Design and implement data storage – Basics

14. Azure Storage Account – Redundancy

Hi and welcome back. Now in this chapter, I want to go through the concept of Azure Storage account redundancy. As a result, when it comes to Azure Services, they always design them with high availability in mind. And the same is true when it comes to the Azure Storage account. So by default, when you store data in an Azure Storage account, let's say you're restoring data using the Blob service, multiple copies of your data are actually stored. This actually helps to protect against any planned or unplanned events. View your data after uploading it to an Azure Storage account. In the end, it's going to be stored on some sort of storage device in the underlying Azure data center. The data centre holds all of the physical infrastructure for hosting your data and the services. And no one can actually guarantee the availability of all physical infrastructure. Something can go wrong. Something can actually go down because there are points of failure. There could be a network failure. There could be a hard drive failure. There could be a power outage. So there are so many things that can actually happen. So, in such events, there are different redundancyoptions to keep your data in check. We have seen this redundancy option when you are creating Azure data. account for Lake Gentle Storage account.So if I go back onto Azure quickly,if I go ahead and create a new resource, I'll scroll down and choose Storage account. So here, when it came to redundancy, there were many options in place. You had locally redundant storage, georedundant storage, zone redundant storage, and geo zone redundant storage. So many options in place. And I'm going to give an overview of what all of these options mean. So, first, we have locally redundant storage. If you have an Azure Storage account, let's assume the storage account is in the central US. Location When you upload an object to the storage account, three copies of your data are made. All of this data is housed within one data center. As a result, this protects against server rack or drive failures. So, in the event of a drive failure, So let's say one storage device were to go down within the data center, the other storage devices would still be available which have the copies of your data. Which means that, in the end, your data is still available. So the lowest redundant option that is available is locally redundant storage. But obviously, companies are looking for much more redundancy when it comes to critical data. So that's why there are other options that are also in place. Zone redundant storage is one option available. In locally redundant storage, what happens if the entire data centre were to go down? That means your item will not be available. But in the case of zoneredundant storage, your data is replicated synchronously across three Availability Zones.Now, an Availability Zone is just a separate physical location that has independent power, cooling, and networking. So now your object is actually distributed across different data centers. These data centres are displayed across these different availability zones. So now, even if one data centre were to go down, you would still have your object in place. But now let's say that the entire region goes down in the central US. That means, again, all your abilityzones are no longer available. And as I mentioned, for companies that are hosting critical data, it is very important for them to have their data in place all the time, so they can opt for something known as geo-redundant storage. Now here, what happens is that your data is replicated in another region altogether. So, if your primary location is centralUS, the LRS technique is used to create three copies of your data. That's the locally written and stored technique. At the same time, your data is copied to another paired location. So over here, the Central US location is actually paired by Azure with the East US two locations. So now your data is also available in another region. And over here again, in this secondary region, your data is copied three times using the LRS technique. So, even if the central US location goes down, you can still access your data in the two east US locations. So in the background, the storage service will actually do a switch over from the central US location to the east US two locations. So we have a lot of replication and redundancy options in place. But remember, in all of these options, cost is also a factor. You'll be paying twice the cost for storage over here. So, by storing your data in the primary location and in the secondary location, you will be paying for bandwidth costs as well. So the data transfer that is happening from the primary to the secondary location is something that you also need to pay for. When I said that for large organisations which need data to always be in place to be up and running, the benefit of having this in place is much more than the cost that is incurred for having geo-redundant storage in place. So it all depends upon the business requirements. Another type of geo-redundant storage is basically read access. The primary difference here is that if you look at plain geo-redundant storage, the data in the secondary location is only made available if the primary region goes down. When you look at read access geo redundant storage, your data is available in both the primary and secondary location at the same time. So your applications can read data not only from the primary location but also from the secondary location as well.So this is the biggest difference. And then we have something known as GeoZone redundant storage. Also, read Access. GeoZone Redundant Storage InGeoZone redundant storage, the primary fact is that in the primary region itself, your data is distributed across different Availability Zones.If you actually looked at plain geo redundant storage here in the primary region, your data was copied three times using LRS. But in the zone of redundant storage in the primary region, your data is copied across multiple Availability Zones.So over here, the data is actually made much more available in the primary region, whereas in the secondary region it is again just replicated using LRS. So again, there are different options when it comes to data redundancy. So I said, if you go on to your storage account, you can actually go ahead and basically choose the redundancy option that you want for an existing storage account. If I go on to all resources, if I go on to my view, if I go onto my daily Lake Gen Two storage account, the replication technique is locally redundant storage. If I go ahead and scroll down, if I actually go onto the configuration, this is under settings over here. In terms of the replication, I can change it to either Geo redundant storage or read Access Geo redundant storage. Over here, I can't see zone redundant storage because there are some limitations when it comes to changing from one replication technique to another. There are ways in which you can actually accomplish this. But at this point in time, when it comes to our data like the Gentle Storage account,these are the options that we have when it comes to changing the replication technique. Right in this chapter, I just want to actually go through data redundancy.

