage. That's fine, I'm not judging. With NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP and Cloud Volumes Service, you can have the best of both DIY and managed services in the cloud.

Start managing your cloud storage infrastructure more efficiently today. To find out how to get started, go to NetApp Cloud Central.