Tutorial / Cram Notes
When diving into the world of Microsoft Azure storage solutions, it is critical to understand the options available for storage accounts and the types of storage within those accounts. Azure provides flexible and secure ways to store and manage your data, catering to a variety of needs and scale requirements.
Storage Account Options in Azure
1. General-purpose v2 accounts (GPv2)
GPv2 accounts are the most common storage account type, providing access to all Azure Storage services, including Blobs, Files, Queues, Tables, and Disks. They offer a blend of performance and cost-effectiveness for most storage scenarios.
2. General-purpose v1 accounts (GPv1)
GPv1 accounts serve as the legacy option and also support all Azure Storage services. However, they may not have some of the latest features and pricing models of GPv2 accounts. GPv1 accounts could be more cost-effective for certain workloads that do not require the latest capabilities.
3. BlockBlob Storage accounts
BlockBlob storage accounts are specialized for storing block blobs and append blobs. This type of account offers premium performance for high-transaction rate scenarios with larger objects, such as big data analysis and media streaming.
4. FileStorage accounts
FileStorage accounts cater specifically to enterprises that require premium performance file shares, making them ideal for I/O-intensive workloads that also need the features of Azure Files, including SMB/CIFS protocols.
5. BlobStorage accounts
BlobStorage accounts are a legacy option and are dedicated to unstructured object storage. They provide access to block blobs and append blobs, but are being replaced by GPv2 and BlockBlob accounts.
Storage Types in Azure
When it comes to the types of storage Azure provides, there are several you need to be aware of:
1. Blob Storage
Blob (Binary Large OBject) storage is designed for handling unstructured data such as documents, images, videos, and log files. There are three types of blobs:
- Block blobs for text and binary data (streaming, high performance)
- Append blobs for log files (adding data to the end of a blob)
- Page blobs for VHD files that back VMs
| Blob Type | Use Cases | Maximum Size |
|---|---|---|
| Block blob | Streaming, high performance | 190.7 TiB |
| Append blob | Logging, append operations | 195 GiB per blob |
| Page blob | Azure virtual hard disks (VHD) | 8 TiB per blob |
2. File Storage
Azure Files offers fully managed file shares in the cloud, accessible via the SMB protocol. This storage is useful for lift-and-shift scenarios where existing on-premises applications that rely on standard file system capabilities are moved to Azure.
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| SMB and NFS Protocols | Compatibility with Windows, Linux, and macOS |
| Mountable Shares | Accessible from Azure VMs or on-premises |
| Snapshots and Backup Integration | For data protection and recovery |
3. Disk Storage
Azure Disk Storage provides block-level storage volumes for Azure VMs. There are three performance tiers:
- Ultra Disks for IO-intensive workloads (most performant)
- Premium SSDs for production workloads
- Standard SSDs and HDDs for less-critical workloads
| Disk Type | Use Case | Latency | Throughput & IOPS |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ultra Disk | IO-intensive workloads | Sub-millisecond | Up to 160,000 IOPS and 2,000 MB/s |
| Premium SSD | Production workloads | Low | Up to 20,000 IOPS and 900 MB/s |
| Standard SSD | Web servers, light apps | Moderate | Up to 6,000 IOPS and 750 MB/s |
| Standard HDD | Backup, non-critical | High | Up to 500 IOPS and 60 MB/s |
4. Queue Storage
Queue Storage facilitates communication between application components, often between web front ends and worker processes, through messaging queues.
5. Table Storage
Table Storage offers a NoSQL key-attribute data store, ideal for flexible datasets like user data, device information, or metadata.
Azure’s varied storage account options and storage types are designed to meet a wide range of needs and are ingrained with security and durability. When preparing for the AZ-900 Microsoft Azure Fundamentals exam, it’s crucial to understand not only these fundamentals but also how to apply them to real-world scenarios to select the right type or combination of storage solutions for any given workload.
Practice Test with Explanation
True or False: In Azure, storage accounts provide a unique namespace for your Azure Storage data that is accessible from anywhere in the world over HTTP or HTTPS.
- Answer: True
Azure storage accounts offer a unique namespace for your data, which can be accessed from anywhere in the world via HTTP or HTTPS.
Which types of storage accounts allow you to store virtual machine disk files? (Select all that apply)
- A) General-purpose v1
- B) General-purpose v2
- C) Blob Storage
- D) File Storage
Answer: A, B
Both General-purpose v1 and General-purpose v2 support storing virtual machine disk files.
True or False: The Azure Blob Storage service supports Azure Disk Storage for virtual machines.
- Answer: False
Azure Blob Storage is for storing unstructured data as blobs, whereas Azure Disk Storage is a separate service designed for virtual machine disk storage.
