Azure Storage Account Fundamentals

This document provides a comprehensive overview of Azure Storage accounts, the foundational resource for all Azure Storage services. Learn about the different types of storage accounts, their capabilities, and how to choose the right one for your needs.

What is an Azure Storage Account?

An Azure Storage account provides a unique namespace in Azure for your data. All objects that you upload to an Azure Storage account are authenticated in the same way, whether they are blobs, files, queues, or tables. A storage account is the endpoint for cloud storage services like:

  • Blob Storage: For storing large amounts of unstructured data, such as text or binary data.
  • File Storage: For managed file shares in the cloud accessible via the SMB protocol.
  • Queue Storage: For storing large numbers of messages that can be accessed from anywhere in the world.
  • Table Storage: For storing large amounts of structured NoSQL data.

Types of Storage Accounts

Azure offers several types of storage accounts, each optimized for specific scenarios:

  • General-purpose v2 (GPv2): The recommended general-purpose storage account for most scenarios. It supports blobs, files, queues, and tables, and offers the latest features and cost efficiencies.
  • Blob Storage: Optimized for storing blobs. It offers lower latency and higher transaction rates compared to GPv2 accounts, and supports specific features like object replication.
  • FileStorage: Optimized for premium file shares. It offers high performance and low latency for IO-intensive file workloads.
  • StorageV2 (legacy): An older generation general-purpose account. It's recommended to migrate to GPv2.
  • BlockBlobStorage: Optimized for block blobs. It offers high throughput and low latency for block blob workloads.

Key Concepts

Understanding these key concepts is crucial when working with Azure Storage accounts:

Namespace and Endpoints

Each storage account has a unique namespace. The account name is part of the base URI for every object in your storage account. For example, if your account name is mystorageaccount, then your blob endpoint is https://mystorageaccount.blob.core.windows.net.

Access Tiers

For Blob Storage within a GPv2 or Blob Storage account, you can choose access tiers to optimize costs based on data access frequency:

  • Hot tier: Optimized for frequently accessed data.
  • Cool tier: Optimized for infrequently accessed data.
  • Archive tier: Optimized for rarely accessed data with flexible latency requirements.

Replication

Azure Storage offers several options for data replication to ensure high availability and durability:

  • Locally Redundant Storage (LRS): Provides 3 copies of your data within a single data center.
  • Zone-Redundant Storage (ZRS): Provides 3 copies of your data across multiple availability zones within a region.
  • Geo-Redundant Storage (GRS): Provides 6 copies of your data across two regions (primary and secondary).
  • Read-Access Geo-Redundant Storage (RA-GRS): Same as GRS, but also provides read access to the data in the secondary region.

Creating a Storage Account

You can create a storage account through the Azure portal, Azure CLI, PowerShell, or Azure Resource Manager (ARM) templates. When creating an account, you'll specify:

  • A unique name.
  • The desired region.
  • The account type (e.g., GPv2).
  • The replication strategy.
For detailed steps on creating a storage account, refer to the Create a storage account guide.

Best Practices

  • Always use General-purpose v2 (GPv2) accounts unless you have specific requirements for other account types.
  • Choose the appropriate access tier for your blob data to manage costs effectively.
  • Select a replication strategy that meets your availability and durability needs.
  • Secure your storage account by implementing robust access control mechanisms.