Learning Microsoft Azure Storage

Learning Microsoft Azure Storage

by Mohamed Waly
Released November 2017
Publisher(s): Packt Publishing
ISBN: 9781785884917

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Book description

A step-by-step guide to get you up and running with Azure Storage services and helps you build solutions that leverage effective design patterns

About This Book

  • Discover best practices for designing and implementing Azure Storage for Azure VMs, and highly available apps
  • Effectively plan, design, and implement SQL databases with Azure
  • Protect your data with Azure Backup and Azure Site Recovery

Who This Book Is For

This book is targeted at Developers, IT Professionals, and even Database Admins who have experience of working on Microsoft Azure and want to make the most of Azure Storage services. Some knowledge of SQL Server will be beneficial.

What You Will Learn

  • Understand Azure Storage types and determine the appropriate one for your needs
  • Design Azure Storage for Azure VMs according to best practices
  • Design and implement your SQL Database on Azure according to best practices
  • Learn how to work with Azure Backup
  • Learn how to work with Azure Site Recovery
  • Extend Azure Storage to StorSimple
  • Monitor storage metrics and logs and customize the Azure monitoring dashboard
  • Monitor and troubleshoot Azure Storage

In Detail

Microsoft Azure Storage is the bedrock of Microsoft's core storage solution offering in Azure. No matter what solution you are building for the cloud, you'll find a compelling use for Azure Storage. This book will help you get up-to-speed quickly on Microsoft Azure Storage by teaching you how to use the different storage services. You will be able to leverage secure design patterns based on real-world scenarios and develop a strong storage foundation for Azure virtual machines.

You will start this book with an introduction to Microsoft Azure storage and how it can be used to build large-scale, real-world applications using Azure storage services such as blob, table, queue, and file. This book will also teach you about the different types of Azure Storage. You will then find out the best practices for designing your Azure VM storage, whether it is Windows based or Linux based and how to migrate your storage in different scenarios. You will learn also how to plan and implement your SQL database solution on Azure, and how to build your SQL database in different service models (IaaS/PaaS). Moreover, you will also learn best practices for dealing with Azure Backup, the role of Azure Site Recovery, and the solutions they offer in different scenarios. Finally, you will use StorSimple to unlock the maximum value from all of your data, and some tools that will help you manage your storage on-and off-premise (Azure), such as AzCopy and Storage Explorer. Monitoring your storage in no laughing matter, so you will learn to monitor, diagnose and troubleshoot it.

Style and approach

This book will provide an in-depth insight into properly designing your environment and saving money on your running workloads. Using cutting-edge examples, you will be able to efficiently monitor, diagnose, and troubleshoot Azure Storage.

