Object storage is a data storage architecture that manages data as distinct units called objects. It is designed to be accessed programmatically over a network using HTTP-based protocols. The primary interface for interacting with object storage systems, such as Amazon S3 or Azure Blob Storage, is a RESTful (Representational State Transfer) API. This allows users and applications to perform create, read, update, and delete (CRUD) operations on data objects using standard HTTP verbs (e.g., GET, PUT, POST, DELETE) directed at specific API endpoints, making it ideal for cloud-native applications.

A. Network file: This storage is accessed using network file-sharing protocols like NFS or SMB, which present a hierarchical file system, not a REST API for data retrieval.

C. Ephemeral: This describes the non-persistent nature of storage (it is lost when an instance stops), not its access method. It is typically a form of block storage.

D. iBlock: This refers to block storage, which is presented to an operating system as a raw disk volume and is accessed via protocols like iSCSI, not a REST API.

1. Amazon Web Services (AWS) Documentation: In the Amazon S3 User Guide

the section "How Amazon S3 works" explicitly states

"Amazon S3 is an object storage service... You can access your data through the Amazon S3 console

AWS SDKs

or the Amazon S3 REST API." This confirms that object storage uses a REST API.

Source: Amazon S3 User Guide

"What is Amazon S3? -> How Amazon S3 works".

2. Microsoft Azure Documentation: The documentation for Azure's object storage solution states

"Azure Blob storage is Microsoft's object storage solution for the cloud... Access objects from anywhere in the world via HTTP or HTTPS. Developers can use the Blob storage REST API or an Azure SDK to write code."

Source: Microsoft Azure Docs

"Introduction to Azure Blob storage -> Blob storage resources -> Blob storage REST API".

3. University of California

Berkeley Courseware: In the lecture notes for CS 162: Operating Systems and Systems Programming

the distinction between storage types is made clear. Object stores like S3 are described as having a "put/get/delete interface (REST API)

" contrasting with block storage (like EBS) and file storage (like NFS).

Source: UC Berkeley

EECS

CS 162

Lecture 22: "Cloud Computing"

Slide 34

"Cloud Storage: Object Stores".

4. Armbrust

M.

et al. (2010). A view of cloud computing. Communications of the ACM

53(4)

50-58. This foundational academic paper on cloud computing discusses storage systems

identifying services like Amazon S3 as providing "a bucket-based storage system with a REST API."

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/1721654.1721672

Section 3.1

Paragraph 3.