15. Azure Storage Account - Access tiers

Hi and welcome back. Now, in this chapter, I want to go through the Access Tier feature, which is available for storage accounts. So if I go ahead and create a storage account, please know that this is also available for Deerly.com gen two storage accounts. If I go ahead and scroll down and choose storageaccount, if I go on to the advanced section, and if I go ahead and scroll down here, we have something known as an Access Tier feature. Here we have two options. We have the hot access tier. This is used for frequently accessing data. And then we have the Cool Access tier. This is used for infrequently accessing data. We also have a third option that is known as the Archive Access tier. So, this is good for archiving your data. This is not available and is basically available at the storage account level. This is available at each individual blob level. So, if I go to one of my containers, an existing container, a directory, or one of the files that I have here, I have the option of changing tier. And within the tier, I have the hot, cool, and archive access tiers. So this is an additional tier that is actually available at the Blob level. At the storage account level, if I go back onto the storage account, if I actually go on to the configuration settings for the storage account, and if I scroll down here in the Blob access tier, the default is the Hot. I said we could go ahead and choose the cool access tier. So what exactly are these different access tiers that are actually available for this particular storage account? So when it comes to Azure storage accounts, and I said this is also applicable when it comes to your data lake, gen two storage accounts, one thing that you actually pay for is the amount of storage that you actually consume. Now, here I'm showing a snapshot of the pricing page which is available when it comes to storing your objects in an Azure storage account. Here you can see the different access tiers,and you can also see that the price becomes less when you are storing objects in either the code or the archive access tier. In fact, it's very low when it comes to the archive access tier. And when it comes to a data lake, remember that I mentioned that companies will store lots of data. So you're talking probably about terabytes and even petabytes of data in a storage account. And storage then becomes very important. The storage cost becomes very important. So that's why you have these different accesstiers in place wherein companies can actually go ahead and look at reducing their storage costs. If they have an object that is not accessed frequently, they can actually change the access tier of that object to the cool access tier. And if they feel that the object is not going to be accessed at all, but they still need to have a backup of the object in place, they can go ahead and choose the Archive Access Tier for that particular object. And I mentioned that the Archive Access Tier can only be enabled at the individual blob level. So then you might ask yourself, why can't we just archive all of our objects? Because the storage cost is less, and it's because of a caveat that is there if you store an object in the Archive Access Tier. If you want to go ahead and access that object again, you have to perform a process known as rehydration. So you have to rehydrate that file in order to access the file. So you need to go ahead and actually change the access level of the file either to the Hot or the CoolAccess Tier, and it takes time to rehydrate the file. So if you need the file at that point in time, you should not choose the Archive Access Tier. You should choose either the hot or the cool access tier. Next is when it comes to the costing of objects, in either the Hot, the Cool, or the Archive Access Tier. When it comes to your storage account, there are different aspects when it comes to the cost. One aspect is the underlying storage cost. The other aspects are the operations that are performed on your objects. For example, over here again, I'm showing a snapshot of the documentation page. When it comes to the pricing here, you can see that when it comes to the read operations, the read operation of an object in the Cool Access Tier is much higher than an object in the Hot Access Tier, and it gets even worse for objects in the Archive Access Tier. Next is a concept known as the "early deletion fee." The Cool Access Tier is only meant for data that is accessed infrequently and stored for at least 30 days. If you have a block in the Cool AccessTier, and then you change the Access Tier to the Hot Access Tier earlier than 30 days, you are charged an early deletion fee. The same thing goes for the archive access tier. This is used for data that is rarely accessed and stored for at least 180 days. And the same concept goes over here. If you have a blob in the Archive Access Tier, and if you change the access tier of the blob earlier than 180 days, you are charged an early deletion fee. So when you're deciding upon the access tier of a particular object, you have to decide based on how frequently that object is being used. If the object is being used on a daily basis, you should choose the Hot Access Tier. If you have objects that are not accessed that frequently, you can go ahead and choose the cool access tier. And if you want to go ahead and archive objects,you can go ahead and choose the archive accessed here. Now let's quickly go on to Azure. I'll go on to my deal. Gen Two storage account. I'll go on to my containers, I'll go on to my datacontainer, I'll go on to my raw folder, I'll go on to my object, and here I'll just change it here on to theArchive access tier and I'll go ahead and click on Save. So over here, remember that now we are saving on storage costs when it comes to the file. But here you can see that this blob is currently being archived and it can't be downloaded. You have to go ahead and rehydrate the blob in order to access it. So here it is if you want to now go ahead and access the file. because even if I go on to edit, I will not be able to see the contents of the file. So I have to go back on my file. And here I have to go ahead and change the tier. I have to change the tier to either the Hot or the Cool access tier. If I choose either tier, you can see that the reminone has a rehydrate priority. You have a standard and you have a high. In Standard. It will take some time for the object to be converted back to the cool access tier. You can see that it may take up to 7 hours to complete. If you choose high, then it could be completed at a much faster pace. But in either case, it will still take time. So if you have an object that needs to be accessed at any point in time, don't choose the archive access tier. So I just go ahead and cancel this, right? So in this chapter, we are going to go through the different access points to yours, which is available through the Blob service in your storage accounts.

