Introduction to Azure Storage

Azure Storage offers a highly available, massively scalable, and secure cloud storage solution for a wide variety of data needs. This document provides an overview of Azure Storage, its core services, key concepts, and common use cases.

What is Azure Storage?

Azure Storage is Microsoft's cloud storage solution that is accessible from anywhere in the world via HTTP or HTTPS. It is designed to be highly available, durable, secure, and scalable. Azure Storage provides a range of services to store and access data in a flexible and cost-effective manner.

Azure Storage Services

Azure Storage encompasses several distinct services, each optimized for different types of data and workloads:

Blob Storage

Azure Blob Storage is a cloud object storage solution for storing massive amounts of unstructured data. Unstructured data includes text or binary data, such as documents, media files, application logs, and backups. Blob storage is optimized for storing files for direct access or for serving content to web and mobile applications.

Key features include:

  • Scalability for massive data volumes.
  • Support for various data types (images, videos, documents, backups).
  • Different access tiers (Hot, Cool, Archive) for cost optimization.
  • RESTful API for access.

File Storage

Azure Files provides fully managed cloud file shares that are accessible via the industry-standard Server Message Block (SMB) protocol and Network File System (NFS) protocol. Azure Files can be mounted concurrently by cloud or on-premises deployments of Windows, macOS, and Linux.

Key features include:

  • Managed SMB and NFS shares.
  • Accessible from Windows, macOS, and Linux.
  • Support for lifting and shifting on-premises applications without significant code changes.

Queue Storage

Azure Queue Storage is a service that stores large numbers of messages that can be accessed from anywhere in the world via authenticated HTTP or HTTPS. Queue storage is used to reliably store messages that need to be processed asynchronously, such as decoupling application components.

Key features include:

  • Reliable message queuing for asynchronous processing.
  • Decoupling of application components.
  • Simple API for adding and retrieving messages.

Table Storage

Azure Table Storage is a NoSQL key-attribute store for semi-structured data. Table storage is ideal for storing large amounts of fast-access, relatively small amounts of data, such as in web application session state, address books, device information, or other types of metadata.

Key features include:

  • NoSQL key-attribute store.
  • Schema-less design for flexibility.
  • Fast query performance for key-based access.

Disk Storage

Azure Disk Storage offers persistent block storage for virtual machines. Disk Storage is designed for high-performance, low-latency workloads. It comes in several types, including Ultra Disk, Premium SSD, Standard SSD, and Standard HDD, each optimized for different performance and cost requirements.

Key features include:

  • Persistent block storage for Azure VMs.
  • High-performance options (Ultra Disk, Premium SSD).
  • Cost-effective options (Standard SSD, Standard HDD).
  • Managed disks simplify disk management.

Key Concepts

Storage Accounts

A storage account is a gateway to all Azure Storage data. A storage account provides a unique namespace in Azure for your data. All objects in Azure Storage have addresses that include the unique account name as part of that address. For example, if your account name is mystorageaccount, then your endpoint for data objects might be mystorageaccount.blob.core.windows.net.

When you create a storage account, you choose:

  • The replication strategy (e.g., LRS, GRS, RA-GRS).
  • The performance tier (Standard or Premium).
  • The account kind (StorageV2, BlobStorage, FileStorage, etc.).

Data Models

Azure Storage organizes data into different models depending on the service:

  • Blob Storage: Uses containers to group blobs, similar to folders.
  • File Storage: Uses shares, which are like top-level folders in a file system.
  • Queue Storage: Uses queues, which are collections of messages.
  • Table Storage: Uses tables, which contain entities (rows) with properties (columns).

Access Tiers

For Blob Storage, access tiers allow you to store blob data in the most cost-effective manner. The available tiers are:

  • Hot: Optimized for frequently accessed data.
  • Cool: Optimized for infrequently accessed data, stored for at least 30 days.
  • Archive: Optimized for rarely accessed data, stored for at least 180 days with flexible latency.

Choosing the right access tier can significantly impact your storage costs.

Common Use Cases

Azure Storage is a versatile solution used in many scenarios, including:

  • Storing and serving images, documents, and other media files for web applications.
  • Backup and disaster recovery solutions.
  • Storing log files and diagnostic data.
  • Enabling hybrid cloud scenarios with Azure File Sync.
  • Building scalable message queuing systems for distributed applications.
  • Storing large datasets for big data analytics.
  • Hosting static website content directly from Blob Storage.

Next Steps

Now that you have a basic understanding of Azure Storage, you can explore: