Describe Azure Blob storage

Azure Blob Storage is a service provided by Microsoft Azure intended for storing massive amounts of unstructured data, such as text or binary data. This data could include anything from documents and photos to application installers and videos. Azure Blob Storage is built to scale with your needs, offering highly reliable and cost-effective storage capabilities.

It’s important to note that Blob Storage can manage PetaBytes of data and is highly scalable. It integrates smoothly with Azure services and open-source data processing software, among other APIs for building apps.

Characteristics and Benefits of Azure Blob Storage

• Object Storage: Azure Blob storage is a service for storing large amounts of unstructured object data, such as text or binary data.
• Global accessibility: Blobs are accessible from anywhere in the world via HTTP or HTTPS.
• Scalability: Azure Blob Storage has massive scalability abilities – you can store hundreds of terabytes of data and add more as required.
• Security: Blob Storage utilizes Azure’s robust security model, with features like Shared Access Signatures, RBAC, and encryption at rest.
• Cost flexibility: Azure offers several storage tiers, allowing you to choose the one that best suits your data usage pattern and extended cost flexibility.

Azure Storage Tiers

Azure Blob storage offers different access tiers, which allow you to store blob object data in the most cost-effective manner. These tiers are:

• Hot storage tier: This tier is for blobs that are frequently accessed. It has the highest storage costs but the lowest access costs.
• Cool storage tier: This tier is for blobs that are infrequently accessed and stored for at least 30 days. It has lower storage costs and higher access costs compared with the hot storage tier.
• Archive storage tier: This tier has the lowest storage cost but the highest access cost. It’s suitable for blobs that are rarely accessed and stored for at least 180 days.

Types of Blobs

Azure Blob Storage is made up of three types of blobs: Block, Append, and Page blobs.

• Block Blobs: Designed to handle large amounts of data, block blobs are made up of blocks, each assigned a unique block ID. They’re optimized for uploading large amounts of data efficiently.
• Append Blobs: Essentially a type of block blob, append blobs are optimized for append operations, making them ideal for logging data from virtual machines.
• Page Blobs: They are a collection of 512-byte pages. They are optimized for random read-write operations, hence ideal for applications like databases and VHD files.

Accessing Blob Storage Data

Just like any other storage service, data within Azure Blob Storage is accessed via endpoints. The URL format is as follows;

https://myaccount.blob.core.windows.net/mycontainer/myblob

You can use this URL to directly access your data from anywhere in the world.

Azure Blob Storage is an essential tool within the Azure ecosystem, especially if you’re preparing for the DP-900 Microsoft Azure Data Fundamentals exam. Understanding how to use and manage it effectively is necessary for mastering Azure data services and their applications.

Practice Test

True or False: Azure Blob storage is a service for storing large amounts of unstructured data.

• True
• False

Answer: True

Explanation: Azure Blob Storage is Microsoft’s object storage solution for the cloud. Blob storage is optimized for storing huge amounts of unstructured data.

What type of data can be stored in Azure Blob Storage?

• A. Binary data
• B. Text data
• C. Both A and B
• D. None of the above

Answer: C. Both A and B

Explanation: Azure Blob storage can store Binary data (.exe, .jpg, .png, etc.), Textual data (.txt, .json, .xml, etc.), and many more.

How many types of blobs does Azure storage support?

• A. 1
• B. 2
• C. 3
• D. 4

Answer: C. 3

Explanation: Azure Blob Storage supports three types of blobs: Block blobs, Page blobs, and Append blobs.

True or False: Azure Blob storage is not capable of storing streaming video and audio.

• True
• False

Answer: False

Explanation: Azure Blob storage can be used to store all sorts of data, including streaming video and audio.

Which type of blob is used for storing log files in Azure Blob Storage?

• A. Block blobs
• B. Page blobs
• C. Append blobs
• D. None of the above

Answer: C. Append blobs

Explanation: Append blobs are used for append operations like storing log files.

True or False: Azure Blob Storage uses a flat namespace to store blobs.

• True
• False

Answer: True

Explanation: Azure Blob Storage uses a flat namespace, meaning your objects aka blobs are stored in a single flat layer (no hierarchy) within a given container.

In which Azure storage tier is data readily available and with highest storage cost?

• A. Hot tier
• B. Cool tier
• C. Archive tier
• D. None of the above

Answer: A. Hot tier

Explanation: The hot storage tier has higher storage costs but lower access and transaction costs compared to other tiers. It is meant for data that is accessed frequently.

True or False: In Azure Blob Storage, data in the archive tier can be accessed instantly.

• True
• False

Answer: False

Explanation: Data in the archive tier is stored at very low cost, but the data retrieval time is higher compared to other tiers.

What is the replication option that replicates data across two regions?

