What is Azure Disk Storage?
Azure Disk Storage provides managed block storage disks for Azure Virtual Machines. The service offers five performance tiers: Ultra Disk for latency-sensitive workloads, Premium SSD v2 for flexible performance configuration, Premium SSD for production applications, Standard SSD for moderate workloads, and Standard HDD for archiving and backups.
Managed disks are encrypted and stored redundantly; the exact redundancy level (e.g., locally redundant with multiple copies within a data center or zone-redundant) can be configured per disk. Management is handled through the Azure Portal, CLI, or ARM templates, without developers needing to worry about the underlying storage infrastructure.
Azure Disk Storage supports Shared Disks for cluster scenarios, Disk Bursting for temporary load spikes, and on-demand performance scaling without a VM restart on the flexible disk types.
Core Features
- Five performance tiers: Ultra Disk, Premium SSD v2, Premium SSD, Standard SSD, Standard HDD
- Server-side encryption with platform-managed or customer-managed keys
- Shared Disks for Windows Server Failover Cluster and Linux cluster solutions
- Disk Bursting for temporary performance boosts on Standard and Premium SSD
- Incremental snapshots for cost-effective backups
Typical Use Cases
Database Operations: Premium SSD or Ultra Disk for SQL Server, Oracle, or PostgreSQL workloads with consistently low latency and high IOPS throughput.
SAP HANA: Ultra Disk for in-memory databases requiring very low latency and high bandwidth.
Development and Test Environments: Standard SSD or Standard HDD for cost-optimized environments without strict performance requirements.
Benefits
- Finely graded performance options from archival HDD to Ultra Disk
- Encryption at rest and in transit by default
- Seamless performance scaling on Premium SSD v2 and Ultra Disk without a VM restart
- Can be operated in European Azure regions
Frequently Asked Questions
When should I use Ultra Disk instead of Premium SSD?
Ultra Disk suits workloads that need very low latency and significantly higher IOPS and throughput than Premium SSD, such as SAP HANA, high-performance databases, and transaction-intensive applications. Premium SSD or Premium SSD v2 is sufficient for most production workloads.
Can I change disk performance after provisioning?
Yes. With Premium SSD v2 and Ultra Disk, IOPS and throughput can be adjusted independently of disk size without restarting the VM. For other disk types, a performance change usually requires changing the disk size or tier.
How do incremental snapshots work?
Incremental snapshots store only the changes since the last snapshot. This reduces storage costs compared to full snapshots and speeds up creation.
What SLA applies to Azure Disk Storage?
Managed Disks themselves don’t have a standalone, separately billed SLA; the availability guarantee derives from the SLA of the associated virtual machine and depends on the disk type used and the VM configuration (e.g., single instance vs. multiple instances across availability zones). See the official Azure SLA page for details.
Integration with innFactory
As a Microsoft Solutions Partner, innFactory supports you with Azure Disk Storage: from selecting the optimal disk tier for your workloads to implementing backup strategies and optimizing your storage infrastructure costs.
Note: All product information on this page has been compiled with care, but is provided without guarantee and may be outdated or incomplete. Cloud services evolve rapidly — features, pricing, SLAs, and availability change frequently. Authoritative and up-to-date information can only be found on the official product page of Azure (official documentation). This page does not represent an offer by Azure.
