They form the primary layer for storing your data. Almost every service in Azure interacts with it in one form or the other. Therefore, understanding Storage Account options and types is crucial, especially if you’re preparing for the AZ-900 Microsoft Azure Fundamentals exam.
1. Azure Storage Account Options
Azure offers four types of storage accounts:
- 1.1 General-purpose v2 accounts: This is the basic storage account type for Blob, File, Queue, and Table storage. It supports all the latest features and all the performance tiers.
- 1.2 General-purpose v1 accounts: This is the legacy account type for Blobs, Files, Queues, and Tables. It lacks some features and capabilities compared to v2.
- 1.3 BlobStorage accounts: This legacy Blob-only storage account is a good option if you only need to work with blob storage.
- 1.4 BlockBlobStorage accounts: This account has premium performance characteristics and supports only block blobs and append blobs.
| Storage Account Type | Services Supported | Performance Tiers | When to use |
|---|---|---|---|
| General-purpose v2 | Blob, File, Queue, and Table | Standard, Premium | Most versatile, supports all features |
| General-purpose v1 | Blob, File, Queue, and Table | Standard, Premium | Legacy applications, where v2 features aren’t required |
| BlobStorage | Blob | Standard | Blob service is used, but v2 features are not required |
| BlockBlobStorage | Blob (block and append only) | Premium | Low latency, high throughput scenarios |
2. Azure Storage Types
Azure Storage provides different data services, including:
- 2.1 Azure Blobs: Ideal for storing large amounts of unstructured data. This category includes videos, images, and text files.
- 2.2 Azure Files: Provides fully-managed file shares in the cloud reachable via the standard Server Message Block (SMB) protocol.
- 2.3 Azure Queues: A data store for queuing and reliably delivering messages. An example use case is the creation of a messaging system between application components.
- 2.4 Azure Tables: A service that stores structured NoSQL data, providing a key-attribute store with a schema-less design.
- 2.5 Azure Disks: Azure Disks are block-level storage volumes managed by Azure and used with Azure Virtual Machines.
In each of these storage types, data can be replicated for redundancy. Azure provides multiple data replication options such as Locally redundant storage (LRS), Zone-redundant storage (ZRS), Geo-redundant storage (GRS), and Read-access geo-redundant storage (RAGRS).
This knowledge of the different types of Azure storage options and their appropriate use cases are critical for successfully deploying and managing Azure resources, and thus makes it an essential topic for the AZ-900 Microsoft Azure Fundamentals Exam.
Practice Test
True or False: A storage account in Azure is used to manage and hold all data objects.
- True
- False
Answer: True.
Explanation: In Microsoft Azure, a storage account is indeed used to hold and manage all data object such as blobs, files, queues, tables, and disks.
There are three performance tiers in Azure storage accounts: Premium, Standard, and Basic.
- True
- False
Answer: False.
Explanation: There are only two performance tiers in Azure storage accounts, which are Premium and Standard.
What types of data are stored by Azure Files?
- A. Unstructured data
- B. Semi-structured data
- C. Structured data
- D. All of the above
Answer: D. All of the above
Explanation: Azure Files can handle all types of data.
Azure Blobs are divided into which two types?
- A. Block blobs and Page blobs
- B. Page blobs and Append blobs
- C. Block blobs and Append blobs
- D. All of the above
Answer: D. All of the above
Explanation: In Azure, Blobs are divided into three types: Block blobs, Append blobs, and Page blobs.
What type of Azure storage is ideal for highly transactional, moderately large objects?
- A. Azure Blobs
- B. Azure Queues
- C. Azure Tables
- D. Azure Files
Answer: C. Azure Tables
Explanation: Azure Tables is best-suited for highly transactional activities due to its NoSQL key-value store feature which allows fast retrieval of large amounts of structured data.
What is managed disk in Azure?
- A. It is a service that simplifies disk management for Azure IaaS VMs by handling storage account management for you.
- B. It is a service that helps in managing your database in Azure.
- C. It is a service that helps you manage virtual network configurations.
Answer: A. It is a service that simplifies disk management for Azure IaaS VMs by handling storage account management for you.
Explanation: Managed Disks in Azure is a service for Azure IaaS VMs storage account management.
True or False: Azure storage is always encrypted with Microsoft-managed keys.
- True
- False
Answer: True.
Explanation: Azure storage service encrypts all data at rest. The service is always encrypted with Microsoft-managed keys by default.
