Questions tagged [azure-storage]

Microsoft Azure Storage is a highly-scalable, durable, cloud-based storage platform providing four core services: Blobs, Tables, Queues, and Azure Drives.

Microsoft Azure Storage is a highly-scalable, durable, cloud-based storage platform providing four core services, each based on Durable Storage (storage is replicated at least three times):

  • Blobs. Each blob may be up to 200 GB (block-blobs) or 1 TB (page-blobs).
  • Tables. Each table may be up to 1 TB, with each row containing up to 1 MB.
  • Queues. Each queue may contain up to 8,000 messages.
  • Azure Drive. This is an NTFS-formatted drive, stored in a page blob, mountable by an Azure virtual machine (web role, worker role, or VM role).

Blobs are URI-accessible, and may be configured as private or public. Public blobs are well-suited for generally-available web content, as links may be placed directly into web pages for users to access. Also, the Azure Content Delivery Network (CDN) may be activated for a given storage account, providing caching of blobs in approximately two dozen nodes worldwide.

Tables are organized by partition key (which could be a machine- or disk-system boundary), and row key (an index within a partition). By choosing an appropriate partition and row key, content lookup is extremely efficient. Currently, there is a single row key. If a search is dependent on additional row properties, you'd need to scan rows within your partition.

Queues allow for multiple role instances to consume items. Once an item is retrieved, there is a time limit in which your code must complete processing and delete the queue item (default: 30 seconds, maximum 2 hours). If processing is not completed within this time period, the queue item is returned to the queue. Knowing this, your queue-processing must be designed to be idempotent - processing a queue item multiple times should yield the same result. A typical queue pattern, to circumvent the 8,000 messages limit, is to store relevant content in a blob (such as a full-resolution photo), and then reference that blob in a queue message (for instance, a queue message requesting a thumbnail generation for a full-resolution photo).

The Azure Storage API is REST-based. .NET applications have a full SDK built on top of the REST interface. There are Java and PHP implementations as well.

For more details, see the TechNet article Data Storage Offerings on the Windows Azure Platform about Azure Storage Services.

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How do I delete an Azure storage account containing a leased blob?

I was playing with Windows Azure durable virtual machines. In the end, I deleted the virtual machine (successfully) and tried to delete the associated storage account. The request to delete the storage account fails. On the Preview Portal…
Fernando Correia
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Azure Blob Storage vs. File Service

Please correct my wrongs. From my reading on the topic so far, it appears to me that both, Azure Blob Storage and File Service offer the ability to store file(s) and folder(s) (I understand that blobs can store any binary object, but any serialized…
Water Cooler v2
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Where can I find my Azure account name and account key?

I am starting with Windows Azure. I have an Azure account with Microsoft and would like to use it from my Visual Studio project In the Azure management portal, I can see the primary access key and secondary access key. However Visual Studio needs…
user380719
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Is it better to have many small Azure storage blob containers (each with some blobs) or one really large container with tons of blobs?

So the scenario is the following: I have a multiple instances of a web service that writes a blob of data to Azure Storage. I need to be able to group blobs into a container (or a virtual directory) depending on when it was received. Once in a while…
encee
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Difference between new and classic storage accounts in Azure

Azure has Storage accounts and Storage accounts (classic) in the Azure Portal. What are the differences between them? Is there any reason to migrate from a classic storage account to a new storage account?
James Newton-King
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Azure SQL Database "DTU percentage" metric

With the new Azure SQL Database tier structure, it seems important to monitor your database "DTU" usage to know whether to upgrade or downgrade to another tier. When reading Azure SQL Database Service Tiers and Performance Levels, it only talks…
Dave New
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Differences between Azure Block Blob and Page Blob?

As I recently started mingling around with Windows Azure, I've came up to a situation where, which one to go for between the Block Blob & Page Blob. I'm currently in progress of uploading some text, csv or dat files to a blob storage and then do a…
Kulasangar
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When should I use Sql Azure and when should I use table Storage?

When should i use Sql Azure and when should I use table Storage? I was thinking , use table storage for transaction processing scenarios e.g. debit credit accounts kind of scenario and use Sql Azure when data will not be used for transactional…
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How to restore my Local database to Windows Azure Database?

I have uploaded my application to Windows Azure Now I want to store My Local database to Windows Azure Database. Please Suggest me how do I create table and backup the table there?
Pankaj Mishra
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How to create a sub container in azure storage location

How can I create a sub container in the azure storage location?
subramani
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Windows Azure Client with IP address 'XXX.XXX.XXX.XX' is not allowed to access the server

I have setup Sever, database and Firewall Setting (Rule) In windows Azure. I Have added The IP In firewall setting which is populating under the Windows Azure Firewall Tab. When I am trying connect with Database using Manage from Azure Platform I am…
Pankaj Mishra
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How to execute an Azure table storage query async? client version 4.0.1

Want to execute queries Async on Azure Storage Client Version 4.0.1 There is NO method ExecuteQueryAsync().. I am missing something? Should we continue to use the ExecuteQuerySegmentedAsync still? Thanks.
Jose Ch.
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Azure Table Vs MongoDB on Azure

I want to use a NoSQL database on Windows Azure and the data volume will be very large. Whether a Azure Table storage or a MongoDB database running using a Worker role can offer better performance and scalability? Has anyone used MongoDB on Azure…
Shiju
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Azure storage tables vs SQL

I'm just starting to learn Azure and I can't see too many scenarios where you would want to put something into an Azure storage table as opposed to SQL. I guess maybe I'm used to working in environments where I need related data? When is it better…
TheWommies
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Azure Storage Blob Rename

Is is possible to rename an Azure Storage Blob using the Azure Storage API from a Web Role? The only solution I have at the moment is to copy the blob to a new blob with the correct name and delete the old one.
Geoff
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