As cloud computing continues to become popular, businesses are continually looking for easy and cost-effective solutions for deploying workloads on the cloud. One significant concern is how to manage and access hybrid storage solutions. Two of the most popular hybrid storage solutions in the market today are AWS Storage Gateway and Azure File Sync.
AWS Storage Gateway offers a hybrid storage solution that enables the seamless synchronization of on-premises file servers with Amazon S3, Amazon EFS or Amazon Glacier. Meanwhile, Azure FileSync is a cloud-based file share service that enables seamless synchronization of on-premises file servers with Azure Files.
In this post, we will compare AWS Storage Gateway and Azure File Sync to determine which is the better hybrid storage solution.
Cost
One of the essential considerations for any business deploying hybrid storage solutions is the cost. AWS Storage Gateway offers a variety of pricing models. Customers can choose to pay for the software installed on their hardware, using an Amazon-provided gateway on-premises or running AWS Storage Gateway as a service. The pricing ranges from $125 per gateway (per month) to over $6,000 per gateway annually.
On the other hand, Azure File Sync pricing depends on the number of servers where the files are stored, and the amount of data synced to Azure files. The cost ranges from $0.06/month for each GiB (up to 5TiB) of the storage to $0.005/month for each GiB (over 500TiB) of the storage.
Based on this comparison, AWS Storage Gateway is the more affordable option for smaller-scale systems, while Azure File Sync is the better option for larger scale systems.
Storage flexibility and scalability
AWS Storage Gateway enables businesses to store data in Amazon S3, Amazon EFS, and Amazon Glacier. As a result, AWS provides flexible and scalable storage options. Amazon S3 is perfect for storing frequently visited data, while Amazon EFS is ideal for frequently changing files. Amazon Glacier is best for storing long-term data backups.
Azure File Sync only supports Azure Files, making it less flexible than AWS Storage Gateway. However, Azure enables businesses to take advantage of its new and improved Azure File Sync v2.
High availability and Disaster Recovery
AWS Storage Gateway and Azure File Sync offer high availability and disaster recovery. AWS ensures redundancy by storing data in multiple Availability Zones, while Azure File Sync offers local data redundancy to manage data disasters. In addition, Azure File Sync offers geo-replication, which enables backup data to be stored in another Azure region.
Conclusion
In conclusion, both AWS Storage Gateway and Azure File Sync offer hybrid storage solutions that can handle the demands of businesses. While AWS Storage Gateway offers more flexibility and scalability when it comes to storage options, Azure File Sync offers better affordability for larger scale systems. In terms of high availability and disaster recovery, both solutions offer reliable options, but Azure File Sync offers the added advantage of geo-replication.
It may take time to evaluate and identify which hybrid storage solution best suits your business needs. However, with the insights found in our comparison, you can see the differences between AWS Storage Gateway and Azure File Sync and make a wise decision.