A company is migrating an on-premises application that stores unstructured data to Azure Blob Storage. The application frequently accesses a subset of data (20%) daily, while the remaining 80% is accessed infrequently (less than once a month). Data must be immediately available for all access patterns. You need to configure the storage account to minimize costs while meeting availability requirements.
- ACreate a General-purpose v2 storage account and set the default access tier to Hot. Implement a lifecycle management policy to move infrequently accessed blobs to the Cool tier after 30 days.
- BCreate a Block Blob storage account and set the default access tier to Hot. Implement a lifecycle management policy to move infrequently accessed blobs to the Cool tier after 30 days.
- CCreate a General-purpose v2 storage account and set the default access tier to Cool. Manually move frequently accessed blobs to the Hot tier.
- DCreate a General-purpose v1 storage account and set the default access tier to Cool. Manually move frequently accessed blobs to the Hot tier.
Show answer & explanationAnswer & explanation
Correct answer: A. Create a General-purpose v2 storage account and set the default access tier to Hot. Implement a lifecycle management policy to move infrequently accessed blobs to the Cool tier after 30 days.
A General-purpose v2 (GPv2) storage account supports blob tiering and lifecycle management. Setting the default access tier to Hot ensures immediate availability for all data initially. A lifecycle management policy can then automatically transition infrequently accessed data to the Cool tier after 30 days, optimizing costs while maintaining immediate availability for all data.
Why the other options are wrong
- B. Block Blob storage accounts are specialized but GPv2 offers more flexibility, and this option does not account for the immediate availability of all data initially without incurring retrieval costs.
- C. Setting the default to Cool would incur retrieval costs for frequently accessed data. Manual management is inefficient and error-prone.
- D. GPv1 is a legacy account type and less cost-effective. Manual management is inefficient and error-prone.
Azure Blob Tiering
Azure Blob storage offers different access tiers (Hot, Cool, Archive) to optimize costs based on data access patterns. Data can be moved between tiers manually or automatically using lifecycle management policies.
- Hot tier: For frequently accessed data, higher storage cost, lower access cost.
- Cool tier: For infrequently accessed data, lower storage cost, higher access cost.
- Archive tier: For rarely accessed data with flexible latency requirements, lowest storage cost, highest access cost.
- Lifecycle management policies automate tier transitions.
Memory trick: Tiering your blobs wisely saves bucks, keeping data hot, cool, or archived.