Implement and manage storage in Azure Flashcards
What is Microsoft’s Cloud Storage solution?
Azure Storage
What types of objects can be stored in Azure storage?
Files, messages, tables, and other types of information.
What are the 3 data structures that Azure Storage supports?
Structured data, unstructured data, and virtual machine data.
Define ‘Virtual machine data’
Disks and files.
Describe how a VM uses a virtual disk
Persistent block storage for Azure IaaS virtual machines; Store data like database files, website static content, or custom application code.
Describe how Virtual machine data files are managed
Fully managed file shares in the cloud.
Describe the format of ‘Unstructured data’
The format of unstructured data is referred to as nonrelational.
What two Azure Storage services are used to store unstructured data?
Azure Blob Storage and Azure Data Lake Storage.
Describe ‘Structured data’
Stored in a relational format; Often contained in a database table with rows, columns, and keys.
What are the 3 Azure storage services that store structured data?
Azure Table Storage, Azure Cosmos DB, and Azure SQL Database.
Define ‘Azure Cosmos DB’
Globally distributed database service.
Define ‘Azure SQL Database’
Fully managed database-as-a-service built on SQL.
What are the two tiers of general purpose Azure Storage?
Standard and Premium.
Describe the standard tier of general purpose azure storage
Data is stored on HDDs; A standard storage account provides the lowest cost per GB.
Describe the premium tier azure storage
Data is stored on SSDs; Offers consistent low-latency performance.
How can resiliency be ensured with Azure storage?
Configuring data replication across datacenters or geographical regions for protection.
Does Azure storage encrypt all data?
Yes.
What are the four data services offered by Azure Storage?
- Azure Blob Storage (containers)
- Azure Files
- Azure Queue Storage
- Azure Table Storage
Describe the purpose of ‘Azure Blob Storage (containers)’
For storing large amounts of unstructured/nonrelational data.
What is blob storage ideal for?
Serving content to a web app; Storing data for backup/analysis; Videos/Text/Images/Installers.
How can Azure blob storage be accessed?
Via HTTP(s)/Azure Shell; Shared access signature (SAS); API; Shared key
Describe Azure Files and how it can be accessed
Enables highly available network file shares; Shares can be accessed via SMB and NFS protocol.
What is Azure Files ideal for?
Applications (containers) and their data; Storing config files accessed by VMs; Logs; Migrating data.
Describe the purpose of ‘Azure Queue Storage’
Used to store and retrieve messages.
What typeof data is stored with ‘Azure Table Storage’?
Stores non-relational structured data (NoSQL).
List the four Azure storage account options/SKUs
- Standard/premium general-purpose v2
- Premium block blobs
- Premium file shares
- Premium page blobs
What types of data can be stored with the ‘General-purpose v2’ Azure storage account type/SKU
Can be used for most scenarios; blobs, file shares, queues, tables, and disks (page blobs).
What types of data is stored with ‘Premium block blobs’ Azure storage account type/SKU?
Block blobs and append blobs only; Recommended for applications with high transaction rates.
Describe the ‘Premium file shares’ Azure storage account type
For file shares only; Recommended for enterprise or high-performance scale applications.
What types of data can be stored with ‘Premium page blobs’ Azure storage account type/SKU?
Page blobs only; Operating systems, data disks for virtual machines, and databases.
What are the four replication services offered by Azure Storage?
- Locally redundant storage (LRS)
- Zone redundant storage (ZRS)
- Geo-redundant storage (GRS)
- Geo-zone-redundant storage (GZRS)
Describe ‘Locally redundant storage (LRS)’
Replicates data within the same datacenter; Lowest-cost replication option and offers the least durability compared to others.
What are best use cases for Locally redundant storage (LRS)?
Data replication is restricted within a country/region due to data governance requirements; Storing frequently changed data.
Describe ‘Zone redundant storage (ZRS)’
Synchronously replicates your data across three availability zones in a single region.
Describe ‘Geo-redundant storage (GRS)’
Replicates your data to a secondary region to offer redundancy during a region outage.
