Microsoft Azure Block Storage Reviews

I initially set up Block Storage for archival log purposes and used Azure Data Explorer to push logs to it. This was more cost-effective for me since I needed to do threat hunting for logs that were older than a year. We then moved our production server backup and recovery to Block Storage due to the security it offers. The solution is very easy to configure security on Block Storage, whether through access keys, TLS versions, or REST API security.

We're not opting for the public cloud due to the majority of our data being PNC. However, if we need to make any of our data publicly available, we use AFS as well as Azure File Sharing. AFS is fully encrypted and structured with methods for Block Storage, such as POST and DELETE portals. Usually, we use authentication measures on private parts that require anything to be made public. To ensure secure access, we first authenticate the authorized person and then grant them access to the depositories from outside the network.

Redundancy is essential for disaster recovery, and I have found that relying on SAN storage or old, on-prem services is a complicated process that often yields unsatisfactory results. Even with the proper maintenance of the data, power, and backups, these services rarely recover more than 70 percent of data in case of outages or natural disasters. Therefore, it is clear that 100 percent data recovery cannot be achieved using on-prem solutions. The purpose of the test is to evaluate the best option for data redundancy, protection, and management. We can choose from Azure's Local Redundancy Storage, Geo Redundancy Storage, or Read Access Geo Redundancy Storage. Additionally, for data protection, we can enable soft delete or versioning of the block to track all changes. Finally, for data management, we can enable settings for security.

Microsoft is currently updating a few features, such as object sizes and tiering, which were not available previously. They have created inventories and utilized snapshots for container partition calculations.

The cost of the solution has room for improvement. Microsoft Azure Block Storage is priced higher than alternative solutions.

I have been using the solution for almost five years.

I give the stability a nine out of ten. I have not seen any outages, or leaks in the last four years.

I would give the scalability a seven out of ten. Although none of these services are perfect, the scalability of Azure is practically unlimited, depending on how much one is willing to pay and the amount of data one needs to store.

We currently have 50 people using Microsoft Azure Block Storage in our organization to protect the network.

As we are a gold partner, our support is fast. When we create a ticket, the Microsoft support team usually responds within 15 minutes or less. We also have our own team that helps to resolve issues quickly.

We also use Amazon S3 due to the fact that 80 percent of our tenants are already using it. Amazon offers a lot of advantages in terms of storage capacity, scalability, and ease of access. However, we must be mindful of security when using Amazon as it may not be as straightforward as it is when using Azure. Both are serverless but Amazon's security is more complex.

The initial setup is straightforward. Opening a service does not require much effort, as it is already automated. However, if we plan to use other services such as a Python library or storage account, there is a certain process we need to follow. The REST APIs and shared keys will be needed for this purpose. This information is already available in the forum.

I would rate Azure a three out of ten for pricing. Amazon and Azure offer different features and require different configurations. For example, some settings must be manually enabled in Amazon, whereas many security and compliance settings are enabled by default in Azure. Azure is more secure in this respect and therefore Microsoft charges more.

I give the solution a seven out of ten.

When using block storage to store data, the improvement in capacity comes at the cost of higher charges. Additionally, to use the block storage we need to enable a few services, though not for production, and then push the downloads to block storage. They need to be vigilant in looking for encryption and other security measures, and Microsoft is doing its part in updating the system. I have not encountered any issues with the block storage. We have a CSPM in place to ensure any security gaps are managed and taken care of.

We have embarked on the journey of the global data list. All the data from the SAP systems, all the data from external vendors, and all the data from our enterprise data warehouse are staged onto the Azure Block Storage. It forms the basis of the Lakehouse architecture. That's the staging layer for us.

It has helped to centralize the data. People see it as the central source of truth. Everybody sees the same set of data across data analysts, business analysts, data scientists, and all the visualization people. It provides a centralized view of the same data.

The product offers hierarchical storage and we like the main space storage with business.

It's easy to set up.

We find the product to be stable. 

It is very scalable. 

The solution needs a direct connection to visualization. Power BI connectivity on this platform is not that great. We need a direct connection to any of the visualization tools. There should be more BI integrations.

Block Storage is something which I use on a day-to-day basis. I've used the solution for six years at least.

It's pretty stable. It has cloning and therefore has data redundancy. The disaster recovery is pretty easy with this solution.

The solution can scale well.

The solution is used across the organization in BI and data visualization leads. There are more than 300 people using it.

The use is increasing month to month with more and more data being placed into it. It's an ongoing process.

Technical support is very good. 

This was the default product we went with thanks to our partnership with Microsoft.

The initial setup was straightforward, not that complex. 

Setting up was probably a month's time, not more.

The DevOps engineers would be required for the deployment. In fact, data engineers can do it if there's no proper CIC mechanism, however, any DevOps expert can do it.

We handled the deployment in-house. 

