Logo Questions Linux Laravel Mysql Ubuntu Git Menu
 

Cloud storage options with iOS

I'm trying to create a back-end in which I can have many users communicate with each other amongst an iPhone app I'm creating. I've tried working with Core Data, Google App Engine, Google Cloud Storage, and Amazon Web Services (RDS & Elastic Beanstalk). Unfortunately, after weeks of trying to get any of this working, none of it will!

I've been trying to get in touch with someone who would know how startups (when they were little) like Instagram, Path, and Pinterest have managed to do this. But everyone out there seems to despise this stuff as much as I'm growing to...

I would love for someone to simply map out EXACTLY how I need to create a back-end database that I can save and query data to and from that many users can see. That means that just SQLite, Core Data, or Parse by itself isn't going to work here!

A tutorial of some kind would be incredible.

like image 833
jakenberg Avatar asked Jan 17 '13 03:01

jakenberg


People also ask

What storage options are available for iPhone?

This means that if you want to get a new iPhone, you'll need to pick between 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB options.

How do I access my cloud storage on iOS?

To see your saved files on a Mac, go to Finder > iCloud Drive. On your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, go to the Files app. On a PC with iCloud for Windows, go to File Explorer > iCloud Drive.

Can iPhone use Google cloud storage?

You can use Google Drive to back up content on your iPhone and iCloud account. Photos will back up to Google Photos. Contacts will back up to Google Contacts.

Which storage drive is best for iPhone users?

iCloud. iCloud is Apple's cloud storage platform. It comes preinstalled on all iPhones and is available for download in the Google Play Store. Android users will need to create an Apple ID to use the service if they don't already have one, however.


1 Answers

First off, technologies like CoreData and sqlite are typically local device storage. Local device storage is not going to get you shared cloud storage.

Parse.com is a fast way for devices to access cloud storage and get going fast. Especially useful for games and other mobile apps to access cloud data via an app id and app key. It's simple storage to avoid creating your own backend if it fills all your needs and requirements.

When you get to a multi-tenant cloud backend where you roll your own services and multiple devices accessing your cloud application you need to look into exposing your web API. Exposing RESTful API over http is great for devices and web clients. Exposing the data as JSON is especially conventient for the web and easily consumed by devices.

Those web service end points in the cloud access some sort of backend storage which is optimized for concurrent access by mutliple clients. This is typically a SQL backend like MySQL, SQLServer etc... or a NoSQL solution like mongodb, couchDB, etc...

Some front end web api technologies to look into:

  • ASP.net web api
  • Ruby on Rails
  • Node.js
  • etc...

Some back end storage technologies to look into:

  • SQL: MySQL, SQLServer/Azure SQL, Oracle
  • NoSQL: MongoDb, CouchDb, Amazon S3 simple storage, etc...

If the data is used by many many multi-tenant clients, the backends can scaled up (larger and larger) or get sharded. Sharding is where the data for multiple users is split into many databases or datastores with some sort of lookup algorithm for requests to find where that users data is stored. The front end web api servers abstract the backend storage.

Finally, you'll end up needing some sort of caching/fast lookup technology (if you're successful :):

  • Redis: fast in memory storage over sockets
  • memcached: facebook uses - simple key value in memory caching across many front end servers.

Your question is an open ended up broad question so start by googling many of these terms and technologies.

Each of these links will have resources and tutorials. Get a cloud VM, play with each and decide which fits your needs best. There is no one size fits all solution.

like image 96
bryanmac Avatar answered Sep 30 '22 06:09

bryanmac