There\u2019s a lot of talk about storage options. When working with customers, I often introduce them to Azure through storage, since it\u2019s a great way to leverage cloud assets in a positive, non-threatening way.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
There are 3 types of storage within Azure blob storage. Today, I\u2019d like to show how you can use storage as you start to look at using Azure more effectively in your organization. When looking at these types of storage, you need to think about how often and how quickly you want to access that data, as well as its role.<\/p>\n
1. Hot Storage<\/strong> \u2013 The original Azure blob storage. Here, you put data into the blob storage account and you\u2019re able to access that data with many options in storage from that access. Hot storage is a great option that allows you the basic storage options, such as accepting files from a customer as part of your data warehouse load or if you want to drop files up there to keep in place for a while. You can easily access the data and can read and write to it and get the best performance for doing that.<\/p>\n 2. Cool Storage<\/strong> \u2013 Introduced by Azure to get some cost reductions into the environment. Think of it as a high availability back up scenario. This is a good option for storing data that doesn\u2019t need to be readily accessed often. The performance is there as far as getting your data quickly when you do need it but note you will pay a higher price for extraction of that data when needed. This is what Microsoft uses to manage the cost of the storage.<\/p>\n 3. Archive Storage<\/strong> \u2013 This is truly an archive storage option. When you put the data up there, you\u2019re not planning to get it back out. There\u2019s no read access, but a write to only storage area. A good option for a full board disaster recovery or compliance and auditing scenarios, where you may need to retain 10 years of that data, but you\u2019re not going to take it out. If you want to get that data out, you\u2019ll need to change the storage account type.<\/p>\n The thing to remember is this does not happen quickly, so as part of any solution, you\u2019ll need to put how many hours into recovery as your window. If you do need to open it, for an audit for instance, it may take a few days, but the data is there.<\/p>\n With all these options, you can get your offline storage for whatever you\u2019re doing. From a backup or recovery standpoint, it gives you that security. Understanding these options, as far as accessibility, cost and performance, is important to decide what you need for your organization.<\/p>\n