Azure Storage Services

Azure Storage — where your data lives

Storage services compared

Azure Storage services compared

Feature	Blob Storage	Azure Files	Table Storage	Queue Storage
What it stores	Unstructured data (any binary or text)	Files accessible via SMB/NFS	NoSQL key-value pairs	Messages (up to 64 KB each)
Access method	REST API, SDKs, Azure CLI	SMB (like a Windows file share)	REST API, OData	REST API
Use case	Images, videos, backups, logs	Shared drives, config files, lift-and-shift	Simple data, IoT telemetry	Decoupling app components
Analogy	Warehouse box room	Shared filing cabinet	Simple spreadsheet	Post office queue

Blob Storage — the most common

Blob stands for Binary Large Object. It stores any type of unstructured data.

Three types of blobs:

Type	Best For
Block blobs	Files up to ~190 TB (images, videos, documents)
Append blobs	Data that’s always added to (log files, audit trails)
Page blobs	Random read/write operations (VM disks)

Peak Roasters uses Blob Storage for product images, menu PDFs, and nightly database backups.

Storage tiers — pay less for data you access rarely

Not all data is accessed equally. Azure offers access tiers to optimise cost:

Tier	Access Frequency	Storage Cost	Access Cost	Use Case
Hot	Frequently accessed	Highest	Lowest	Active app data, images
Cool	Infrequently accessed (30+ days)	Lower	Higher	Short-term backups, reports
Cold	Rarely accessed (90+ days)	Even lower	Even higher	Compliance data, old logs
Archive	Almost never accessed (180+ days)	Lowest	Highest + rehydration delay	Long-term legal records

Key exam concept: Hot tier = expensive to store, cheap to access. Archive tier = cheap to store, expensive and slow to access. Choose based on access patterns.

ℹ️ Archive tier rehydration

Data in the Archive tier is offline. You can’t read it directly. To access it, you must “rehydrate” — move it to Hot or Cool tier first. This takes hours (up to 15 hours for standard, or you can pay for priority at ~1 hour).

Exam tip: If a question mentions “immediate access required,” Archive is the wrong tier. Even Cold tier is better for data that might be needed occasionally.

Redundancy options — protecting your data

Azure automatically replicates your data. You choose HOW MANY copies and WHERE they’re stored:

Azure Storage redundancy options

Feature	LRS	ZRS	GRS	GZRS
Full name	Locally Redundant	Zone-Redundant	Geo-Redundant	Geo-Zone-Redundant
Copies	3 in one datacenter	3 across 3 zones	6 (3 local + 3 in paired region)	6 (3 across zones + 3 in paired region)
Protects against	Server/drive failure	Datacenter failure	Regional disaster	Zone AND regional failure
Durability	11 nines	12 nines	16 nines	16 nines
Cost	Lowest	Higher	Higher	Highest

Read-access variants: GRS and GZRS also have RA-GRS and RA-GZRS — these add read access to the secondary region copy. Without the RA prefix, the secondary copy is only for failover.

How to choose redundancy

Scenario	Recommended Redundancy
Peak Roasters — small budget, basic protection	LRS (cheapest, protects against drive/server failure)
Summit Construction — needs zone protection	ZRS (protects against datacenter failure)
Harbour Health — regulatory requirement for data in two regions	GRS or GZRS (copies in paired region)

💡 Exam tip: Redundancy question patterns

Common exam patterns:

• “Protect against datacenter failure within a region” → ZRS
• “Protect against a regional disaster” → GRS or GZRS
• “Need read access to data in the secondary region” → RA-GRS or RA-GZRS
• “Lowest cost, basic protection” → LRS

Storage account types

Account Type	Supported Services	Performance	Use Case
Standard general-purpose v2	Blob, File, Queue, Table	Standard (HDD)	Most workloads
Premium block blobs	Blob only	Premium (SSD)	Low-latency apps
Premium file shares	File only	Premium (SSD)	Enterprise file shares
Premium page blobs	Page blob only	Premium (SSD)	VM disks

Exam tip: Standard general-purpose v2 is the default recommendation for most scenarios. It supports all storage services, all tiers, and all redundancy options.

🎬 Video walkthrough

Flashcards

Question

What are the four Azure Storage services?

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Answer

Blob Storage (unstructured data), Azure Files (SMB file shares), Table Storage (NoSQL key-value), and Queue Storage (messaging between app components).

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Show hint

Question

What are the four storage access tiers?

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Answer

Hot (frequent access, expensive storage), Cool (30+ days, cheaper storage), Cold (90+ days, even cheaper), Archive (180+ days, cheapest storage but offline — needs rehydration to read).

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Question

What is the difference between LRS and GRS?

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Answer

LRS stores 3 copies in one datacenter. GRS stores 6 copies — 3 in the primary datacenter and 3 in the paired region. GRS protects against regional disasters; LRS only protects against local hardware failures.

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Question

What does RA-GRS add over regular GRS?

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Answer

Read Access. With regular GRS, the secondary region copy is only used during failover. RA-GRS lets you READ from the secondary copy at any time — useful for read-heavy apps that want lower latency in the secondary region.

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Knowledge Check

Knowledge Check

Peak Roasters stores product images that are accessed hundreds of times daily. Which storage tier is MOST cost-effective?

AArchive — cheapest storage costBCool — balances storage and access costsCHot — optimised for frequently accessed dataDCold — good for infrequent access

Check Answer

Knowledge Check

Harbour Health needs to ensure their patient data survives a complete regional outage. Which redundancy option should they choose?

ALRS — three copies in one datacenterBZRS — three copies across availability zonesCGRS — six copies, three in the primary and three in the paired regionDNo redundancy — rely on backups instead

Check Answer

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Next up: Data migration tools — AzCopy, Storage Explorer, Azure File Sync, Azure Migrate, and Azure Data Box.