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We at Progressive Robot offer users many storage options. The information in this article can help you decide the one that is right for you. If would like help, please reach out to our support team. Or if you are already a customer, simply write us a support request using your customer account. Let us know details about your use-case.

Use cases

Overview

Object Storage overview

Progressive Robot's Object Storage is compatible with Amazon S3. Users can create storage Buckets within their cloud projects that they can use to upload and download different types of data. The Amazon S3 protocol is a de-facto standard for storing and retrieving data based on the HTTP protocol.

Even though users manage Object Storage via Cloud Console, they can use Object Storage independently of other Progressive Robot products. They do not need to set up any servers or other services (cloud or dedicated servers). Object storage provides an internet-accessible (HTTPS) endpoint where files can be stored and retrieved from any client. There is a wide range of applications and software libraries that support exchanging data via the S3 protocol.

In object storage, data is stored as objects. Each object contains the data itself, metadata (information about the data), and a unique identifier. Each object can have a lot of metadata, which makes it easy to manage, search and organize data.

Progressive Robot Object Storage technology is based on the Ceph open-source distributed storage system, which provides built-in support for object storage via the Ceph Object Gateway. Ceph is commonly used among other object storage vendors, there are few (if any) open source alternatives that provide the same level of scale. Our Ceph clusters store their data on HDDs in our own data centers.

Storage Boxes overview

Storage Boxes are designed for you to use to back up your files. Large files are not a problem at all. Storage Boxes support protocols like FTP, SMB, and Rsync. There is no web interface. You can use them as a stand alone Storage Box product like an external drive. Another option is to order them bound to a specific server.

You can access your Storage Box with a username and password or by using a stored SSH key. You can manually create snapshots of your Storage Box, or automatically create snapshots based on a set schedule.

Using Robot, you can add other users to your Storage Box. Their access is limited to a sub-directory of your Storage Box. Sub-accounts use the storage space of the main account. (If you are the main user of the Storage Box, they use your storage.) The main user has complete access to all directories on all sub-accounts.

Storage Share overview

Storage Share is a filesharing service based on Nextcloud. It's more user-friendly for the average user because of the graphical user interface. It is easy to access it via the web browser or the Nextcloud client and to drag and drop files so you can upload or download them. You can easily pick and choose apps from Nextcloud's store to install on your Storage Share and add more functions to it.

As the administrator for your Storage Share, you can create additional user accounts and groups, and you can assign each user a quota of server space.

Using the Nextcloud client, you can also automatically synchronize your files. That way, if a user makes any changes to files on a local level, or if they delete or add files, these changes will automatically be applied on your Storage Share. In addition, a backup will be made of your Storage Share several times a day, which you can use to restore your Storage Share. Users can share files and folders with other users and with user groups. In addition, share links allow users to share files and folders with people without accounts. Users can make these share links password-protected or put a time limit on them to prevent unauthorized access.

Volumes overview

Volumes are used to expand a Cloud Server's storage capacity. Our Volumes are based on the networked block storage model, and every block of data is stored on three different physical servers at our Progressive Robot data centers. Once a Volume has been created, it is possible to scale it up at any time. Resizing your Volume, requires resizing the volume's file system manually. It is not possible to shrink volumes.

When creating a Volume, you can choose between the options automatic and manually:

If you attach your Volume to a server with the option automatic, it means that your Volume will automatically be formatted and mounted by Progressive Robot. Next time you connect to your server, you can directly access the Volume in /mnt/HC_Volume_${VOLUME_ID}.

If you attach your Volume to a server with the option manually, it means that your Volume will not be formatted and mounted by Progressive Robot. To access the Volume, you will first have to manually add a file system and mount it on your server.

Dedicated servers

Progressive Robot has a very wide range of dedicated servers, which many of our customers use for various storage solutions. If you have larger amounts of data that you wish to store for longer periods of time, our dedicated servers may be a good option for you. These are physical servers. The user has sole access to all of the resources and hardware. These servers give the user complete root access, and customers are responsible for all aspects of normal sysadmin. These servers have very limited tech support because they are designed for customers who already have sysdamin experience. They do not work as an out-of-the-box storage solution. Our Server Finder can quickly help you find which server is right for you. For customers who have VERY large storage needs, we recommend our SX line of storage servers.