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Table of contents

  1. Preface
    1. What this book covers
    2. What you need for this book
    3. Who this book is for
    4. Conventions
    5. Reader feedback
    6. Customer support
      1. Downloading the color images of this book
      2. Errata
      3. Piracy
      4. Questions
  2. Understanding Azure Storage 101
    1. An introduction to Microsoft Azure Storage
    2. Why Azure Storage?
    3. Terminologies
    4. ASM versus ARM model
      1. Azure classic portal (ASM model)
      2. Azure portal (ARM model)
      3. Deployment model tricks
    5. Azure Storage types
      1. Durability
        1. Replication types
          1. Locally redundant storage
          2. Zone Redundant Storage
          3. Geo-redundant storage
          4. Read-access geo-redundant storage
      2. Performance
        1. Standard Storage
        2. Premium Storage
      3. Persistency
        1. Persistent storage
        2. Non-persistent storage
    6. Azure Storage accounts
      1. General-purpose storage accounts
      2. Blob storage accounts
        1. Hot access tier
        2. Cool access tier
      3. Azure Storage Account tips
      4. Creating an Azure Storage account
    7. Automating your tasks
      1. Azure PowerShell
        1. Installing the Azure PowerShell module
          1. Installing the Azure PowerShell module from the PowerShell Gallery
          2. Creating a storage account in the Azure portal using PowerShell
      2. Azure command-line interface
        1. Installing the Azure CLI 2.0
          1. Creating a Storage account using the Azure CLI 2.0
    8. Summary
  3. Delving into Azure Storage
    1. Azure Storage services
      1. Blob storage
        1. Creating Blob storage
        2. Blob storage key points
      2. Table storage
        1. PartitionKey
        2. RowKey
        3. Timestamp
        4. Creating Table storage
        5. Table storage key points
      3. Queue storage
        1. Creating Queue storage
        2. Queue storage key points
      4. File storage
        1. File storage advantages
        2. Creating File storage
        3. File storage key points
    2. Understanding the Azure Storage architecture
      1. Front-End layer
      2. Partition layer
      3. Stream layer
      4. Sparse storage and TRIM in Azure
    3. Securing Azure Storage
      1. RBAC
        1. Granting the reader role to a user using RBAC
      2. Access keys
      3. SAS
    4. Storage design for highly available applications
      1. RA-GRS
      2. Azure Backup
      3. Azure Site Recovery
      4. Premium Storage
    5. Understanding client libraries
    6. Automating tasks
      1. Creating Blob storage using PowerShell
      2. Creating Blob storage using the Azure CLI 2.0
      3. Creating Table storage using PowerShell
      4. Creating Table storage using the Azure CLI 2.0
      5. Creating Queue storage using PowerShell
      6. Creating Queue storage using the Azure CLI 2.0
      7. Creating a file share using PowerShell
      8. Granting the reader role to a user with RBAC using PowerShell
      9. Granting the reader role for a user with RBAC using the Azure CLI 2.0
      10. Regenerating storage account access keys using PowerShell
      11. Regenerating storage account access keys using the Azure CLI 2.0
    7. Summary
  4. Azure Storage for VMs
    1. An introduction to Azure VMs
      1. Azure VMs series
    2. Creating an Azure VM
      1. VM settings
    3. Storage considerations for Azure VMs
      1. Managed versus unmanaged disks
        1. Managed disks key points
      2. VM disks
        1. Adding a data disk to Azure VM
        2. Data disks key points
        3. Resizing disks
        4. Host caching
          1. Read-only
          2. Read/write
          3. None
        5. Host caching key points
        6. Changing the host caching type
    4. Capturing VMs
      1. Sysprepping the VM
      2. Capturing the VM with managed storage
      3. Capturing the VM with unmanaged storage
    5. Automating the tasks
      1. Creating an Azure VM using PowerShell
        1. Network resources
        2. VM configuration
        3. Creating the VM
      2. Creating an Azure VM using the Azure CLI 2.0
      3. Adding data disks to an Azure VM using PowerShell
      4. Adding data disks to an Azure VM using the Azure CLI 2.0
      5. Resizing Azure VM disks using PowerShell
      6. Resizing Azure VM disks using the Azure CLI 2.0
      7. Changing the host caching using PowerShell
      8. Changing the host caching using the Azure CLI 2.0
      9. Capturing the VM using PowerShell
