Azure Blob Storage - automatically move to Archive storage tier

Question

Is there a feature in Azure to move blobs in Hot/Cool tiers to Archive automatically if they haven't been used in a period of time?

For example, if I have a blob stored in Archive, I access it by rehydrating it to Hot/Cool. Once I am done, is there a way Azure can automatically downtier it?

Elva

Answer 1

Moving to another tier not accessed blobs is possible using native functionality but for the moment this is limited to France Central, Canada East, and Canada Central as the feature is in preview.

In order to use the Last accessed option, select Access tracking enabled on the Lifecycle Management page in the Azure portal.

And then define a rule based on the Last accessed

More details you may find here

Dreda

Answer 2

This is now generally available as of 2019 from Microsoft. Now you can -

1. Automatically change the blob tier after N days.
2. Automatically remove the blob after N days.

Azure Blob lifecycle management overview

Torquemada

Answer 3

All tier changes must be performed by you; there is no automatic tier-change method built-in. You'll need to make a specific call to set the tier for each tier change (note - I pointed to the REST API, but various language-specific SDKs wrap the call as well).

Cluster

This might also help: github.com/Azure-Samples/storage-dotnet-blob-tier-analysis-tool. This is something I built as part of my demo at Ignite conference. – Lemuel

For people who are reading this at this moment, it's now possible to automatically do this. See Krzysztof Madej's answer for how to do this. And at this moment it's also out of preview. – Mafaldamafeking

Answer 4

Please see this Azure Feedback question for updates on automated object lifecycle policies for Azure Storage Blobs (as well as a description of a workaround using Logic Apps). The question pertains to blob TTL, but tiering policies will also be possible with both the workaround and ultimately using the policy framework.

Aurel