Azure provides a robust ecosystem of tools and strategies to help businesses optimize their storage accounts, ensuring both cost-effectiveness and performance. In this post, we explore practical advice on optimizing storage accounts, from tiered storage and data lifecycle policies to efficient backups.
We’ll delve into a comprehensive strategy that not only optimizes costs but also enhances the sustainability of your storage accounts from choosing the right geography to how-to measure and optimize your carbon footprint.
To give you a visual overview, here’s an image of all implementations and optimizations we’ll be discussing:
This approach is equally applicable to databases, with additional considerations such as query optimizations and minimizing database requests.
1. Choice the right geography
By choosing a region closer to your primary user base, you can reduce data latency and energy consumption associated with data transmission. Additionally, opting for regions where Azure data centers utilize higher proportions of renewable energy can significantly lower your carbon footprint.
You can explore the Azure data centers regions here: https://datacenters.microsoft.com/globe/explore
If you click on the regions you find sustainability fact cheets – from my perspective, this is a fantastic thing from Microsoft!
2. Add Retention Policies
A retention policy can optimize your Azure Storage account costs and sustainability by automating data lifecycle management. By defining rules that automatically delete or archive data once it reaches a certain age, you reduce the amount of unnecessary data stored.
This not only cuts storage costs by freeing up space but also lowers energy consumption, as fewer resources are used to maintain and manage outdated data. In essence, retention policies help you maintain a lean, efficient storage environment that aligns cost management with sustainability goals.
How to Create a Retention Policy for an Azure Storage Account
- Go to your Azure Storage Account
- Access Lifecycle Management
In the left menu, select Data management > Lifecycle Management.
Click Add a rule to create a new lifecycle management policy. - Configure Policy Rules
Rule Name: e.g.,BlobRetentionPolicy
Scope: Choose between “Apply to all blobs” or specify containers/blobs with filters.
Conditions: Set retention conditions such as: Delete blobs after 365 days to free up storage. - Save and Enable the Policy, click Review + Add to finalize the rule
3. Automate Tiering
Automated tiering in Azure helps optimize storage costs and sustainability by moving data between Hot, Cool, and Archive tiers based on usage patterns. Azure Blob Storage lifecycle management policies allow you to define rules for automatic tiering.
Configure Automated Tiering via Azure Portal
- Go to the Azure Storage Account
- Access Lifecycle Management
In the left menu, go to Data management > Lifecycle Management.
Click + Add a rule to create a new automated tiering rule. - Define Tiering Rules
Rule Name: e.g.,CoolTieringPolicy
Scope: Select whether the rule applies to all blobs or specific containers.
Conditions: Set the age-based conditions for automatic movement:
– Move to Cool if not modified in 30 days.
– Move to Archive if not modified in 90 days. - Save and Enable the Policy, click Review + Add to finalize the rule
4. Optimize your backup policy
A well-planned backup strategy in Azure not only reduces costs but also improves sustainability by minimizing storage usage and energy consumption. By optimizing backup frequency, retention, and storage tiers, you can ensure efficient data protection while reducing environmental impact.
- Use Incremental Backups Instead of Full Backups
→ Store only changed data to reduce storage needs and energy consumption.
- Leverage Tiered Storage for Backups
→ Keep recent backups in Cool storage and move older ones to Archive to lower costs.
- Optimize Retention Policies
→ Set automated deletion for outdated backups to avoid unnecessary storage usage.
- Choose the Right Redundancy Option
→ Use Locally Redundant Storage (LRS) for non-critical data instead of Geo-Redundant Storage (GRS) to cut energy and cost overhead.
- Enable Compression and Deduplication
→ Reduce backup size and avoid redundant data storage to optimize resource efficiency.
- Schedule Backups Efficiently
→ Align backup schedules with off-peak hours and renewable energy availability for a greener footprint.
4. Monitor and optimize your carbon emissions
Azure carbon optimization helps you measure and understand your carbon footprint by providing you with data on your cloud emissions. You can use the Azure carbon optimization blade to view and analyze your carbon emission data and insights, and take actions to optimize your cloud sustainability and efficiency.
e.g. if you want the carbon emissions for a specific resource group:
- In Azure, search for Carbon optimization and select Carbon optimization (preview).
- On the Carbon optimization page, select Subscriptions to filter the subscriptions for which you want to see the emissions data. You can choose one or more subscriptions.
- Select the subscriptions you want to analyze and select Apply.
- Use the Resource group and Emissions type filters to focus the emissions data to a specific resource group or emissions type.
You get also hints how to improve your carbon footprint on the emission trends board:
And for the management board, always good to know the emissions equivalents:
Optimizing Azure Storage accounts is not just about cutting costs – it’s also a key strategy for improving performance and sustainability. By selecting the right region, implementing retention policies, automating tiering, and refining backup strategies, businesses can achieve a highly efficient storage architecture. Additionally, monitoring carbon emissions ensures ongoing improvements toward a greener cloud footprint.
With these best practices, you can build a storage strategy that balances cost, performance, and environmental responsibility. future-proofing your data management in Azure.
Happy Deploying!
Cheers, Oskar
Transparency: AI assisted blog post
Some content in this post is created with the help of AI tools (like a Language Model). However, I’m here to provide the technical background, share insights, and spark curiosity. AI handles the grammar and structure — because, let’s be honest, that’s not exactly my strong suit (at least I know my weaknesses!).
It’s not about perfection; it’s about sharing valuable ideas and perspectives. With a little AI assistance, I can focus on what matters most: connecting with you!
P.S. Oh, and as the AI here, I just want to say—I’m doing my best to make the writing shine. How it all turned out this good? Honestly, I have no idea—but I’m happy to help!
