Frequently Asked Questions

When files are deleted from CloudPockets, they remain billable until they meet a minimum storage duration of 40 days. This policy helps keep storage costs predictable and fair across different access levels.

Here’s how it works:

• Minimum Storage Duration: All files are billed for at least 40 days, even if deleted before this period ends. If a file is removed early, it is billed at the DeepPocket rate until the 40-day mark is reached.

• DeepPocket Rate for Deleted Files: Deleted files are billed at the DeepPocket rate during this minimum billing period, ensuring that costs stay low even if the file is no longer actively stored.

This approach ensures affordable and transparent pricing for managing your files.

Our system uses specific calculation units to ensure efficiency in both object storage and bandwidth usage. Here's how it works:

1. 4KB File Size Blocks

To optimize storage and billing, file sizes are calculated in 4KB blocks. This means that even if a file is smaller than 4KB, it will still be counted as one 4KB block. This helps streamline storage management and ensures efficient handling of all files, regardless of size.

For example:

• A file that is 3KB in size will be counted as 1 block (4KB).
• A file of 5KB in size will be counted as 2 blocks (8KB).

This approach ensures fair and consistent billing across all file types.

2. 10GB Billing Blocks for Storage and Bandwidth

For both object storage pockets (FlexPocket, SpeedPocket, HoldPocket, DeepPocket) and bandwidth pockets (FlowPocket), billing is calculated in 10GB blocks, rounded up. This means that if your usage exceeds a certain threshold, it will be rounded up to the next 10GB increment.

For example:

• If your storage usage is 12GB, you will be billed for 20GB.
• If your bandwidth usage is 7.5GB, you will be billed for 10GB.

This method ensures efficient billing, simplifying calculations for both object storage and bandwidth usage.

At CloudPockets, we use a metric-based size calculation system to simplify storage and bandwidth billing. This system ensures transparency and consistency, helping you understand how your usage is measured and billed.

1. Metric Size Calculation

We use metric data naming for file sizes and bandwidth. Here’s how it works:

• 1 KB = 1000 bytes
• 1 MB = 1000 KB
• 1 GB = 1000 MB
• 1 TB = 1000 GB

This means that the traditional method of using binary measurements (where 1 KB = 1024 bytes, 1 MB = 1024 KB, etc.) is not applied. Instead, we use a simplified decimal system that is easier to scale and more consistent with modern storage technologies.

2. Difference from Traditional (Binary) System

Traditional systems use binary units (where 1 KB = 1024 bytes, 1 MB = 1024 KB), which can result in slight discrepancies when it comes to storage calculations. For example, a file that is 1,000,000 bytes might be reported as 976.6 KB using binary units, while in our system, it will be precisely 1,000 KB.

This difference can make a significant impact, especially when managing large files and bulk storage. By using the metric system, our approach standardizes data measurement, ensuring smoother scaling and simpler billing.

3. Why We Use the Metric System

The use of the metric system aligns with industry standards and simplifies the understanding of your storage and bandwidth usage. This approach ensures that you get precise, easy-to-understand metrics, with no confusion about discrepancies due to binary vs. decimal units.

In short:

• Metric system: 1 KB = 1000 bytes, 1 MB = 1000 KB, and so on.
• Traditional binary system: 1 KB = 1024 bytes, 1 MB = 1024 KB, and so on.

We hope this clears up any confusion!

CloudPockets’ cache is designed to optimize access while ensuring stability. We utilize around 90% of the cache for regular file access, always reserving roughly 10% to accommodate sudden bursts or unexpected spikes in demand. This allocation ensures that the cache remains responsive and readily available, providing fast, uninterrupted access even during high-traffic periods.

By managing cache space in this way, CloudPockets maximizes efficiency and reliability, giving users a seamless experience without the risk of overloading.

Our bandwidth billing model is designed to provide clear and manageable costs, covering everything from standard downloads to optimized caching and file handling.

Here’s how bandwidth billing works:

• Monthly Free Allowance: Each account includes a monthly free bandwidth allowance, based on your selected cache size.

• Standard Bandwidth Rate: After using the free allowance, additional bandwidth is billed at $0.02 per GB, with downloads and uploads calculated together to determine total usage.

• Cached File Savings: Files accessed from ActivePocket (cache) are billed at a reduced rate, offering cost savings on frequently accessed data. Uploads are free if you use our upload scheduling API, making it even more cost-effective to keep your files in CloudPockets.

• API Call Charges: Regular file upload API calls are billed at the standard rate, while all other API calls are free, ensuring flexibility in managing files without extra system costs.

