Microsoft Azure Data FundamentalsDescribe how to work with non-relational data on AzureMedium
A financial institution needs to store audit logs for regulatory compliance. These logs are rarely accessed after creation, but must be retained for seven years and retrieved quickly if an audit occurs. The institution wants to minimize storage costs while ensuring data availability for rare access. Which Azure Blob Storage access tier is most appropriate for this scenario?
- ACool
- BHot
- CArchive
- DPremium
Show answer & explanationAnswer & explanation
Correct answer: A. Cool
The Cool access tier is optimized for storing data that is infrequently accessed, but still requires immediate retrieval. It offers lower storage costs and higher access costs compared to Hot, which aligns with the requirement for long-term retention of rarely-accessed audit logs that need quick retrieval.
Why the other options are wrong
- B. Hot is for frequently accessed data, which would be too expensive for rarely accessed audit logs.
- C. Archive is for rarely accessed data with flexible latency requirements (hours), which is too slow for quick audit retrieval.
- D. Premium is for high-performance, low-latency data, which is unnecessary and too expensive for audit logs.
Azure Blob Storage Cool Tier
An access tier optimized for storing data that is infrequently accessed, but still requires immediate retrieval. It balances lower storage costs with slightly higher access costs compared to the Hot tier.
- Optimized for infrequently accessed data
- Lower storage cost than Hot, higher than Archive
- Higher access cost than Hot, lower than Archive
- Immediate retrieval (milliseconds)
Memory trick: Hot for quick, Cool for casual, Archive for ancient.