I'm from the technology side, so I have not done that ROI comparison. It is not visible to me directly. However, I have heard that there was a bottom-line increase. 

The storage part costs us $223. That's on a monthly basis for 20TB of data storage. There are no additional costs.

We did not look into other options. 

I am a customer of Microsoft products.

We are dealing with the Azure Block ADLS Gen 2.

People should use the mechanism to save more costs. We have a hot tier and a cold tier, wherein, say you want to save more on your cost, the frequently accessed data should be in the hot, and data that is not accessed frequently should be moved to the cold tier. It helps in reducing costs by almost 50%. The tiering mechanism should be used and new users should know it is possible to arrange their data that way. 

I'd rate the solution eight out of ten.

Azure Block Storage is for integrating and storing logs and things like that. It's for short and medium-term intermediate storage. Around 3,000 people are using the solution indirectly. 

The security is poor, and the sharing model is confusing, conceptually. I'd prefer not to use it. I'd like a user-friendly web interface and a better security model. 

I've worked with Azure Block Storage for a few years. 

The block storage itself is good, but Azure's overall reliability is poor, especially in this region. It usually goes down a couple of times a month. 

I rate Azure support six out of 10. It could be better. I get an answer, but it takes a while. 

Neutral

The other solution we use heavily is Google Cloud Storage. I prefer Google because it's easier to set up and you don't need to download a client. It's just simpler overall.

Everyone is familiar with the Google interface. It's essential because you're dealing with a lot of technologies, and people don't have the time anymore to figure it out.

Setting up Azure Block Storage is more complex than it should be.

The price is decent. I rate Azure Block Storage eight out of 10 for affordability.

I rate Azure Block Storage three out of 10. It's just storage, and it's more complicated than it needs to be. 

We use the solution for application hosting only - in terms of giving an application which is serving to some customers, for a particular location service. 

From a UI perspective, we like the workflows. Its look and feel are quite good. 

The initial setup is quite simple and straightforward, especially if you have IT knowledge. 

It is very flexible and scalable. It's very easy to adjust the data. 

The stability is good.

As a technology product, it's always evolving. There are some feature challenges from my side, however, I am hopeful they will fix the issues. 

The integrations right now are limited, however, we are hopeful this will improve as the cloud continues to develop. We would like to see more capabilities in specifically hybrid scenarios. There are some third-party tools in Oracle and Linux we'd like to have access to via this product.

We'd like more failover capabilities or data recovery options. 

I've been using the solution for six months. 

The solution is stable. There are no issues with bugs or glitches and it doesn't crash or freeze. It's reliable. 

It is a scalable solution. If you need to expand it, it's not a problem. 

We have about 50 users on this solution currently.

The initial setup is very simple and straightforward. It's not very complex. It's much easier if you do some planning and can anticipate some outcomes. Doing that work makes everything easier as you do the implementation. Those with IT backgrounds will find it easier to handle the setup as opposed to those who are not so technical.

The pricing varies. You might have different pricing, for example, in relation to your country or region. It's not standard. We pay around $300 to $400 a month for some scenarios where consumption is limited. However, going forward, we're seeing the likelihood of the cost coming to around $2,000 as consumption rises. 

We have never actually attempted to evaluate this solution in comparison to others. 

I would recommend the solution to others.

I would rate it eight out of ten.

We use the solution for several key purposes: first, as a source code repository; second, for software testing life cycle management, including test cases and bug tracking; and third, for deploying our projects through pipelines, supporting continuous deployment and continuous integration.

Microsoft Azure Block Storage has high-security features and is very reliable. Its maintenance is done through the cloud, which reduces costs. 

Microsoft Azure Block Storage needs to improve its migration and reporting processes. 

I have been working with the product for three years. 

I rate the solution's stability an eight out of ten. 

My company has 35-50 users. 

We chose Microsoft Azure Blob Storage because we've been using their solutions for a long time, starting from Team Foundation Server since 2010 and even earlier with Visual SourceSafe. We kept upgrading versions, which led us to adopt Azure Cloud. Additionally, the licensing cost was favorable for us. 

Deploying the tool is easy, but we encountered challenges while migrating our old repositories from EFS 2015 and 2019. The main issue was that we had to migrate the entire default collection to do it properly, and there wasn't a straightforward way to handle this. For example, while test cases must be migrated through the default collection, repositories for source code can be migrated alone, which poses a significant challenge for us.

It generally took more than a day to set up and plan everything for on-premises setup. For cloud installations, it was easier because you could pick items from Microsoft storage or repositories and switch them on. However, final configurations for pipelines and other elements still require significant time.

We expect ROI through cost reduction after three years. 

I rate the solution's pricing a seven out of ten. 

I rate Microsoft Azure Block Storage a ten out of ten. 

Use cases for Microsoft Azure Block Storage involve cloud storage for website publishing and customer data sharing. Many customers utilize it for data-sharing purposes. Customers commonly use flash storage to store and access data. Storage is integral to various Software as a Service solutions, where Block Storage is automatically provisioned for premium or standard tiers.

