Many Azure resources use Azure storage. In the Creating an Azure backup recipe in Chapter 5, Managing Server Backup, you saw how to use Azure storage to hold server backups. When you create an Azure VM, you store the VHD file in Azure storage. Azure storage accounts can hold a variety of types of data, with different mechanisms for managing each data type. Additionally, the storage account provides both scalability and data durability and resiliency.
Azure storage manages five distinct types of data:
- Binary Large Object (Blob)
- Table
- Queue
- File
- Disk
A blob is unstructured data you store in Azure. Blob storage can hold any type of data in any form. This could include MP4 movies, ISO images, VHD drives, JPG files, ...
