There are 5 Major storage types of Microsoft that have developed unique services specifically targeted at different needs.
Storage type 1: Azure Blob
The Azure Blob service was developed with the purpose of enabling the storage of vast quantities of unstructured object data. Binary or textual data are commonly selected as subjects of interest, and individuals have the option to either make these data publicly available for unrestricted access or safeguard them privately to ensure their security. Several prevalent applications of Microsoft advertising encompass.
- Serving images & documents directly to browsers
- Storing files for distributed access
- Storing data for archiving, backup, disaster recovery, and restoration
- Storing data for analysis by either an on-premises or Azure-hosted service
- Streaming video & audio
Retrieving and using this data is easy, with global access via HTTP/HTTPS.
There are three primary types of blobs:
- Block blobs store binary and text data with limits up to 4.75 TiB (or 190.7 TiB in preview).
- Append blobs are similar but optimized for append operations like logging data from VMs.
- Page blobs will store random access files up to 8 TB. They’re used primarily as virtual hard drive files and used as disks for Azure VMs.
Storage type 2: Azure Files
Azure Files offers fully managed file shares that may be accessed either the Server Message Block (SMB) or Network File System (NFS) protocols. This eliminates any concerns regarding application compatibility. The service exhibits flexibility by providing accessibility to users of Windows, macOS, and Linux operating systems. Furthermore, it allows for simultaneous utilization through both cloud-based and on-premises deployments.
A prevalent use case for Azure Files is the substitution or augmentation of on-premise file servers in order to optimize performance. Azure Files facilitates the adoption of both traditional and hybrid approaches in migrating and sharing apps. In the preceding scenario, an application and its associated data are migrated to the cloud. In the latter scenario, the application data is stored on Azure files, while the application itself is executed on-premise. Cloud application developers often opt to arrange their systems to store metrics, logs, and crash dumps in Azure file share, so granting them a significant degree of versatility.
Storage type 3: Azure Queues
Azure Queues was designed to house large numbers of messages, each of which maxes out at 64 KB. However, a queue can contain millions of messages, and the only limit is the storage account’s capacity. One common application is to create a convenient work backlog so it can be processed asynchronously.
Storage type 4: Azure Tables
Azure Tables is commonly used to house flexible NoSQL datasets, such as address books, device information, user data for web applications, and virtually any other type of metadata. Understanding the need for rapid access to this type of data, Microsoft designed it for high-speed performance while still being relatively cost-effective.
As your application evolves, you’ll find it easy to adapt your data within Tables due to its schema-less design. There’s no limit to the number of entries in a table. The number of tables you can have is limited only by a storage account’s capacity—this makes scaling tables with demand a very straightforward process. It’s designed to accept authenticated calls from either inside or outside the Azure cloud.
Storage type 5: Azure Disks
Azure managed disks are similar to physical disks in on-premise servers, but in a virtualized capacity with a high degree of customizability. Specify the disk type and size, provision it, and Azure will handle everything else. These block-level storage volumes are a cornerstone of Azure VMs and are available in standard hard disk drives, premium solid-state drivers (SSD), traditional SSDs, and ultra disks. The service is very scalable, allowing up to 50,000 VM disks of a single type per subscription per region.
Cloud-based Azure disks boast a 99.999% availability rate by automatically providing three replicas of any data stored on them. The result has been an astounding 0% annualized failure rate, making Microsoft’s cloud offerings a clear industry frontrunner in this regard. One of the design aspects that facilitates this is how disks are automatically placed in different storage “stamps,” or scale units. If an application requires more than one virtual machine, those VMs are put in different stamps. Regardless of potential hardware issues, power outages, or acts of God, this stamp division policy emphasizes a high uptime rate.
