By Zsolt Bodnár
I’m working on ERP system for small manufacturer who dealing with medical devices. I thinking about what is better for store documents. The company wants to store their drawings and documentations in this system, so they are pretty sensitive information’s. I thinking what type of storage is better for my needs. I give you some of my thought, but I’m interested some pro guys opinion about it:
Option 1 - Block storage: In this case I would use nginx as web server with it’s “http_auth_request_module”. than write an auth. endpoint in my back-end, so nginx would ask authentication for my back-end before serve the documents. It looks pretty safe for me. I can add further encryption to the block storage like on this article: https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-create-an-encrypted-file-system-on-a-digitalocean-block-storage-volume#conclusion I also can make backups really easy creating a snapshots. However it is more expensive than object storage, I can attach it only 1 instance (right now it is enough, but I don’t know maybe there will be another use case) and maybe object storage enough for me.
Option 2 - object storage (spaces): In this case I don’t need nginx, I can make the storage private and handle permissions with the DO api and my back-end. It is cheap, but I don’t know is it safe enough? The other thing can I trust it to not make backups? If not then how to make backups anyway?
Could please share your thoughts with me about it?
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Hello,
Just came across this answer and decided to write some general guidelines for anyone who comes across this in the future despite the old question.
For sensitive documents, both Block Storage and Object Storage (Spaces) can be viable options, but with different considerations.
Option 1 - Block Storage: This option provides high performance and the ability to use encryption, as you mentioned in the tutorial link. There’s a limitation on attaching the volume to only one instance at a time, but you can take snapshots for easy backups. For more on Block Storage, refer to: DigitalOcean Block Storage Documentation.
Option 2 - Object Storage (Spaces): Spaces is a cost-effective solution for storing objects. You can make your spaces private and manage permissions using the DigitalOcean API. While you don’t need to create backups for Spaces, you can implement versioning if needed. To learn more about Spaces, refer to: DigitalOcean Spaces Documentation.
In summary, both options are suitable - Block Storage offers encryption and high-performance, while Object Storage (Spaces) is more cost-effective and scalable. Ultimately, it depends on your specific requirements and priorities.
For more insights, you can join the DigitalOcean Community and discuss your concerns with experienced developers.
To review pricing for both solutions, please check: DigitalOcean Pricing.
Hope that this helps!
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