What is the guaranteed SLA of Geo-redundant storage (GRS)?
99.99999999999999% (16 9’s) durability.
What are the two forms of Geo-redundant storage (GRS)?
- GRS
- Read-access geo-redundant storage (RA-GRS)
How does Geo-redundant storage (GRS) function in the event of failover?
Data is available to be read only if Microsoft initiates a failover from the primary to secondary region.
How does Read-access geo-redundant storage storage (RA-GRS) function in the event of failover?
Replicates data to another data center in a secondary region.
Can data be accessed without a triggered failover from Microsoft with user Read-access geo-redundant storage storage (RA-GRS)?
Yes; Can read from the secondary region regardless of whether Microsoft initiates a failover from the primary to the secondary.
How does Geo-redundant storage (GRS) and Read-access geo-redundant storage storage (RA-GRS) replicate data between regions?
Data is first replicated with LRS; Then replicated asynchronously to the secondary region by using GRS.
With Geo-redundant storage (GRS) and Read-access geo-redundant storage storage (RA-GRS), how does the secondary region replicate data?
The secondary region provides LRS.
Describe ‘Geo-zone-redundant storage (GZRS)’
Data is replicated across three Azure availability zones in the primary region, and also replicated to a secondary geographic region.
What is the guaranteed SLA of Geo-zone-redundant storage (GZRS)?
99.99999999999999% (16 9’s) durability.
What two Azure storage replication services will provide read-only access during region wide outage?
- RA-GRS
- RA-GZRS
What four Azure storage replication services provide data access in a region wide outage?
- RA-GRS
- RA-GZRS
- GRS
- GZRS
What Azure storage replication service will not provide data access if an entire data center becomes unavailable?
LRS.
What two components does the name of an Azure Storage account consist of?
- Storage account name
- Service domain
What is the default endpoint name of a blob (container) service account?
StorageAccountName.blob.core.windows.net
What is the default endpoint name of a table service account?
StorageAccountName.table.core.windows.net
What is the default endpoint name of a queue service account?
StorageAccountName.queue.core.windows.net
What is the default endpoint name of a file service account?
StorageAccountName.file.core.windows.net
How is data in a storage account accessed by URL?
By appending the objects location in the endpoint URL.
How can storage accounts leverage custom URL domain?
Implement an Azure Content Delivery Network (CDN) to access blobs by using custom domains over HTTPS.
What are the two ways of configuring a custom domain for a subdomain to an Azure storage account?
- Direct mapping
- Intermediary domain mapping
Describe how subdomain ‘Direct mapping’ is configured
Create a CNAME record that points from the subdomain to the Azure storage account.
Describe subdomain ‘Intermediary domain mapping’
Adds a keyword to a subdomain CNAME that’s already in use within Azure.
Describe how Intermediary domain mapping is configured
Prepend the keyword ‘asverify’ to the subdomain in Azure DNS
Where are service endpoints configured for a storage account?
In the storage account.
What is the purpose for configuring a service endpoint for a storage account?
Restrict access to your storage account from specific subnets on virtual networks or public IPs.
Where must the storage account and virtual network be to configure a service endpoint for a storage account?
Subnets and virtual networks must exist in the same Azure region or region pair as the storage account.
Define a ‘Blob’
Blob stands for Binary Large Object.
Where/how is a blob stored?
Stored/Uploaded in a container resource to group a set of blobs; A blob can’t exist by itself in Blob Storage.
What is the maximum amount of blobs that can be stored in a container?
Unlimited.
What is the maximum amount of containers that can be stored in an Azure storage account?
Unlimited.
Can there be duplicate names for a container in a single Azure storage account?
No; The name must be unique within the Azure storage account.
Describe an ‘access tier’ and its purpose
Each access tier for blob storage is optimized to support a particular pattern of data usage.
What are the 4 blob storage access tiers?
- Hot
- Cool
- Cold
- Archive
Describe the ‘Hot’ blob storage access tier
Optimized for frequent reads and writes of objects in the Azure storage account.