AZ-900 Microsoft Azure Fundamentals Exam

Analyze Azure Queue Storage

Azure Queue Storage is a service that acts like a digital message board, designed for storing and retrieving messages. Think of it as a reliable way for different parts of an application to communicate without needing to be directly connected. This is especially useful when you have tasks that take a while to complete, and you don't want the application to freeze while waiting for them. Instead, the application can send a message to the queue, and another part of the application can pick it up and handle it when it's ready.

Queue Storage is often used with Azure Event Grid, which is like a notification system for Azure. When something happens, like a file being uploaded, Event Grid can send a message to a queue. This allows applications to process these events at their own pace, which is great for tasks that take a long time. Using queues helps to separate different parts of an application, making the whole system more stable and able to handle more work.

When using Queue Storage with Event Grid, security is important. If there are no special rules set up for the storage account, both user-assigned and system-assigned identities can be used to send events. However, if there are firewall or virtual network rules in place, only the system-assigned identity can be used, and you need to enable the option to "Allow Azure services on the trusted service list to access the storage account". This ensures that only authorized services can access the queue.

In short, Azure Queue Storage is a dependable and scalable way to manage messages and events in cloud applications. It's particularly helpful for separating different parts of an application and handling long-running tasks. By using queues, applications can process events without blocking, which improves the overall performance and stability of the system.

Differentiate Azure Disk Storage

Azure Virtual Machines use disks to store everything they need, including the operating system, applications, and data. When you create a VM, it's important to choose the right disk size and type for the work it will be doing. Azure offers different kinds of disks, each with its own strengths and weaknesses. Understanding these differences is key to making sure your applications run well and don't cost too much.

When you create an Azure VM, it automatically gets two disks: the operating system (OS) disk and the temporary disk. The OS disk is where the VM's operating system is stored and is designed for OS performance. It's not meant for storing applications or data. The temporary disk is a fast solid-state drive on the same server as the VM, used for temporary data processing. However, data on the temporary disk is lost if the VM moves to a new server. For reliable and fast data storage, you should use additional data disks.

Azure offers two main types of disks: Standard disks and Premium disks. Standard disks use Hard Disk Drives (HDDs), which are cheaper and good for development and testing. Premium disks use Solid State Drives (SSDs), which are much faster and better for production applications. VM sizes with an "S" in their name usually support Premium Storage. When you choose a disk size, it's rounded up to the next type. For example, a disk size between 64 GB and 128 GB will be a P10 disk type.

Premium SSDs come in different sizes, each with different performance levels. For example, a P1 disk has 4 GB of storage, 120 input/output operations per second (IOPS), and 25 MB/s throughput, while a P80 disk has 32,767 GB of storage, 20,000 IOPS, and 900 MB/s throughput. The performance of these disks can be increased for certain sizes. Choosing the right performance level is crucial for meeting the needs of your applications.

Azure also offers managed disks, which make disk management easier by handling storage account creation and management. Managed disks support features like Azure Disk Backup, which helps manage snapshots, and Azure role-based access control (RBAC), which allows you to control who can access the disks. Additionally, managed disks have built-in encryption, with options for customer-managed keys and Azure Disk Encryption for OS and data disks. These security features help protect your data and meet compliance requirements.

Azure allows you to directly upload Virtual Hard Disks (VHDs) to managed disks, which makes it easier to move VMs from your own computers to Azure. This feature simplifies the process and makes it easier to upload large disks. Also, Azure Private Link for managed disks allows you to securely import and export disks within your network, ensuring data stays within the secure Microsoft network.

Evaluate Azure Table Storage

Azure Table Storage is a NoSQL data store, which means it doesn't use traditional tables with rows and columns like a regular database. Instead, it stores data in a schema-less format, which gives you flexibility in the types of data you can store. This makes it great for storing structured, non-relational data, such as user information, device details, and metadata.

Key Features of Azure Table Storage

Azure Table Storage is designed to be highly scalable and cost-effective. It uses a key-value system, where each piece of data is stored with a unique key. This allows for quick retrieval of data based on the key. The service is also schema-less, meaning you don't need to define the structure of your data beforehand. This flexibility makes it easy to adapt to changing data needs.

Use Cases for Azure Table Storage

Azure Table Storage is well-suited for applications that need to store large amounts of non-relational data. Some common uses include:

• Storing user profiles and settings.
• Tracking device information and telemetry.
• Managing metadata for other Azure services.
• Storing application configuration data.

Advantages of Azure Table Storage

One of the main advantages of Azure Table Storage is its scalability. It can handle huge amounts of data and high traffic loads. It's also cost-effective, as you only pay for the storage and transactions you use. Additionally, the schema-less design makes it easy to change your data structure over time without needing to move or reorganize your data.

Considerations for Azure Table Storage

While Azure Table Storage is a powerful service, it's important to know its limitations. It's not suitable for complex queries or transactions that require joining data from multiple tables. If your application needs these features, you might need to consider other Azure storage options, such as Azure SQL Database. Also, while it is schema-less, it's important to design your keys carefully to ensure efficient data retrieval.