      10. Capturing the VM using the Azure CLI 2.0
    6. Further information
    7. Summary
  5. Implementing Azure SQL Databases
    1. An introduction to Azure SQL Database
    2. Why Azure SQL Database?
    3. Service tiers
      1. Elastic database pools
      2. Single databases
      3. Service tier types
    4. Creating an Azure SQL Database
    5. Connecting to Azure SQL Database
      1. Server-level firewall rule
      2. Connecting to Azure SQL Database using SQL SSMS
    6. Azure SQL Database business continuity
      1. How business continuity works for Azure SQL Database
        1. Hardware failure
        2. Point-in-time restore
          1.  Restoring Azure SQL Database key points
        3. Restoring a deleted database
        4. Geo-restore
    7. Automating the tasks
      1. Creating an Azure SQL Database using PowerShell
      2. Creating an Azure SQL Database using the Azure CLI 2.0
      3. Creating an SQL Server-level firewall rule using PowerShell
      4. Creating an SQL Server-level firewall rule using Azure CLI 2.0
      5. Point-in-time restore using PowerShell
      6. Point-in-time restore using the Azure CLI 2.0
      7. Restoring a deleted database using PowerShell
      8. Restoring a deleted database using PowerShell
    8. Summary
  6. Beyond Azure SQL Database Management
    1. SQL Database (IaaS/PaaS)
      1. Azure SQL Database (PaaS)
        1. Scenarios that would fit in Azure SQL Database
      2. SQL on Azure VMs (IaaS)
        1. Scenarios that would suit SQL on Azure VMs
    2. Azure SQL elastic database pools
      1. Creating an elastic database pool
      2. Adding a database to the elastic database pool
    3. Setting Azure AD authentication to Azure SQL Database
    4. Active geo-replication
      1. Implementing active geo-replication
      2. Adding the databases to a failover group
      3. Active geo-replication key points
    5. Automating the tasks
      1. Creating an elastic database pool using PowerShell
      2. Creating an elastic database pool using Azure CLI 2.0
      3. Adding database to the elastic database pool using PowerShell
      4. Adding an additional database to the elastic database pool using Azure CLI 2.0
      5. Setting Azure AD authentication to Azure SQL Database using PowerShell
      6. Setting Azure AD authentication to Azure SQL Database using the Azure CLI 2.0
      7. Implementing active geo-replication using PowerShell
      8. Implementing active geo-replication using Azure CLI 2.0
      9. Adding databases to a failover group using PowerShell
      10. Adding databases to a failover group using the Azure CLI 2.0
    6. Further information
    7. Summary
  7. Azure Backup
    1. An introduction to Azure Backup
    2. Why Azure Backup?
    3. The process of backing up data
      1. Building a Recovery Services vault
      2. Backing up an Azure VM
      3. Restoring Azure VM files
        1. Restoring Azure VM files key points
      4. Restoring an Azure VM
        1. Restoring an Azure VM key points
    4. Further information
    5. Automating tasks
      1. Building a Recovery Services vault using Azure PowerShell
      2. Building a Recovery Services vault using the Azure CLI 2.0
      3. Backing up an Azure VM using Azure PowerShell
      4. Backing up an Azure VM using the Azure CLI 2.0
      5. Restoring Azure VM files using Azure PowerShell
      6. Restoring Azure VM files using the Azure CLI 2.0
      7. Restoring an Azure VM using Azure PowerShell
      8. Restoring an Azure VM using the Azure CLI 2.0
    6. Summary
  8. Azure Site Recovery
    1. Introduction to ASR
    2. ASR supportability
      1. Hyper-V servers
      2. VMware vSphere and physical servers
    3. Preparing your environment for ASR
      1. Building a site-to-site VPN connection
      2. Preparing an infrastructure for replication
    4. Kicking off replication from on-premises to ASR
    5. ASR recovery plans
    6. Testing ASR
    7. Further information
    8. Summary
  9. Extending Your Azure Storage Management
    1. Azure StorSimple
      1. StorSimple Virtual Array
      2. StorSimple 8000 series
    2. AzCopy
      1. Uploading a folder to Azure Blob
      2. Downloading an Azure Blob service container
    3. Azure Storage Explorer
      1. Connecting to Azure Storage using Azure Storage Explorer
      2. Managing Azure Storage accounts using Azure Storage Explorer
        1. Creating an Azure Storage service
    4. Azure Storage's three musketeers
    5. Summary

Product information

  • Title: Learning Microsoft Azure Storage
  • Author(s): Mohamed Waly
  • Release date: November 2017
  • Publisher(s): Packt Publishing
  • ISBN: 9781785884917