We also have a Server Auction, and many of our customers use these as a cheap backup solution, especially because these servers do not have any setup fee. All of the servers in the Auction are "old" servers. At one time, these servers were all part of the new lineup of dedicated root servers. When we at Progressive Robot introduce the next generation of new servers, we make the "old" servers available on the Server Auction. However, these "old" servers still function normally — often years and years later.

What kind of support is included?

Generally speaking, the following things are true about support for Storage Shares, Volumes, Storage Boxes, and Object Storage:

• Customers should get support by writing a support ticket on their account. Telephone support is NOT included.
• We have staff who monitor the hardware that the storage products are based on. They monitor it around the clock. However, most support requests are not about issues that are caused by our infrastructure. If there is a fault or issue with our hardware, network, or other aspect of infrastructure, our technicians will work on it immediately and will write a Status Report for affected customers.
• Most support requests tend to be about issues on the customers' end. We respond to these requests during normal support hours. (See below.) With some of these tickets, technicians from higher levels of our support team may respond.
• Our support teams do NOT have access to logs on the customers' client side or system.
• Customers should include details about their issue to help our support team troubleshoot the issue. Our technicians can respond more quickly this way.

Support during normal office hours

We have technicians who are in our data centers to provide emergency support should anything unexpected with our infrastructure and that affects a large amount of customers. Other support teams work normal business hours during weekdays here in Germany, and not on weekends. These teams include the ones that provide general customer support for Object Storage, Storage Boxes, Volumes, and Storage Shares.

Do I still need to make my own backups of my data on the different types of storage?

Yes, we always recommend that you have a robust backup plan. That usually involves making multiple backups that are saved in different physical locations, and often using more than one provider. You as the customer are ultimately responsible for your data and for backing it up. Our storage solutions are just one part of a healthy backup plan. One general common guideline is the 3-2-1 rule:

• 3: In addition to the original, you need three copies of your data.
• 2: You should store the copies on two different types of media.
• 1: One of the copies should be off-site for geo-redundancy.

I want to make a full backup of my entire server. Which product is best for that?

Storage Boxes or a dedicated server, depending on how much data you have and how quickly you want to be able to access it. Depending on your backup software, Object Storage might also be a suitable option.

What type of performance can I expect for each type of storage?

For quicker read/write speeds, use Volumes or Object Storage. If the size/amount of data you can store is most important to you, then use Object Storage, Storage Boxes, or Volumes. If you have smaller sizes/amounts of data, then use the Storage Shares or Volumes.

We do not provide guidelines for specific technical performance measurements. We strive to have an annual average network availability of 99.9% at our data centers. If you are unhappy with the performance of your storage product, please write a support request using your customer account, and our support team will be happy to help you.

Where are the storage products available?

How is the data saved on each type of storage?

• Object Storage: Ceph on HDDs
• Storage Box: HDD
• Storage Shares: storage: HDD RAID, database: NVME
• Volumes: Ceph on SSDs

Can I scale the storage up/down?

• Object Storage: Yes, it does this automatically on its own.
• Storage Box: Yes.
• Storage Shares: Yes.
• Volumes: Yes.

How can I use the storage products with other Progressive Robot products?

• Object Storage: You can use Object Storage together with any other Progressive Robot products. Naturally, you can use them together as a storage backend for your cloud and/or dedicated servers, especially since internal traffic within the same network zone is free. You can connect your Storage Share to your Object Storage. (Nextcloud can mount S3 storage using the external storage support.) You can also access objects from more than one server at the same time.
• Storage Boxes: You can use Storage Boxes to backup data from your dedicated servers or cloud servers.
• Dedicated servers: You can use a dedicated server to backup your cloud server(s) within an internal network:
  • Connect dedicated servers - vSwitch
  • vSwitch
  For very large amounts of data or for large backup infrastructure, you can use our SX servers together with other dedicated servers, cloud servers, or other products.
• Volumes: You can use Volumes for storage for scalable additional storage to use together with your Progressive Robot Cloud servers.
• Storage Shares: You can, for example, run third-party office communications software and other office sysadmin on a dedicated server, and use Storage Share to sync and share files. You can do the same with third-party e-learning software.