• A. Locally Redundant Storage
• B. Zone-Redundant Storage
• C. Geo-Redundant Storage
• D. Read-Access Geo-Redundant Storage

Answer: C. Geo-Redundant Storage

Explanation: Geo-Redundant Storage (GRS) replicates your data to a secondary region that is hundreds of miles away from the primary region.

True or False: In Azure Blob Storage, a blob’s data in a snapshot can be accessed without promoting the snapshot.

• True
• False

Answer: True

Explanation: Azure Blob Storage enables blob snapshots, which are read-only versions of a blob. A blob’s data in a snapshot remains unchanged and accessible even without promoting the snapshot.

What is the maximum size of a block blob in Azure Blob Storage?

• A. 5 terabytes
• B. 1 terabyte
• C. 75 terabytes
• D. 2 terabytes

Answer: C. 75 terabytes

Explanation: A single block blob in Azure Blob Storage can be up to 75 terabytes in size.

In Azure Blob Storage, which type of blob optimizes for random read/write operations?

• A. Block blobs
• B. Page blobs
• C. Append blobs
• D. None of the above

Answer: B. Page blobs

Explanation: Page blobs are optimized for representing IaaS disks and supporting random writes, which are often used in Azure Virtual Machines.

True or False: Blob Storage supports Azure Active Directory.

• True
• False

Answer: True

Explanation: Azure Blob Storage supports Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) for authenticating applications.

How does azure provide data redundancy for blob storage?

• A. Locally redundant storage
• B. Geo-redundant storage
• C. Zone-redundant storage
• D. All of the above

Answer: D. All of the above

Explanation: Azure Blob Storage provides multiple data redundancy options, including locally redundant storage (LRS), geo-redundant storage (GRS), and zone-redundant storage (ZRS).

True or False: You can create an unlimited number of containers in a storage account.

• True
• False

Answer: True

Explanation: Azure Blob Storage does not limit the number of containers that you can create in a storage account.

Interview Questions

What is Azure Blob Storage?

Azure Blob Storage is a feature of Microsoft Azure that allows the storing of large amounts of unstructured data, such as text or binary data, that can be accessed from anywhere in the world via HTTP or HTTPS.

What are the three types of blobs in Azure Blob Storage?

The three types of blobs are block blobs, append blobs, and page blobs.

What are block blobs typically used for in Azure Blob Storage?

Block blobs are usually used for storing text or binary files, such as images, documents, and media files.

What is the function of append blobs in Azure Blob Storage?

Append blobs are optimized for append operations and are used when the operation requires appending to existing blocks, like logging data from virtual machines.

How does Azure Blob Storage handle data redundancy?

Azure Blob Storage handles data redundancy through replication. Users can choose among several redundancy options such as Locally Redundant Storage (LRS), Zone Redundant Storage (ZRS), Geo-Redundant Storage (GRS), or Read Access Geo-Redundant Storage (RA-GRS).

Is encryption supported by Azure Blob Storage?

Yes, Azure Blob Storage supports encryption both at rest and in transit. For data at rest it uses Azure Storage Service Encryption (SSE) and for data in transit, it uses HTTPS.

What is a storage account in Azure Blob Storage?

A storage account in Azure Blob Storage provides a unique namespace for your Azure Storage data objects and it is used to manage and control access to your blobs.

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 approximately 4.75 TB.

Can you perform a partial update on a block in Azure Blob storage?

No, you cannot perform a partial update on a block. If you need to modify a block blob, you must modify and upload the entire blob again.

How does Azure Blob Storage handle data accessibility from different regions?

Azure Blob Storage ensures data accessibility from different regions through Geo-Redundant Storage (GRS) or Read Access Geo-Redundant Storage (RA-GRS). These options replicate your data to a secondary geographic location for regional disaster recovery.

Which Azure Blob type is optimized for sequential read operations?

Page blobs are optimized for sequential read operations. They are often used to hold the virtual hard drive (VHD) files of Azure Virtual Machines (VMs).

What are blob tiers in Azure Blob storage?

Blob tiers refer to different storage tiers in Azure Blob Storage categorized based on access frequencies and storage costs, namely: Hot tier (for frequently accessed data), Cool tier (for infrequently accessed data), and Archive tier (for data that is rarely accessed).

What is the purpose of a container in Azure Blob Storage?

A container organizes a set of blobs, similar to a folder in a file system. All blobs must be in a container and a storage account can include an unlimited number of containers.

Can you directly mount Azure Blob Storage as a network drive?

No, Azure Blob Storage cannot be directly mounted as a network drive. However, you can use the Azure File Storage service to create a fully managed file share that can be accessed using the SMB protocol.

How can you control access to Azure Blob Storage?

Access to Azure Blob Storage can be controlled with Azure Active Directory (Azure AD), shared access signatures (SAS), and blob-level public access policies.