• Nonexistent or Deleted File Requests: Attempts to download a nonexistent or deleted file will incur a charge of one minimal billable block. This approach ensures resources are properly allocated even for system interactions that can’t retrieve data.

This billing structure is designed for flexibility, scalability, and cost efficiency.

Our file storage pricing uses a "pocket" system that adjusts based on how frequently each file is accessed. When a file is uploaded, it begins in SpeedPocket, the first pocket, and can move through different pockets over time based on download frequency and storage duration. If the download frequency is low, the file moves from SpeedPocket to HoldPocket, and then from HoldPocket to DeepPocket, where it will remain while download rates stay low. This ensures the lowest pricing for you when files aren’t frequently accessed. Additionally, caching helps reduce billable access attempts, further lowering your costs.

The pricing structure is as follows:

• SpeedPocket: For files with 10 or more downloads per month.
• HoldPocket: For files with 2-9 downloads per month.
• DeepPocket: For files with 1 or fewer downloads per month.

Files remain in SpeedPocket or HoldPocket for a minimum of 30 days before moving to the next pocket. For example, if a file in DeepPocket experiences an increase in downloads, it moves first to SpeedPocket and then to HoldPocket after 30 days as downloads increase. If access decreases, it returns first to HoldPocket before eventually moving back to DeepPocket.

This adaptive model ensures that pricing remains fair and efficient, automatically adjusting to the best option for your file’s usage patterns.

1. What is S3 Compatibility?

CloudPockets’ object storage is built to be S3-compatible, meaning it uses the same fundamental APIs as Amazon S3. This ensures that our object storage solution can handle files in a way similar to S3, enabling seamless integration with existing S3 tools, services, and libraries.

2. How Does CloudPockets’ Caching System Affect S3 Libraries?

While CloudPockets offers S3 compatibility, we have implemented an advanced caching system that improves performance and reduces access costs. This caching system works by storing files in a temporary cache (called ActivePocket) upon first access. This allows frequently accessed files to be retrieved faster and more cost-effectively.

However, this caching mechanism means that traditional S3 libraries do not work out-of-the-box with CloudPockets, as they don’t account for the cache layer. Typically, an S3 library expects to retrieve files directly from the storage, but with our caching system, the file must first be downloaded to the cache server (ActivePocket) before it can be accessed.

3. How Can I Work with CloudPockets Object Storage?

To ensure smooth integration with CloudPockets, we’ve developed a CloudPockets API specifically designed to interact with our object storage and caching system.

4. Why is Using the CloudPockets API Important?

Because of our caching system, direct S3 integration is not possible using traditional S3 libraries. Our API enables seamless communication with CloudPockets’ storage, ensuring that files are handled appropriately, cached effectively, and your usage is billed correctly. This API is optimized for CloudPockets’ architecture, offering a smoother experience than traditional S3 integrations.

5. What Are the Benefits of Using the CloudPockets API?

• Seamless Caching: Automatically handles the download of files to the cache, reducing the number of billable access attempts.
• Improved Performance: Access files quickly from the cache, optimizing speed and cost-effectiveness.
• Tailored for Our Storage: The API ensures that your usage aligns with our pricing model, including object storage, cache, and bandwidth considerations.

6. Can I Use My Existing S3 Libraries?

Unfortunately, no. To take full advantage of CloudPockets’ features and pricing structure, we recommend using our API rather than traditional S3 libraries. This ensures that you get the best performance and most accurate billing.

7. Where Can I Find the API Documentation?

We provide comprehensive API documentation to help you integrate CloudPockets with your applications. You can access the documentation on our website or through our developer portal.

1. How is Monthly Pricing for File Storage Calculated?

CloudPockets uses a dynamic storage pricing model that is based on the storage movements between pockets over the course of the month. Since files may move between different pockets (SpeedPocket, HoldPocket, and DeepPocket), the calculation for your monthly storage is based on a cumulative method. Here’s a step-by-step explanation of how the process works:

2. What Are the Storage Pockets?

Files in CloudPockets move between different pockets based on their access frequency:

• SpeedPocket: For frequently accessed files.
• HoldPocket: For moderately accessed files.
• DeepPocket: For rarely accessed files.

As files move from one pocket to another, the storage usage in each pocket changes accordingly.

