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Difficulty: MediumBlob, File, and Disk Storage Solutions

You are designing the storage infrastructure for a business-critical SQL Server database running on an Azure Virtual Machine. You have the following requirements:
- The database transaction logs require high IOPS and low, consistent write latency.
- The database backups must be stored in Azure Blob Storage and must remain available if a primary datacenter experiences a local power or cooling failure.
- Storage costs for the backups must be minimized.

Which storage configuration should you recommend?

  1. Deploy the transaction logs on Premium SSD Managed Disks, and store the backups in a Zone-Redundant Storage (ZRS) blob container.Answer
  2. B
    Deploy the transaction logs on Standard SSD Managed Disks, and store the backups in a Zone-Redundant Storage (ZRS) blob container.
  3. C
    Deploy the transaction logs on Premium SSD Managed Disks, and store the backups in a Locally Redundant Storage (LRS) blob container.
  4. D
    Deploy the transaction logs on Standard HDD Managed Disks, and store the backups in a Locally Redundant Storage (LRS) blob container.

Answer

Deploy the transaction logs on Premium SSD Managed Disks, and store the backups in a Zone-Redundant Storage (ZRS) blob container.
The correct answer provides the optimal balance of performance and availability for the stated requirements. Premium SSD Managed Disks are recommended for transaction logs to meet the high IOPS and low-latency demands of database operations. For backups, Zone-Redundant Storage (ZRS) satisfies the requirement to survive a datacenter outage by replicating data across three separate zones, while avoiding the higher cost of geo-redundant alternatives.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the performance requirements for the database transaction logs.
Database transaction logs require high IOPS and low write latency, which means Standard HDD or Standard SSD managed disks are insufficient; Premium SSD (or Ultra Disk) is required.
Choosing low-tier storage for write-intensive database operations leads to performance bottlenecks and application latency.
2
Analyze the redundancy and cost requirements for the backup storage.
The backups must survive a local datacenter-level failure (power/cooling outage), which rules out Locally Redundant Storage (LRS). Since costs must be minimized, Zone-Redundant Storage (ZRS) is selected instead of Geo-Redundant Storage (GRS).
ZRS replicates data across three separate Availability Zones in the primary region, providing resilience against datacenter outages at a lower cost than replicating to a secondary region.
3
Combine the storage disk and backup redundancy requirements to select the best option.
The correct combination is Premium SSD Managed Disks for transaction logs and ZRS blob storage for backups.
This configuration satisfies all requirements for performance, resilience, and cost optimization.

Key Concept

Selecting appropriate Azure Managed Disk types based on database performance requirements, and choosing the optimal Azure Storage redundancy tier based on resilience goals and cost.
Estimated Time:1m 30s
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Topics

Blob, File, and Disk Storage Solutions

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