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archive storage cost concepts

Starlight project 1 Reputation point
2021-05-23T13:03:00.937+00:00

While evaluating the cost of archive storage on block blobs (about 1Tb). 66% comes from concept "archive blob storage" ($0.04 per day) which is expected concept.
33% comes from a un unexpected concept "Standard page blob v2" ("$0.02 per day). We are not using any page blob on this subscription. May this be a system required concept and cost?
Would concept "Standard page blob v2" cost be proportionally increased as we increase the stored size?
Is there some way to identify what object exactly is incurring this concept?

We appreciate any advise you may provide. Thank you

Azure Cost Management
Azure Cost Management
A Microsoft offering that enables tracking of cloud usage and expenditures for Azure and other cloud providers.
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Azure Blob Storage
Azure Blob Storage
An Azure service that stores unstructured data in the cloud as blobs.
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  1. Sumarigo-MSFT 45,416 Reputation points Microsoft Employee
    2021-05-24T10:27:00.233+00:00

    @Starlight project Welcome to Microsoft Q&A Forum, Thank you for posting your query here!

    Firstly, let me explain how storage billing works or calculated : Storage capacity is billed in units of the average daily amount of data stored, in gigabytes (GB), over a monthly period. For example, if you consistently used 10 GB of storage for the first half of the month and none for the second half of the month, you would be billed for your average usage of 5 GB of storage. However, using the Cool (GPv2 accounts only) or Archive tier for less than 30 and 180 days respectively will incur an additional charge.(based on the region)

    All storage accounts use a pricing model for block blob storage based on the tier of each blob. Keep in mind the following billing considerations: 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.

    • Both types of storage offered with page blobs have their own pricing model. Premium page blobs follow the managed disks pricing model, while standard page blobs are billed on used size and with each transaction. For more information, see the Azure Page Blobs pricing page.

    In addition to the per-GB, per-month charge, any blob that is moved to the Archive tier is subject to an Archive early deletion period of 180 days. Additionally, for general-purpose v2 storage accounts, any blob that is moved to the Cool tier is subject to a Cool tier early deletion period of 30 days. This charge is prorated. For example, if a blob is moved to the Archive tier and then deleted or moved to the Hot tier after 45 days, the customer is charged an early deletion fee for 135 (180 minus 45) days of storage in the Archive tier.

    Example - you place a file in Archive tier, later rehydrate it to use it, but then place it back in Archive tier on 4 occasions in a year.
    The archive tier has a minimum charge of 180 days storage, so in the above example, each time the file is hydrated there would be a charge associated with 180 days of storage (assuming the file had been in archive tier for less than 180 days) – thus the cost for this file in archive tier would be for 720 days in a calendar year (+ the cost of the time it was in Cold or Hot storage).
    In this example where the client needs to query a file a few times a year, is there a cut off point where it is cheaper to keep the file in cold storage than keep rehydrating it from Archive with the associated penalty? If the above is correct then looking at the pricing calculator it still looks be cheaper to keep placing it back into Archive storage even if the file is hydrated 8 or 9 times a year.

    **You can find this information on Azure Storage Pricing page. Pricing depends on the region where data is stored so it basically would vary.

    You can find most of this information using calculator here: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/calculator/?service=storage**

    If the issue is still not rectified or need a detailed information, I would recommended to contact Azure Subscription/Billing team . They will provide the expert guidance on your scenario with the detailed information. The ticket will help you work closely with the support for speedy resolution, it's free, and it's the best choice for you.

    Hope this helps!

    Kindly let us know if the above helps or you need further assistance on this issue.

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