Brief about azure storage services
Tags: azure, storageservices, cloud, tutorial
Published: 2023-04-30 18:55:43

Azure Storage offers storage services that are enormously scalable, accessible, and durable. The storage services include storage structures for data objects, disks for virtual machines, message storage for messaging and communication, file storage for cloud-based and on-site file systems, and NoSQL storage. 

Moreover, Azure Storage provides its customers with a unique namespace that is accessible from anywhere in the world using HTTPS protocol.

> The Azure Storage platform is Microsoft's cloud storage solution for modern data storage scenarios. Azure Storage offers highly available, massively scalable, durable, and secure storage for a variety of data objects in the cloud.

Following are the benefits of using azure storage servives;

- Security 
- Scalability
- Durability
- Accessibility

**Storage account types**
Azure offers two kinds of storage services to their customers;

**1. Standard**
_The standard tier uses Hard drive disk(HDDs) to store the data._

**2. Premium**
_Premium tier is best for services which requires low latency and high I/O performance such as transactional data processing. This used solid state drives(SSDs) for storing the data and are costlier than standard ones._

**Creation**

1. Go to the all resources and click on "+" button and select storage account(You may directly search storage account on the search bar). 

2. In the wizard following are the tabs
   a) Basic- Enter the account name/ region/ performance. 
   b) Advance- provide details for securing the accounts.
   c) Networking- Enter the details of public and private IPs. 
   d) Data protection- Any deletion or modifications required. 
   e) Tag's- Classifications or categorisation.
   f) Review+Create- Final review of the details/setting 
      entered/selected.
   g) Click on create button to initiate the creation of the 
      storage account.

**Access Tiers**

- Hot
 This is optimised for storage data that is accessed 
 frequently.

- Cool
 This is for storing data that is used or requires access at 
 least once in 30 days. The read+write cost is lesser compared 
 to Hot.

- Archive
 This is for storing data that is occasionally accessed and 
 stored. This is cheapest and R/W is expensive. This requires 
 data to rehydrate before usage.  

Following are the types of storage services;

## Blob
   
   Blob storage is optimised for storing a massive amount of 
   unstructured data, such as text or binary data. Azure blob 
   storage is fundamental for the entire Microsoft Azure 
   because many other Azure services will store the data 
   within a storage account, inside the blob storage, and act 
   upon that data. And every blob should be stored in a 
   container.

**URL format:** _Blobs are addressable using the following URL format:_

`https://<storage-account>.blob.core.windows.net`

_for static blob storage_

`https://<storage-account>.web.core.windows.net`

## Tables
   
   Azure Table storage is a cloud-based NoSQL datastore you 
   can use to store large amounts of structured, non- 
   relational data. Azure Table offers a schema-less design, 
   which enables you to store a collection of entities in one 
   table.

**URL format:** _Tables are addressable using the following URL format:_

`https://<storage-account>.table.core.windows.net`

## Files
   
   Azure file storage mainly can be used if we want to have a 
   shared drive between two servers or across users. In that 
   case, we will go for Azure file storage.

**URL format:** _Files are addressable using the following URL format:_

`https://<storage-account>.file.core.windows.net`

## Queue
   
   This service is designed to send and receive messages. 
   Azure Queue Storage is a service for storing large numbers 
   of messages. You access messages from anywhere in the world 
   via authenticated calls using HTTP or HTTPS. A queue 
   message can be up to 64 KB in size. A queue may contain 
   millions of messages, up to the total capacity limit of a 
   storage account.

**URL format:** _Queues are addressable using the following URL format:_

`https://<storage account>.queue.core.windows.net/<queue>`

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## References
1. [MSDN](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/storage/common/storage-introduction)
2. [CSharpCorner](https://www.c-sharpcorner.com/article/azure-storage-services-the-basics/)
3. [Cover](https://www.c-metric.com/blog/introduction-to-azure-storage/)
4. [Azure Blob](https://www.javatpoint.com/azure-blob-storage)
5. [Azure tables](https://bluexp.netapp.com/blog/azure-anf-blg-azure-table-storage-cloud-nosql-for-dummies#H_H1)
6. [Azure Queues](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/storage/queues/storage-queues-introduction)