Online access tier for blobs that costs less to store than Cool but more to read, while data stays instantly available.
Also called tier.
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In the Ultra Transcenders books
Each book explains Cold in context, with comparison tables and the common traps.
Terms in this definition
- Online management group
Workloads that may talk directly to or from the internet, or that need no virtual network at all, go in this management group. It is a sibling of Corp and Local beneath Landing zones.
- Access tier
Setting for block blobs in standard accounts (Hot, Cool, Cold or Archive). Cooler tiers cost less to store but more to access.
- Cool
Online blob tier that is cheaper than Hot to store data in but dearer to access.
- CRUD
Shorthand for create, read, update and delete, the four basic things you do with data. Data-plane roles in Azure Cosmos DB, for instance, authorise those operations on items.
Related terms
- Always ready instances
To avoid cold starts, a baseline of instances can be kept running and billed, either for chosen functions or function groups on Flex Consumption or for the whole app on Premium. Flex Consumption doesn't count them toward its maximum instance limit.
- Archive tier
An offline blob access tier offering the cheapest storage, meant for data that is hardly ever read. Archived blobs must first be rehydrated to the Hot, Cool or Cold tier, which may take as long as 15 hours, before you can read or change them, and ZRS, GZRS and RA-GZRS accounts can't use this tier.
- Azure File Sync
Agent installed on Windows Server on premises that keeps a local cache of an Azure file share, syncing changes both ways and tiering cold files to the cloud.
- Azure Functions Premium plan
Functions hosting plan that keeps instances pre-warmed to avoid cold starts and supports VNet integration; executions default to 30 minutes, a limit you can raise in host.json.
- Early deletion
A fee charged when a blob leaves the cool, cold or archive tier (whether deleted, overwritten or moved) before staying the minimum 30, 90 or 180 days. It is worked out pro rata on the days still outstanding.
- Lambda architecture
Splits big data processing in two: a speed layer (the hot path) analyses events as they arrive, while a batch layer (the cold path) processes everything accurately but slowly. A serving layer joins up both sets of results.
- Microsoft 365 Archive
Rarely used SharePoint sites and files can be moved to this cheaper cold tier without losing their metadata, access settings or compliance coverage. Until a SharePoint Administrator reactivates them, though, they cannot be opened.
- Performance tier
Choice made when a storage account is created and not changeable afterwards: Standard (HDD-based GPv2) or Premium (SSD) for latency and throughput. To cut costs for cold data, change the access tier instead.