Microsoft Azure supports multiple storage replication options. Which of the following is not a storage replication option provided by Azure?
- A. Zone-redundant storage (ZRS)
- B. Geo-redundant storage (GRS)
- C. Locally redundant storage (LRS)
- D. Global redundant storage (GLRS)
Answer: D. Global redundant storage (GLRS)
Explanation: Azure includes three basic storage replication options: Locally redundant storage (LRS), Zone-redundant storage (ZRS), and Geo-redundant storage (GRS). There is no option called Global redundant storage (GLRS).
Queues in Azure are used for?
- A. Storing large amounts of unstructured text or binary data
- B. Creating, reading, updating and deleting structured data
- C. Effectively load balancing and application decoupling
- D. Sharing storage between applications
Answer: C. Effectively load balancing and application decoupling
Explanation: Azure Queues are used for effective load balancing and for decoupling components of a cloud application.
Which storage pricing tier allows to store data at lower costs, but with higher data retrieval costs?
- A. Premium tier
- B. Hot tier
- C. Cool tier
- D. Standard tier
Answer: C. Cool tier
Explanation: Cool storage tier in Azure is cost-effective for short-term backup and disaster recovery datasets, it has lower storage costs but higher access costs.
Interview Questions
What is Azure Storage account?
Azure Storage account is an Azure service, which provides scalable, secure, and highly available storage for data in the cloud.
Name some of the basic storage account types in Azure.
Azure provides several types of storage account including general-purpose v2 accounts, general-purpose v1 accounts, blob storage accounts, and BlockBlobStorage accounts.
What are the different types of data that Azure Storage can store?
Azure Storage can store several types of data: blobs (objects), files, queues (for message storage), tables (for structured NoSQL data), and disks (for virtual machines).
What is the difference between hot and cool storage tiers in Azure?
The hot storage tier is optimized for storing data that is accessed frequently. The cool storage tier is lower-cost, but it is optimized for storing infrequently accessed data and has a higher access cost.
What is Azure Blob Storage?
Azure Blob Storage is a scalable, serverless storage system that is designed for storing large amounts of unstructured data like images, videos, log files, backups, etc.
What are Premium Storage Account and Standard Storage Account in Azure?
Premium Storage Accounts store data on high-performance solid-state drives and offer a high throughput and a low latency, useful for workloads like databases. Standard Storage Accounts are more cost-effective for data that is accessed less frequently, and which tolerates a bit higher latencies.
What is Azure Table Storage?
Azure Table Storage is a service that stores structured NoSQL data in the cloud. It provides a key-attribute store that can scale and allows for rapid development.
Are Azure Storage accounts globally replicated?
Yes, Azure offers several replication options. For instance, it could replicate within a single data center (Locally redundant storage), within a geographic region (Zone-redundant storage), across two regions in the same geography (Geo-redundant storage) or across two regions in two different geographies (Read-access geo-redundant storage).
Explain briefly about Azure Queue Storage?
Azure Queue Storage is a service for storing large numbers of messages for asynchronous processing. It can be used to decouple components of a cloud application and provide reliable messaging.
What is a Storage Account in Azure and why is it critical?
A Storage Account in Azure is a unique namespace in Azure for all the data that you want to store. Every object that you store in Azure Storage has an address based on the unique storage account name, and it ensures that your data is always accessible and secure.
What is Azure File Storage?
Azure File Storage offers file shares in the cloud that are accessible via the industry standard Server Message Block (SMB) protocol. It can be used to migrate legacy applications that rely on file shares to Azure while maintaining the compatibility.
What is BlockBlobStorage in Azure Storage?
BlockBlobStorage is a type of storage account used for storing block blobs and append blobs. It stores object data as blocks and is optimized for high transaction rates.
Is encryption available for Azure Storage?
Yes, Azure Storage service offers automatic encryption at rest for all data before persisting it to the Azure Storage system and it decrypts the data before retrieval.
What does the term “data redundancy” refers to in Azure Storage?
In Azure Storage, data redundancy refers to the process of copying of data to ensure that it is preserved in case of hardware or software failures, data corruption, or in other disaster scenarios.
What are Azure Managed Disks?
Azure Managed Disks are a type of Azure Storage that simplifies disk management for Azure IaaS VMs by managing the storage accounts associated with the VM disks. It provides high durability and availability.
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