AZ-305 Design data storage solutions Practice Question
A media company needs to store large volumes of video files that are processed by an application. The files are accessed via REST APIs and are rarely accessed after the first few days. The company wants to minimize storage costs by automatically moving older files to a cheaper storage tier without any manual intervention. Which Azure storage solution should they use, and which feature should they configure?
⚠ Common exam trap
It's easy for candidates to confuse Azure Files tiering (which is for hybrid caching with Azure File Sync) with Blob Storage lifecycle management, or assume that any storage service with 'tiering' in its name provides automated cost-optimized tiering for REST-accessible data.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Azure Blob Storage with lifecycle management policies
Azure Blob Storage with lifecycle management policies is the correct solution because it allows you to define rules that automatically move blobs to cooler tiers (e.g., from Hot to Cool to Archive) based on age or last modification time, minimizing storage costs without manual intervention. The REST API access requirement is natively supported by Blob Storage via HTTPS, and the large video file workload fits well within its object storage capabilities.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Azure Blob Storage with lifecycle management policies
Why this is correct
Azure Blob Storage is the correct choice because it provides REST API access for direct HTTP/HTTPS retrieval of video files, and its lifecycle management policies can automatically move blobs through hot, cool, and archive tiers based on age. This allows a media company to store large volumes of video files cost-effectively, with older content automatically transitioned to cheaper archive storage while still being retrievable on demand. Unlike file or disk storage, Blob Storage scales horizontally for massive unstructured data and integrates with CDNs for streaming.
- ✗
Azure Files with tiering
Why it's wrong here
Azure Files with tiering is not suitable because it implements SMB and NFS file shares, which are not REST API-accessible and thus cannot serve video files directly to web clients over HTTP. While Azure Files supports a cool tier, it lacks an archive tier and automatic lifecycle management rules that transition blobs to archival storage. Consequently, it would require manual tiering decisions and cannot match the cost-saving automation Blob Storage provides for large video archives.
- ✗
Azure NetApp Files with capacity pools
Why it's wrong here
Azure NetApp Files is a high-performance, low-latency file service designed for NFS/SMB workloads such as HPC and databases, not for object-style storage with REST API access. It relies on capacity pools with manual tiering choices and does not offer automatic lifecycle policies to move data to a cold archive tier, making it excessively expensive for storing decades of video content. The service would also require setting up network connections and managing throughput rather than simply uploading objects via HTTP.
- ✗
Azure Disk Storage with managed disks
Why it's wrong here
Azure Disk Storage with managed disks is fundamentally block storage intended for VM OS and data disks, providing raw disk I/O rather than REST API access. It has no lifecycle management to transition data to cheaper tiers, and you pay for the entire provisioned disk capacity continuously, regardless of how often the videos are accessed. This makes managed disks wholly inappropriate for a media archive that requires scalable, HTTP-accessible object storage with automated cost optimization.
Quick reference
Azure Blob Storage Tier Comparison
| Tier | Storage Cost | Retrieval Cost | Latency | Use Case |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hot | Highest | Lowest | Immediate | Active data, frequent reads |
| Cool | Lower | Higher | Immediate | Data accessed < once / month |
| Cold | Lower still | Higher | Immediate | Data accessed < once / quarter |
| Archive | Lowest | Highest + rehydration delay | Hours | Long-term compliance retention |
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About these practice questions
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This AZ-305 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Microsoft certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the AZ-305 exam.