CLOUD STORAGE SYSTEM FOR SMALL BUSINESSES USING OPENSTACK SWIFT.

Abstract

This thesis presents the design and implementation of a private cloud object storage system for small businesses based on OpenStack Swift. As organizations face escalating demands for data storage capacity, traditional file server architectures prove inadequate due to limited scalability and high capital expenditure, while commercial cloud storage services introduce significant challenges including long-term operational costs, vendor lock-in, and concerns regarding data privacy and sovereignty. To address these issues, this work develops a distributed storage infrastructure consisting of one proxy node and two storage nodes deployed in a virtualized environment. The system leverages OpenStack Keystone for multi-tenant authentication and role-based authorization, providing secure RESTful API-based access through an intuitive web interface. Performance evaluation demonstrates that the system achieves stable operation with automatic data replication, fault tolerance verified through node failure simulation, and horizontal scalability using commodity hardware. This thesis provides small businesses with a viable alternative to both traditional storage systems and proprietary cloud services, demonstrating that enterprise-grade distributed storage features can be achieved within limited physical resources while maintaining complete data sovereignty and predictable operational costs.