Azure Blob Storage

Question

In Blob Storage and its access tiers there is a finite number of days associated. so, lets say in archive tier it is stated as that a file has to be in the archive tier for 180 days and early deletion will cause the user to pay for the remaining days.

So, my question is: IF there is a file in cold tier what will happen to it after 30 days? will it: a) Automatically move to the archive tier or must there be a policy in place to do that?

b) it is eligible for deletion but will remain in the cold tier

c) it will be deleted automatically

Now, if it is in archive and 180 days have passed then is it just eligible for deletion or is it deleted or must there be a retention policy written. WHat exactly happens to that file on the Azure end?

Answer 1

@Shrenik P Yes, you are correct. If you don't delete or move a file to another tier, you will be billed for the number of days it remains in that tier. For example, if you have a file in the Hot tier and you don't delete or move it to another tier after 30 days, you will be billed for the Hot tier rate for each day the file remains in the Hot tier.

If you need to store a file in a specific tier for more than the specified number of days, you can do so by setting up a retention policy. A retention policy allows you to specify a minimum retention period for your data, which can be longer than the minimum storage duration for the tier. For example, you can set up a retention policy to retain a file in the Archive tier for 3 years, even though the minimum storage duration for the Archive tier is 180 days.

It's important to note that setting up a retention policy does not prevent you from deleting the file before the retention period has expired. However, if you delete the file before the retention period has expired, you may be subject to early deletion charges.

Changing the account access tier applies to all access tier inferred objects stored in the account that don't have an explicit tier set. If you toggle the account tier from hot to cool, you'll be charged for write operations (per 10,000) for all blobs without a set tier in GPv2 accounts only. There's no charge for this change in Blob Storage accounts. You'll be charged for both read operations (per 10,000) and data retrieval (per GB) if you toggle from cool to hot in Blob Storage or GPv2 accounts.

Only hot and cool access tiers can be set as the default account access tier. Archive can only be set at the object level. On blob upload, you can specify the access tier of your choice to be hot, cool, or archive regardless of the default account tier. This functionality allows you to write data directly into the archive tier to realize cost-savings from the moment you create data in blob storage.

Can I change the storage tier of my Blob storage account?

Yes. You will be able to change the storage tier by setting the 'Access Tier' attribute on the storage account. Changing the storage tier will apply to all objects stored in the account. Change the storage tier from hot to cool will not incur any charges, while changing from cool to hot will incur a per GB cost for reading all the data in the account.

When a blob is uploaded or moved between tiers, it is charged at the corresponding rate immediately upon upload or tier change.

When a blob is moved to a cooler tier (hot->cool, hot->archive, or cool->archive), the operation is billed as a write operation to the destination tier, where the write operation (per 10,000) and data write (per GB) charges of the destination tier apply.

When a blob is moved to a warmer tier (archive->cool, archive->hot, or cool->hot), the operation is billed as a read from the source tier, where the read operation (per 10,000) and data retrieval (per GB) charges of the source tier apply. Early deletion charges for any blob moved out of the cool or archive tier may apply as well. Rehydrating data from the archive tier takes time and data will be charged archive prices until the data is restored online and the blob tier changes to hot or cool.

If you still have any questions, I would recommened to contact Billing and Subscription team would be the best to provide more insight and guidance on this scenario: It's free support and best for your scenario
https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/support/options/

Please let us know if you have any further queries. I’m happy to assist you further.     

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Answer 2

Thank you for responding, Although, if I may add to the question/discussion.
The billing will be continuous. I mean if we don't delete or have a policy to do so then the billing will be for how many ever days it will remain in that tier?

Like, let's say we have a file in Hot tier which means high availability and high cost so after 30 days if I don't delete or move it to another tier it will be billed accordingly as the Hot tier file for the number of days it remains in that tier or any different?

My question stems from me wondering what if I need a file stored in a specific tier for more than the specified number of days? like 3 years in an Archive or more than 30 or 90 days in hot and cold tiers respectively.

Thank You again!