Explore Azure Blob Storage Flashcards
1
Q
What is blob storage?
A
- Storage that is optimised for storing massive amounts of unstructured data
- Data that doesn’t adhere to a particular data model or definition such as text or binary
2
Q
What is blob storage designed for?
A
- serving images or docs directly to browser
- string files for distributed access
- Streaming video and audio
- writing to log files
- storing data for backup and restore, recovery and archiving
3
Q
How can blobs be accessed?
A
- via HTTP/HTTPs
- Azure storage REST API, powershell, CLI or AZ client library
4
Q
What is a storage account?
A
- top level container for all blob storage
- provides a unique namespace for your storage data that is accessible from anywhere in the world over HTTP/S
5
Q
What is the standard storage account type?
A
general purpose V2, recommended for most scenarios
6
Q
What is the premium storage account type?
A
- Higher performance than standard by using SSDs
- 3 subtypes; block blob, page blob, or file share
7
Q
What is block blob?
A
- Type of premium storage account used for block blobs and append blobs
- good for scenarios with high transaction rates or that use smaller objects or require consistently low storage latency
8
Q
What is the base address for objects in your ST?
A
- every object stored in AZ storage has an address that includes unique account name
- combination of account name and azure storage blob endpoint forms base address for objects in SA
9
Q
What are the different storage access tiers?
A
- Hot = frequent access, high storage low access costs, default option
- cool = infrequent access (stored for 30 days), optimised for large data, lower storage and higher access costs
- cold = infrequent access (min of 90 days), lower storage and higher access costs
- archive = for individual block blobs, infrequent access that can take several hours of retrieval time and remains in archive tier for at least 180 days, cost efficient but expensive access costs
10
Q
What is a container?
A
- organises a set of blobs, similar to directory in file system
- SA can include an unlimited number of containers and a container can store an unlimited number of blobs
- must have valid DNS name
- between 3-63 chars, alphanumeric, lowercase, can have a hyphen but not two in a row
11
Q
What are the blob types supported by AZ storage?
A
- Block Blobs = text or binary data made up of blocks of data that can be managed individually, up to 190.7 TiB
- Append Blobs = blocks like block blobs but optimised for append operations, ideal for logging data from VMs
- Page blobs = store random access files up to 8TB in size, virtual hard drive files serve as disks for azure VMs
12
Q
What security features does AZ storage provide?
A
- All data written is auto encrypted using Storage Service Encryption (SSE)
- data can be secured in transit between app and azure using client side encryption, HTTPs or SMB 3.0
- OS and data disks used by Azure VMs can be encrypted using Azure disk encryption
- Delegated access to the data objects in storage can be granted using a shared access signature
13
Q
How does RBAC work with Azure Storage?
A
- You can assign RBAC roles scoped to the SA to security principals and use Entra ID to authorize resource management operations such as key mgmt
- Entra integration is supported for blob and queue data operations
- You can assign RBAC roles scoped to a sub, rg, SA, or individual container/queue to a security principal or managed ID for azure resources
14
Q
What type of keys can be used on storage accounts?
A
- Microsoft Managed keys
- customer managed key = used to encrypt all data in all services in SA
- customer provided key = gives granular control over how blob data is encrypted
14
Q
What are microsoft managed keys?
A
- supports all AZ storage services and the Microsoft key store
- Microsoft is responsible for key rotation, usage and access