16. Azure Storage Account - Lifecycle policy

Now, in the last chapter, I talked about the different access tiers when it comes to objects in an Azure storage account. Now, in this chapter, I want to go through a feature which is available when it comes to data management, and that's Lifecycle Management. Now, when a company has millions of objects in a storage account, and if they want to ensure that some of those objects are basically moved from the hot access tier to, let's say, the coolaccess tier, they don't want to actually change the access tier of each object individually. They also don't want to have the burden of creating a script that will go ahead and, you know, check when the object was last accessed and then change the access tier. What they can do is that they can actually make use of this lifecycle management feature. This Lifecycle Management feature can actually check when an object was last accessed. And based on that access time frame, it can go ahead and change the access tier of that particular object, and it will do this on a regular basis. So you don't need any manual intervention to change the access tier of a particular object. And this is very useful if you have a lot of objects in your Data Lake Gentle storage account, which you most probably will have. I'll just show you what actually goes into creating a rule in Lifecycle Management. So here I'll add a rule. Here I can give a name to the rule. In terms of the rulescope, I can apply the rule to all blobs in our storage account here. In terms of the block type, I can leave it as it is in terms of block blobs. These are the blobs that are actually uploaded onto our storage account. When it comes to blobs, you can actually create versions, different versions of your blobs, and even snapshots. And these rules can apply both to your baseblock and to your snapshots and versions. I'll go on to the next, and here is where you can add that particular logic. So, in this case, if the blob has not been modified in the last 30 days, it indicates that it is not frequently accessed. Then what we can do is that we can have a logic saying that please move that blob onto the cool accesstier and then we can go ahead and click on Add. And likewise, you can have multiple rules in place. You could have one rule to go ahead and probably move the blob onto the archive access tier. If you go on to the code view here, you will see the code representation of that particular rule. Here you can see that the action is to move that blob onto the cool access tier if it has not been modified in the last 30 days. So the Lifecycle Management rules just offer you a better way,a much easier way, and an automated way to move objects from one axis tier on to the other.

17. Note on Costing

Before we proceed ahead, as it is all of my courses, I want to make a very important point when it comes to costing. If you use as your free account and have $200 in credit for the first month, any money you spend on a job will be deducted from your credit limit. But if you are using a pay-as-yougo subscription and you are paying now for resources based on your consumption, you should always keep an eye on the cost of your resources. The first important rule is that if you don't need a resource, just go ahead and delete it altogether. If you have resources that are part of a resource group, then you can go ahead and delete the entire resource group. That will delete all the resources that are part of that resource group. The next important thing is that when you delete a resource, please ensure that you confirm the notification that comes over here. Sometimes there might be an error when it comes to the deletion of the resource, in which case your resource will still be there. So don't have the simple assumption that if you hit the delete button, it will delete the resource. This is normally true when you're deleting a collection of resources in a resource group because there might be a dependency between one resource and another. So, for my personal experience, always ensure that you get a notification of all the resources that have been deleted. Next, go on to your subscription. I can subscribe directly from this page. Go on to the cost analysis section. Here you will see the actual cost and you'll see the forecast. Now, the reason I have a forecast is because I have a large number of resources running as part of my SEO account. So I do a lot of research and development. I try to do a lot of homework just to ensure that I give you the best when it comes to this course. That's why I normally have a high cost, because I keep my resources running so that, in the end, I can deliver the best quality course for you. But for you, as a student,always check the cost analysis section. This can be on a day-to-day basis. So when you start working in Azure, go to the Azure Portal, go to your subscription, and see the actual and the forecast. In terms of the cost, you can also create something known as budget alerts. So here you can be notified if the cost is going to go beyond a particular threshold. So, for example, I can add a budget over here. I can select the scope as my entire subscription. Yeah, I can give a name for the budget. So this budget is done on a monthly basis. I can leave the creation date and time as it is. Yes, within the budget. Let's say I put 40 USD in. I'll scroll down. I'll go on to the next here. In the alert conditions, I can choose the actual or even the forecast. So I can choose both of them. I can say that if the actual 70% of the actual is being reached, or let's say 50% of the forecast is being reached, then I can go down and say, "Please alert this email ID once the above thresholdshave been reached, then you scroll down and then you can create your budget a lot again." Don't worry, as I mentioned, about the cost of my own resources. So I said I play a lot with resources, with the services in Azure. And I said I do this with the main perspective of ensuring that I deliver the best for you. But as a student, I want to give this important note, right? because cost is important. I know how valuable money is. That's why I want to ensure that I give as much information as possible when it comes to the costing aspect.

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