With the rapid development of e-commerce platforms, whether B2C malls, C2C trading platforms, or cross-border e-commerce independent websites, high-performance, stable servers with ample storage space are essential. E-commerce businesses routinely process massive amounts of images, videos, product information, order data, user data, log files, and more. All of this requires a well-balanced server's storage resources; otherwise, serious issues like performance lag, data loss, and system crashes can occur.
Before beginning calculations, it's important to clarify exactly what data consumes storage space on e-commerce servers:
Product multimedia files: These include product images, videos, carousels, and detail displays. A single image typically ranges from 300KB to 2MB in size, while video files can range from a few MB to hundreds of MB depending on the resolution.
Database data: This includes structured data such as product information, categories, prices, inventory, orders, user accounts, and shopping carts. These are typically stored in databases like MySQL, PostgreSQL, or MongoDB.
Cache and indexing: Components like Redis cache and Elasticsearch search indexes generate large amounts of data to improve performance.
Logs and backups: These include access logs, error logs, payment records, user behavior, and more, which can generate hundreds of MB to several GB of data daily. Backup files (databases and documents) must be archived weekly/monthly, typically for at least six months.
System and service component files: Operating system, web server, SSL certificates, application dependencies, etc.
Key parameters affecting storage requirements due to e-commerce business scale:
E-commerce platforms vary greatly in size, from small businesses with dozens of orders per day to large platforms with millions of transactions per day. Therefore, the key indicators affecting server storage requirements include:
Detailed storage space estimation methods:
To facilitate understanding, let's use a small- to medium-sized e-commerce platform (10,000 products, an average of 3 images and 1 video per product, 1,000 orders per day, supporting multiple terminals and full logging) as an example and perform a rough calculation:
1. Product Multimedia Storage
Images: 10,000 × 3 × 500KB ≈ 15GB; Videos: 10,000 × 1 × 5MB ≈ 50GB, totaling approximately 65GB.
2. Database Data
The product, user, and order tables have rapidly growing data volumes, increasing by approximately 1GB to 5GB per month using MySQL. The estimated database capacity for the first three months is approximately 10GB.
3. Cache and Index (Dynamic)
Redis cache data depends on access frequency, so 10GB is reserved. The Elasticsearch product index is estimated to contain 1.5 times the number of products, or 15,000 records, requiring approximately 15GB. This totals approximately 25GB.
4. Logs and Backups
Daily logs: approximately 200MB x 30 days = 6GB/month. The database is backed up daily. After compression, 200MB x 30 days = 6GB. Files are backed up daily. Images and videos total 65GB, compressed at a 20% rate, for a total of approximately 13GB. A one-month history is retained, totaling: 6 + 6 + 13 = 25GB.
5. System and Service Components
Operating system + applications + various services: Depending on the installation method, we recommend reserving 20GB. Final total: approximately 145GB
Planning recommendations for actual deployment:
1. Add 50% redundant space to account for future growth. In actual deployments, it's recommended to reserve at least 1.5 times the redundant space to avoid frequent migrations or downtime due to data expansion. Final recommended configuration: 200GB - 300GB starting point
2. Partitioning and disking for greater security. Divide storage into multiple independent partitions, such as /var/www/html for website code and media files, /var/lib/mysql for databases, /var/log for logs, and /backup for backup files. This helps isolate data and prevents single failures from causing system crashes.
3. Choose the appropriate hard drive type. For static image and text e-commerce, choose SATA HDDs or SATA SSDs. For high-concurrency platforms or flash sale systems, choose NVMe SSDs. For enterprise-level scenarios, consider RAID 10 for redundancy and data security.
4. Enable object storage with CDN acceleration. Product images and videos are recommended to be stored in object storage. Using CDN acceleration reduces local server storage pressure and saves space.
5. Regularly clean caches and unused logs. Implement automated scripts to clean up logs older than 30 days, invalid cache files, expired image resources, and more.
Calculating e-commerce server storage isn't a simple "guess-and-go" estimate; it should be considered comprehensively, taking into account platform type, business volume, growth trends, backup frequency, security level, and other factors. Following the principle of "current needs + redundancy + future growth," rationally deploying partitions, planning types, and selecting the appropriate architecture will ensure stable server operation, data security, and smooth user access.
