Study Guide AZ-305: Part 8 – Design a non-relational storage solution

Hi Cloud Marathoners!

Welcome to the next blog post (Part 8/12) from the Az-305 series to help you get ready for the AZ-305 exam. This post is the first one that is covering the section – “Design Data Storage Solutions” for this exam.

Please, check the previous blog posts listed below, if you landed on this page for the first time 🙂

Table of content (blog series)

*** Design Identity, Governance, and Monitoring Solutions ***
Part 1: Design a governance solution
Part 2: Design Authentication and Authorization Solutions
Part 3: Design a solution to log and monitor Azure resources
*** Design Infrastructure Solutions ***
Part 4: Design a compute solution
Part 5: Design an application architecture solution
Part 6: Design a network infrastructure solution
Part 7: Design a migration solution
*** Design Data Storage Solutions ****
Part 8: Design a non-relational data storage solution
Part 9: Design a data storage solution for relational data
Part 10: Design a data integration solution
*** Design Business Continuity Solutions ***
Part 11: Design a solution for Business Continuity, backup and disaster recovery
Part 12: Design for high availability

What is an non-relational data?

A non-relational data is a set of gathered or existing data that does not have a strict schema (structure) which is a required condition for a relational data. Of course, when we speak about data in business, the first thing that comes to mind is the database 🙂

In contrast to a relational database, a NoSQL database is one that is less structured/confined in format. Thus, we gain more flexibility and adaptability with non-relational data.

A non-relational database is a database that does not use the tabular schema of rows and columns found in most traditional database systems. Instead, non-relational databases use a storage model that is optimized for the specific requirements of the type of data being stored. For example, data may be stored as simple key/value pairs, as JSON documents, or as a graph consisting of edges and vertices.
Non-relational data and NoSQL

AWS Non Relational Databases - Javatpoint

WHAT is non-relational data storage in azure?

In practice, “NoSQL” means “non-relational database,” even though many of these databases do support SQL-compatible queries. However, the underlying query execution strategy is usually very different from the way a traditional RDBMS would execute the same SQL query.
Non-relational data and NoSQL

Check out the following major categories for non-relational (NoSQL) databases below:

Document data stores
Columnar data stores
Key/value data stores
Graph data stores
Time series data stores
Object data stores
External index data stores

Microsoft Azure offers a number of services that help you to build these NoSQL databases, and in this post we will cover all of them.

Relational And Non-Relational Datastores In Azure

Part 8: Design a non-relational data storage solution

The references below are taken from official Microsoft docs and focused on designing the non-Relational Data Storage solutions in Azure. You could also find it helpful to check the Microsoft docs and learning paths with [Tutorials] below 😉.

This collection of links are gathered with a focus toward the exam objectives of AZ-305 certification exam.

Storage account overview
Hot, Cool, and Archive access tiers for blob data
Blob rehydration from the Archive tier
Time-based retention policies for immutable blob data
Legal holds for immutable blob data
Azure Storage redundancy
Announcing Ultra SSD – the next generation of Azure Disks technology (preview)
Managed Disks pricing
Azure managed disk types
What is Azure Files?
Create an Azure file share
Azure Files scalability and performance targets
What is Azure File Sync?