Storage that multiple servers or computers can access and modify simultaneously over the network, enabling collaboration and data consistency. Like a shared document that everyone in your team can edit at the same time. Cloud providers offer managed shared storage like AWS EFS, Azure Files, Google Filestore, and OCI File Storage that scales automatically and handles complex networking.
A media production company uses AWS EFS to store video files that multiple rendering servers process simultaneously. The shared storage automatically scales to handle their huge video files, and all servers see the same up-to-date files in real-time, eliminating the need to manually copy files between machines.
All four are managed network file systems (shared file storage) that multiple compute instances can mount at the same time (typically via NFS/SMB). They reduce the need to copy files between servers and are commonly used for shared content, web serving, and batch/HPC workloads.