A company stores log archives in Blob Storage. Files are written once, rarely read after the first month, and must be kept for one year. The company wants the lowest storage cost per GB and accepts that retrieving a file can take hours. Which access tier fits best?
Show answer and explanation
Answer: D
The Archive tier has the lowest storage cost of the blob access tiers, but its data is offline and must be rehydrated to an online tier before it can be read, which can take hours. It has a minimum retention period of 180 days, so early deletion incurs a charge. The one-year retention and tolerance for retrieval delays match this profile. Hot and Cool cost more per GB to store, and Premium is designed for low-latency workloads rather than archives.
Why the other options are wrong
- A. The Hot tier has a higher storage cost than Archive. Deleting after 30 days would also remove data the company must keep for one year, so this option misses the requirement.
- B. The Cool tier has a 30-day minimum retention period, not zero. It costs more to store than Archive, so it is not the lowest-cost option for one-year retention.
- C. Premium block blob storage is designed for low-latency, high-throughput workloads and costs more per GB than the standard archive options. It is not a cost-optimized choice for archives.