3.1.1.3. Configure Blob Storage
š” First Principle: Azure Blob Storage provides a highly scalable, cost-effective, and secure solution for unstructured data, with features designed to optimize for diverse access patterns, compliance needs, and data protection.
Scenario: You need to store millions of images for a web application, and also store long-term backups that are rarely accessed but must be retained for compliance.
What It Is: Azure Blob Storage is Microsoft's object storage solution for the cloud. It's designed to store vast amounts of unstructured data, like images, videos, documents, backups, and archives.
Blob Types:
- Block blobs: Ideal for large files (documents, media, backups). Data is uploaded in blocks for efficient, parallel uploads. Most common type.
- Append blobs: Designed for append-only operations, such as logging scenarios where new data is continuously added to the end of a blob.
- Page blobs: Support random read/write access, making them suitable for virtual hard disk (VHD) files for Azure VMs.
Containers: Blobs are grouped into containers, which provide a logical structure and can have access policies to control permissions at the container or blob level. Containers are similar to folders in a file system.
Key Configuration Features:
- Access Tiers: (Hot, Cool, Archive) - Optimize costs based on access frequency and retrieval latency. (See 3.1.1.4 for more detail).
- Immutability:
- WORM (Write Once, Read Many) policies can be set to prevent modification or deletion for a specified retention period, supporting compliance needs for data governance.
- Soft Delete:
- Allows recovery of blobs or containers that were accidentally deleted, adding a layer of data protection.
ā ļø Common Pitfall: Using the wrong blob type for the workload, such as using block blobs for VM disks, which would be inefficient and not supported for managed disks.
Key Trade-Offs:
- Performance vs. Cost (Access Tiers): Hot tier offers the best performance but at the highest storage cost. Archive tier offers the lowest storage cost but with high retrieval latency and cost.
Reflection Question: How does configuring Azure Blob Storage with appropriate blob types (e.g., Block blobs) and features like access tiers and immutability policies fundamentally enable you to optimize for performance, compliance, and cost across diverse unstructured data workloads?