Azure supports different storage options for both structured and unstructured data like specific formatted data ,binary files ,video /image files etc .Lets look at the different options and when and where to use a particular option .
Blobs
Blob storage is mainly used for storing text or binary files such as an image /video files .One practical application of blob storage is when you have a website through which you want users to upload their passport size photo which you then want to store it in Azure .Since Database is relational it cannot store the image file and hence blob storage will be a good option .As soon as the user clicks submit button the image goes and gets uploaded in the blob storage with a unique name (even multiple people upload the file using the same name ,eventually this gets converted into a unique name) and there could be a meta data information that is available in the SQL Database which has information like what is the email id name of the person etc with the link to the image file/the file name as another field .
There are different types of blobs like block blobs ,append blobs and page blobs that can be created
Queue :
Queues can be typically thought of as a messaging system .Lets assume millions of people are accessing our website from different location.In such cases as soon as the user submits the button the data gets added in the Queue where the requests are handled one by one .From the web app ,we could load the image into the queue and from there the data can be pushed to the blob storage which will help for a more robust environment
Files :
File storage system is one of the unique features of Azure .We can store any type of files and one major advantage of using a file system is that it can be mounted on any drives in the local /in Azure vm by using the connection string
Tables :
Tables provide a relational database like storage with a noSQL format ie data can be entered as a key value pair which will then be captured and stored in the table To view this storage account contents we need to connect to azure subscription through visual studio and click on the table to view the data stored in it .
Storage Account :
For creating any of the storage options listed above ,we need to have a storage account in Azure .This can be created using the portal by clicking on add resource or using azure cli/Powershell or even any client libraries
Once the storage account is created ,we can open it and we can see the options blob,queue,file or table there and based on the specific requirement we could go for the type .If it is a Blob storage we have to create containers which are nothing but logical organization of different files (folder like) and for files we need to again organize them in folders
Some Interesting options when creating the storage account is the replication which has the following options
LRS (Locally Redundant Storage)
This is a replication method where if the storage account created in one data center within the region is replicated into the same data centre .This is less expensive option when compared to the other mode of replications .If the data is not time sensitive /if it is an archival data or test data then LRS will be the right option to go with
ZRS (Zone Redundant Storage)
This is a replication method where if the storage account is in a particular geography in a region then the replication will be in a different data center in the same geography .This type of replications helps recovery if there is a failure in the data center
GRS (Geo Redundant Storage )
This is a replication method where if the storage account is in a particular region,the replication will be in another region .This would help in data recovery when there is a calamity /disaster where in the entire data in a region is destructive .This is an expensive option and if the data is complex and sensitive and we are looking for a 100% recoverability ,then one should choose a GRS replication
Read Only GRS
Here the replication is same as GRS ,but during a disaster or if the region servers are down ,the data that is replicated in the other region will be read only .This is less expensive than GRS storage option
Access Tier
There are two tiers when you create a storage account
Hot Tier : Optimized for storing the data that is accessed frequently .More expensive than cool /archive tier
Cool Tier : Optimized for storing the data that is infrequently used .
Archive Tier : Used for storing archival files like historical log files etc which will never be accessed .This is very cheap when compared to other two tiers .
The tier needs to be chosen appropriately based on the development requirements .
Blobs
Blob storage is mainly used for storing text or binary files such as an image /video files .One practical application of blob storage is when you have a website through which you want users to upload their passport size photo which you then want to store it in Azure .Since Database is relational it cannot store the image file and hence blob storage will be a good option .As soon as the user clicks submit button the image goes and gets uploaded in the blob storage with a unique name (even multiple people upload the file using the same name ,eventually this gets converted into a unique name) and there could be a meta data information that is available in the SQL Database which has information like what is the email id name of the person etc with the link to the image file/the file name as another field .
There are different types of blobs like block blobs ,append blobs and page blobs that can be created
Queue :
Queues can be typically thought of as a messaging system .Lets assume millions of people are accessing our website from different location.In such cases as soon as the user submits the button the data gets added in the Queue where the requests are handled one by one .From the web app ,we could load the image into the queue and from there the data can be pushed to the blob storage which will help for a more robust environment
Files :
File storage system is one of the unique features of Azure .We can store any type of files and one major advantage of using a file system is that it can be mounted on any drives in the local /in Azure vm by using the connection string
Tables :
Tables provide a relational database like storage with a noSQL format ie data can be entered as a key value pair which will then be captured and stored in the table To view this storage account contents we need to connect to azure subscription through visual studio and click on the table to view the data stored in it .
Storage Account :
For creating any of the storage options listed above ,we need to have a storage account in Azure .This can be created using the portal by clicking on add resource or using azure cli/Powershell or even any client libraries
Once the storage account is created ,we can open it and we can see the options blob,queue,file or table there and based on the specific requirement we could go for the type .If it is a Blob storage we have to create containers which are nothing but logical organization of different files (folder like) and for files we need to again organize them in folders
Some Interesting options when creating the storage account is the replication which has the following options
LRS (Locally Redundant Storage)
This is a replication method where if the storage account created in one data center within the region is replicated into the same data centre .This is less expensive option when compared to the other mode of replications .If the data is not time sensitive /if it is an archival data or test data then LRS will be the right option to go with
ZRS (Zone Redundant Storage)
This is a replication method where if the storage account is in a particular geography in a region then the replication will be in a different data center in the same geography .This type of replications helps recovery if there is a failure in the data center
GRS (Geo Redundant Storage )
This is a replication method where if the storage account is in a particular region,the replication will be in another region .This would help in data recovery when there is a calamity /disaster where in the entire data in a region is destructive .This is an expensive option and if the data is complex and sensitive and we are looking for a 100% recoverability ,then one should choose a GRS replication
Read Only GRS
Here the replication is same as GRS ,but during a disaster or if the region servers are down ,the data that is replicated in the other region will be read only .This is less expensive than GRS storage option
Access Tier
There are two tiers when you create a storage account
Hot Tier : Optimized for storing the data that is accessed frequently .More expensive than cool /archive tier
Cool Tier : Optimized for storing the data that is infrequently used .
Archive Tier : Used for storing archival files like historical log files etc which will never be accessed .This is very cheap when compared to other two tiers .
The tier needs to be chosen appropriately based on the development requirements .
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