Different Types of Azure Storage Accounts

Types of Storage Accounts

Azure Storage Account offers several types of storage accounts. Each type supports different features and has its own pricing models. Consider the differences before trying to create a Storage Account to determine the type of account that is best for the application. The types of Storage Accounts are -

1. Standard General-Purpose V2 Accounts - Standard General-Purpose V2 Accounts support the latest Azure Storage features and incorporate all the functionality of General-Purpose V1 Accounts and Blob Storage Accounts.

Standard General-Purpose V2 Accounts deliver the lowest per-gigabyte capacity prices for Azure Storage, as well as industry-competitive transaction process.

Standard General-Purpose V2 Accounts support the following Azure Storage services -

• Blob Storage (All types: Block, Append, Page)
• Data Lake Storage Gen 2 (Hierarchical Namespace Support)
• Queue Storage
• Table Storage
• Azure Files

Standard General-Purpose V2 Accounts offer multiple Blob Access Tiers (Hot, Cool or Archive) for storing data based on the user’s usage patterns.

Microsoft recommends using a Standard General-Purpose V2 Account for most scenarios.

General-Purpose V2 Accounts only supports the Azure Resource Manager Deployment Model.

This type of Storage Account is available with “Standard” Performance Tier.

2. Premium Block Blobs - “Premium Block Blob” Storage Accounts are ideal for storing “Text” or “Binary” Files, and, for uploading Large Files efficiently.

“Premium Block Blob” Storage Accounts make data available via “High Performance Hardware”. Data is stored on “Solid State Drives” (SSDs), which are “Optimized” for “Low Latency”. SSDs provide higher throughput, compared to traditional “Hard Drives”.

In “Premium Block Blob” Storage Accounts, the “File Transfer” is much “Faster” because the data is stored on the “Instantly Accessible Memory Chips”.

All parts of an SSD are “Accessible” at once. By contrast, the performance of a “Hard Disk Drive” (HDD) depends on the “Proximity” of data to the “Read” / “Write” Heads.

Workloads of “Premium Block Blob” Storage Account - “Premium Block Blob” Storage Accounts are ideal for “Workloads” that require “Fast” and “Consistent” Response Times, and, have a huge number of “Input / Output Operations Per Second” (IOP). “Workloads” include -

A) Interactive Workloads - “Highly Interactive” and “Real-Time Applications” must “Write” data quickly. “E-Commerce” and “Mapping” Applications often require “Instant Updates”, and, “User Feedback”.

Example -

• In an “E-Commerce” Application, the “Less Frequently Viewed Items” are likely “Not Cached”. However, those Items must be “Instantly Displayed” to the customers “On Demand”.
• “Interactive Editing”, or, “Multi-Player Online Gaming” Applications maintain a “Quality Experience” by providing “Real-Time Updates”.

B) IoT / Streaming Analytics - In an Iot scenario, lots of smaller “Write Operations” might be pushed to the “Cloud” every second. Large amounts of data might be taken in, “Aggregated” for Analysis purposes, and, then “Deleted” almost immediately.

The “High Ingestion” capabilities of “Premium Block Blob” Storage make it efficient for this type of “Workload”.

C) Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning (AI / ML) - AI / ML deals with the “Consumption” and “Processing” of different data types, like - “Visual”, “Speech” and “Text”.

This “High-Performance” computing type of “Workload” deals with “Large” amounts of data that requires “Rapid Response” and “Efficient Ingestion Times” for “Data Analysis”.

Cost Effectiveness of “Premium Block Blob” Storage Account - “Premium Block Blob” Storage Accounts have a “Higher” Storage Cost, but, a “Lower” Transaction Cost, as compared to “Standard General-Purpose v2” Accounts.

If the “Application” and “Workload” executes a “Large” number of Transactions, the “Premium Block Blob” Storage Account can be “Cost-Effective”, especially, if the “Workload” is “Write-Heavy”.

In most cases, “Workloads” executing more than 35 to 40 “Transactions Per Second Per Terabyte” (TPS / TB) are good candidates for this type of Storage Account.

Example - if a “Workload” executes 500 million “Read” Operations and 100 million “Write” Operations in a “Month”, then the “TPS / TB” can be calculated as follows -

• Write Transactions Per Second - 100,000,000 / (30 * 24 * 60 * 60) = 39 (Rounded to the Nearest Whole Number)
• Read Transactions Per Second - 500,000,000 / (30 * 24 * 60 * 60) = 193 (Rounded to the Nearest Whole Number)
• Total Transactions Per Second - 193 + 39 = 232
• TPS/TB - Assuming that the “Premium Block Blob” Storage Account has 5TB data on average, then, “TPS / TB” would be 232 / 5 = 46 (Rounded to the Nearest Whole Number)

This type of Storage Account is available with “Premium” Performance Tier.

3. Premium File Shares - “Premium File Shares” Storage Accounts are ideal for File Shares only. This type of Storage Account is recommended for “Enterprise” or “High-Performance” Scale Applications.

The “Premium File Shares” Storage Accounts should be used only if there is a requirement to create a Storage Account that supports both the “Server Message Block” (SMB) and “NFS File Shares”.

This type of Storage Account is available with “Premium” Performance Tier.

4. Premium Page Blobs - “Premium Page Blobs” Storage Accounts are ideal for storing “Index-Based” and “Sparse” Data Structures, like - “OS” and “Data Disks” for “Virtual Machines” and “Databases”, because “Page Blobs” are a “Collection” of 512-byte Pages that provides the ability to “Read” / “Write” the “Arbitrary Ranges of Bytes”. Example -

• “Azure SQL DB” uses the “Page Blobs” as the underlying “Persistent Storage” for its “Database”.
• “Page Blobs” are often used for “Files” with “Range-Based Updates”.

“Key Features” of the “Premium Page Blobs” Storage Account -

• REST Interface
• Durability of the Underlying Storage
• Seamless Migration Capability to Azure

This type of Storage Account is available with “Premium” Performance Tier.

“Restriction” of the “Premium Page Blobs” Storage Account - “Premium Page Blobs” Storage Account can only use the “Hot” Access Tier, and, cannot use either the “Cool” or “Archive” Access Tiers.