Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect ExpertDesign data storage solutionsMedium
An e-commerce company needs to store product images and videos. These files are frequently accessed when customers browse products, but older versions of the files are rarely accessed after a few months. The company requires a cost-effective solution with high availability. Which Azure storage solution should be chosen?
- AAzure Blob Storage (Hot Tier with lifecycle management)
- BAzure Files (Premium)
- CAzure SQL Database
- DAzure Disk Storage (Premium SSD)
Show answer & explanationAnswer & explanation
Correct answer: A. Azure Blob Storage (Hot Tier with lifecycle management)
Azure Blob Storage provides a cost-effective solution for storing large amounts of unstructured data like images and videos. Using the Hot tier for frequently accessed data and implementing lifecycle management rules to move older, less frequently accessed data to cooler tiers (Cool or Archive) optimizes cost while maintaining availability.
Why the other options are wrong
- B. Azure Files is for cloud file shares, typically accessed via SMB/NFS protocols, and is not the most cost-effective solution for large volumes of unstructured media files.
- C. Azure SQL Database is a relational database and is completely unsuitable for storing large binary objects like images and videos directly due to performance and cost implications.
- D. Azure Disk Storage is designed for virtual machine disks, not for general-purpose object storage of images and videos, and would be significantly more expensive.
Azure Blob Storage Lifecycle Management
A feature of Azure Blob Storage that allows you to automate the tiering of your data to move it between access tiers (Hot, Cool, Archive) or delete it after a certain period, based on rules you define.
- Optimizes storage costs
- Applies to block blobs and append blobs
- Rules can be based on age or last modification time
Memory trick: Blob Lifecycle: Hot for recent, Cool for old, Archive for ancient.