3. How Is Storage Calculated for Each Pocket?

At the end of each day, CloudPockets calculates the storage for each file stored in each pocket. This calculation is based on the “previous day + today in - today out” method:

• Previous Day: The amount of storage that was used by the file the day before.
• Today In: The amount of storage added by any new files or changes made to existing files during the day.
• Today Out: The amount of storage that was freed by moving files to another pocket or deleting files.

The resulting storage for the day is added up and divided by 30 (average days in a month) to determine the daily cost.

4. How Does This Work with Moving Files Between Pockets?

Files are not deleted when they move between pockets; they simply shift based on access frequency. For example, if a file moves from DeepPocket to HoldPocket, the storage calculation will take into account the storage usage for both pockets during the month.

Each time a file moves from one pocket to another, the system calculates the storage for the previous pocket (where the file was before it moved) and adds the usage of the current pocket (where the file is now).

This movement is factored into the cumulative storage calculation for the current billing period.

5. What Happens to My Cumulative Storage?

The cumulative storage for the current billing period is the sum of the storage calculations from the different pockets, based on their usage over the month. Since files can move between pockets, the final storage for each pocket will be included in the total billing for the month, but it’s not a fixed price for a certain amount of storage space occupied by all files.

Instead, the pricing is based on the cumulative usage of all files in the different pockets, calculated on a daily basis and averaged over 30 days.

6. What Happens If Files Move Between Multiple Pockets in a Month?

When files move between multiple pockets during a month, the storage costs for each pocket are calculated separately for each period when the file was stored in that pocket. All of these individual storage periods are then added up, and the total is divided by 30 to get the daily usage cost, which is then summed up for the entire month.

This way, we ensure that files pay only for the storage used during the specific period they were in each pocket, without charging for the total storage space of all files.

7. Is There a Fixed Price for File Storage?

No, there is no fixed price for the storage space that files occupy in each pocket. The pricing is based on the total usage across the entire month, including files that move between different pockets. This system allows CloudPockets to offer flexible and fair pricing based on the actual storage usage and file movement.

8. How Does This Benefit Me?

This dynamic and flexible pricing model means that you are only paying for what you actually use. As files move between pockets based on their access frequency, you avoid paying for unused storage space. CloudPockets ensures that the storage is priced fairly, based on the specific requirements of each file and the duration of its time in each pocket.

CloudPockets can be a more cost-effective option than AWS S3 when your file storage has lower access frequencies and you plan to store large volumes of data over extended periods and when you can use the benefits of ActivePocked cache storage and automatic moving the files between tiers. Here’s a comparison based on an example of storing 10 TB of data for 4 months:

Example Scenario: 10 TB Storage for 4 Months

1. CloudPockets Pricing

   • SpeedPocket (first month): $0.018 per GB/month
     • 10 TB x $0.018 = $180
   • HoldPocket (second month): $0.015 per GB/month
     • 10 TB x $0.015 = $150
   • DeepPocket (third and fourth months): $0.012 per GB/month
     • 10 TB x $0.012 = $120 per month
     • 2 months x $120 = $240
   • Cache Cost (10 GB): $5/month
     • 4 months x $5 = $20

   Total CloudPockets Cost for 4 Months:
   $180 (SpeedPocket) + $150 (HoldPocket) + $240 (DeepPocket) + $20 (Cache) = $590

2. AWS S3 Pricing

   • S3 Standard Storage (10 TB): $0.023 per GB/month
     • 10 TB x $0.023 = $230 per month
     • 4 months x $230 = $920

   Total AWS S3 Cost for 4 Months: $920

Cost Comparison Summary

• CloudPockets: $590 for 10 TB of storage over 4 months.
• AWS S3 Standard: $920 for 10 TB of storage over 4 months.

In this example, choosing CloudPockets can save you $330 compared to AWS S3.

Conclusion

You could consider CloudPockets over AWS S3 if:

• You have large storage requirements (e.g., 10 TB or more).
• Your files have low access frequency.
• You need a more cost-effective solution for long-term storage, especially when you don’t anticipate frequent access.

CloudPockets is an independent service and is not affiliated with, nor endorsed by, Amazon Web Services (AWS) or S3. While CloudPockets offers similar object storage features, it is a distinct alternative designed to provide flexible, cost-effective storage solutions with advanced caching mechanisms to help optimize pricing for low-access files.

Your files are hosted on our secure and reliable servers located in the United States. Our infrastructure is S3-compatible, meaning it supports seamless integration with common storage protocols and tools. Additionally, our advanced caching mechanism ensures faster access and retrieval times, optimizing performance whenever you need to access your data. Rest assured, your files are hosted in a robust environment designed for efficiency and reliability.