I have a C# application that generates simple JPEG images. I need to be able to store these images and recall them at various times in the future. So, I’m looking for a turnkey, secure, CDN system. I have hacked my own together with a Windows server and IIS – I upload via FTP and request images over HTTP – but (1) there’s, effectively, no need for it to be Windows and (2) its not very cost effective. I’ll be generating approximately 1-2GB of images each month and I need to hold the images in perpetuity.
What are some of the turnkey options for storing this many images?
I suggest storing the images on Amazon S3. It’s stable, widely supported, and can plug into a variety of workflows and security models. As of August 2011, pricing starts at $0.09/GB/month for storage, and $0.12/GB for transfer (with the first GB per month free).
While many people use S3 as a cheap and good-enough CDN, Amazon also offers Amazon Cloudfront, a “real” CDN that integrates neatly with S3.
Amazon maintains an official C# library that can talk to S3 and CloudFront, the AWS SDK for .NET.