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Difficulty: MediumAzure Storage Accounts, Blob, Disk, Files, and Storage Tiers

An organization is deploying an application on a single Azure Virtual Machine. The application requires dedicated, low-latency block storage for its operating system and database files. Additionally, the organization needs to store database backup files that are rarely accessed, must be kept for several years at the lowest possible cost, and can tolerate a retrieval latency of several hours. Which storage configuration should the organization select to meet these requirements?

  1. A
    Azure Files for the virtual machine files, and Azure Blob Storage configured with the Archive access tier for the backup files, with Microsoft maintaining responsibility for operating system patches and updates.
  2. Azure Disk Storage for the virtual machine files, and Azure Blob Storage configured with the Archive access tier for the backup files.Answer
  3. C
    Azure Disk Storage for the virtual machine files, and Azure Blob Storage configured with the Archive access tier for the backup files, allowing users to query and read the backup data directly from the Archive tier at any time.
  4. D
    Azure Files for the virtual machine files, and Azure Blob Storage configured with the Archive access tier for the backup files, allowing users to query and read the backup data directly from the Archive tier at any time.

Answer

The configuration using Azure Disk Storage for the virtual machine files and Azure Blob Storage Archive tier for the backup files.
The configuration using Azure Disk Storage for the virtual machine files and Azure Blob Storage Archive tier for the backup files is correct because Azure Disk Storage provides the dedicated block storage required for VM virtual hard disks, and the Archive tier of Azure Blob Storage offers the lowest cost for long-term, rarely accessed data that can tolerate retrieval times of several hours.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the virtual machine storage requirements.
The requirement specifies dedicated, low-latency block storage for OS and database files attached to a single VM, which points directly to Azure Disk Storage rather than Azure Files (which is shared file storage).
Azure Disk Storage provides volume-level block storage volumes for Azure VMs.
2
Analyze the backup storage requirements.
The backups are rarely accessed, require the lowest cost, and can tolerate a retrieval delay of several hours. This matches the characteristics of the Archive access tier in Azure Blob Storage.
The Archive access tier has the lowest storage costs but higher access costs and retrieval latency (requiring rehydration).
3
Evaluate the management responsibilities and access constraints.
Azure VMs are IaaS resources where the customer patches the OS. Additionally, data in the Archive tier cannot be read directly without rehydration.
Correctly identifying IaaS responsibilities and Archive tier access constraints eliminates the distractors.

Key Concept

Selecting appropriate Azure storage services (Disk vs. Files) and Blob storage tiers based on workload latency, access patterns, and cost constraints.
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Topics

Azure Storage Accounts, Blob, Disk, Files, and Storage Tiers

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