Azure Storage

Blob Storage

• A blob is an unstructured data like PDFs, files, logs, images, videos, etc.

• Moving Blob Around:

  • Azure CLI: uses az storage blob copy and is asynchronous

  • AzCopy: provides more features than azure cli. Restarts can be configured, and performance can be tuned to local machine

  • .Net Storage Library: programmatic way to move blobs around but require coding

• Blob Metadata

  • System defined: configured under the cover. Examples are last modified time, public access level, etc

  • User defind: key-value pairs set on container or blob

Blob Lifecycle and Policies

• Blob Access Tiers:

1. Hot (default): pay more for storage, less for usage

2. Cold: Pay more for usage, less for storage

3. Archive: Used for storing data that is rarely accessed. There is big delay in retrieving data

• We manage the lifecycle of these blobs from one tier to another

Shared Access Signature (SAS)

• A token that provides granular access to Azure services. Examples are service bus, event hub, Storage Account, etc.

Data protection

Change feed

• The purpose of the change feed is to provide transaction logs of all the changes that occur to the blobs and the blob metadata in your storage account.

• The change feed provides ordered, guaranteed, durable, immutable, read-only log of these changes. Client applications can read these logs at any time, either in streaming or in batch mode.

• Each change generates exactly one transaction log entry, so you won't have to manage multiple log entries for the same change