AZ-204 Developing Solutions for Microsoft Azure Exam

Develop solutions that use Azure Cosmos DB

Azure Cosmos DB is Microsoft's globally distributed, multi-model NoSQL database service. It offers scale and low-latency access to data across regions for high availability. The service automatically replicates data to maintain 99.999% uptime. With automatic indexing, developers do not need to define indexes before running queries.

In Azure Cosmos DB, you can choose from several APIs such as SQL, MongoDB, Cassandra, Gremlin, and Table. Each API supports a specific data model and query language, which lets developers reuse existing skills. The MongoDB API works with MongoDB drivers to simplify migration of existing applications. Choosing the right API ensures your solution meets both performance and compatibility needs.

Consistency levels define how the database synchronizes data across regions. Azure Cosmos DB offers five levels: Strong, Bounded staleness, Session, Consistent prefix, and Eventual. These levels balance consistency, availability, and latency in different ways. Developers select the appropriate level based on application requirements.

Partitioning lets Azure Cosmos DB scale out beyond the resources of a single machine. Using partition keys, the service spreads data across multiple logical partitions. This helps maintain performance as data grows. The SDKs in various languages simplify how you connect, query, and manage data.

Develop solutions that use Azure Blob Storage

Azure Blob Storage is a service for storing large amounts of unstructured data like images, videos, and text files. Object storage stores data as blobs inside containers. The service can scale from gigabytes to petabytes seamlessly. Features like access tiers and server-side encryption help manage cost and security.

Data in Blob Storage is organized into storage accounts, containers, and blobs. Containers act like folders and hold blobs of different types. The main blob types include:

• Block blobs for file storage and streaming.
• Append blobs for logging scenarios.
• Page blobs for random read/write operations. This structure makes it easy to manage large data sets.

Security in Blob Storage relies on features like Shared Access Signatures (SAS). SAS tokens grant restricted access to containers and blobs for a limited time. You can also use Azure Active Directory integration for role-based access control. Together, these options ensure your data stays protected.

Blob Storage offers different access tiers to optimize cost and performance. The Hot, Cool, and Archive tiers let you pay only for what you need. You can change the tier of a blob as usage patterns evolve. This flexibility helps you balance cost and access speed.

Conclusion

In this section, we learned how to develop solutions that use Azure Cosmos DB, Microsoft's distributed NoSQL service. We saw how to choose APIs and consistency levels to meet application needs. We covered key features like partitioning, indexing, and SDK support.

We also learned about Azure Blob Storage for large-scale object storage. We discussed blob types, containers, and best practices for security using SAS tokens and encryption. We saw how access tiers help you manage cost and performance.

Together, these services show how Azure storage solutions handle both structured and unstructured data. Understanding these options is essential for building scalable, reliable applications. With these concepts, you can design efficient data storage in Azure.