In 2016, Microsoft introduced the general availability of Cool Blob Storage in Azure, a new way to archive your files in the cloud. The main goal is to store data that is rarely accessed. It means that you can use Cool Storage to reduce the cost of storage in Azure. Cool tiers should be used for rarely and infrequently accessed data. Hot tiers must be used for production data. The Cool tier has a lower availability SLA than the Hot tier.
Creating a Cool Storage Account
Ok, let’s see how to create a cool storage account. Go to the Azure Portal and search Storage Accounts:
Then, click “Add” in order to create the new storage account:
You will be asked to enter:
- The storage account name
- The deployment model (select Resource manager if you don’t know)
- Account kind: Here you must select “Blob Storage“
- Replication: Select LRS for archive data if you don’t know
- When you select “Blob Storage”, you now have access to Cool and Hot access tier. Here, you must select “Cool“.
Once the storage account is successfully created, you can open your cool storage account:
You may want to switch from cool to hot access tier. Please note that only the Block Blob Storage account can be switched from cool to hot / hot to cool.
To perform this action, click Configuration and switch between cool to hot:
If your data is accessed less than once a month, then select cool access tier and you will save money!
If you want to know more about pricing, read this guide: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/details/storage/
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