Most frequently asked Azure Storage Interview Questions

1. What is Azure Storage
2. What is Azure Storage account
3. What is Azure Blob storage account? When to use it
4. What is Azure Files Storage? When to use it
5. What is Azure Queue Storage? When to use it?
6. What is Azure Tables Storage?When to use it?
7. What is Azure Disk Storage?When to use it
8. We need to store video content which is to be later streamed. Which Azure Storage is suitable for this

What is Azure Storage

Azure Storage is a cloud-based storage service from Microsoft Azure, providing agile and secure data storage solutions for applications. It allows you to store large amounts of structured and unstructured data, and provides an easy-to-use API for storing and retrieving data. Azure Storage can be used for a variety of scenarios such as storing web content like images, documents, audio and video files, backups, databases, dev/test scripts, and live Q&A transcripts. You can also use it to build custom apps or store big data sets. Azure Storage provides four types of services: Blob storage, Table storage, Queue storage and File storage. Using code, you can access Azure Storage services through the following:

// Create storage account
CloudStorageAccount storageAccount = CloudStorageAccount.parse(storageConnectionString);

// Create blob client
CloudBlobClient blobClient = storageAccount.createCloudBlobClient();

// Get a reference to a container
// The container name must be lower case
CloudBlobContainer container = blobClient.getContainerReference("mycontainer");

// Create the container if it does not exist
container.createIfNotExists();

What is Azure Storage account

Azure Storage account is the name given to a physical entity which is used to store your data in the cloud, with each account being created in the Azure datacenter. It is similar to a regular file system and provides a secure place to store data. You can use it for storing large amounts of structured and unstructured data, such as web content, documents, audio & video files, backups, databases and dev/test scripts. Azure Storage accounts also offer features like data redundancy and scalability. Using code, you can create an Azure Storage account using the following:

// Create storage account
CloudStorageAccount storageAccount = CloudStorageAccount
    .parse(storageConnectionString);

// Create a storage account client
CloudStorageAccount storageAccountClient = new
    CloudStorageAccount(storageAccount);

// Specify storage account properties
StorageAccountProperties properties = new StorageAccountProperties();
properties.setAccountType(AccountType.Standard_LRS);

// Create the storage account with the specified properties
StorageAccount createdAccount = storageAccountClient
    .create(properties);

What is Azure Blob storage account? When to use it?

Azure Blob Storage is a cost-effective, highly secure, and reliable cloud storage solution designed by Microsoft. It can be used to store large amounts of unstructured data, such as videos, audio files, images, log files, backups, and documents. Blob Storage can be accessed from many different platforms, including Azure virtual machines, web and mobile applications, as well as third-party solutions. Blob Storage is ideal for use cases in which scalability, reliability, and integration with other Azure services are essential. Azure Blob Storage can be used when the need arises to store large amounts of unstructured data that needs to be retrieved quickly and reliably. It is perfect for web applications, media streaming, and other applications that require fast access to any type of file. Additionally, it can be used for backups, log files, or any other type of data that may need to be stored long-term. A simple Azure Blob Storage code snippet is shown below. This example shows how to create a storage account and container and then upload a file to that container:

//Create a Storage Account
CloudStorageAccount storageAccount = CloudStorageAccount.parse(storageConnectionString);

//Create a Blob Client
CloudBlobClient blobClient = storageAccount.createCloudBlobClient();

//Create a Container
CloudBlobContainer container = blobClient.getContainerReference(containerName);
container.createIfNotExists();

//Create a Block Blob
CloudBlockBlob blob = container.getBlockBlobReference(blobName);
blob.uploadFromFile(filePath);	

What is Azure Files Storage? When to use it

Azure Files Storage is a Microsoft cloud storage solution that provides shared access to files using the Server Message Block (SMB) protocol. It allows users to securely store and share files from anywhere in the world, on any device. When to use Azure Files Storage? It can be beneficial for organizations of any size and offers many features, including:

• Data sharing - Azure Files Storage makes it easy to share files with colleagues and other users securely.
• Backup and restore - Azure Files Storage makes it easy to back up data quickly and regularly.
• High availability - You can set up high availability with your Azure Files Storage to ensure that your files are accessible even when one or more servers are not available.
• Security - You can add multiple levels of security to your Azure Files Storage, including role-based access control, encryption, and more.
• Easy & Cost-efficient - Azure Files Storage is a cost-effective solution that can save you money on storage and infrastructure costs.

A java code snippet example of how to use Azure Files Storage could look like this:

	String storageConnectionString = "DefaultEndpointsProtocol=https;AccountName=<storage-account-name>;AccountKey=<storage-account-key>"
    CloudStorageAccount storageAccount = CloudStorageAccount.parse(storageConnectionString);
    CloudFileClient fileClient = storageAccount.createCloudFileClient();
	String shareName = "<share-name>";
	CloudFileShare share = fileClient.getShareReference(shareName);
	share.createIfNotExists();
	System.out.println("Share created successfully.");
	

What is Azure Queue Storage? When to use it?

