Exploring Azure Storage Table
Tags: azure, cosmosdb, azuretablestorage, nosql
Published: 2024-03-27 20:02:50

**Azure Table Storage** is a NoSQL storage solution provided by Microsoft Azure that is well-suited for a variety of real-world scenarios where scalability, flexibility, and cost-effectiveness are key considerations.

**Azure Table Storage** uses the **key-value** model meaning each item stored in the database is stored as a key-value pair. Items are referred to as rows and fields as columns making Azure Table Storage to be seen as a table in a relational database. However, **Azure Storage Table** allows us to **store semi-structured data**, this flexibility being particularly useful when there is data that doesn't match to a relational database schema or when you want to avoid the overhead of managing a complex schema. Azure Table Storage tables have no concept of relationships, stored procedures, secondary indexes or foreign keys. The data is available in a single row without requiring that we perform joins across relationships.

###Partitioning and partition key

**Partitioning** is a mechanism for grouping related rows based on a common property or partition key. Rows that share the same partition key will be stored together. If an application adds a new row to a table, Azure ensures that the row is placed in the correct position in the table, with respect to the two elements of the key in Azure Table Storage (**partition key and row key**). 
**The partition key** identifies the partition containing the row, and the row key uniquely identifies each row in the same partition. Items in the same partition are stored in row key order. This ensures fast access. The partition key **can be used in a search criterion to narrow down the volume of data**.
We can **add as many partitions** as we want, **they are independent** one of each other and **they can grow or shrink** depending on the number of rows. 
In conclusion, partitions are a great way to **organize data, improve performance and scalability** in Azure Table Storage. 

###Advantages and disadvantages
There are a few **advantages** for using Azure Table Storage:

- simple to scale

- storing semi-structured data

- no need to maintain complex relationship

- row insertion and data retrieval is fast (when specifying partition)

There are **disadvantages** in storing data using Azure Table Storage:

- difficult to filter and sort non-key data
- search could result in scanning the entire table
- manage relationships between rows within your application logic (externally)
- full transactional support across multiple entities isn't provided, meaning that updates may not be atomic or isolated.

### Examples of scenarios
Here are some examples of scenarios where Azure Table Storage can be an appropriate storage solution:

- Internet of Things (IoT) Data Storage: it could store vast amounts of IoT device telemetry data

- Web Application Data: it could store user profiles, session data, preferences, and other semi-structured data

- Logging and Analytics: it could store logs, audit trails, and analytics data generated by applications and services

In summary, Azure Table Storage is a versatile storage solution that can be applied to a wide range of use cases across industries.

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