Storage Service Selection Guide¶
Choosing the right storage service depends on data structure, access protocols, and performance requirements.
Workload to Service Mapping¶
| Workload | Recommended Service | Data Type | Protocol | Scale |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Web assets, Big Data, Backup | Blob Storage | Unstructured | REST | PB+ |
| Shared file systems (Lift & Shift) | Azure Files | SMB/NFS | SMB/NFS/REST | 100TiB+ |
| High-volume messaging | Azure Queues | Messages | REST | Account limit |
| NoSQL key-value storage | Azure Tables | Structured | REST | Account limit |
| Large-scale analytics | Blob Storage with Data Lake Storage Gen2 | Hierarchical namespace | REST (Hadoop-compatible via ABFS) | PB+ |
Selection Decision Tree¶
```mermaid graph TD Start[New Workload] --> Unstruct{Data Type?} Unstruct -->|Unstructured| Access{Access Method?} Unstruct -->|Structured| NoSQL[Azure Tables] Unstruct -->|Messages| Queue[Azure Queues]
Access -->|REST API| Blobs[Azure Blob Storage]
Access -->|Shared File| Protocol{Protocol?}
Protocol -->|SMB/NFS| Files[Azure Files]
Protocol -->|"REST (ABFS)"| ADLS[Data Lake Storage Gen2]
```
Tip
Use Azure Files for shared application data when multiple VMs need concurrent access to the same file system without rewriting code.