# Overview Azure Blob Storage is a Microsoft Azure service designed to store and manage large amounts of unstructured data, like text and binary data. It supports cloud-native applications by ensuring scalability, security, and availability, tailoring data storage to specific usage patterns with its various access tiers. # Key Features Azure Blob Storage offers a range of features that enhance its utility in an Azure Cloud Data Center: - **Access Tiers:** Provides hot, cool, and archive tiers to help manage costs based on access frequency. - **Scalability:** Designed to scale effortlessly to meet the needs of cloud-native applications. - **Security:** Ensures data protection through encryption and access controls. - **Data Management:** Allows manipulation of blobs using blob clients and supports batch operations for efficiency. - **Capacity:** Supports a maximum append size of 4 MB and up to 50,000 blocks for append blobs. # Importance Azure Blob Storage is crucial in an Azure Cloud Data Center context due to its flexibility and scalability. It supports large-scale storage solutions, ensuring data is not only securely stored but also readily accessible across various platforms and services. The ability to configure access tiers according to usage patterns empowers businesses to manage costs while maintaining data availability and performance. # Use Cases Azure Blob Storage is versatile and can be leveraged in various scenarios within an Azure Data Center: - **Data Lakes:** Used to store vast amounts of data for big data analytics. - **Backup and Disaster Recovery:** Provides a reliable solution for backing up important data and ensuring business continuity. - **Cloud Applications:** Supports web and mobile app development by storing unstructured data needed for application operations. - **Media Storage:** Ideal for applications that need to store and stream large media files like videos and audio. ## Capacity Limits The following table describes default limits for Azure general-purpose v2 (GPv2), general-purpose v1 (GPv1), and Blob storage accounts. | Resource | Limit | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------- | | Maximum number of storage accounts with standard endpoints per region per subscription, including standard and premium storage accounts. | 250 by default, 500 by request<br> | | Maximum number of storage accounts with Azure DNS zone endpoints (preview) per region per subscription, including standard and premium storage accounts. | 5000 (preview)<br> | | Default maximum storage account capacity | 5 PiB | For more limits, visit the following link below - [Scalability and performance targets for standard storage accounts - Azure Storage | Microsoft Learn](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/storage/common/scalability-targets-standard-account#scale-targets-for-standard-storage-accounts) [[Access Tiers]]