Adding Storage in Microsoft Azure

There are three basic methods of adding disks (storage) to your SoftNAS instance on Azure. Each method is a fairly simple task, but there are some considerations before adding your storage, or even selecting your method. One of the key decisions you will need to make is whether to deploy and use block or object storage.

 

Note: Whichever type of storage you choose, it will require set up of storage accounts.

 

 

Block storage provides fixed size raw storage capacity within your VM. In Azure, these are referred to as virtual hard disks. Within the SoftNAS UI, these are referred to as Microsoft (MSFT) Disks. Each volume added is treated as an independent disk drive. Block storage disks are only accessible when attached to an OS, such as the linux-based SoftNAS framework we offer. They are typically formatted with a file system, such as FAT32, NTFS, EXT3, or EXT4. They are also easily configured into software RAID configurations.

 

Note: In SoftNAS, object storage can also be leveraged into RAID configurations.

 

Block storage is typically used for applications, particularly databases and mission critical apps, such as SQL, Exchange, or Sharepoint, etc...anything that requires high performance benchmarks and low latency.

 

There are two methods to add block storage for SoftNAS on Azure:

 

 

 

Object storage (called Blob storage in Azure), is directly accessible through an API or HTTP/HTTPS and can store any type of data. The data is guaranteed not to be lost and can be replicated across data centers. It offers web service interfaces for easy access.

 

Typical uses for Object (Blob) storage includes unstructured data such as repositories of music, image, and video files. It is also used for log files, backup files, and data dumps.  Blob storage provides large capacity for large data sets and archive files. It can be used to replace local tape drives. While these are typical use cases, SoftNAS offers the ability to treat object storage as independent disks, much like block storage, allowing it to be configured into RAID configured volumes.

 

To add object storage to your SoftNAS instance: