What are storage gateways in AWS?

In the period of cold-blooded cloud computing, managing flawless integration between on-premise infrastructure and the cloud has become pivotal for businesses. Amazon Web Services (AWS) addresses this challenge through a service known as AWS Storage Gateway. This solution acts as a bridge, enabling businesses to connect their on-premise software appliances to AWS cloud storage, streamlining backup, data archiving, and disaster recovery operations.

Whether you are an IT professional expanding your skills or preparing for cloud certifications through an AWS Course in Pune, understanding how AWS Storage Gateway functions is essential.

What's AWS Storage Gateway?
AWS Storage Gateway is a cold-blooded cloud storage service that gives you on-premise access to nearly unlimited cloud storage. It helps bridge the gap between on-site environments and AWS’s highly durable and scalable cloud storage services like Amazon S3, Amazon Glacier, and Amazon EBS.

Basically, it allows local applications to use cloud storage without making significant changes to the infrastructure. This service is generally used for backup and restore, disaster recovery, and data migration systems. Many professionals exploring cloud careers begin learning these concepts early on during structured AWS Classes in Pune.

How Does It Work?
The Storage Gateway software appliance is deployed either on-premise as a virtual machine (VM) or as a hardware appliance. Once set up, it connects to AWS storage services through a secure connection. The data written to the Storage Gateway is stored locally first for low-latency access and then asynchronously uploaded to AWS cloud storage.

AWS ensures data is encrypted in transit and at rest. It also offers robust monitoring and automation features to manage data transfer, caching, and lifecycle transitions between storage classes, including Amazon S3 Standard, S3 Glacier, and S3 Glacier Deep Archive.

Types of AWS Storage Gateways

File Gateway
The File Gateway offers a file interface to Amazon S3 using standard NFS (Network File System) or SMB (Server Message Block) protocols. It allows users to store and retrieve objects in S3 through commonly used file protocols. This is ideal for file-based applications and workloads such as backups or media processing.

Volume Gateway
Volume Gateway presents cloud-backed storage volumes to your on-premise applications using iSCSI block protocols. It offers two configurations:

• Cached Volumes: Frequently accessed data is stored locally, while full datasets are stored in AWS.

• Stored Volumes: Primary data is stored locally, and the full dataset is backed up asynchronously to AWS.

Tape Gateway
Tape Gateway allows you to replace traditional tape infrastructure with a cloud-based virtual tape library. It integrates with existing backup applications and provides long-term retention using Amazon S3 and Glacier, helping businesses eliminate physical tape storage.

Benefits of Using AWS Storage Gateway

• Cost-Effective: Minimize on-premise storage costs by using scalable AWS storage.

• Scalability: Easily scale your storage needs without investing in additional hardware.

• Backup and Disaster Recovery: Automatically archive backups to Amazon S3 or Glacier for continuity and redundancy.

• Simplified Data Migration: Seamless data transfer from on-prem to AWS accelerates digital transformation.

• Security: Data is encrypted during transmission and while at rest in AWS.

• Centralized Management: Manage all storage gateways through the AWS Management Console.

Common Use Cases

• Hybrid Cloud Storage: Organizations can continue using on-premise applications while storing backups and archives in the cloud. This hybrid approach is often discussed during foundational sessions in AWS Training in Pune.

• Data Backup and Archiving: Instead of investing in expensive hardware and offsite tape storage, companies use AWS Tape Gateway for cost-effective, long-term storage.

• Disaster Recovery: With automatic cloud backup and easy replication, businesses can recover from data loss events more efficiently.

• Data Migration: AWS Storage Gateway is a preferred solution for organizations looking to migrate large volumes of data from on-premise storage to AWS.

• Big Data Processing: File Gateway supports workflows where large datasets need to be processed in AWS but originate from on-prem systems.

Integration with Other AWS Services
One of the biggest strengths of AWS Storage Gateway is its tight integration with other AWS services. For example, objects stored through a File Gateway appear in S3 buckets and can be managed via AWS CLI or SDK. Volume Gateway snapshots integrate with Amazon EBS, and Tape Gateway tapes can be transitioned to Glacier for long-term storage.

Conclusion
AWS Storage Gateway is a critical service for businesses seeking a smooth transition to the cloud without compromising their existing on-prem infrastructure. It simplifies storage management, enhances scalability, and ensures data resilience through AWS’s robust cloud ecosystem.

As more enterprises adopt cold-blooded cloud strategies, professionals equipped with AWS expertise — including those completing an AWS Training in Pune — will find themselves better positioned for emerging cloud roles.

To dive deeper into the broader world of AWS and cloud computing, be sure to read our related article What are Amazon Web Services.

Whether you are looking to modernize legacy systems, streamline backup operations, or prepare for cloud certification through an AWS Classes in Pune program, understanding AWS Storage Gateway is a valuable asset in your cloud learning journey.