Azure Queue Storage is a cloud-based messaging service designed to store and process large numbers of messages. It is a highly scalable and reliable solution for managing and processing both asynchronous and synchronous messages between applications or services. It can be used in order to build cloud-based applications which require message delivery at scale. Use cases include decoupling components or services, communication between different systems and distributed application workloads. An example code snippet for using Azure Queue Storage could look something like this:

//Create the CloudQueueClient 
var storageAccount = CloudStorageAccount.Parse(ConnString);
CloudQueueClient queueClient = storageAccount.CreateCloudQueueClient();

//Retrieve a reference to a queue 
CloudQueue queue = queueClient.GetQueueReference("myqueue");

//Create the queue if it doesn't already exist 
queue.CreateIfNotExistsAsync();

//Add a message to the queue 
CloudQueueMessage message = new CloudQueueMessage("Hello World!");
queue.AddMessageAsync(message);	

What is Azure Queue Storage? When to use it?

Azure Queue Storage is a cloud storage service provided by Microsoft for storing messages and task queues. It allows applications to store data in the form of messages that can be retrieved and processed at a later time. This storage solution is designed to provide high throughput, high availability, and scalability. Azure Queue Storage can be used when applications need to reliably process large numbers of messages with high throughput. Queue Storage can be used to buffer larger workloads or reduce the load on critical components of an application. It can also be used in scenarios where messages need to be processed in an asynchronous manner, such as in a system where messages are sent from one component for processing by another. An example of how to use Azure Queue Storage would be an application that streams videos to users. To ensure optimal performance, the application may need to offload buffering of video content to a separate component. To do this, the application could use Azure Queue Storage to store a message with details of the video and then send a notification to the component to retrieve and process the message. Sample code snippet:

// Create queue client 
CloudStorageAccount account = CloudStorageAccount.Parse(CloudConfigurationManager.GetSetting("StorageConnectionString")); 
CloudQueueClient queueClient = account.CreateCloudQueueClient(); 

// Retrieve a reference to a queue 
CloudQueue queue = queueClient.GetQueueReference("queue-name"); 

// Create the queue if it doesn't already exist 
queue.CreateIfNotExists(); 

// Add a message to the queue 
CloudQueueMessage message = new CloudQueueMessage("Hello World!"); 
queue.AddMessage(message);

What is Azure Tables Storage?When to use it?

Azure Tables Storage is a NoSQL structured key-value store database offered by Microsoft Azure. It is a schema-less, managed, non-relational cloud database. Tables Storage is used when you need cost-effective storage that can support a data workload consisting of frequently changing data or if your system requires low latency access to data. Tables Storage is ideal for storing large amounts of data (such as millions of user records) that can be regularly updated, and have varying levels of structure. Tables Storage is flexible, fault-tolerant, and highly scalable as it automatically distributes data and readily accommodates traffic changes. Here is a sample code snippet for creating a table in Azure Tables Storage:

const tableSvc = azure.createTableService();
const tableName = 'MyTable';

tableSvc.createTableIfNotExists(tableName, function(error, result, response) {
    if (!error) {
        // Table created or exists
    }
});

What is Azure Disk Storage?When to use it

Azure Disk Storage is a high-performance storage solution offered by Microsoft Azure. It runs on top of Azure Virtual Machines and provides top-level data durability, low latency access, and scalability. Disk Storage is used when your applications require extremely quick access to large amounts of data and disk performance needs to match or exceed that of the hardware disks that it provides. Disk Storage is ideal for workloads such as high-performance computing, rendering, content delivery, media streaming, and databases. It can also be used to store frequently accessed data, providing great latency and throughput performance. Here is a sample code snippet for creating a disk in Azure Disk Storage:

const diskName = 'myDisk';

// Create a Disk
azureDisks.createOrUpdate(resourceGroupName, diskName, {
    location: location,
    createOption: Disks.Models.DiskCreateOption.empty,
    // Add other options
}, function(error, result, request, response) {
    if (!error) {
        // Disk created or exists
    }
});

We need to store video content which is to be later streamed. Which Azure Storage is suitable for this

Azure Blob Storage is an ideal solution for storing video content that needs to be streamed later. It is a cost-effective and scalable storage solution that provides the durability and performance needed to store and access large amounts of data. It can store unstructured data such as videos, audio files, and images, as well as text and binary data. Additionally, Azure Blob Storage comes with built-in features such as resiliency, encryption, and access control. The following code snippet can be used to upload video content to Azure Blob Storage:

// Create a storage account object
CloudStorageAccount storageAccount = CloudStorageAccount.Parse(connectionString);

// Create the blob client
CloudBlobClient blobClient = storageAccount.CreateCloudBlobClient();

// Get a reference to the container
CloudBlobContainer container = blobClient.GetContainerReference("[container name]");

// Upload the video file to the blob
CloudBlockBlob blockBlob = container.GetBlockBlobReference("[blob name]");
blockBlob.UploadFromFile("[file path]", System.IO.FileMode.Open);