In the previous chapter, we looked at network connectivity and security, including how IP addresses and the Domain Name System (DNS) work, and how to control traffic with network security groups, application groups, and routing. We then looked at advanced traffic flow tools, such as Azure Load Balancer, Traffic Manager, and Application Gateway.

Most solutions, at some point, need to store data, and choosing the right type of storage is dependent on many factors such as the kind of data it is, how it needs to be managed, and its lifecycle.

In this chapter, we will continue the Infrastructure and Storage Components topic by looking at storage. We will look at different storage types, mainly focusing on Azure Storage accounts and how to choose the right options for your requirements.

We will then investigate how to secure access to your storage accounts before examining the different tooling that is available to manipulate the data stored inside.

In this chapter, we will focus on the following topics:

• Understanding storage types
• Designing storage security
• Using storage management tools

Technical requirements

This chapter will use the Azure portal (https://portal.azure.com) for examples.

Understanding storage types

When designing Azure solutions, at some point, you will be required to store data. Azure has several options for storing data, and the choice of which to use depends on several different factors.

This section will examine the various options and which option is best suited to which scenario.

First, we will take a high-level look at one of the most common non-database storage mechanisms – Azure Storage accounts.

Azure Storage accounts

Azure Storage accounts are the main form of managed data storage. They can store different types of data depending on how you configure them on initial creation.

When creating a storage account, you must choose an Account Kind – the options are General Purpose V2 (GPv2), General Purpose V1 (GPv1), Blob Storage, or File Storage.

Storage accounts are grouped into two performance tiers – Standard or Premium.

Performance tiers

To make sense of the options, we will first consider the performance tier. Generally speaking, the Premium Tier is primarily used for storing Virtual Machine (VM) disks – specifically, unmanaged VM disks. Later in this section, when we discuss VM disks, you’ll understand why this is the case, and why you would not usually choose these!

The Standard Tier is the one that you will use the most. So next, we will consider the account kind.

Account kind

Depending on the chosen tier, you will have the option for File Storage and Blob Storage.

File Storage offers Azure file shares, very similar to a regular share you would create on Windows File Server. The File Storage kind, part of the Premium Tier, is a specialized high throughput file share service that supports high Input-Output Operations (IOPS).