In the last article, we have seen about the
need of polyglot persistence. In this article we will see the data storage options that Microsoft
Azure provides. At the current time of writing, Azure provides the following data storage options,
- Azure SQL for relational data - This can be thought of MS SQL Server that is on-premises to be on-cloud. This option is when transaction data needs to be stored.
- Document DB - This is the Key Document Store option in Azure. Documents are stored in JSON format.
- Azure Storage Tables - This is the Key Value Store option in Azure. This is also option for dictionaries, maps, associated arrays.
- Azure Storage Blobs - Files can be save in this format as well as when Documents needs to be stored as binary format instead of JSON format.
- Azure Queues - When messages needs to be passed between applications, processes, Azure Queues can be used.
- Microsoft Redis Cache - to store short term data i.e data stored in RAM on temporary basis in the cache.
- Azure Mobile Services - Microsoft provides option of a data store for mobile device front end when a back-end web service is built in the mobile application.
- MySQL managed by ClearDB - Data Store option for PHP applications in Azure
- MongoDB managed by MongoLabs - Data Store option for NoSQL applications in Azure.
- If Virtual Machines are provisioned in Azure, you can practically use any data store.
When we sign in the azure portal, we see Data+Storage option divided into following 5 sections. When you click on More on each of the option there are much more to choose from. I am pasting some of the samples here. These are by no means a complete set.
Currently, there is no solution for Graphs type of data persistence on Azure.
Apart from application requirements, based on performance, SLA, availability needs and offsetting these with costs, basic, standard or premium storage option can be chosen from the wide variety.
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