What is it?
Object storage is a relatively new technology that differs fundamentally from traditional file storage. The most noticeable difference is that the storage is not mounted as a traversable directory, but is rather accessed with the use of an API.
This makes object storage less suitable for general (human) use, but brings high availability, extended metadata tagging, and a range of other qualities that can be highly beneficial for applications.
Typical use cases include streaming services, IoT devices, backup, file transfers, etc.
Our provider is Cloudian, which offers near 100% compatibility with the AWS S3 API. For more technical details about object storage, we refer to Cloudian's summary below.
Getting started
IT-employees can order object storage. It is recommended that other staff refer to the institutes IT-department for reviewing their needs, and eventually order storage.