Azure Storage Account Configuration
Source: Azure Master Class v3 - Part 5 - Storage by John Savill
Continues from: 01-storage-fundamentals.md
Storage Account Constructs
📺 Video Reference: 00:12:16
The storage account is the top-level namespace. Created in a region and resource group like any Azure resource.
| Property | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Name | Globally unique (3-24 lowercase alphanumeric) |
| Resource Group | Required |
| Region | Required |
Storage Account Types
📺 Video Reference: 00:13:14
The portal abstracts this - asks "what's the primary service?" But with CLI/templates, you specify the exact type.
Performance Tiers
| Performance | Backend Storage Stamp | Use Case |
|---|---|---|
| Standard | HDD-based | General purpose, cost-effective |
| Premium | SSD-based | High IOPS, low latency |
Account Types
| Type | Performance | Services |
|---|---|---|
| General Purpose v2 | Standard | Blob, Queue, Table, Files |
| Block Blob Storage | Premium | Block blobs only |
| File Storage | Premium | Files only |
| Page Blob Storage | Premium | Page blobs only |
TIP
Portal picks the type based on your answers. CLI/ARM requires explicit type specification.
Data Redundancy Options
📺 Video Reference: 00:15:55
🔥 EXAM CRITICAL
Durability (is data safe?) vs Availability (can I access it?) are DIFFERENT concepts!
Even with LRS, there's 11 nines of durability - Azure has never actually lost data. But availability (ability to interact) varies by redundancy option.
Redundancy Options
| Option | Copies | Location | Durability |
|---|---|---|---|
| LRS | 3 | Single cluster | 11 nines |
| ZRS | 3 | 3 Availability Zones | 12 nines |
| GRS | 6 | LRS + LRS in paired region | 16 nines |
| GZRS | 6 | ZRS + LRS in paired region | 16 nines |
LRS - Locally Redundant Storage
📺 Video Reference: 00:18:38
3 copies within a single storage cluster. Synchronous replication - write isn't acknowledged until all 3 copies are durable.
ZRS - Zone Redundant Storage
📺 Video Reference: 00:18:53
3 copies spread across 3 availability zones. Still synchronous - higher availability because multiple front-end services exist.
GRS - Geo-Redundant Storage
📺 Video Reference: 00:19:53
6 copies total: 3 in primary (LRS) + 3 in paired region (LRS).
- Primary replication: Synchronous
- Geo replication: Asynchronous (potential data loss in unplanned disaster)
GZRS - Geo-Zone-Redundant Storage
📺 Video Reference: 00:20:52
6 copies: 3 across AZs in primary (ZRS) + 3 in paired region (LRS).
Important!
Secondary region is LRS (single cluster), NOT ZRS! Only primary gets zone redundancy.
Read Access Variants (RA-GRS, RA-GZRS)
📺 Video Reference: 00:21:25
Optional: Pay a bit more to get read access to secondary anytime (not just during failover).
| Endpoint | Access |
|---|---|
account.blob.core.windows.net | Read/Write |
account-secondary.blob.core.windows.net | Read Only |
INFO
Azure Files does NOT support secondary endpoints. Only Blob, Queue, Table.
Cost Implications
As you go down (LRS → ZRS → GRS → GZRS), cost increases. GRS/GZRS also incur data egress charges for geo-replication.
Changing Redundancy
You can switch between options after creation:
- LRS ↔ GRS: Direct switch
- To ZRS: Special migration steps required
Customer-Managed Failover
📺 Video Reference: 00:23:18
Azure has never had a full regional outage requiring failover. But you can trigger it yourself for smaller issues affecting your service.
| Type | Behavior | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Unplanned | Secondary becomes primary as LRS; must re-enable GRS | GA |
| Planned | Swaps primary/secondary, keeps GRS | Preview |
Shows "last sync time" - data after that time may be lost in unplanned failover.
APIs and Protocols
📺 Video Reference: 00:25:21
Different services have different APIs available. Base REST APIs exist for all, plus:
- Files: SMB, NFS
- Blob: NFS (with HNS), SFTP (with HNS), HDFS (Data Lake)
(Detailed in later sections)
Performance & Capacity
📺 Video Reference: 00:26:03
Capacity, IOPS, and throughput vary based on:
- SKU (Standard vs Premium)
- Performance tier selected
- Pay-as-you-go vs Provisioned options
Premium = higher performance but higher cost. Provisioned options give predictable billing.
Access Tiers (Brief)
📺 Video Reference: 00:27:01
Both Blob and Files have tiers to balance storage cost vs access cost:
Blob: Hot, Cool, Cold, Archive
Files: Transaction Optimized, Hot, Cool
Older data you access less → move to cooler tier (cheaper storage, more expensive access).
(Lifecycle management covered later)
Monitoring & Logging
📺 Video Reference: 00:28:10
Metrics and diagnostic settings available at account and service level. Can send to:
- Storage Account
- Event Hub
- Log Analytics Workspace
Granularity varies by service (Blob has blob capacity, transactions, etc.)
Object Replication
📺 Video Reference: 00:29:38
Replicate block blobs to containers in any storage account (not limited to paired regions).
Key Points
| Aspect | Detail |
|---|---|
| Blob Types | Block blobs only (not Page or Append) |
| Replication | Asynchronous |
| Requires | Change Feed + Blob Versioning enabled |
| Filtering | Can filter by prefix |
| Tiers | Source and target can use different tiers (hot → cold) |
| Destinations | One destination per container |
| Data Lake | Does NOT work with hierarchical namespace |
Use Cases
- Non-paired region replication
- Different access tiers at destination
- Premium block blob accounts
- Regional compliance requirements
Cost
Transactions (read/write from change feed) + network egress charges apply.
Next Section
Continue to: 03-storage-services.md for Blob, Files, Tables, and Queue services.