Storage management

1. Storage management

Welcome back! Now that you have created your storage account it's time to take it a step further!

2. Storage solution

Cipher Coffee, our favorite coffee shop, takes lots of photos for social media, stores menus, tracks old receipts, and saves videos of special events. Where do they keep all these digital files safe and organized? They use Azure Blob Storage, a digital locker in the cloud, so nothing gets lost and everything is easy to find.

3. Redundancy and backups

Azure does not store your files on a single server. Instead, it creates multiple copies of your data and saves them in separate physical locations.

4. Redundancy

A process known as redundancy.

5. Backups

This way, if a server fails or a disaster occurs in one location, your files remain safe and accessible because identical copies are stored in other data centers, sometimes even in different geographic regions, so redundancy equals live replication and backups are in point captures.

6. What is Blob storage?

So what is blob storage and containers? First let's look at the he hierarchy, it's storage account, then container, then blob. Think of Azure Blob Storage as Cipher Coffee’s huge digital storeroom in the cloud. Blobs are like individual items you need to store, such as photos of your drinks, digital copies of menus, videos for training, or scanned receipts.

7. Containers

These blobs (files) are organized into containers, much like how you’d sort cups, coffee beans, and napkins into clearly labeled boxes in your storeroom. Each container keeps similar files together, making it easy to manage and quickly find what you need when it’s time to use them.

8. Costs add up

But storing lots of files can be expensive if not managed well, costs add up not just from storage volume, but also from read and write operations. Cipher Coffee needs a smart way to keep important files handy and move older files somewhere cheaper.

9. Access tiers and Lifecycle policies

That’s where access tiers and lifecycle policies come in!

10. Access tiers

Let's start with access tiers.

11. Tiering

Cipher Coffee doesn't need every file every day, so Azure Blob Storage uses tiering to save money, starting with the most expensive: Hot Tier: For files used often, like today's menu. This tier offers the fastest access with the lowest latency, but comes with the highest storage cost. Cool Tier: For files used sometimes, like last month's sales. This tier is optimized for infrequent access, with lower storage costs but higher retrieval costs. Cold Tier: For files rarely needed, like old receipts. Storage costs are even lower, but retrieval costs increase further, and data should remain stored for at least 90 days. Archive Tier: For files almost never needed, like old videos. This is the cheapest to store, but retrieval can take hours and carries the highest access cost. Choosing the right tier helps Cipher Coffee save money by only paying more for files they need often.

12. Lifecycle policies

But what if we forget to move the files? Azure has you covered with Lifecycle policies which allow you to set rules to be applied when certain criteria are met for example: Cipher Coffee can set a rule: "Move photos older than 30 days from Hot to Cool." Or, "After one year, send old receipts to Archive or even delete them after 2 years." These automatic rules keep the storeroom tidy, files organized, and costs low, without staff having to remember to do it.

13. Let's practice!

Lets practice ourselves!

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