Examine Azure File Storage

Azure File Storage provides fully managed file shares in the cloud, accessible through standard protocols like Server Message Block (SMB) and Network File System (NFS), as well as the Azure Files REST API. These file shares can be used by both cloud and on-premises systems at the same time, making them useful for many different situations. SMB shares work with Windows, Linux, and macOS, while NFS shares can be accessed from Linux clients. This allows for easy integration with existing systems and workflows.

One of the main uses of Azure File Storage is to replace or add to traditional on-premises file servers. This means you don't have to manage local hardware, deal with power outages, or worry about network problems. Azure File shares can be accessed directly on different operating systems, and SMB shares can be cached on Windows servers using Azure File Sync for better performance and distributed caching. This hybrid approach allows both cloud and on-premises access to the same data. Also, SMB shares can work with Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) for access control, which improves security.

Azure File Storage also makes cloud development easier by providing a central place for shared application settings, diagnostic logs, and development tools. For example, applications can load configurations through the Azure Files REST API, while developers can access these files by connecting to the share locally. This flexibility allows developers to use familiar tools while working in the cloud. Additionally, Azure File shares can be used as persistent volumes for stateful containers, ensuring that containers can access the necessary files no matter where they run. This is important for applications that need consistent access to data.

Key benefits of Azure File Storage include its ease of use, shared access capabilities, and fully managed nature. Once connected, accessing data is as simple as navigating to the mount path. The support for standard protocols like SMB and NFS ensures compatibility with existing applications. Being fully managed means that users don't have to worry about hardware maintenance, OS updates, or disk replacements. This reduces administrative work and allows organizations to focus on their main business. Azure Files also has built-in resilience, ensuring high availability and data protection.

Azure File Sync is a service that works with Azure File Storage to centralize file shares in Azure while keeping the flexibility and performance of a local Windows file server. It allows for cloud tiering, where frequently used files are stored locally, and less frequently used files are moved to the cloud. This reduces on-premises storage costs while ensuring fast access to important data. Azure File Sync is ideal for situations where multiple offices need to access the same data. It also provides business continuity and disaster recovery capabilities, as the local server becomes a disposable caching device, and data can be recovered from the cloud.

Understand Azure Blob Storage

Azure Blob Storage is a service for storing large amounts of unstructured data, such as text or binary data. It's highly scalable, meaning it can handle huge amounts of data and traffic, and it's built on top of the Azure Blob Storage service. This service is the foundation for storing data in Azure, and it offers features like diagnostic logging, access tiers, and lifecycle management policies.

Key Features of Azure Blob Storage

• Scalability: Azure Blob Storage can handle massive amounts of data, from small files to petabytes, without any limits on account or file sizes. It can quickly scale up or down to meet changing demands.
• Access Tiers: Blob Storage offers different access tiers to optimize costs based on how frequently data is accessed. These tiers include:
  • Hot: For frequently accessed data.
  • Cool: For data that is infrequently accessed.
  • Archive: For rarely accessed data that needs to be stored for a long time.
• Data Redundancy: Azure Storage keeps multiple copies of your data to protect against failures. Options include locally redundant storage (LRS), geo-redundant storage (GRS), and zone-redundant storage (ZRS).

Use Cases for Azure Blob Storage

Azure Blob Storage is versatile and can be used in various scenarios:

• Backup and Disaster Recovery: It provides a reliable and cost-effective solution for backing up data, including SQL Server databases, and for disaster recovery purposes.
• Big Data Analytics: It can store large datasets for big data analytics workloads.
• Archiving: The archive tier is ideal for long-term storage of data that is rarely accessed, such as compliance and archival data.

How Azure Blob Storage Works

Data is stored as blobs within storage accounts. These blobs can be accessed and managed through various tools and APIs. When you upload files to your storage account, they become blobs. The term "container" is often used synonymously with "file system" in this context. Azure Blob Storage also supports features like soft delete, which allows you to recover accidentally deleted blobs within a specified retention period.

Cost Considerations

The cost of using Azure Blob Storage depends on several factors, including the amount of data stored, the access tier used, and the amount of data transferred. You can optimize costs by using reserved capacity, which offers discounts for committing to a certain amount of storage for a specific period. It's also important to consider early deletion penalties, which apply if blobs are deleted or moved to a different tier before the minimum required time has passed.

Conclusion

This section covered several key Azure storage services, each designed for different purposes. Azure Queue Storage is used for message queuing, helping to decouple application components and improve scalability. Azure Disk Storage provides different types of disks for virtual machines, with varying performance tiers to suit different workloads. Azure Table Storage is a NoSQL data store for structured, non-relational data, offering flexibility and scalability. Azure File Storage provides shared file storage in the cloud, accessible through standard protocols and integrated with on-premises environments. Finally, Azure Blob Storage is used for storing large amounts of unstructured data, with different access tiers for cost optimization. Understanding these services and their use cases is crucial for building scalable and resilient cloud applications in Azure.