Performance improvement depends on how we utilize the resources. The tool is most valuable for scenarios involving logs and monitoring. For example, logs are generated when using services like Front Door. The tool's most valuable function is providing secure access. Additionally, it connects with websites, allowing users to upload and download data. 

The tool is reliable and works fine. 

Improving the pricing structure would be beneficial. If the pricing could be more flexible and reduced, Microsoft Azure Block Storage would likely see increased usage.

I have been working with the product since 2014. 

I rate the solution's stability a nine out of ten. 

I rate the tool's scalability a ten out of ten. 

I've had a poor experience with Microsoft's technical support. Even without premium support, Microsoft's assistance hasn't been satisfactory. There have been instances where support staff lacked sufficient expertise to address issues. 

The tool's deployment is simple. 

The solution is useful for enterprise customers. I rate it a nine out of ten. 

We are using the solution for storage purposes.

Microsoft Azure Block Storage is an easy-to-use solution. Storing and then retrieving data are the most valuable features of Microsoft Azure Block Storage.

The solution’s user interface could be improved.

I have been using Microsoft Azure Block Storage for three to four years.

Microsoft Azure Block Storage is a stable solution.

I rate Microsoft Azure Block Storage a nine out of ten for stability.

Microsoft Azure Block Storage is a highly scalable solution. Most of our clients for Microsoft Azure Block Storage are medium and large sized businesses.

I rate Microsoft Azure Block Storage an eight out of ten for scalability.

I rate Microsoft Azure Block Storage a nine out of ten for the ease of its initial setup.

The solution's deployment doesn't take much time and can be done in a few minutes.

On a scale from one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive, I rate the solution's pricing a six or seven out of ten.

We are using the latest version of Microsoft Azure Block Storage.

Overall, I rate Microsoft Azure Block Storage an eight out of ten.

The use case for Microsoft Azure Block Storage depends on the project and the users. Still, I use it for storing and extracting data, such as images, videos, and documents.

What I like best about Microsoft Azure Block Storage is the accessibility because it's very easy for me to access it. Microsoft takes the user's approach, so you don't have to take many steps before accessing the tool. As soon as you create Microsoft Azure Block Storage resources, you'll automatically find it easy to use it.

If you need to learn how to start, you'll find different resources and documentation about the tool, so this is another pro of Microsoft Azure Block Storage.

Another advantage of using the tool is that it's convenient because if you want to deploy new infrastructure, you can connect to the cloud and download the files to your new site.

I found that everything works fine in Microsoft Azure Block Storage; though it may be because I have less experience with it, I cannot give any areas for improvement.

I want to see my region added to the data center. I'm in Africa, and if a data center is specifically added under Central Africa, that will reduce data latency when accessing data. Right now, you can only find the USA, China, Europe, South Africa, and Egypt, but no Central Africa. It'll be great if Microsoft can add my region or location as a data center for Microsoft Azure Block Storage. Doing that will respect privacy, too.

I've used Microsoft Azure Block Storage for six months. It depends on the project I'm working on.

Microsoft Azure Block Storage is scalable. When you use Azure File Sync, Microsoft gives you five terabytes of storage on Microsoft Azure Block Storage. You can scale by paying for a group or a big enterprise if you have a considerable amount of data.

I didn't have to contact the technical support team of Microsoft Azure Block Storage because I had all that I needed from the documentation.

I didn't use a different solution. I only used Microsoft Azure Block Storage. You can integrate it with various services, and it has the facility to connect to your site and communicate with it, but I don't require that. Enterprises can use that functionality of Microsoft Azure Block Storage, though.

Setting up Microsoft Azure Block Storage was easy, and it only took two minutes. I researched how to do it, but before you set up Microsoft Azure Block Storage, you must create your agile accounts first, and inside the agile accounts, you'll find different types of storage. In my case, I chose Microsoft Azure Block Storage for data storage and extraction. It was easy to set up.

I deployed Microsoft Azure Block Storage.

Microsoft Azure Block Storage is a good investment. The tool helps an enterprise save data in the cloud. Sometimes there is a natural disaster, or your electricity is cut off. Sometimes your physical servers can have problems. You can store data in the cloud through Microsoft Azure Block Storage to avoid problems, so it's a good investment.

Microsoft Azure Block Storage is not an expensive tool. I'm subscribed to the Microsoft Learn Student Ambassadors program, so Microsoft gives me between $120 to $150 credit each month. It's renewable, and if I use that credit for Microsoft Azure Block Storage, it'll not consume half of my credit, so I'd say it's very cheap.

I use Microsoft Azure Block Storage personally. My company doesn't use it.

I recommend the tool to others who want to use it.

Based on my experience, I rate Microsoft Azure Block Storage nine out of ten.