Managing and implementing Azure storage

In this article I’ll cover +10 important points you need to cover them when you are going to understand Managing and implementing Azure storage

1. Introduction
2. What are the Types of Azure Storage account?
3. What are the Azure Storage blob types?
4. What are the Blob storage resources?
5. What are the Azure Storage Firewall and Access Key?
6. What is the Azure Storage Explorer?
7. What are the Azure Storage Replication?
8. What is the Azure blob Pricing?
9. What are the Solutions for moving data to Microsoft Azure Blob storage?
10. What is Azure Data Box?
11. What is Azure CDN?
12. What is the Azure backup Types?
13. What is the SQL Server Backup limitation on Microsoft Azure Blob storage?
14. What is the Azure Backup Monitoring ?
15. References and another Important articles

Introduction

IF you are planning for (Az-103) Microsoft Azure Administrator Exam or new update from this certification (AZ-104) Microsoft Azure Administrator (beta) that will be available on or around April 2, 2020, you should take in your consideration implement and manage storage this part is (10-15%) from the exam . in this post I will share some important key note that can-do refresh for you in this part.

IF you are interested to read more articles in the same subject here is below :

• How To Monitor Azure Storage Account
• Microsoft Azure Storage Kind and Architecture
• Create Storage Account Using PowerShell and CLI Command

What are the Types of Azure Storage account

1. Blobs used for unstructured data
2. Files: Shared files in Cloud or in on-premises which allows us to create SMB files shares, hosted in Azure that you can connect to and utilize on-premises or in the cloud.
3. Tables used for storing your schema list NoSQL data.
4. Queue used for massaging.

What are the Azure Storage blob types

1. Block Blobs Used for test and binary data and it is interested in storing SQL Server DB MDF, NDF and LDF files, as well as backup files, can be taken on Blob storage let you upload large blobs and the files are comprised of blocks, each block can be a different size based on versions, with block blob you can upload multiple blocks in parallel to decrease upload time. And it contains feature help you for managing big files over the network, you can modify the existing block blob, Most object storage scenarios Documents, images, video, etc. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/rest/api/storageservices/understanding-block-blobs–append-blobs–and-page-blobs#about-block-blobs,
2. Append Blobs Used for append operation like logging data
3. Page Blobs Used for Virtual hard disks (VHD) Files. Azure virtual machine disks backed by Microsoft Azure Blob storage page blob, page blob contain two types of disks premium and standard https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/rest/api/storageservices/understanding-block-blobs–append-blobs–and-page-blobs#about-page-blobs

What are the Blob storage resources

We have 3 types of resources (Storage account, Container, Blob, Metadata)

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/relational-databases/backup-restore/sql-server-backup-to-url?redirectedfrom=MSDN&view=sql-server-ver15#Blob

What are the Azure Storage Firewall and Access Key

1. Storage account Firewall: by default, Firewall will accept all connection and we can restrict access by adding some IP’s also we can add Exception, also we can configure network access to a storage account to allow the traffic coming from allowed VNET to access this storage account
2. Access Key: any storage account have an access key to be used when the application connected to the storage and Microsoft recommended to use Shared Access Signature and to regenerate this key from time to time but after the regeneration the key process you will need to update the APP and the resources by the regenerating key.
3. Shared Access Signature: it is very helpful security role to allow access without sharing the account keys because using the account keys will allow administrative access and for this security feature, we can custom it by start and end date as an expiry date

What is the Azure Storage Explorer

Azure Storage Explorer Tool: It can be used from on Premises server or your local PC to view and, upload and download files or folders on storage account it is a fantastic tool. Download it from HERE and it is working on an operating system (Windows, macOS, Linux). Also, you can find the same services on the portal Storage account (Storage Explorer (preview)

What are the Azure Storage Replication

1. Locally redundant storage (Standard_LRS): the data is replicated synchronously three times in a single data center;
2. Zone redundant storage (Standard ZRS): this replication option is only available for block blobs. Three copies of data are made on multiple data center;
3. Geographically redundant storage (Standard_GRS): the data is replicated synchronously three times in a single data center and three others asynchronously copy in a second data center;
4. Read-Access geographically redundant storage (Standard_RAGRS): same things as Standard_GRS and you can have read access to the data in the second data center.

What is the Azure blob Pricing

1. Azure page blob price: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/details/storage/blobs/
2. Azure block blob price: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/details/storage/page-blobs/

What are the Solutions for moving data to Microsoft Azure Blob storage

(Blobfuse, AzCopy, Azure Storage Data Movement Library, Azure Import/Export, Azure Data Box, Azure Data Factory) for more information about the usage of each solution check this article

What is Azure Data Box

Azure Data Box: one of the new features on azure that you can use it from import and export data on azure and it is containing two types offline data box and online data box for more information check this post (Azure Data BOX) and to start on creating Azure Data Box go here

Offline Data Box Contain 3 types:

1. Data Box: This ruggedized device with 100-TB
2. Data Box Disk: It comes in packs of up to five for a total of 40 TB.
3. Data Box Heavy: This ruggedized, self-contained device is designed to lift 1 PB of data to the cloud.

Online Data Box: Data Box Gateway and Azure Stake Edge (Data Box Edge)

What is Azure CDN

Azure CDN: when you are going to import or export data to or from azure you should consider Azure CDN configuration (content delivery network on Azure) to give you Better performance and improved and Large scaling to better handle instantaneous high loads

What is the Azure backup Types

When we are talking about storage we should consider the azure backup and we have some types on azure backup and check this Microsoft post to know more information about Azure Backup check this post

• Azure Backup MARS Agent
• System Center DPM
• Azure Backup Server MABS Agent
• Azure Virtual Machine backup (Windows and Linux)
• Azure Files shares –Back up Azure File shares to a storage account
• SQL Server in Azure VMs– Back up SQL Server databases running on Azure VMs
• SAP HANA databases in Azure VMs– Backup SAP HANA databases running on Azure VMs

Notes:

To know more information about SQL azure backup check my post (Backup Tips on SQL Azure) and For more information check this Link

What is the SQL Server Backup limitation on Microsoft Azure Blob storage

1. Microsoft did not support backup operation on premium storage
2. Using the Blob URL as a backup device is not supported
3. Appending to existing backup blobs is not supported, only overwrite option is available
4. Taking backup on multiple blobs for single backup is only supported on block blob type
5. FileStream data files not supported to be stored on Microsoft Azure Blob storage and this means you cannot store in-Memory OLTP data because it is depending on FileStream data files https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/relational-databases/databases/sql-server-data-files-in-microsoft-azure?view=sql-server-2017

What is the Azure Backup Monitoring

Configure and Manage backup reports can be done from diagnostic settings, and the first configuration you should wait 24 hours to be the data available to you in the reports and the reports compatible with Power BI

References and another Important articles

1. SQL Server Backup to URL
2. Backup types and Automated backup in Azure
3. How to Create an Azure Storage account
4. Understanding block blobs, append blobs, and page blobs
5. What disk types are available in Azure

Conclusion

Based on what i know i shared all of the information i know it on this part that can cover this part of Managing and implementing Azure storage in (Az-103) Microsoft Azure Administrator Exam or (AZ-104) Microsoft Azure Administrator (beta) , I will be happy if you shared your experiences , reviews and feedback with me in the comment