AZ-104 Certification Notes

Chapter 8.5 - Access Tiers

Access Tiers (Blob Storage)

There are 3 types of access tiers for Standard storage: Cool, Hot, and Archive.

• Hot

  • Data that's accessed frequently
  • Highest storage cost, lowest access cost
  • Use Case:
    • Data that's in active use or expected to be accessed frequently
    • Data that's staged for processing and eventual migration to the cool access tier

• Cool

  • Data that's infrequently accessed and stored for at least 30 days
  • Lower storage cost, higher access cost
  • Use Case:
    • Short-term backup and disaster recovery datasets
    • Older media content not viewed frequently anymore, but is expected to be available immediately when accessed
    • Large data sets that need to be stored cost effectively while more data is being gathered for future processing

• Archive

  • Data that's rarely accessed and stored for at least 180 days
  • Lowest storage cost, highest access cost
  • Use Case:
    • Long-term backup, secondary backup, and archival datasets
    • Original (raw) data that must be preserved, even after it has been processed into final usable form
    • Compliance and archival data that needs to be stored for a long time and is hardly ever accessed

• Account Level Tiering

  • Any blob that doesn't have an explicitly assigned tier infers the tier from the Storage Account access tier settings

• Blob-Level Tiering

  • You can upload a blob to the tier of your choice
  • Changing tiers happens instantly with the exception from moving out of archive

• Rehydrating a Blob

  • When moving a blob out of archive into another tier, it can take several hours. This is known as "rehydrating"

• Blob Lifecycle Management

  • You can create rule-based policies to transition data to different tiers e.g. after 30 days move to cool storage

When a blob is uploaded or moved to another tier, it's charged at the new tier's rate immediately upon tier change.

• When moving from a cooler tier:

  • The operation is billed as a write operation to the destination tier
  • Where the write operation (per 10,000) and data write (per GB) charges of the destination tier apply

• When moving from a hotter tier:

  • The operation is billed as a read from the source tier
  • Where the read operation (per 10,000) and data retrieval (per GB) charges of the source tier apply
  • Early deletion charges for any blob moved out of the cool or archive tier may apply as well

• Cool and archive early deletion

  • Any blob that is moved into the cool tier (GPv2 accounts only) is subject to a cool early deletion period of 30 days
  • Any blob that is moved into the archive tier is subject to an archive early deletion period of 180 days. This charge is prorated

Practice Quiz

• Which Blob Storage feature allows you to create rule-based policies to transition data to different tiers?

  • Account Level Tiering
  • Rehydrating a Blob
  • Blob-Level Tiering
  • Blob Lifecycle Management

• Which Blob Storage feature allows you to upload a blob to the tier of your choice?

  • Blob-Level Tiering
  • Rehydrating a Blob
  • Account Level Tiering
  • Blob Lifecycle Management

• Which access tier for standard storage stores data that is infrequently accessed, stores it for at least 30 days, and has lower storage cost, higher access cost?

  • Archive
  • Cool
  • Hot
  • Unlimited

• When a blob is uploaded or moved to another tier, it is not charged for 30 days.

  • False
  • True

• What is the access tier for standard storage: Hot?

  • It stores data that’s accessed frequently, has the highest storage cost and lowest access cost.

• What happens when you move from a cooler tier (blob storage)?

  • The operation is billed as a write operation to the destination tier where the write operation and data write charges of the destination tier apply.