Azure Storage Services

Azure Storage provides secure, scalable, durable cloud storage for a variety of data objects: blobs, files, queues, and tables.

Overview

Choose the right storage type based on your workload:

Blob: Object storage for unstructured data.
File: Fully managed file shares accessible via SMB.
Queue: Messaging service for asynchronous communication.
Table: NoSQL key‑value store for fast lookups.

Blob Storage

Store massive amounts of unstructured data such as images, videos, logs, and backups.

Usage

Tiering

Security

Blob types:

Block blobs – optimized for streaming and random reads.
Append blobs – ideal for logs.
Page blobs – used for virtual hard disks.

Access tiers:

Hot – frequently accessed data.
Cool – infrequently accessed.
Archive – rarely accessed, long‑term storage.

Features:

Encryption at rest & in transit.
Shared Access Signatures (SAS).
Azure AD authentication.

File Storage

Fully managed file shares accessible via SMB protocol.

az storage share create \
  --name myshare \
  --account-name mystorageaccount

Queue Storage

Reliable messaging for decoupled application components.

queue_client = QueueClient.from_connection_string(conn_str, "myqueue")
queue_client.send_message("Hello, Azure Queue!")

Table Storage

Key‑value NoSQL store for rapid lookups.

table_service = TableServiceClient.from_connection_string(conn_str)
entity = {"PartitionKey": "pk", "RowKey": "rk", "Data": "Sample"}
table_service.create_entity(table_name="mytable", entity=entity)

Pricing

Pricing varies by storage type, redundancy, and access tier. Use the Azure Pricing Calculator to estimate costs.

Service	Redundancy	Pricing (per GB/month)
Blob	Locally‑redundant (LRS)	$0.0184 (Hot)
File	Zone‑redundant (ZRS)	$0.024
Queue	Read‑access geo‑redundant (RA‑GRS)	$0.0075
Table	LRS	$0.006

Getting Started

Create a storage account via Azure Portal or CLI.
Configure networking and firewalls.
Choose a storage service and create the resource.
Integrate using Azure SDKs or REST APIs.

az storage account create \
  --name mystorageaccount \
  --resource-group MyResourceGroup \
  --location eastus \
  --sku Standard_LRS

Code Samples

Select a language to view sample code:

Python

JavaScript

from azure.storage.blob import BlobServiceClient
conn_str = "DefaultEndpointsProtocol=https;AccountName=...;AccountKey=...;EndpointSuffix=core.windows.net"
blob_service = BlobServiceClient.from_connection_string(conn_str)
container_client = blob_service.get_container_client("mycontainer")
blob_client = container_client.get_blob_client("sample.txt")
blob_client.upload_blob(b"Hello, Azure Blob!", overwrite=True)

var blobServiceClient = new BlobServiceClient(connectionString);
var containerClient = blobServiceClient.GetBlobContainerClient("mycontainer");
var blobClient = containerClient.GetBlobClient("sample.txt");
await blobClient.UploadAsync(new BinaryData("Hello, Azure Blob!"), overwrite:true);

const { BlobServiceClient } = require("@azure/storage-blob");
const blobServiceClient = BlobServiceClient.fromConnectionString(process.env.AZURE_STORAGE_CONNECTION_STRING);
const containerClient = blobServiceClient.getContainerClient("mycontainer");
const blockBlobClient = containerClient.getBlockBlobClient("sample.txt");
await blockBlobClient.uploadData(Buffer.from("Hello, Azure Blob!"));