What is the recommended storage account type if you need to store large quantities of unstructured data, such as text or binary data?
- A) General-purpose v1
- B) General-purpose v2
- C) Blob Storage
- D) File Storage
Answer: C
Blob Storage is specially optimized for storing massive amounts of unstructured data.
True or False: Azure Files offers fully managed file shares in the cloud that are accessible via the SMB protocol.
- Answer: True
Azure Files provides fully managed file shares that are accessible through the SMB protocol.
True or False: Hot, Cool, and Archive are different types of Azure storage accounts.
- Answer: False
Hot, Cool, and Archive are not types of storage accounts, but they represent tiers for storing data within the Azure Blob Storage service based on the frequency of access.
Which storage account type automatically replicates your data to another Azure region for protection against regional outages?
- A) Locally-redundant storage (LRS)
- B) Geo-redundant storage (GRS)
- C) Zone-redundant storage (ZRS)
- D) Read-access geo-redundant storage (RA-GRS)
Answer: B
Geo-redundant storage (GRS) replicates your data to a secondary region for protection against regional outages.
True or False: Azure Queue Storage is used to store and manage message queues for reliable messaging between application components.
- Answer: True
Azure Queue Storage is a service for storing large numbers of messages that can be accessed from anywhere in the world via authenticated calls using HTTP or HTTPS.
Which of the following is a storage option designed to provide high throughput and low latency for scenarios such as databases?
- A) Azure Files
- B) Azure Blob Storage
- C) Azure Queue Storage
- D) Azure Disk Storage
Answer: D
Azure Disk Storage is built to provide high throughput and low latency, which is ideal for scenarios like databases that require persistent storage with these characteristics.
True or False: A storage account is a resource that you must create before you can use Azure Storage services.
- Answer: True
Before you can start using Azure Storage services such as Azure Blobs, Files, Queues, or Tables, you need to create a storage account, which provides a unique namespace for your data.
What is the benefit of enabling the Read-access geo-redundant storage (RA-GRS) option for a storage account?
- A) Provides read-only access to data in the secondary region in case the primary region becomes unavailable
- B) Offers the highest level of durability for your storage account data
- C) Offers the least expensive replication option for your storage account data
- D) Reduces latency by storing data in the user’s closest region
Answer: A
Read-access geo-redundant storage (RA-GRS) offers read-only access to your data in the secondary region if the primary region becomes unavailable, maximizing availability.
Which of the following Azure services is a NoSQL database service that uses key-value, column family, document, and graph databases?
- A) Azure Blob Storage
- B) Azure Table Storage
- C) Azure Cosmos DB
- D) Azure SQL Database
Answer: C
Azure Cosmos DB is a NoSQL database service that supports various data models, including key-value, column family, document, and graph databases.
Interview Questions
What is a storage account in Azure?
A storage account in Azure is a unique namespace in the cloud to store and access data objects like blobs, files, queues, tables, and disks.
What are the three types of storage accounts in Azure?
The three types of storage accounts in Azure are General-purpose v2, General-purpose v1, and Blob storage.
What is the difference between General-purpose v1 and General-purpose v2 storage accounts?
General-purpose v2 storage accounts support all types of data objects while General-purpose v1 accounts only support blobs and tables.
What is Blob storage used for?
Blob storage is used to store and access unstructured object data, such as text and binary data.
What is the maximum size of a block blob in Azure Blob storage?
The maximum size of a block blob in Azure Blob storage is 200 GB.
What is the difference between hot and cold access tiers in Azure Blob storage?
The hot access tier is for frequently accessed data, while the cold access tier is for data that is infrequently accessed and stored for long-term retention.
What is the minimum size of a file share in Azure Files?
The minimum size of a file share in Azure Files is 100 GB.
What is the purpose of a storage account key in Azure?
A storage account key in Azure is used to authenticate and authorize access to a storage account.
What is the Azure Blob storage lifecycle management feature used for?
The Azure Blob storage lifecycle management feature is used to automatically move blobs between the hot and cold access tiers based on custom-defined policies.
What is the difference between locally-redundant storage and geo-redundant storage in Azure?
Locally-redundant storage stores three copies of data within a single datacenter, while geo-redundant storage stores six copies of data across two or more datacenters in different regions for additional data resilience.
What are the storage account options available in Azure? Trying to get a clear picture for my AZ-900 exam preparation.
Appreciate the blog post!
One quick question: Are all the storage types available in every region?
In terms of redundancy options for storage accounts, what are the differences?
Can I change the redundancy option after creating a storage account?
How does Azure Blob Storage compare to Amazon S3?
Thanks for the detailed answers!
Quick note: I found the interface for configuring storage accounts on Azure a bit confusing.